The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-07
CENTURY OLD VENDETTA
KATE CLUM THE LAST OF MANY
WHITE GIRLS TAKEN BY NEGROES.
Giant HaIf-Caste MOndOrcs Who Have
infested Two New York COunties
for "a Hundred Years.
Grand Gorge On. Y) Dispatch to New
YnrIr In1Irnal

Grand. Gorge On. YO Dispatch to New
York Journal
The abduction of Kate Clum, the golden
haired mountain girl, by the Mondore ne
groes has brought to light story of hate
and of romance. 1t is story of ven
detta-a vendetta against white women.
This vendetta had it's beginning a century
ago. 1t will have is ending when a new
race of men is established-a race which is
just laying it's foundation, and which, if
fate deals kindly, its founders hope will
conquer, by right of numbers. all the noun
famous districts in Greene and Delaware
counties
1t has also been discovered that it was
not an inspiration Of love which prompted
the Mondores to steal, and then, in the use
of drug to marry little Kate Clum to
Henry Mondore, who was one of a dozen
strong sons, and a favorite in the band. 1t
was to carry out a family tradition, and
VOW made one hundred years ago by the
father of the tribe, that each of his male
descendants should. take a white woman
to wife.
This vow has been carried out to the let
ter, with one exception and this exception
is now ostracized by his family. His broth
ers and cousins look upon him as an out
cast, and in the big Mondore cabin, which
frowns down from the highest point on
''Nigger HILL" he is no longer a welcome
visitor.
1t was joel Mondore who made this VOW.
He was born 125 years ago in the noun
tains near the little town now known as
Prattsvile. He was half-caste, his mother
being a white woman and his father slave,
owned by his mothers husband, a well-to-
do farmer
He could not be slave as was his father.
Only children of negro women could be
made slaves. He was free.
This Mondore grew to tremendous size.
Tradition says that his height was six feet
eight inches, and that he tipped the scales
at 275 pounds.
Straight of limb and strong as an OK, he
was the picture of physical beauty, but he
was Stunned by the whites on account of
his color and his birth. Despising the So
ciety of his fathers race, he soon grew to
be a recuse. He took to the most lonely
parts of the mountains. He liked the hills
and the wild forests for his companions.
of all books and learning, and as his huge
stature grew his hatred for both white and
co3red people grew IN pr FS ho world
particularly toward white women. Was not
his mother a white woman. and We're not
her people the first to cast him off?
For years this lonely half-breed wandered
through the mountains Often he was not
seen for months at time, and then he
furs and game for ammunition.
When Mondore was q man Of thirty he
thought to take unto himself VINE. he
could not marry white woman he knew,
and he certainly would not marry negresS:
If white people were above him in a social
degree, then he was above negroes at least
half q degree. He would not marry at all,
he concluded, and continued TO live apart
from humanity, asking quarter or no man
and giving quarter to none. About this time
the revolutionary war was raging. Mondore
did not go to the war. 1t mattered little to
him which side came out victorious.
TOOK AN INDIAN WIFE.
It was while hunting in the Catskills
that Joel came across a band of rowing
Indians. Among them was a squaw. The
lonely half-caste took her to wife, with the
idea that he would establish a race of his
own.
When he married the woman he made a
vow that all his descendants should marry
white women. He would bring disgrace
upon the whites as the whites had brought
disgrace upon him. lie built a hut on the
very highest point OF the mountain. now
known as "Nigger HILL" and there he and
his wife continued to live, seeing no one
and caring to see no ole
Seven sons were born to the Mondores
The first was Horace, the second Charles,
and then came Jedutha, Joel, Henry, Alon-
20 and Ransom
These boys grew up in the mountains
and as the family increased in size the
hut was added to with an extra room here
and there. Their associations were with
each other entirely, and, like their father
and mother, their education came from the
trees and birds, and wild animals.
father and the cunning of their Indian
mother. From him they got size, strength
and activity, and from her they got en-
durance. No cliff was too steep for them
to climb, and no mountain, goat or deer
could go in safety where they could not
Their color was peculiar shade between
hrn nd rod OF
piercing and small. were set close together
and their hair, like their mothers. was
straight and wiry.
The strongest one mentally and the weak,
est physically of these seven sons was
Horace, the eldest. Early in boyhood he
would have been considered witchcraft BY
a look from his piercing black eyes or a
gesture he could make others do his bid
When the seven sons had about reached
manhood the father called them to him
been heaped upon him by his own mothers
race, and from each son he extracted
promise that he would never wed any other
than white woman. The mountains We're
by this time getting somewhat settled
There were growing towns in the valleys
and there were numerous young white wom-
en- to be found, but the Mondore men real
lied that these young women would none
of them, from her own free will, marry one
of them. Horace, the poWerful-eyed ana
wise as he was known to his brothers.
would solve this.
girl living on farm some miles from Mig
ger HILL" was stolen from her home. High
and low the neighbors and grieved parents
searched for her before she was found in
the Mondore hut. Her little white frock
had been cast aside. and in it's stead was
coarse dress made of bagging. Her gentle
manners were changed and she talked In
the mountain and negro dialect afected by
her abductors She had been married to
Joel Mondore on the night of her capture,
and II is said that she had never seen him
before For a year Harriet lived with the
Mondores, dying at the birth or her nrst
o'A-' WHITE WOMEN CONTENT
few weeks after ISarriett's death Mary
Tyley. a young white girl living at Rox-
hurry. was missed from her home. She
too was married to Joel on the night she
was carried away from her fathers house
nv Horace. and weeks later was found in
the hut on "Nigger HILL She was said
not to have known any members of the
Mondore family until the night she was
abducted but, strange to say, she declared
when found that she was satisfied, and as
che wss of manageable age and refused
to leave her dark-skinned husband, ner
family cast her OF.
Polly Merwin was the next young white
girl to be taken to the Mondore hut Her
Rome was in Prattsville, and on the night
Horace called for her she accompanied MN,
ciimhinps ont of her bedroom window. Be
fore morning she was made the wire OF
Ransom, xa 4,o44z