The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-19


sembIe to receive presents from the Brit.
lsh and where the ceremony could be
| witnessed by the assembled tribes.
so Kenton was prisoner again, and
was taken to Upper Sandusky with al
the tortures which had marked his other
| journey. On the way they met the great
chief Logan, who was always opposed to
brutalities of this kind, and with his as
sistance and that of some British officers,
VINO gave the Indians 500 worth of rum
and tobacco, Kenton's captors consented
that he be taken prisoner to Detroit and
| INTERCEPTED by the British commander
there.
AtDetroit Kenton passed the winter of
! us, and early in the spring he began TO
| mediate escepe, but the hazardous ma
ture of the enterprise for long time held
him back. In order to reach his friends
he would be compelled to travel nearly
four hundred miles through the heart of
the Indian country, where they would be
exposed to death in someforn1 at almost
every step. But he was not the man to
! be appalled, at danger, and finally he Sc
cured the aid Of Mrs. Harvey, the wife
of trader at the post.
Kenton was a man of fine appearance
and pleasing address, and he managed to
win the good wishes of the woman, who
secured him a rife and some ammuni-
ton, and on the first night of the Sd of
June 1779, he left the fort
Of the terrible journey through the
IA
said. He had dozen narrow escapes
from Indians suffered extremes of hun
ger and fatigue, and after a journey of
thirty-three days reached the falls of the
Ohio and found friends. 1t is doubtful if
this remarkable experience has ever been
duplicated in frontier history
One would suppose that Kenton had had
enough of Indian warfare, but he at once
plunged into it again. and led Clark's ex-
petition against the town of Chillicothe,
on the Little Miami. They surprised and
defeated the Indians. and destroyed a
vast quantity of grain and stores. Then
they RACED nearly all the Indian towns
on THE Miami and Scioto and the army
returned to Losantiville and disbanded
1t was not until 1S2 that Kenton heard
from his parents. He learned for the
first time that he had not killed Veach or
seriously injured. him, and. relieved from
this fear, he dropped the name of Simon
Butler which he had assumed and for
the first time since crossing the Alleghan-
les. was known by his real name.
He was one of the leading spirits Of
the famous expedition of George Rogers
Clark, and a year later returned to his
old home, finding his father and all the
family still living. He visited William
Veach, whom he had thought he had
killed, and they smoked the pipe of
peace together.
Kenton persuadedhis relatives to re-
turn with him to Kentucky. which they
did, his father. however, bying on the
way and being buried in an unmarked
grave on the Monongahela-
Several years of active life followed,
No expedition against the Indians was
considered complete unless It had Ken
ton to guide it. and he never failed to
answer the call. In 1894 he Joined
Waynes expedition, in command of a
detachment, and rendered distinguished
service.
be rich in Kentucky lands. but he was
soon involved in endless litigation, and
as he was unIettered. every possible ad-
vantage was taken of him until he was |
stripped of everything he possessed. !
Completely discouraged. he removed in /
1902 to Urbana, where he was elected |
brigadier general of militia. When the
war of 1872 broke out he was one OF the
first to volunteer. and Joined the Ken |
lucky troops under General Shelby as
Harrison into Canada. and played his
part in the battle OF the Moravian /
town.
IN 1870 he moved to Logan county. /
where a pension, secured for him by
friends. kept him from actual want in
his declining years. He died there in (
April. 1896.
In all the annals Of the Western coun-
try it would be difficult to find another
career like his The disappointment in
love which had driven him TO the West
cast a cloud over his entire life, and he
never married