The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-07

| rifled to see the pretty organist in the em-.
| braces of the negro Charles. With the
| young people was the old minister and be-
| fore them all he cast of his adopted daugh-
| ter, crying bitterly as she was led away to
Niger HILL" She shortly afterwards be-
came the wife of Charles Mondore.
| Horace Mondore is never known to have
married. He went from village to village
| and from house to house. and wherever he
| to suffer. He is said to have been a man of
/ few words, and from his hang-dog manner
ana tlmlq, almost coWardly, appearance no
one would have suspected him to be the
| scorndrel he proved himself.
| In the meantime the Mondore band was
| growing. The white wives of the young
men each became the mother of family.
AS each stole his wife and brought her
| home to live another room was tackled on
TO the cabin, until the old place spread out
| like barracks in the clearing at the top
| of ''Nigger HILL" So notorious had become
| the name of Mondore. that mothers heard
| 1t with shudder and pressed their babes
| closer to their breasts. A younger genera
| ton of the Mondores was coming on, and
who knew but what the VOW of old Joel
| Mondore was to be extended and the VEN
| delta carried on with it.
| VENDETTA IN FULL SWING.
| 1t was nearly forty years ago that the
first attacks on property were committed
| by a Mondore. Stores and houses were
entered and robbed, and when an investiga-
| ton was begun the thieving was traced to
| Charles Mondore, the man who had mar
| ried the pretty organst. He was also ac-
cused of embezzling funds which he had by
false representation collected for a church
| With these charges against him Charles
was arrested after a long chase and weeks
| of hiding in the mountains, which no one
knew as he and his brothers did. He was
| sent to states prison for two years. Never
| before, and, it may be added never since,
has a Mondore's honesty been questioned.
| They looked upon petty stealing as beneath
/ them.
The arrest Of Charles greatly incensed
| old Joel Mondore. Calling his powerful
| sons about him, he told them that it was
| time the world realized the strength of his
brood. He suggested a fight with the
whites to prove this.
| 1t was Christmas night. A corn husking
Bee t was being given by the farmers of
rushed a half dozen great, strong, dark
skinned men, headed by Joel Mondore.
Each of his sons carried a large club, and
| as they brandished the weapons about their
| heads they gave vent to wild shrieks,
| which echoed and re-echoed through the
followed is best told by one Of the old
residents of Grand Gorge a man who is
| now past seventy and who was in the fight
| and Who helped to subdue the negroes
We had just finished gay song" said
| the old man when the negroes came down
upon us. They yelled like Indians. At first
| we thought them drunk, but they had
| look about them that was more ferocious
than the looks of drunken men. Old Mon
| was over eighty-five years old, but he
| fought like a demon. His long gray hair
and beard hung to his waist and he looked
| like a mailman, his herculean form tower
| ing above that of his tallest son. The one
| hundred or more white men at the corn
bee fell back for an instant and the young
girls with us ran away screaming.
quickly the whites got together and
then the fight began in earnest. In spite
drive back that band of giants. Then some
one IN our crowd fired a pistol and this
frightened them They fell back and ran
Ing in the retreat as he had led in the adj
vance"
After that the Mondores were let we'll
alone, and they and their white wives lived
more to themselves than ever continuing
to raise their children in wildness and g-
norance of all laws except those set down
by their old grandfather. Joel died of old
age several years after. the fight at the
Joel Mondore the second was the father
of number of children. To him were
born Joel the third Matthew, RANSOM r.
win and several daughters.
HANDING DOWN THE VENDETTA.
Old Joel Mondore did not fail to instruct
his sons to carry out the vendetta. He
told them by doing their names would
go down to posterity and that in time there
would be a race of Mondores bigger and
stronger than any race in the world. BY
marrying and intermarrying with white
women the negro would become extinct,
but the negro hardihood would remain and
the endurance of the Indian mother would
go down from generation to generation.
Matt, the second son of Joel the second,
was the first of the third generation to
marry white woman. He went to the
war, leaving the family home in charge
of his brothers and cousins He was some
what lighter skinned than the rest of his
family, and while in the South with the
army he palmed himself off as white man.
of md xyhn
educated, he was attractive to look at, so
tall and straight was his figure and so
black and piercing were his eyes.
A. young white woman saw him and fell
in love with him., and after the war he
brought her to his home: Once in the rough
hut the woman saw that she had been
duped. HoraceS powerful eyed uncle had
died and there was no one to hypDotiZe her
into contentment One night by dint of
cunning the woman escaped from the house
and fled to the mountains. She was never
heard of afterward
self off as white man, returning a second
time to his home with white bride She
cessor, she made her escape
Joel, MATHS brother, married Mary Hines,
a young girl of Prattsville: She was miss
ing. from her home one night, and gossip
had it that she had elOped with JOEL Some
persons close to the Hines family said that
She was abducted and taken to the hut.
she preferred remaining at the hut to fac
ing her family and friends.
Strong, of Roxbury, and few weeks after
ward Irwin, the only unmarried son; mar
ried Elma Harris of Roxbury. Both girls
were found next day in the Mondores' hut
Neither had known the negroes until the
night of their disappearance from home.
and it is now said that it was more of an
abduction than an elopement.
NO PLACE FOR DAUGHTERS.
The children of Ransom Mondore and
Mary Strong were Edward, Jedutha, Henry,
Omar Osmond and several daughters, in
GLIDING Anna and Mary, the two women
implicated in the abduction of Kate Clum.
The daughters did not figure in the ven
delta handed down from old Joel Mondore.
They had not the power to marry white
men, and as soon as they arrived at a
working age they went out into the world
to make their own lvings as best they
could, thereby making more room in the
hut for the men who were to carry out the
vows Of their forefatherS
AlOnZO and Mary Proper had no sons who
lived for any length of time, but had sew
eral daughters who are now scattered over
the world no one knows and no one cares
where. Jedutha and Elma Fairchild had
one son. He is now accused Of aiding in
the abduction of Kate Clum.
While the sons of Joel were marrying,
their big counSinS were also seeking out
wives. Edward the son of Ransom, was
the first one who violated the vendetta of