MAJOR NICHOLAS STONER, A8 ACCOUTRED FOR THE FOREST. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK, OR A BIOGRAPHY OF NICHOLAS STONER & NATHANIEL FOSTER ; TOÐER WITH Al^ECDOTES OF OTHER CELEBRATED HUNTERS, AND SOME ACOOTJNT OF SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON, AND HIS STYLE OF LIVINCr. BY JEPTHA R. SIMMS, AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY, AND BORDER WARS OF NEW YORK, He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye ; Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen sky.— Pope. ALBANY: PRINTED BY J. MUNSELL 1851. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1850, by JEPTHA R. SIMMS. In the Clerk's Office for the Northern District of New York, MUNSELL, STEREOTYPER, ALBANY. TO THE YOUTH OF NEW YORK, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, BY THEIR FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. PEBFACE. " To be ignorant of all antiquity," says a popular writer,* " is a mutilation of the human mind j it is early associations and local circumstances which give bent to the mind of a people from their infancy, and insensibly constitute the nationality of genius." This is a truism which can not be contravened, and although the world is now full of books for good or ill, yet I venture to add another. Well, as this is only a duo- decimo, may I not bespeak for it a little share of public favor ? For if it is but a small volume, it has nevertheless required considerable time and care to collect and arrange its minutiae. The author does not claim for it a place among classic works, which sparkle with literary gems; but he does claim for it the merit of candor. In a work purporting to be one of truth, he would not impose upon the credulity of others, what he could not believe himself. •I. D' Israeli. 1* 6 PREFACE. This book has been written with the view of giving the reader some knowledge of the peril-environed life of a hunter; in connection with the early and topo- graphical history of a portion of northern New York. As the forests disappear, the country is settled and wild game exterminated; that hardy race of indi- viduals which followed the chase for a living will have become extinct: indeed, those w-ho would have been called professional hunters, have now nearly or quite all left the remaining woods of New York, and most of them sleep w^th their fathers. Many of their names with their daring adventures are now forgotten. How important is it therefore, to place on record what can still be gathered respecting them, to live in future story; when some American Scott shall have arisen to connect their names and deeds forever, with the rifle-mimicking mountains, the awe-inspiring glens, the hill-encompassed lakes, and the zigzag- coursing rivulets — upon, within, around, and along which they sought with noiseless footstep the bounty- paying wolf, the timid deer, and fur-clad beaver. I may remark, that one motive in producing this book has been, to contribute materials for the future PREFACE. 7 history of the state. Says an American scholar,* " The general historian must gather his facts from the details of local annals, and in proportion as they are wanting must his labors be imperfect." A small budget of antiquarian matter, and some interesting incidents of the American Revolution are here intro- duced; and in connection with this subject, I will take occasion to say, that I am collecting original matter of an historical character, with the intention of publishing it at a future, not disf&nt day. There are yet unpublished, many reminiscences either of, or growing out of, our war for independence, both thrill- ing and instructive. Not a few such are now in the writer's possession. They are generally of a personal and anecdotal nature, and many of them were noted down from the lips of men whose heads are whitened by the frosts of time, or are now laid beneath the valley-clods. If such an anecdote should still linger in the mind of a reader of this page, or any old paper of interest remain in his or her keeping, that individual would confer a favor by communicating the same to my ad- * William A. Whitehead. 8 PREFACE. dress. Our Revolution is destined, in its fullness of benefit, to emancipate the world from tyranny; and every minute incident relating to that great struggle is not only worthy of record, but highly important, for the proper understanding of its cost to the young, to whose guardianship its principles and advantages must soon be confided. The difficulty of preparing a work for the press, where much of the matter is to be obtained by con- versational not^, is only known to those who have experienced the task; and such best know its liability to contain error. The biography of Major Stoner has nearly all been read over to him since it was written out, and corrected; I can with confidence, therefore, promise the reader, as few errors in this as he will find in any work similarly got up. In con- clusion, I would fain express my grateful thanks to those individuals who have in any manner contributed towards making this volume. J. R. SIMMS. Fvltonville, JV. F. CONTENTS. Chapter I. • Parentage of Nicholas Stoner — Description of his person — His trapper's dress — His schooling — First s'^ttlement of Fonda's Bush — Signification of the name — First settlement at Fish House — Some account of Sir William Johnson — His style of living at Johnson Hall — His household — First school- house in Johnstown — School children how treated — Manners taught — Anecdote of Jacob Shew at school — Schools of for- mer days in New England and New York — Johnson's Fish House when built — Its site — Fonda's Bush — Plank-roads and stage routes — Village of Northville — Its first settlers — First settlers at Denton's Corners - - - . Page 17 Chapter II. Reasons for Sir Wm. Johnson's locating in Johnstown — Scenery between the Mohawk and Sacondaga rivers — The great Sa- condaga Vlaie — Vlaie Creek — Its source and Indian name — Origin of the marsh — Singular discovery of a lake — Stack- ing-ridges — Cranberries — Johnson's cottage on Summer- house point — His carriage road — Nine mile tree — Sacondaga Patent — Summer-house how built and painted — Its garden — Creeks entering the Vlaie — Origin of their names — Summer- house point in freshets — Wild game — Visit to the Point in 1849 30 10 ' CONTENTS. Chapter III. Signification of Sacondaga — Its great angle — Name for Daly's creek how originated — Residence of Henry Wormwood — Intimacy of Sir William Johnson with his daughters — His signal for a housekeeper — Four in a bed at the Fish House — Disposal of Wormwood's family — Sale of Fish House and its farm — Cost of Sacondaga bridge — Summer House point for- tified — Fate of Johnson's cottage — Willie Boiles drowned — Sale of Summer House point — Mayfield settlement — Its first mill — First mill on the Kennyetto — Anecdotes of Sir Wm. Johnson — Dunham family ----- 42 Chapter IV. Nicholas Stoner's boyhood — He enters the army — Gen. Arnold's device to raise the seige of Fort Stanwix — Evidences of the Oriskany battle — Gen. Arnold in the battle of Saratoga — Sto- ner and Conyne how wounded — Three Stoners on duty in Rhode Island — Anecdote of a theft — Stoner a prisoner — Capture of Gen. Prescott — Attempt to capture Stoner and others near Johnson Hall — Signification of Cayadutta — A prisoner from necessity 55 Chapter V. Baker for Johnstown Fort — Singular incident at his house, and dangerous situation of Stoner — Residence of Jeremiah Mason — His daughter Anna — The Browse family — Stoner pigeon hunting — He takes his captain on a hunt — Hunters how Alarmed — Browse family remove to Canada — Maj. Andre's gallows how constructed — Stoner eats pie near it — How he got two floggings — How the British army surrendered at Yorktown — Errors in pictures — Stoner's first day at the seige — First fire on the British works — Nicholas Hill finds many friends — Henry Stoner le ives the army — Is mur- CONTENTS. 11 dered by the Indians — Treachery of Andrew Bowman — His treatment at Johnstown fort — Prisoners made at Johnson Hall 70 Chapter VI. John Helmer in jail — Escapes from it three times — Stoner in New York at the close of the war — Is one of the band per- forms at Washington's leave taking — Stoner and his stool pigeon before Col. Cochrane — His return to Johnstown — First marriage of Anna Mason — Her husband how slain near Johnson Hall — Stoner's marriage — Is deputy sheriff — The Stoner brothers again in the army — British invasion of New York — Battle of Beekmantown — Anecdote of Maj. Wool — Battle of lake Champlain and death of Commodore Downie — Gen. Macomb fires a national salute — Burial of his remains — Mourners at his grave — Celebration at Plattsburg in 1842 — Stoner again leaves the army . . _ » gg Chapter VII. Maj. Stoner becomes a hunter — Hunter's law — How accoutred for the forest — Intemperance an attendant on war — De Fon- claiere keeps a tavern in Johnstown — How his horses ran away — Indian hunters at his house — Stoner obtains an ear- jewel — An Indian boasts of killing his father — Is branded with a fire-dog — The Indians leave the place — Stoner in jail — How liberated — His celebrity in Canada - - 111 Chapter VIII. Stoner's bear-trap — Precaution in its use — Bait for beaver — Season for hunting — Accident to Capt. Jackson — Dunn in Jackson's place — Hunters' lodges how constructed — - Their larder how supplied — Johnstown hunters meet Indian trap- pers — Fierce quarrel at Trout lake — An Indian falls up- 12 CONTENTS. on the shore — Dunn transfixed to a canoe — Stoner in the enemy's camp — Trophies he there obtained — Hunters return home — Stoner and Mason hunt together — Mason discovers bear's tracks — Stoner seeks an interview with Bruin — Dis- covers him on a log over the Sacondaga — A rifle is heard and the bear falls into the river ----- 123 Chapter IX. Stoner annoyed by a bear in his wheat and corn-fields — How he loses one leg of his pantaloons and kills the bear — A deer hunt — Hunters swamped at Stoner's island — Have a gloomy night — Frederick's gratitude toward Stoner for saving his life — Stoner and Mason on a long hunt — Food how cooked — A peep at a hunter's camp — Out of provisions the hunters seek a settlement — Stoner almost shoots another blanketed bear — Mason arrested in Norway as a spy — Is liberated — Hunters return to the woods — They meet two Indians — Stoner mis- taken for the hunter White — A quarrel — Aii Indian's death- yell — His comrade takes leg-bail — Johnstown hunters return home with three guns — Stoner suspected of smuggling mer- chandise — Anecdote of Green White - - - - 134 Chapter X. Hunter's Moccasons how made — Stoner hunts with Griswold — A dog eats a moccason for Griswold — The loss how repaired — Stoner hunts with Capt. Shew at the Sacondaga Vlaie and there shoots a wolf — Stoner and Foster on a hunt trap an eagle — Different trappers with whom Stoner is associated — With an Indian partner visits the head of Grass river — There met a white hunter with a squaw — Stoner makes a map for him to go to Johnstown — Hunts with the Indian Gill — Lat- ter spears the beaver — Stoner hunts with Obadiah Wilkins who encounters an Indian — Magic of Stoner's name — Stoner's last difficulty with Indian hunters — How he loses a trap and CONTENTS. 