The advocate., 1897-09-15
An Indians Revenge.


Three miles west of the village the
level moorland rises into the hills of
ShinnecOck Southampton, L. I), so
named from the Indians who were the
original owners of all the lands. In 1903
the Shinnecock region was leased back
to the Indians by the settlers who had
previously purchased lands from the
tribe and was used as reservation until
1859, when the hills were sold to a local
corporation and the remnant Of the tribe
took up their abode ON the ShinnecOck
Neck, where they still live to the num-
Der of about 200. These are a mixture of
Indians and negro, the last full-bloOded
member of the tribe having died couple
of years ago. The women till the soil
and find employment among the cot
tagers and villagers, but the men hug
the shady side of the house or hill,
smoke, watch the women at work and
say nothing. They are silent and dis
trustful people. The government fur
nishes them with a schoolmaster and a
preacher but small influence they have
to win the Indian from his contempt of
labor, his pipe and his taciturnity. The
only thing taught him by the white man
for which he has liking is keen relish
for strong drink, and when in his cups
he is said to be an ugly creature. In
the main, however, the ShinnecOCks are
a silent and inOffensive people, gradu-
ally fading off the face Of the earth.
And yet life among them has not been
without it's strange, mysterious trage-
dies. At the close Of a summer day sew
enty odd years ago a small slOOp coming
from the northward anchored near the
shore of Peconic bay. The only persons
on the slOop who could be seen by the
Indians fishing close at hand were a
white man and negro. After darkness
had settled over the bay a light flickered
from the cabin windows of the slOOp, and
a voice, that of a woman, was raised in
merry song. In the early morning hours
a noise was heard in the direction of the
boat and a woman's screams flOated out
over the water. Then the listeners on
shore heard the sound of an anchor, and
little later in the early morning light
the slOOp was seen speeding out to sea.
Just before it disappeared man stand
ing in the stern threw something white
overheard Among the watchers on shore
was one Jim Turnbull, an Indian known
as the Water Serpent. After a time
Turnbull swan out to the white object
which was still floating on the water.
AS he drew nearer he saw it was the
body Of woman lying face downward.
When Turnbull turned the body over he
recognized the face at a glance. The
woman's throat had been cut and dag
ger thrust into her heart. The Indian
drew the woman's rings from her fin
gers, the dagger from her heart. Then
he conveyed the body to the beach and,
aided by his companions, buried it near
the head of Peconic bay.
The day following the woman's burial
the Water Serpent disappeared. He was
absent for several weeks, and when he
came back to his home in the SHINE
cock Hills gave no hint of his wander
ings. Years later, however, when he was
about to die, his lips opened and told
fearful story. During a winters storm
a few months before the murder in Pc
comic bay, the Water Serpent and several
other members Of his tribe had been
wrecked on the Connecticut shore. The