Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-28
A DAUNTLESS WOMAN
Monument Erected to Mary
Draper IngIes.
HER ESCAPE FROM INDIANS
Journey Of Eight Hundred Miles
Through Wilderness.
MEMORABLE OF MARIA MITCHELL
Fame Won as Astronomer and Edu-
misunderstanding Erected in
Her Honor at Nantucket.

Her Honor at Nantucket.
i BY WILLIAM T.. CURTIS.
/ Written for The Star ard the Chicago Record
I Herald.
| Another monument was erected in honor
If an American woman last September
1t stands in Fairview cemetery at Rad
| ford, Montgomery county. Va. and was
| unveiled September 10, by Mary Draper
| lngles. a great Observation-Disclosures of a
noble woman. whose name she bears,
while the children of the public schools
| sang America
| Mary Draper lng!es was the first white
bride married west of the Allegheny
mountains, and one of the bravest hero
ines of pioneer history She was born in
| Philadelphia in 1872. her parents, George
and Eleanor Draper, emigratinG from Ire
| and the previous year. When she was
eight years old they passed into the
valley or Virginia, where she grew to
| womanhood, strong and vigorous. Tradi-
! ton says that "she could leap ditch
| or fence as readily as her brother. jump
| straight up almost as high as her head. or
| spring into her saddle from the ground I'M
| aided This physical training made pos
| sible the terrible journey, rev years
| later, in which her life was at stake and
| her woman'S strength was pitted against
| the most terrific odds.
| AT sixteen with her mother and brother
| Mary Draper went to southwest Vir-
| gnia and with other pioneers formed
the little hamlet of Diapers Meadows
| which was the first white settlement west
| of the Allegheny mountains. 1t stood
| where the town of Blacksburg and
Virginia Polytechnic Institute now stands
i bo Thomas TnOtpS
with his three sons, William, Matthew
and John. He had been a wealthy mer-
chant of London. trading in his own ships
extensively with foreign countries, but
| his property being confiscated for political
offenses. he came to America to build
home in the wilderness.
Capture of Mrs. Ingles.
| Five years passed. Everybody was pros
porous and the Indians friendly, until
suddenly, on the Sth of August, 1855, the
day before Braddock's defeat, a party of
Shewanees from beyond the Ohio fell
upon the settlement, burning the build
ings and killing. wounding or captur-
ing every soul present. Mrs. 1ngles, after
seeing her mother tomahawked. was car
red into captivity beyond the Ohio, with
her two small children, Thomas and
George. her sster-in-law Mrs. John
Draper. and other settlers. On reaching
the village of the SheWaneeS, a month
later, the prisoners were divided, Thomas
being sent to Detroit George into the in
terror and Mrs. Ingles to Big Bone Lick.
Boone county, KY, TO assist in making
salt for the tribe.
1t was terrible grief TO Mrs. Ingles
that her helpless children We're torn from
her. She was alone with savage men
save for an old Dutch woman captured
in Observation-Disclosures of miles from
other white people. To try to escape
seemed to invite almost certain death.
but she preferred death to the fate that
awaited her. and the brave-hearted young
wife determined to make the attempt
Rather than be left alone with the In
dams the old Dutch woman at last
agreed to accompany Mrs. 1ngles. though
| she pleaded with her not to undertake
| so perilouS d journey. There We're no
roads, no guides: death by starvation
| and exposure by wild beasts and wild
Indians menaced them on every hand, but
the two women. each with a tomahaWk
and blanket, turned their faces home
ward.
A Toilsome Journey.
They followed the Ohio river, subsisting
| on grapes, nuts and berries. Opposite
the mouth of the Scioto river they mar
rowly escaped capture by party of In
dian hunters On reaching the Big San
| dy it was necessary to travel up stream
| until they could wade across, then to re-
| river that barred their path required the
same detour, which almost doubled the
distance of the journey.
| Meanwhile the weather grew cold and
| they suffered much from exposure. Their
clothing was torn into shreds. Their
moccasins had long since fallen from
their feet. They silent under shelving
rocks and in hollow logs, and when
grapes and nuts could not be found they
were often driven by hunger to pull up
shrubs and chew such as had tender
/ bark on their roots. They were so weak
| they could hardly walk. and the way
| grew constantly more rough. How they
passed the Grand Canyon of New river
with it's huge precipices of stone jutting
| into the stream its towering walls. huge
| boulders and avalanches of debris Will
| always remain a mystery to those who
have traverSed this rugged gorge from
Gauley to Greenbrier.
The old Dutch woman threatened to
kill Mrs. Ingles. whom she blamed for
| her terrible plight, and just after pass
ing Indian creek attempted TO put her
threat into execution. But Mrs. Ingles,
escaping her clutches after a desperate
struggle, hid under the river bank, and
later finding deserted canoe managed
| 10 put the river between them The rest
! of the journey was made alone. At
| last she found herself at Anvil Rock, a
precipice two hundred and eighty feet
| high, with it's base In the water She
| stepped into the icy stream. hoping to
u.
| deep and her heart sank within her. 1t
| was the latter part of November. Snow
had fallen and it was bitterly cold. She
oud find no shelter, nor anything to
eat Wet and cold, she threw herself
down on the rock and lay there more
dead than alive until morning, when hope
/ revived Her limbs were so swollen she
| could hardly stand. but she attempted TO
1 crawl up the eff. 1t was the most des-
| perate hour of her struggle. She could
/ not be more than fifteen miles from
home, she thought, yet she realized that
| at any moment her strength might fail
and her life go out.
Again Among Friends.
passed the cliff and can6 to ID cultivated
| field. where her friend and neighbor,
Adam Harmon. was gathering corn. Mrs.
InSles swooned at his feet. After forty
! two days in the wilderness and journey
! of 500 miles she had found friends at last.
\ lew days tender nursing III Harmon
| cabin enabled her TO resume the journey
and she was given a joyous welcome by
| her husband and brother, who had es-
! capeu death at the time of che massacre
| five months previous by being in the fields
| remote from the settlement The old
| Dutch woman was found and afterward
returned to her home in Pennsylvania,
but thirteen years elapsed before Thomas
| Ingles could be located and restored to his
parents. He had become a veritable In
dian and for a long time refused to leave
his tribe. George died soon after he
was tn ken from h s mother.