13 fur — How he gets his trap and pay for the fur — The Sabbath how regarded by hunters — Admonition of a young Indian — Stoner's dog in trouble — Spirit of Mary Stoner - - 146 Chapter XL Major Stoner a widower — His voluntary marriage — Again a widower — His last marriage — His present residence — Ga- roga and Fonda plank road — Chase's Patent — Foolish ex- pression of Capt. Chase — Stoner a pilot for surveyors — Signification of Piseco — Goes to a settlement for food — Has a warm job of it — Law students in the forest — Ice discover- ed — Fourth of July how celebrated — Stoner skins a hedge- hog — Description of the country — Prospective view of it — Newspaper notice of Lake Byrn — Sundry other lakes — Lake Good-luck, why so called — Water privileges of Hamil- ton county — Description of the country, by Dr. Emmons — Stoner and others discover a dead man near Jesup's river — Importance of preserving Indian names - - - 160 Chapter XII. Birth place and marriage of Nathaniel Foster — Settles in Salis- bury — Description of his person — His success the first year in hunting — Large game killed by him — Anecdotes of his wolf killing — Supplies museums with moose skins — Is near being shot — His rifles — A tussle with a deer — A wolf for a pet— Where Foster learned to write — Brown's tract of land — Source of Mill stream — Brown attempts to settle his lands — His death — HerreshoflT goes there — His birth place and person — Clears up land — Builds a forge — Ex- pends large sums of money — Becomes discouraged and com- mits suicide — Time of his death — Inquest — Place of bu- rial — Inscription to his memory — Cost of his iron — His taxes — Brown's tract when and by whom surveyed — Its townships — Survey of roads — Moose lake — Indian clear 14 CONTENTS. ing — Distance from Boonville to forge — Huckleberry lake — Surveyor kills a hedge-hog — Anecdotes of Herreshoff 175 Chapter XIII. Benchley's description of Brown's tract — Usual route to it — Use of drays — Size and power of Moose river — Present condition of early improvements on the tract — Its ore — Effect of erecting a dam — Lakes how numbered — First lake — Dog Island — Second lake — Foster's Observatory — Third lake — Grass island — Fourth lake — Line between Hamilton and Herkimer counties — Extent of tract — Re- spect for the Eagle — Description of the Indian Foster kill- ed — Effect of liquor — Foster's vision — Five echoes — North Branch lakes and outlet — Fifth and Sixth lakes — Carrying place — Foster at sixty — Prospective use of a lock — Seventh lake — Beautiful view — Character of Green White — His tragic fate — His success in hunting — The hunter Williams — Place for trout — Pitch pine grove — How Foster shoots a deer — Why he would kill a doe — Eighth lake — Racket inlet — Grave of Foster's victim — Floating for deer — Jer- seyfield lake — Jock's lake — Little Salmon and Black River South lakes — Physical outline of this region of country, by Lardner Vanuxem ------- 191 Chapter XIV. Brown's tract tenantless — Is a resort for hunter's — Premises leased — Lease assigned to Foster who moves there — Indian Peter Waters or Drid — A debt — Drid threatens Foster's life — Goes to his door to shoot him — An interview — Indian attempts his life — Foster before a peace officer — Apprehen- sions of Foster's family — Last interview between Foster and his foe — Their threats of vengeance — Foster on Indian's point — Drid's approach — His death — Foster aids in getting his body home — Foster is arrested — Note explaining cut 208 CONTENTS. 15 Chapter XV. Foster is arraigned before Judge Denio — Is tried and acquitted How he receives the verdict, and leaves the court room — His acquittal how received by the public — Anecdote of Joseph Brant 218 Chapter XVL Foster's answer to Gen. Gray — Stoner's opinion of Foster's and his own skill as marksmen — How Drid's friends received his death — Advice to Foster's family — Drid's wife returns to the St. Lawrence — -Foster removes to Pennsylvania — Returns to Boonville and dies there — The Indian Hess — Im- portance of a country tavern — How Foster and Hess meet and part — Running fight with a moose bull — Sudden ap- pearance of Hess — He threatens to kill Foster — Falls from a log over his own grave — Mysterious sayings — How he shot eighteen otters — His eye-sight improved by venison — Signification of Oswegatchie — How Foster carried bullets — Anecdote of his rapid firing — How he made his camp in the woods — How he accoutred for the chase - - . 241 Chapter XVII. Incidents in the life of Jock "Wright — His birth, habits and ap- pearance — Is a soldier — Captures British oflicers — How he parts with one of them — He scalps a British ally — Visits his former prisoner in Boston — Again a hunter — The rattle snake hunter — A snake fight — Death of a panther — "Wright removes to Norway — His family — How he lost and found his jug — The hunter Nicholas — His stock in trade — A rea- son wanted for his habits — He hunts with "Wright — Finds lead ore — His death — Jock's lake — Crookneck the hunter — How he almost caught a deer, and got caught himself — How Uncle Jock kills two moose — His opinion of a certain *5 CONTENTS, prayer — Gets sick and prays himself — Crookneck on snow shoes — Beaver's meat — Uncle Jock draws a pension — When he made huts — His death 253 Chapter XVm. Some account of the beaver — Peculiarity of its flesh — Its food — Bait used for its capture — Its social habits — Its dams and dwellings how constructed — A beaver community how fore- warned of danger — Habits of the otter — Its food — Form of its feet — Its sagacity in preparing its burrow— The musk-rat — Not easily exterminated — Its fate in freshets — Habits of the pine marten — Its size — The wolverine — How it annoys hunters — Its great strenth - - - 272 Appendix, p. 281. