Evening star., 1927-12-04

mined to found, If only with his own
family. BY the time OF his return,
however. the colonies were ringing
with the story of his daring and even
London street boys hawked blood-and.
| thunder pamphlets recitiEg his ad-
ventures.
In September, 1913, therefore, when
| he set out for Kentucky with his wife
and eight children, some 40 others
were bold enough to follow him. I'm
/ happily, Shawnee war party fell
upon them before they reached Cum
berland Gap. killing Boone's 16-year-
old son among others, and not ali his
pleading could induce the company to
go forward. The bitterness of death
was in his heart, but even "a he
planned to plunge forward with Becky
and the children great events burst
| into action.
Throughout all this time King
Georges ministers had been goading
America to rebellion by every conceiv-
able stupidity. and, feeling revolution
| in the air, Lord Dunmore, the crafty
Governor of Virginia, set deliberately
| to work to inf1ame the savages against
| the colonists.
His agents, slaughtering the entire
| family Of Chief Logan, contrived to
put the blame on Capt. Cressap and
| his Americans, and again the border
| knew the horrors of Indian warfare
as Mingoes, Shawnees and Cherokees
! collected the scalps of revenge.
Boone's rifle and Boones woodcraft
were vital to the colonial cause, and
| he was drawn away from his dreams
| of Kentucky to beat back the red tide
| that swept over every outlying farm
and beat against the very stockades
| of forts and towns.
| The defeat of Chief Cornstalk
| forced the Indians into sullen peace,
and shortly afterward one Col. Rich
ard Henderson. a North Carolina law
| yer. came to Boone with a plan. bold
as ingenious-a great plan, not unin-
spired by the ideals of William Penn
! of a State beyond the mountains to
be called Pennsylvania
| Leaping into the scheme whole
heartedly, Boone sent peace tokens
from village to village, and the day
dawned when 1900 Cherokees were
gathered in a forest glade to effect
a land bargain. A small amount of
cash and a few wagon-loads of gew.
gaws made UP the price. and the
wise chiefs smiled, for they knew
how little they had to sell. AS one
said to Boone, ut is a dark and
DIOOuy ground IIldC you VIII nave
| trouble settling"
Daniel at last was being given op.
portunity to make his dream come
true. Selecting 80 trained men and
| famous Indian fighters, he set out
once again on the now familiar trail,
| but this time he built a road-the
greatest highway since Waiting street
the Wilderness road that was to
| lead America to th6 West
y X x*
ON April I, 1775, little more than a
~ fortnight before theshots at Con.
cord, he stopped his march on the
| Kentucky River and founded Boones-
borough. Fighting there was--fierce
| fighting-for the Indians were quick
to recognize the signs of permanent
settlement. and it was not until Sep
tember that Boone was able to so
back for his family.
Bitter were the little settlement s
beginnings-every day a struggle for
life. Gen. Henry Hamilton, "the hair
buyer" ruled the West from his
| headquarters in Detroit, and always
he drove his Indians and half-breeds
| against the colonies that disputed
| Englands ownership of the trans
allegheny region.
There were times when discourage.
ment reduced the population of the
settlement to a mere handful, but
Boone only locked his grip the tighter
Volumes could be filled with tales of
| his daring and cool courage-long,
! lonely expeditions to save a family or
meet new settlers; many captivities
| (once he thrust his bare arms into a
bed of Goals that be might burn off
the buckskin thongs that bound him),
the death of beloved sons and broth.
ers tomahawked before his eyes; shot
down himself, and carried to safety
on the back of Simon Kenton. What
man he was with his incredible
strength. panther-like activity and
| iron will