The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-09-05
GiRIY,S GRAVE.
The PcucyaLc'. Rcsting Place fou'id
oua River Island.

In the early part Of The present ""n-
iarv. when the Indians of the great
Northwest territory We're giving Inc
,~;nIcYnment so much trouble. and the
sturdy ~nionrer> who had boldly pushed
their wlr into the forests Of northern
OHIO and planted their log cabins along
the numerous streams, were colhi'rli'd
+, carry their muSkri> into the fields TO
project themselves from tn" attacks ol
rowing saya@cS. Il band OF murder"tl'
~r,ur~alrS from the Delaware. ottawa
ard Seneca tribes. who were led by thc
notorious Simon Girty. infested me
Maumcc valley and for years terrorlz"d
the settlers by their bold robberieS ana
mur,lcrunS assaults without revealing
their rendezvous.
shortly after or about the time of tn"
war "f 1872. Simon Giriy. With ms
mother George. was sent int" northern
ohio from their hom" in pennsylvania
to conduct Government trading posts.
of George Girty but little is known con-
corning his life in the Northwest. II
il is fair to suppose thal ne renamed
true so the trust COntidru 10 MN. Dul
not So of simon Girty. OF whom. al
though history nas littlc to say. there
still live many legends relating nliil"r-
ouS deeds of murder and pilla%" perT"-
tratcd by himself ANA his band of blood
thirsty followers. Many times GirtyS
band of red devils were followed to the
banks of the Maum"o river about
twelve miles below Defiance. O.. but
here all trace of them WAS lost. 1h"y
diSappcarcd as suddenly and mySteri-
ously as though the earth had opened
and swallowed them.
1t finally became "A general belief.
however. that the band of land piratea
had n hiding place some place ON an
island in the river near the spot Wler"
they had SO Frequently bafllcd their pur-
SllerS. and the island WAS given the
name of "Girty'S" island. which name
ii still retains. This island is about liW
yards wide and :i~ long. aud is Covered
by II heavy growth of forest. On tn"
western end tn" ground is high and
slopes gradually to the waters edge
AT the east.
Their" iS Il legend which says that at
one time Girty captured i: white girl
from one of the numerous settlements
along the river and carried her Ia ,l.-
island. which h" had fortified with It
cannon secured while he WAS Yet Il
Government agent. The legend ALSO
,,1ntoS thnt ;h. S,tIl,rS liS.nknr,i rho
hiding place of the band. and. with the
assistance of some troops. gave tiirty
battle and forced lli!il Ia run The can.
non off the poinI into the river Ia pre-
vent It's being captured. Many Of his
band We're killed in this encounter. iUt
nothing could be found of the whit"
girl. Girty or any of the survivors. VIII"
disappeared Just as il became evident
the battle was against thcm and they
had no escape.
About two years ago State Canal
Commissioner UartWell came to Den
ance and sold Girty'S island. together
with two smaller ones. to Mr.. w. IL.
KEENAN,. The island is 1T one Of the
most picturesque bends in the Maui
NEE river and recently Mr.. KEENAN, de-
cided to build a summer residence on
the high position of Girty'S island. He
set Il number of men to work to make
an excavation. for Il cellar. The men
had almost completed their work when
the ground on which they We're stand
ing gave way and they were precipitat-
al intn "a lnrun covnpr, ~. rnn,, cn,,n
twenty feet deep and fifty feet square.
James Ferguson. IL of the workmpn,
had his left arm fractured by the fall,
but the others escaped uninjured.
AS soon as they had recovered from
their asiOnishment they set about to
explore their strange abode. They
found that the walls Of the room were
lined with cedar logs. which were still
in a fair state of preservation.
In II corner OF the Don they found
the bones of n score of men. Besides
the bones, which were badly decayed.
they found countless arrow heads, tom
ahaWkS. SpearheadS and the remains Of
Il dozen muSkctS. There was also Il
badly decayed spinning wheel and some
pieces of furniture. together with num-
erous pieces of broken ~earthenware.
Beneath a pile of this ~earthenware they
found IA box about a foot square which
had been hcwed II of solid oak. The
We to this box was fastened secure
~ with flint arrow heads. In the box
were found four Spanish doubloons.
some fifty pieces of English money Of
various denominations. six silver spurs.
tire" >ilver-mountrd pistols ami num-
o trinketS.
HI" find has created quite Il SenSa-
ton. and it Is believed that ut last the