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. CHAPTER I. Incidents of greater or less interest occur in the lives of almost every member of the human family, which only need be known to be justly appreciated, or subserve some good and wise purpose; but occasionally an indi- vidual crosses the broad landscape of life, whose career may be said to consist of a bundle of incidents — the greater part of whose existence is in fact so full of novelty, as to claim, for at least a portion of it, a record for the benefit or amusement of mankind. Of the latter class is Major Nicholas Stoner, some of the most ro- mantic and daring of whose adventures are presented in the following pages. To say that a man lived through the American Revo- lution and participated in its perils, is alone a sufficient guaranty that he can, if at all intelligent, recount unique and thrilling scenes as yet untold in history; but when we meet with one who has not only been exposed to the perils of an eight year's war, but has shared in the dangers and hardships of a second war — one, in truth, whose life has been checkered with a thousand hazard- 2* 18 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. o\is exposures between and subsequent to those wars; we may expect, almost as a matter of course, to learn from him not a little that will prove acceptable to the general reader, nourishing " The seeds of happiness, and powers of thought." The facts here given of this celebrated warrior, were noted down by the writer from his owm lips at personal interviews ; not a few of which have been corroborated by the testimony of others. It is the fortune of very few individuals to pass through a long life surrounded by such a variety of perils, without receiving more personal injury. Henry Stoner, the father of Nicholas, emigrated from Germany to the American colonies, as is believed, nearly twenty years before their emancipation from British tyranny. He landed at New York, and after a short residence in that city removed to the colony of Maryland, where he married Catharine Barnes, by whom he had two sons, Nicholas and John. Nicholas Stoner, who was about a year the senior of his brother, w^as born Dec. 15, 1762 or '63: which year is not now known with certainty, the family record having been burned with his father's dwelling in the Revolution. He is five feet eleven inches high, of slender but sinewy form; and though his light brown hair is now (1848) silvered by the frosts of fourscore winters, and his body is a little bent, yet his step is still firm without a cane, and his intellect vigorous. He has from boyhood worn a pair of small rings in his ears. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 19 His complexion, owing to his mode of life, is now swarthy. In his younger days he must have been a man of uncommonly prepossessing personal appearance; for his acquaintances of forty years' standing, speak of him " as one of the likeliest looking men they have ever known." His walk — indeed, almost every motion — betrays.his forest life, for he moves with the caution of a trapper and the stillness of a panther: added to which he becomes impatient and vexed at restraint. The frontispiece, which gives a good likeness of him at the age of about eighty three, exhibits him accoutred as a trapper. He usually wore a fur cap when hunting, and a short coat, or cloth roundabout. A belt encircled his waist, at the foot of which was fastened a bullet pouch, and beneath which upon the left side were thrust a hatchet and knife ; while under his right arm swung a powder horn of no mean capacity. When trapping for beaver, he was often loaded with a bundle of double- spring steel traps; which were suspended beneath the left arm. The frontispiece was engraved from two daguerreotype likenesses, one of which was taken in the village of Johnstown, on the 10th of Sept., 1846; and as there was a militia general training in the village on that day, the old hero was not only accoutred with little trouble to visit the artist; but was greeted at every turn by nmnerous friends and acquaintances, all eager once more to grasp his hand and give him a friendly salutation. The other miniature, although it does not exhibit the old trapper in his forest garb, was 20 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. taken subsequently at his place of residence, and is by far the best likeness. A borrowed cap seen in the pic- ture, conceals much of his intelligent brow. New York city again became the residence of Henry Stoner while his children w^ere quite young, during which Nicholas w^ent to school and learned to read. He was sent to school by John Binkus (if I have the orthography correct), a man of wealth, w^ho had married Miss Hannah Stoner, a sister of the young student's father. During the Revolution, this Binkus became a refugee officer in the famous corps of Gen. De Lancey. Henry Stoner, who had been a kind of trafficker or speculator in a small way since his arrival in the colo- nies, after a second residence in New York of a few years, resolved to become a pioneer settler, and removed with his family to Fonda's Bush, a place in the Johns- tow^n settlements, so called after Maj. Jelles Fonda, who took a patent for the lands. The place is situated about ten miles north of east from the village of Johnstown, and the same distance w^st of north from Amsterdam. Fonda's Bush signifies the same as if it were called Fonda's Woods, a dense forest covering the soil at that early period — bush being the usual term for woods on the frontiers of New York. Indeed, the Sugar Bush is the present appellation given to woods from w^hich maple sugar is made. At the time of Stoner's arrival, Johnstown, though but a small village, w^as becoming known abroad ; as it w^as the residence of the Baronet, Sir William Johnson (after whom it was called), who. