The Washington times., 1901-12-01
THE LAST OF THE
C0MMUNIPAWS.
BONES AND RELICS DISCOVERED.
Tribe That ROamed and Hunted
Where New York Now Stands
RecoIIcctions of the End
of the Race.

Several days ago a number of laborers,
who were excavating near one Of the big
oil tanks of the Standard Oil Company, on
Constable Hook, Bayonne, N. j., came
upon a quantity of arrowheads, toma-
hawks. and wampum beads about six feet
below the surface. Digging farther down
their picks laid bare a scattered heap of
fragments OF what, to all appearances,
were human bones.
This was not the first time that Indian
relics and ths bones of the warrior who
we're buried FULLY equipped for the happy
hunting grounds, have been dug up on
Constable Hook since the corporation
reared its city of oil tanks and factories.
though in the present instance the ex-
humed bones and relies were bttter pre-
served than those found on any previous
occasion. This might be accounted for,
however. by the peculiar quality of the
clay in which they were found.
Pathetic History.
The finding of a few Indian relics in a
place where 1t is known that several CEN
turies ago tribes of aborigines we're wont
to pitch their tents may not be matter
of unusual interest, but the real history
of the first settlers on Constable Hook
and the vivid contrast OF what the little
peninsula was then and what 1t is today
is full of real human interest, If not
pathos.
When the Dutch purchased Manhattan
Isle from branch of the Iroquois tribe,
a part of that tribe moved over to Con-
stable Hook and set up their wigwams on
the shores of the XIII Won Kull. The
chief of that branch tribe was known to
his people as COmmunipaw, and after his
death, in honor to his memory the tribe
called itself by that name, and by that
name is now known a part OF the city of
Bayonne When this little tribe settled
on Constable Hook it selected one Of the
garden spots in that section Of the coun-
try. The Kill Won Kuil, now reeking with
oil and az IDS, was then a swift-rushing in
let Of uD5ullied blue, teeming with fish,
and in tie fall wild game Of every spe-
cies was plentiful on both sides of the
stream.
A Peace Loving Tribe.
The Communipaws were a peace-loving
tribe, content with their wayingrGelds of
maize and the free range of country
overfiowing with game. They were on the
best of terms with their white 1sighbors
across the Hudson. and smoked many
pipes of peace in the quiet little lanes of
Manhattan.
Shortly after the Communipaws took up
their residence on the little peninsula
party OF Dutchmen, who resented the rule
of Peter Stuyvesant packed up their
household gear and with their wives and
children crossed the broad river, rounded
Constable Hook. and made their way up
the Kill Won Kull, until they had reached
A picturesque spot within mile of the
Indian settlement. Here they disembark-
ed from their broad skins and built them a
cozy little cluster OF cabins, laid out their
farms, and settled down to live free from
/ the strife and yanities of New Amsterdam.
To this tiny homestead they gave the name
| of Bergen. The name Of the founder of
/ this little Dutch settlement was Jan Won
/ Buskirt, and not many years ago his de-
I scendants owned the entire city of Bay
onne.
The Bergenites and the Communipaws
| lived on the best OF terms for nearly two
! generations, exchanging civilities in the
way OF gifts OF game and skins for odd bits
OF glass, beads, and gay colored ribbons.
The Final DissoIution.
! John Van Buskirk, an old man. who up
to few years ago was employed by the
| Standard Oil Company and who calls him
self descendant of the original founder
of Bergen. tells the story OF the final dis
/ solution OF the Communipaws and the
| gradual destruction Of one Of the most
| picturesque localities in this neighbor-
| hood This is his story:
:.gIen was lad of twelve am now
| fast rounding out four -score-an old
Indian squaw used to visit my fathers
house and spend several weeks at time.
] remember her distinctly, for she would
sit by the hreside for hours OF an even
| ing and tell US children stories of the old
| days on the Hook when the Communi-
| paws lived there, happy and undisturbed,
Many Of these stories we're OF ghosts OF
great 1roquoN rhieftains. who would fit
about the waters of the XIII Won Kull and
call upon the Communipaws to rise up
! in their might and destroy the white man
ere he swallowed them up and drove
them from their hunting grounds.
This old squaw, whose age might have
been anywhere from sixty 10 q hundred,
said she was descended from one of the
chiefs of the tribe that for many years