The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-08-21
"REMINISCENCES
Of Captain Tissue.

VI captain Tissue.
r EDITOR HERALD Mr.. "Nixfer
, stay" disagrees somewhat with the wri
ter in regard to the origin of the nam'
"keyser's Ridge" and in an inspire,
) moment his poetic vision scars back
ward and in his minds eye he sees aT
educated German, who in the excess o
his overiiowing patriotism calls il
''Kaiser's," or more properly Caesars
Ridge" Now this would all be very
fine, and as beautiful as fine, if it were
so; but unfortunately for 'Nixferstay':
theory, man named Keyscr did live
there, and is so little known to fam,
and posterity that NJ one can tell
"where he is at" or even where lac
went from there. The average Ger
man emigrant, while patriotic enough
for all practical purposes, and while
making substantial freeman in this
great country, and with a great posi-
ble future for his posterity, which is
shown by the solid men and grand wo-
men of German extraction all over our
land, would hardly be expected AT that
early day to originate name 81
permeated with poetic efliIsiveness.
Then "Mr. Dicher Ben" makes some
assertions about Capt. Tissues progeny
that will not bear the light of investi-
CATION. Isaac Tissue, father of Mr..
a. y. Tissue, was not grandson of
Capt Tissue, Mr.. "Dicher Ben" and
the History of Somerset County to the
contrary Notwithstanding, but a son by
his second wife. BY his first wife, who
was most likely German, as was the
Captain, or at least of German extrac-
ton, the Captain had three children,
the two little boys, as the writer stated,
and 4 small baby. In the hurry of pre-
pairing the paper referred to the writer
forgot to say anything about the fate of
| this child. In the confession which
the German made to Captain Tissue
after his capture, he stated that after
he had killed the Captains wife, cut up
the body and put it under the floor as
stated, set fire to the house and with
the two little boys had gone to the hay
NOW, he remembered the baby in the
cradle. Leaving the boys in the hay
NOW or barn he went back to tine house,
which 10y this time was in flames, in
tending to bring the baby to the barn
also; but when he got to the house and
looked through the window, the child
had climbed out of the cradle and was
creeping under the bed. Just then the
roof and ceiling fell in, and, of course
all was over. This statement from be-
ginning to end is substantially true, as
Capt. Tissue was friend and acquaint-
ance of the writer's father, who has
given the particulars to the writer a
great many times.
The writer can not tell who Jacob
Tissue was, but he was not Isaac lis
sues father. The little bows lived IN
be pretty old men, but they were prac-
tically idiots, presumably from the hOr-
rible sight witnessed in their youth
at the butchery oftheir mother.
Burgess Welfey, in recent conver-
sation with the writer, said he had
been informed 10y his uncle-Israel
Welhey-that the murderer had cut the
boys tongues in such way rs to pre-
vent them from talking plainly. This,
however, is hardly probable, as the
writer's father would have spoken Of
il ; and besides, the reasons above Civ
en- would seem to be sufficient.
Capt. Tissue was in the revolutionary
army when this murder occurred and
was i'm the war afterwards. He was
not married the second time until some
years after the war. Jacob Tissue was
most likely an elder brother of Isaac's,
but he was not his father.
The German did not live long after
his incarceration in the Bedford Jail.
At this late day there is no way, 50 far
as the writer knows, of verifying the
length of time he lived, or the possible
Captain Tissue on the way TO the Jail,
since there was no one with them
Neither is there any way now To aseer-
tain the exact date of the murder but
of two things "Dicher Ben" can rest
assured that Capt. Tissue was in the
war at the time, and afterwards. IL i
quite likely that "Dicher Ben" Is cor
rect as To the date of Isaac Tissues
birth, as the writer's father was some
years younger, and he was born in
1896. "Dicher Benz is most likely,
and the writer thinks certainly in error
about Isaac Tissue being born in Elk
Lick, unless indeed the whole southern
part of the county was called Elk Lick.
If "Dicher Ben" is correct about the
maiden name of Capt. Tissues second
wife, then, the presumption, Is that
he was born somewhere i'll Tur-
keyfoot, probably on the very far m on
which he died and where he always
| lived. Isaac Tissue had brothers, one
of whom was n great fighter; and
Isaac himself was no slouch when it
came to knock down argument. The
name Tissue as variously angliciZed Il
now usually spelled as the writer has
been spelling it, but the German spell
ling of course W ould be somewhat diff
ferent. Why 'Dicher Ben" should
make the assertion that the name is of
English and not of German extraction
is beyond the writer's ken. IL is Ger
man all over and all through, and the
Captain, if not absolutely born in Ger
many, of which there can be very little
doubt, was born of German parents.
He may not have been 80 poetic in his
nature as "Nixfurstay's" German OF
Keyser's Ridge, but he was a plain
every day, patriotic, liberty-loving
man.
The history of Somerset County says
"a man named Tissue, who probably
came from New Jersey, was the first
settler on the lands where Confluence
now stands.r This is incorrect, as the
record shows that all the lands ther,