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 21 as Indian agent for the Six Nations, and as a military man of repute, was notorious in what was then Western New York. As Stoner was the first settler at Fonda's Bush, he left his family in Philadelphia Bush, while he was erecting a log dwelling four miles distant. The last mentioned place, now in the town of Mayfield, obtained its name from the fact, that one or more of its first inhabitants were from Philadelphia, or the vicinity of that city. Some two years after Stoner fixed his resi- dence in the wilderness, Joseph Scott, and about the same time Benjamin De Line, also located in his neigh- borhood. I say neighborhood because they were the nearest neighbors of the Stoner family; although from one to two miles distant. His residence was still on the wild-w^ood side of his pioneer brethren. The next man who fixed his residence in the vicinity of Stoner, was Philip Helmer, who drove the wild beasts from their haunts and broke ground two miles to the east- ward of him. Andrew Bowman, Herman Salisbury, John Putman, Charles Cady, and possibly one or two others, also settled in and about Fonda's Bush before the Revolution. Cady, who married a daughter of Philip Helmer, was one of the first settlers at the West village. He is believed to have gone to Canada with Sir John Johnson. It must have been about the time of Stoner's location in Fonda's Bush, that Godfrey Shew, a German, made the first permanent location near Sir William Johnson's 22 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. fishing lodge, denominated the Fish House; and situated on tLd Sacondaga river, eight miles north-east of Stoner's dwelling. Before Shew planted himself at the Fish House, several families of squatters had been there, who had gone " to parts unknown," and desirous of getting a wholesome citizen to remain there, the Baronet held out liberal inducements to Mr. Shew, of which he accepted. In my History of Schoharie County, etc., I have given some account of Sir William Johnson, with several anecdotes of him — described his stately man- sions, and told the manner of his death &c., &c.: but at the time of publishing that work, I was not aware that he had a more celebrated summer residence in the latter part of his life, than that denominated the Fish House. From conversations held within the past year ( 1849) with the aged patriot Jacob Shew, who is a son of Godfrey Shew named above, I am enabled to garner up some more incidents in the life of this gentleman, and authentic memoranda of the classic grounds under consideration, which can not fail to prove interesting to future generations, even though they are little appre- ciated by the present. Sir William Johnson, after establishing himself at his Hall, in Johnstown, no doubt lived in greater afflu- ence, or more in the style of a European nobleman of that day, than ever did any other citizen of New York. His household was quite numerous at all times, and not unfrequently was much increased by distin- TRAPPERS OF NEW-YORK. 2B guished guests. He had a Secretary named Lafierty, a good lawyer who did all his legal business. He had a Bouw-master, an Irishman named Flood. Bouw^ is a German w^ord signifying harvest — or as here used, an overseer of the laboring interest of the Hall farm. From ten to fifteen slaves usually worked the farm, who were under the direction of the bouw-master. The slaves lived across the Cayadutta creek from the Hall, in small dwellings erected for them. They drest much as did their Indian neighbors, except that a kind of coat was made of their blankets by the Hall tailor. His household Physician, John Dease, w^as a favor- ite nephew — being a sister's son. Dr. D. w^as a very companionable man, and often accompanied Sir Wil- liam in his pleasure excursions. He had a Musician, a dwarf some thirty years old, who answered to the name of Billy.* He played a violin w^ell, and was always on hand to entertain guests. He had a Gar- dener, who cultivated a large garden, and kept that and the grounds about the Hall as neat as a pin.f He had a Butler named Frank, an active young German, who w^as with him a number of years, and w^ho made himself very useful to his master. Frank remained about the Hall until the Revolution began, when he went to Albany county. He had a Waiter named Pontiac,J a sprightly, well disposed lad of mixed blood, negro and Indian, who was generally with him when ■* See Appendix A t Ibid, B. X Ibid. C. 24 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. from home. He had a pair of white, dwarfish-looking Waiters, who catered to his own and his guests' comfort: their surname was Bartholomew, and they are believed to have been brothers. The secretary, physician, bouw-master, and all the waiters remained, after the death of Sir William, with his son, Sir John Johnson, until the Revolution began, and then followed his fortunes to Canada. The Baronet had also his own mechanics. His Blacksmith, and his Tailor, had each a shop just across the road from the Hall. They did very little work for any one out of the royal household. Sir William was a large, well- looking and full-favored man. " Laugh and grow fat," is an old maxim, of which his neighbors were reminded, when they beheld this fun-loving man. He was well read for the times, and uncommonly well versed in the study of human nature. Near the Hall he erected two detached wings of stone, the west one of which was used by his attorney Lafferty, for an office, and the other contained a philosophical apparatus, of which he died possessed. The room in which the apparatus was kept, was called his own private study. On seeing him enter it, Pontiac used to say — " JYow massa gone into his study to tink oh somesin me know not what.'