Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1935-08-15
GRAVE OF SILVERHEELS
is IN CENTER TOWNSHIP

Ohio, halfway up a steep hill and
under a rocky ledge hidden by fol-
iage, lie the bones of the famous
Shawnee-White, Silverheels At
foot of the hill where Olive Green
creek lazes in the sun, sits John o.
Roberts peacefully surveying the
calm hills and musing on the final
chapter of tragedy that was en-
acted therein-a final chapter that
historians did not know, or perhaps
did not dare to record. There have
been many conjectures as to who
killed Silverheels and as to where
his body was hidden, but j. o. Rob-
erts knows.
How does he know? He was
found sitting in the shade of his
barn talking to friend who fused
absentmindedly with a long fishing
pole. Seeing that he was being ap-
preached by strangers he rose slow
ly from his bench, and leaning on a
heavy staff, peered at us through
friendly, quizzical eyes.
The end of the Silverheels tale?
Surely he could tell us. Wouldn't
we sit down? Yes, his father had
often told him many years ago when
they tramped together through the
woods how "Nattie'' Chapman and
Jesse Scott, his two old friends, had
helped Eli Sherman avenge his faith
er's death A good many years it
was since he had last shown him
where they hid Silverheels' body.
He himself would be 80 Nov. 18.
Could we write his story for the
Dispatch and have his picture? "Ah,
pshaw!" He grinned. 'sWhat do
they want to do with it? Scare the
crows out of their cornfields?"
WELL" he resumed, 81 'spect
you know the first of it. It's fa-
nous in these parts But they don't
tell Indian yarns like they used to.
My, Oh my! When I was a boy they
used to fill us so full of them we
were scared to go out in the dark"
With John Roberts we recalled
the known part of the story, set
down briefly in Hildreth's history
and more in detail in that by III. q.
Williams
AT the time when the Indian war
seeped into the Ohio Company Pur-
cnase In the form of spasmodic In
dian attacks on isolated settlements.
early in June, 1894, small war
party visited the Waterford settle
ment in hope of petty plumber, but
more especially of scalps, since
large sums of money were offered
for each by the British
Following usual manner of way
laying inhabitants, the Indians
stole the settlers cows which dur
ing the summer were turned into
6c fn -
growth of pea vine and buffalo clo-
yer. Slipping cautiously into the
hills they hid the cattle at Olive
Green, knowing from experience
that the owners would organize a
searching party that might be OBJ
served without danger and killed
from comfortable ambush.
Among the settlers was Abel
Sherman, who though bereaved Of
his COW, possessed so years and
mind of his own. Against the ad-
vice of the other settlers who decid-
ed that it was better to have a cow
in the bush than a scalp off the
head, Abel Sherman, gun slung over
one shoulder, set out.
Thinking that possibly the cows
had wandered to FIT. Frye and join
ed the herd there, or that the scouts
from that settlement might have
heard them crashing through the
underbrush, he followed the trail
down the Muskingum to the garri-
son. When he arrived the sun was
sinking behind the hills, and the
soft blurred light of candles was al
ready filckering in few windows
But no sign of the cows.
The more cautious settlers urged
him not to start out again until
morning, reminding him that the
strange disappearance of the cattle
was certain sign of Indians. How
ever, regardless of danger, Abel
Sherman started on the homeward
trail
An hour passed. The sentinels
OF the blockhoase heard the report
or two guns. Ezra Sherman also
heard, took down his rifle from the
wall, and ran into the night, for he
had recognized the shot from his
fathers gun, a large musket.
A stout, athletic lad with the
keen sense of the woodsman, he
soon reached the spot-only a quar-
ter Of mile away-and found his
father scalped, a bullet through his
heart. The body lay crumrIed in a
little patch of May apples. The
thoughtful man had evidently been
surprised while gathering them to
take to the children at the garrison,
for his hunting shirt was buIging
with the fruit
When young Sherman walked
quietly into the fort and announced
that his father lay dead in the
wood, slain by the Indians, the set
tiers were plunged into a turmoil
or terror, rage and grief. They
had heard much and seen few of
the horrors of Indian warfare, but
this sudden snuffing out of one of
their own circle hit home 1t was a
frightened and deeply impressed
group that went up from FIT. Frye
the next morning to bury Abel
where he had fallen.
TO this day, though many have
forgotten why, the stream is known
as Sherman's Run, or as Dead Mans
Run.
During the few remaining months
of warfare, the settlers moved in
constant fear, the grim picture of
the Sherman tragedy ever before
them. Soon the war was ended,
and some of it's terrors forgotten
The pioneers ventured from behind
their stockades, and where the
smoke of signal fires once curled
skyward, the peaceful smudges from
the fires of sugar camps foated
lazily into the tree-tops.
In the summer of 1898, just four
years after the death of Abel Sher-
man, a group of sugar makers sat