Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-09-05
BURNED AT THE STAKE.
Captain William CrawfOrd's Horrible Fate
Recalled BY Recent Discovery.

Recalled BY a Recent Discovery.
| The recent discovery of portion Of
a sword in Seneca County and the sup
position that it once belonged to Col
onel Crawford brings to mind the ter
rible sacrifice of that pioneer by the
savages, and the connection of the
renegade, Simon Girty, with the tor
ture one hundred and seven years ago
June IL.
The savage Wyandottes and Shaw
nees in that year so harassed the
settlers that a strong force of woods
men were raised in Western Pennsyl-
vania and sent to subdue them. Col
onel William Crawford, pioneer and
a man who was never accused of fear,
was placed in command.
Early in June, after long and weary
tramping through the marshes and
woods. a sharp battle was fought with
the Indians. So strong did the op-
posing force appear to the troops that
they fed from the battlefield and
Crawford, with many others, was
captured.
With great rejoicing. the white chief
and his companions were marched to
the chief village of the Wyandottes
Stripped and beaten with clubs in the
terrible gauntlet, the men knew that
they must meet death at the stake,
for the fires were already kindled.
Crawford's hands were tied firmly be-
hind his back and with heavy thongs
bound to the stake.
The pile of wood, dry as finder, was
lighted, and with a hiss the blaze
leaped about the body of the doomed
man. In calling distance, sitting upon
his horse, calmly watching the opera
tions, sat the white savage whose
name will 60 down to infamy blacker
than Benedict Arnold's.
''Girty! Girty!" cried Crawford as
he felt the scorching breath of the fire.
'Do they mean to burn me?"
Yes" replied the wretch. a malig-
nant smile spreading over his face.
Crawford set his lips, and, through
all the horrible pain which he survived
| for more than two hours, only ones
did he cry out in agony. Then, as the
hellish fiends danced about him, press
ing firebrands into the flesh, now and
then putting out the fire to prolong
his misery, the soldier cried out:
"Girty! Girty! For Gods sake shoot
me! Quick! Quickr'
But the fiend only smiled and said:
Don't you see l have no gum"
Crawford said no more. He soon
tainted from the pain and suffocation,
only to be reused by some new torture,
and, praying for death to end his suf-
ferings, the prayer was answered.
His black and swollen body lay a
senseless mass of charred flesh at the
foot of the nearly consumed stake. to
be brought up again and again in
memory as condemnation for the saw
age and bestial Wyandottes.
The white savage who witnessed
this was more of an Indian than the
reddest-blooded Shawnees. His pa,
rents, brutal and bestial almost as the
savages themselves, Jealous OF being
promoted when in the colonial service,
deserving like Arnold to the British,
he plunged into the most hideous mas
sacres and diabolical tortures with the
glee of a demon.
1t is to the credit of this man that
he saved the life of his old friend.
Simon Kenton. In all the blackness
of his career this is the one spot Of
honor and business.
Kenton had for years been a scout.
He knew the forest from the Allegha-
MES to the great lakes and the Missis-
sippi. In Lord Dunmore's expedition
he and Girty had been bosom friends
and boon companions.
Now. when captsred. Kenton, stand
ing before the Indian council con-
demned to die, was to burn in the |
morning. Girty was present Seven
scalps of white men hung at his belt |
and seven white prisoners were in his
train.
What is your nameT' said the out
law to Kenton.
Simon Butler" for that was the
real name of Kenton.
The renegade threw his arms around |
the old scouts neck and begged him to
forgive his rudeness.
Sine" said he, II know you are
condemned to die, but. though it shall
go hard With me, shall save you from
that"
Girty begged of the Indians for the
release of his old friend. He said it
was the first time he had made such a
request. They knew he was a brave
warrior, and he shook the bloody
trophies of his expedition aloft- A
long debate followed. Indian elo-
quence was for a time plentiful, but
at last, when the vote was taken,
Girty mad won and Kenton was free to
live.
Present at st. Clair's defeat, Girty
was far enough away when Mad An
thony Wayne struck destruction and
terror to savage hearts along the
Maumee in 1894 to escape to Canada,
where on a farm he spent the most
of his life, dying in 1918, near Nal
den.-Toledo Blade '