^ Sir William erected a school-house in Johnstown on locating there, and established, it is said, the first free school in the state. The building was oblong, and stood on the diagonal corner of the streets from the county clerk's office. At which time, to begin a ^ Ul t-:; 1^ 3 l-q ^ '•^ < :i ^ K 'A !i^ o 55" O a :n -> "^ S5 en ^ O w 1-5 ^ pi H tf ■< TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 25 village, he also erected at the same time six dwelling- houses in the vicinity of the school-house. They were each some 30 feet long fronting the street, by 18 or 20 feet deep — were one and a half stories high, with two square rooms on the floor. Those dwellings, and the school-house were all painted yellow. One of the earliest if not in fact the first teacher of this school, was an arbitrary Irishman named Wall, who taught only the common English branches. An Episcopal church was also erected in Johnstown under the patron- age of Sir William, several years before his death. In the street in front of the school-house, public stocks and a whipping-post were placed, the former of which were a terror to truant boys, whose feet not unfre- quently graced them. Before Godfrey Shew removed to the Fish House, he resided a mile west of the Hall, at which time his children, with those of a neighbor or two, went to school. In the vicinity of the Hall were usually to be seen a dozen or more Indians, of whom the children were afraid; and the fact coming to the knowledge of Sir William, he spoke to a chief in their behalf, and then assured the little urchins, with whom he liked to chat, that they need borrow no more trouble about their red neighbors. He had six children at that time by his handsome brow^n housekeeper, Molly Brant; and the three oldest, Peter, Betsey and Lana, went to school — George and two little girls being thought too young to send. Wall was very severe with most of his pupils, but the 3 26 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Baronet's children were made an exception to his severity — they being ever treated with kind partiality and pointed indulgence. He observed the most rigid formality in teaching his scholars manners; a very important branch of education, and quite too much neglected in modern times. He required his pupils, however, not so much to respect age and intellect in others as in himself. If a child wished to go out, it must go before him with a complaisant — please master may I go out ? accompanied with a bow, a backward motion of the right hand, and drawing back upon the floor the right foot. On returning to the school-room, the pupil had again to parade before the master, with another three-motioned bow, and a very grateful — thank you sir ! The lad Jacob Shew, on becoming initiated into the out-and-in ceremony, accompanied his first bow with a scrape of the left foot. Tak the other fut, yoii rascal! was roared with such a brogue and emphasis by old Pedagogue, as to confuse him, and he flourished the left foot again. Tak the other fut, I tell ye ! came louder than before, attended with a stamp that carried terror to the boy's heart. Comprehending the require- ment, he shifted his balance — scraped w^ith the right fut — heard a surly that HI doh ! and went on his w^ay rejoicing though trembling. In nearly every school of New England and New York twenty-five years ago, the scholars on entering and on leaving the school-room during the hours of TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 27 school, had to make their manners — the boys to bow — gracefully if they could, but at all events to bow, and the girls to courtesy, genteelly of course. Nor were the manners of the children confined to the school- room; for on meeting any sober person in the street, they had to make their obeisance, and learned to take pleasure and pride in so doing. It was then a very pretty spectacle to pass a country school-house at noon, or when the children were out at play, and see them parade as if by military intuition, and give the traveler a united evidence of good breeding. This sight is occasionally seen at the present day, where female teachers are employed. Traversing the forest in the French war, from Ti- conderoga to Fort Johnson, his then residence, no doubt first made Sir William Johnson familiar with the make of the country adjoining the Sacondaga river j and soon after the close of that war he erected a lodge for his convenience, while hunting and fishing, on the south side of the river, nearly eighteen miles distant from his own dwelling. The lodge was ever after called The Fish House. It was an oblong square framed building, with two rooms below, and walls sufficiently high (one and a half stories) to have af- forded pleasant chambers. Its site w^as on a knoll within the present garden of Dr. Langdon I. Marvin, and about thirty rods from the river. It fronted the south. Only one room in the building was ever finished; that was in the west end, and had a chimney and 28 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. fire-place. The house was never painted, and in the Revolution it was burnt down, but by whom or whose authority, is unknown. The ground