The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-18
EARLY DAYS At NOBLESyILLE.
Interesting RecOlIectionS OF "a Former
Hamilton County Resident, Aged 81.

Interesting RecOIIections OF "a Former
Hamilton County Resident, Aged 81.
I was handed the indianapolis Journal a
few days ago, in which there was an arti-
Gle on the history and character Of William
Conner, who was a trader among the In
dams on White river when my father set
tied the Horseshoe prairie in the spring
of 1919 I was well acquainted with him
from that time until 1889, and 1 am sure
that article was not overdrawn. ] was at
his wedding when he was married to the
white woman by Justice of the Peace Halle
rig, who came from Connersville expressly
for that purpose. 1t took place about the
2eth of November 1890. He was at our
Fourth of July celebration that year. L
think [ could count all who were at that
celebration yet. My father lived by him in
1921, the rear of the last exodus of the In
dams. A part of them left in 1920 among
whom was Corners Indian wife. Conner
and Marshall divided up the proceeds of
their traffic with the Indians that year and
Marshall left with the Indians. When they
were dividing their money they would count
out two large piles of silver dollars and
have me turn my back, and one of them
have that?
That year old Major Wallace was living
with Conner. He had the contract for sur
veying the land in that county, but he
didn't do the work. being there Just then to
SEQ that it was well done. John Corners
son, half-breed Indian, came there from
Connersville and went with William
Marshall when the Indians left There was
also man there from Detroit, one Trow-
bridge, who was taking down the Indian
language as dictated by Mr.. Conner, or else
he was translating the Indian language to
the English 1 don't know which While
we were there l was playing in Corners
pasture and found silver-hilted dagger in
a silver-mounted scabbard. 1 showed it to
Conner and he said Governor Jennings lost
it there.
In the winter of 1924 some Indians came
from the Mississinnewa reservation and
camped near the falls of Fall creek to hunt
and trap through the winter. Six men
Harper, Hudson, Bridges and Sawyer and
son each of Bridges and Sawyer-went to
their camp when the men We're out hunting
and seeing to their traps and massacred the
women and children. We expected the In
dams would come down upon us for re-
Venge, but Conner went to them and pacified
them by telling them the murderers should
be hung. Harper, the leader made his es-
cape BY crossing the Ohio river into Ken
lucky. Hudson, Bridges and Sawyer were
hung and the Governor pardoned the two
young men on account of their youth-they
were seventeen or eighteen.
There was a negro living with an Indian
family in 1919, and they were frequently at
our house One day there was a crowd of
Indians there and when they left mothers
shoes were gone and none to be had nearer
than Connersville. That negro brought
them back to her. In the spring of 1870 he
went to work for Mr.. Conner. In the fall
a kentuckian came through there looking
at the country, saw the negro, went home
and got a writ and took MIN off for his
slave. The negro went off protesting he had
neJer been slave. He was a fine looking,
lntelllgent man, with nothing to indicate
that he had ever been in bondage.
have had good many articles sent me
on the subject OF the early settlement of
Hamilton county. The most of them were
more like fiction or Indian tradition rather
than reality One man said he knew No
blesYille when there We're but three or four
lndlan nuts in 1t. l knew it wnen there
had never been hut of any kind in it. and
caught wounded deer for an Indian with
our dogs just Il little north of where the
straWboard factory now is. Some speak of
the Indian village at Corners trading post
IL there ever had been a village there all
signs of it had been wiped out when we
lived there. There had been one about a
mile northwest of his post, but Harrison's
scouts wiped it out with fire, so that there
was nothing left but bottom log of hut
occasionally, a patch of bluegrass and the
cemetery which was close by.
There were three proprietors of the town
OF Noblesville-Conner, Polk and Keyser.
That is the way / assessed the town when
L assessed the county in 1885. John Conner
was no such man William. My father
ana brother-in-law dug the mill race for
m Es.1
they came to level it 1t was but little over
half done. They were both broken up and
could not finish it. and he never paid them
anything, only what they took up as they
went along with their work. William
would not have done that. l lived with Mr..
William Conner nine months, and it was
one OF the plumbers of my life when / left
him. de had a great many books and read
a great deal, and had free access to them,
which was great treat to me, as 1 had
not been used to before [ went there, for
books We're scarce there in those days.
The name of the chief of the Miams when
we went TO the Horseshoe prairie was Rich
ardVllle, French and Indian half-breed.
When L came here to Kansas there were
some Indians here. and ones name was
Rlchardyille. He said he was a great-great-
grandson of that chief He was an educated
man and Baptist preacher. He and all the
rest or them soon went TO the Territory
but he is in Washington most Of his time
attending to business for the Indians In
the spring of 1881 a keelboat came up to
Corners for corn. as he had raised q large
CIOp JHE year before on MS prairie farm.
The first settlement made at Strawtown
was in 1920. One mans name was Shinto-
pher, one Fisher. ShintOpher was selling
whisky to the Indians. One went there one
day and got little too much. anG they got
into a muss. Shintopher threw him on the
fire and burned him so badly he died. A few
days after that several men were at Fish
erS grinding their axes when the Indians
made a raid on them and Fisher and one
Indian was killed That night Shintopher
loaded all his plumber in a canoe and
started down the river and was never
heard of again. The kind of corn raised by
the Indians was not such as is raised these
times; there were two varieties of it one a
deep blue, the other white, with a tinge Of
yellow. Both varieties had q broad, shallow
grain and very hard stem to break When
they wanted to move it any distance they
would strip nearly all the shucks off the
stem, then plat three ears together filling
in others until they had a long string Of it
plated together; this they would throw
across a pOny's back and carry with
them on long tramps through the wilder
ness. When they were digging the milIrace
they found a bed of potters ware, or place
where it had been made, about one or one
and half feet below the surface of the
earth. Tt seemed as though il had just been
dried in the sun like the Mexican adobes
The place where it was found is about half
between WhqFa the race leaves no y-iy-