The Van Buren press., 1897-12-18
BAD INDIANS OF ONEIDA.
Record of Old Abe Antoine and Fam
lily in the Early Days of New York.


"They hanged old Antoine and I'll give
'em a chance to hang me some day!
yelled Alexander Antoine, as Officer Will
cox, Of Oneida, dragged him into the
police station the other day. II murder
you before long, do you hear?' he
shrieked again and again as the officer
eXasperatingly paid no attention to his
rawlings, but calmly dragged the red
man to a cell As the heavy iron door
closed with a crash he broke out again
like a maniac, shrieking blood-curdling
threats and curses.
Alexander Antoine, says the Oneida
Union, boasts that he is the grandson
of Abram Antoine, one of the fiercest
savages ever known in this vicinity.
Abram was born on the banks of the Sus-
quehanna in 1850. His father was a
Stocllbridge Indian and his mother was
the daughter of an Oneida chief. When
one reviews the life and bloodthirsty
deeds of the offspring of this pair, one
cannot wonder at the savage instincts
which show in the blood of his progeny.
.
Indian who distributed government al
lowances to the Indians. He claimed he
had been defrauded. He met the
agent at Chenango Point, at the raising
of an Indian house, and at the feast,
after the work had been done, deliber-
ately shot the man through the heart
and calmly walked away. Nothing was
done toward bringing him to justice.
| His most atrocious deed was the muir
der of an infant child. He came home
one day and found the baby crying. He
was in an ugly mood and seized the
child from its mothers arms, raked
back the bed of Goals, and buried the
| infant in the flames of the fireplace.
During his career he lived in Canada for
some years. A white man insulted a
squaw there and Abram resented it. He
was struck across the face by the white
man. His blood boiled, and from that
he followed his enemy until he had an
opportunity to plunge knife into his
heart in a hotel bedroom. In or about
! 1910 Abrams daughter Mary received
attentions for time from n young In
dian in this county. He transferred his
| favors soon, however, to another dusky
damsel and married her. Mary killed
her rival, for which she was arrested,
tried, convicted and hanged. One John
Jacobs, a half-breed, had been a witness
against her and Abram considered him
the cause of her death. He swore to
! kill him and Jacobs fed, and returned
only when Abram sent him worC that he
would not molest him. He was hoeing
corn in field with others one day when
Abram approached, shaking hands with
each. AS he approached Jacobs he
said "How dye do, brother? and
drawing a knife from his left sleeve
plunged it three times into the mans
body. Abram got away and then began
life of many narrow escapes from Of
fcers of the law He had wigwam in
what is now the town of Sherburne, and
where two whites found him one day
peacefully making broom. He waited,
rs they advanced to capture him, until
! they were close at hand, and then point
ed his rifle suddenly and ordered them
away. They went, and later Abram
used to laugh as he told the story and
emphatically boasted that his gun was
empty. lie grew bolder as time went on
and used openly to enter villages and
towns with apparently no fear of being
taken. At last one in whom he had con-
fidence betrayed him. He was iHduced
TO enter a trial of skill at shooting, and
when his rifle was empty officers seized
and captured him. lie was hanged in
public at Morrisvlle on Friday, Septem-
| her 70. 1S93-I1tica Observer.