from where the building stood, slopes very prettily to the river. No visible trace of this building remains. A village has grown up at this place, containing several hundred inhabitants, and bearing the historic name of Fish House, although the post-office is im- properly called Northampton, the village lying mostly in one corner of that town. The village is built upon gentle elevations, and a degree of neatness and thrift pervades it, that agreeably disappoints the visitor. Among its early influential inhabitants, were Asahel Parkes, John Trumbull, John Rosevelt, Alexander St. John, and John Fay. The last one named located here in 1803, and the others a few years before. Where the Stoner family settled in Fonda's Bush, a pretty village has also sprung up. It is built mostly upon level sandy land, and contains double the popu- lation of Fish House. It is situated in the town, of Broadalbin, and like its sister village, has the misfor- tune to have its post-office called after the town in- stead of itself, a discrepancy that should never exist where it can be avoided. A plank road went into operation in 1849, from Fish House to Fonda's Bush, a distance of eight miles; and another from the latter place to Amsterdam, a further distance of ten miles, bringing the three places within a few hours' ride of each other. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. JK* The villages of Fish House and Fonda's Bush must grow in importance with their improved facilities for business — indeed, the tiavel to those places has been on the increase for several years. From Edinburgh, a little hamlet in Saratoga county, six miles down the river from Fish House, a stage runs twice a week to Ballston Spa, stopping at Fish House; and another runs through the place three times a week, from Northville to Amsterdam. Both are mail routes. Northville deserves a passing notice in this place: it is a charming inland village in the town of Northamp- ton, containing two or three hundred inhabitants, romantically embowered among the hills on the north bank of the Sacondaga, six miles above the Fish House, and is fast increasing in importance. A plank road will ere long connect this place with Fish-House. The pioneer settlers at Northville were Samuel Olm- sted and Zadock Sherwood.* At a little place about equidistant between Fish House and Northville, on the south bank of the river, with a post-office called Denton's Corners, settled Garret Van Ness, Abel Scribner and John Brown. They located there soon after the war of the Revolu- tion closed; and as they had all three been participa- tors in its perils, they must often have met of a long winter eveninsc and fouc^ht their battles over. There is, at this place, a bridge across the Sacondaga. * Appendix D, 3* CHAPTER 11. Sir William Johnson was no doubt induced to locate in Johnstown, partly on account of the greater facili- ties it would afford him for hunting and fishing about the Sacondaga river, over a residence in the Mohawk valley, and partly to obtain more favorable grounds to accommodate the numerous Indians, who at times came to receive presents from the royal bounty. North of the Hall was a forest, in which those visitors w^ere occasionally encamped in great numbers. The Sacondaga and Mohawk rivers are about twenty miles apart, from Fish House westward, for some dis- tance. The Mayfield mountain stretches across from the former river south-easterly to the latter, and there forms what is called The Nose, while on the north side of the Sacondaga, mountain ranges of hills tower- ing one above the other, bound the view. The lands, on gaining the summit level, a few miles north of the Mohawk, are not mountainous between the rivers, but gently rolling from the Mayfield mountain, some twenty miles to the eastward, until they strike w^hat is denominated the Maxon hill ; the northern termina- tion of which at the river the Indians called Scow-a- rock-a. The scenery, therefore, to the northward of Johnstown and Fonda's Bush, is very fine. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 31 From the residence of Col. John I. Shew, situated on an eminence one and a half miles from Fonda's Bush, and on the plank road to Fish House, is afforded the lover of natural science, in a clear day, one of the richest landscapes in this part of the state. Here the eye, looking north, seems to scan rather more than one-half of an amphitheatre, an hundred miles in cir- cuit, with rich and varied scenery. Within the view is overlooked the Sacondaga vlaie, a body of from ten to thirteen thousand acres of drowned lands. This immense marsh extends east and west about six miles. A strip at the west end, nearly two miles long, lies in Mayfield, and the eastern part extends into North- ampton; but the greatest proportion is in Broadalbin, where it is the widest, being perhaps a mile or more in width. A fine mill stream, called Vlaie creek, because it courses through the great marsh, rises in Lake Desola- tion, near the Maxon mountain in Greenfield, Sara- toga county, and making a grand circuit of Broadal- bin, passing in its route through the village of Fonda's Bush, it enters the Sacondaga at Fish House, not more than two or three miles from its source ; although some twenty by its sinuous route. The stream is some- times called the Little Sacondaga. The Indians called it Ken-ny-etf-o, says Isaac R. Rosa, of Fonda's Bush, who saw an intelligent Indian, many years ago, write the name with red chalk on the door of a grist mill. The signification of this pretty aboriginal name, after 32 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. which the village and post-office