The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-04-20
THE WYOMING MASSACRE.

play has been given in England In the
English language.
THE WYOMING MASSACRE.
Rev. Horace L. lIayden's Little Brochure
Recognized as Making Important Addi.
tions to the History of This Pcrcnnially
Interesting Theme.
| From the Rochester ost-Express.
Some very important additions to the
| history of the massacre of Wyoming
are made by the Rev. Horace Edwin
| Hayden. of Wilkes-Barr Pa, the cor
responding secretary of the Wyoming
| Historical and Geological society. In a
pamphlet Of hundred pages he pub
fishes the acts of congress relative to
the defence of the town of Westmore-
land-the first publication of these acts
! since 1900; he reprints the petitions to
congress of the sufferers and survivors
of the massacre, which are to be found
only In the very rare congressional doc
uments of 1898 and 1889, and he gives,
among other documents, the affidavits
of 1889 of the survivors of the massacre
| nearly twenty prominent and we'll
known residents of Wyoming, which, it
appears, were accessible to only Stone
and Miner among the many historians
of the Revolutionary period.
But by far the most important Of the
Rev. DR.. Hayden's contributions to his
| tory is the curious document, a certifi-
| cate of protection, which Major John
Butler, the commander of the Tories.
and Kayingwaurto, the commander of
the Indians, gave to Lieutenant Elisha
Scovell. who had been in command of
Fort Wintermoot and was compelled to
surrender it. Scovell was patriot and
| a brave soldier, but the Wintermoots
and others in the fort were Tories. and
the fort was given up to Butler, July J.,
177S, through their treachery. On
July 5. three days before Buffers re-
tirement from the valley, the following
document was issued:
Westmoreland, 9Th July, 177S.
| This doth hereby certify that Lieutenant
| Elisha Scovell has Surrendered his Garri-
| son with all his people to Government
| and to remain as Neuteral during this
present contest with Great Britain and
America, on consideration of which Col
onel John Butler Superintendent Of the Six
Nations of Indians their Allies etc., with
! Kayingwaurto the Chief Of the Sanake
Nation and the other Chief Warriors of
| the Six Nations do promise that they shall
| live in the quiet possession of their places
| with their Families and shall be daily pro-
tected from insult as far as lies in their
| Power and provided they should be taken
| 1t Is our desire that they may forthwith be
| Released.
| (SeaD John Butler.
CA Turtle) Kayingwaurto.
This unique, valuable, and In some re-
spects remarkable document was pre-
sented by j. r. Simms, the historian of
| the Mohawk region, though Charles
Miner, the historian Of Wyoming, to the
Historical society Of Pennsylvania, May
81, 1S47. 1t was found in Mr.. Miners $
| papers long after his death: indeed,
after the death of his son, William p.
Miner. so that Its existence was doubt
less unknown to the latter.
Joseph Brant vindicated.
Until within the last few years 1t was
quite generally supposed that the COM
mander of the Indians at the massacre
Of Wyoming was Joseph Brant. But no
one supposes so now. In 1885 George s.
Conover, of Geneva, published pamph-
let In which he reviewed the claim
that Sayenqush'aghta, known to the
whites as Old King or Old Smoke, was
the leader. Mr.. Conover thought the
claim did not rest on good basis. But
he continued his Investigations, discov-
| erred
vinced that Old King was actually the
leader of the Indians at the massacre.
In November. 1886, he published these
documents IN supplement to his
pamphlet. Mr.. Conover knew in 1886 of
the utler-Kayingwaurto certificate
which we have printed above but did
not think then that 'Kaylngwaurto,"
although similar to "Gienguahto,' -
could have reference to Old King. He
thought that as Colonel Butler knew
the name of the principal Seneca war
chief was Sayenqueraghta he would not
have written 1t Kayingwaurto. But II
is believed now that Kayngwaurto and
Sayenqueraghta were but different
ways of spelling the Indian name of Old
King. In a letter to the Rev. Dr.
Hayden under date of February 13, 1896
Mr. Conover says: From the great
mass Of conclusive evidence that Old
| King was the Indian leader at Wyo-
ming, and with all the knowledge that
we now have 1t Is evident TO my mind
| that Kayingwaurto was in fact Old
King. 1t cannot be otherwise
Confirming Evidence.
The same conclusion is expressed in
the following letter which also contains
some scholarly observations on the
| spelling and pronunciation of Indian
names:
Buffalo, February 8, 1895.
My Dear Sr--I have your favor Of the Isl
instant touching the name Of the Indian
chief Joined with that Of Colonel Butler
in an ancient protection certificate. have
no doubt II Is that Of the Old King who al
the time was the pronounced leader and
chief Of the Iroquois warriors, not ever
excepting Brant. He was one Of Natures
great men. His name varies In its etymol
ogy; in our old treaties II IL rendered, Kay
an-der-en-qua; Kayinguaraghtoh; Cagen
quarichton; Kajugariciten; Sayenque
raghta; Sayengargagta, etc., etc. The
final syllables In your word, "waurto,' ;
are supposed to represent 'raghta." that
Is "Sayengaraghta," In which way the
word Is usually rendered.
Indian words are usually badly manglet
by the official Interpreter The Iroquol,
dialects are written phonetically general
ly. and sometimes with the French alpha
bet to represent nasal and gutteral words
| which defy the powers of our English al
phabet. The letters X and r and q ant
w are frequently lnterchanged Then tht
Indians frequently clip or abridge theiI