should have been called, is now unknown. The origin of this marsh is thus given by Lardner Vanuxem, in his volume of the Geology of New York. *' The vlie, or natural meadow and swamp which ex- tends along the creek of that name, to near the Fish House, are the remains of a lake, and show the pre- existent state of that country; the drainage of which happened at successive periods, as is beautifully shown, and the extent of alluvial action also, near where the upper and lower roads unite, w^hich lead from Cran- berry post-office to the river, near the hill or mountain side. There four well defined alluvial banks exist, resembling great steps or benches ranging by the moun- tain side, which form a semi-amphitheatre, changing by a curve from a north-east to a south-south-east direction. The upper bank of alluvion rises about a hundred feet above the river; the next below, about eighty feet; the third, from thirty to forty feet; and the lowest, from ten to twelve feet. The upper one is of sand, the second of blueish clay covered with sand, and the two lower ones of sand and gravel. " The vlie, or natural meadows, are numerous in many parts of the [geological] district: they are the prairies of the west upon a small scale. Their soil, being composed of minutely divided parts or fine earth, is favorable for grass, the rapid growth of which smothers the germinating tree. This is the primary cause why trees do not exist where grass is rank; the TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 33 others are but subordinate ones. One and ail in the district show the same origin, having been ponds or lakes receiving the wash of the country which they drained, the finer particles of which being diffused through their waters, have by subsidence formed their level bottom, and their highly productive soil for grass." It is by no means an uncommon occurrence for a pond or lake to become filled up by alluvial deposits, so as to form dry and tillable land; and at times upon the surface of a body of water, a soil is formed that is cultivated without its ever being known to the hus- bandman, that he is toiling over the bosom of a lake. In confirmation of this I would instance a singular occurrence of recent date. On the Michigan Central Railway it became necessary to carry an embankment some fifteen feet thick across a piece of low ground, containing nearly one hundred acres dry enough to plow. The workmen had progressed with the grading some distance, when it became too heavy for the soil to support it, and sunk down into seventy -nine feet of water. It then became apparent that the low ground had been a small lake, upon the surface of which, in process of time, a soil had collected, com- posed of roots, peat, muck, &c., to the depth of from ten to fifteen feet thick; the surface of which had become dry. Had it not been deemed necessary to carry so heavy an embankment over this miniature prairie of now rich arable land, it would probably 34 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. never have been known that it rested on the bosom of a lake. On the northerly side of the vlaie and to the west- ward of the centre, are two strips of hard land bearing timber. They are called stacking-ridges, from the fact that many tons of hay cut annually on the low grounds contiguous, are stacked upon them to be drawn off in the winter. Blue-joint grass used to grow, and perhaps does to this day on the dryest bogs. Formerly, immense quantities of cranberries were gathered on the north side of the marsh east of the lower stacking-ridgej on what is called Cranberry point. A kind of shovel with fine teeth was some- times used to scoop them up, and nearly a quart could thus be gathered at once. This mode of picking in- jured the vines however. Cranberries are not as plenty here as formerly. Opposite Cranberry point the water in Vlaie creek is said to be very deep. One of the most interesting features about the vlaie is the fact, that a little knoll or table of hard land elevated some ten or twelve feet, extends into it toward the upper or western end. It is oblong in shape, level upon the top, and gently sloping all round. It lies about north-west and south-east; the summit being some 600 feet long by 150 in breadth; and con- taining in the whole say ten or fifteen acres of very good land. This tongue of land is called Summer^ house point, from the fact that Sir Wm. Johnson erected a beautiful cottage in the centre of it in 1772, TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 35 and there spent much of his time in the summer for several seasons. From Johnstown to this point, w^hich is just fourteen miles, the Baronet opened a carriage road. While the road was surveying, a large tree was marked at the end of every mile, and numbereo from the Hall. The one denominated Mine-mile trte, a large pine, was standing within twenty-five years, and was by the late Gen. Henry Fonda designated to several persons, who have kept vigilance of its locality The stump of this tree which has for seventy years been a landmark, is still standing a little east of James Lasher's dwelling, in the town of Mayheld. Summer-house point is approached from the west- erly end, upon a strip of arable land, which in very high water is covered making an island of the point. The Sacondaga patent embraced all or very nearly all of the vlaie. The point which lies in Broadalbin, was embraced in the Sacondaga patent, wdrich con- veyed 28,000 acres of land, Dec. 2, 1742, to Lendert Gansevoort, Cornelius Ten Brook, Dow Fonda, Anna J. Wendell and ten others. Of some of the original patentees or then owners, Sir William not only bought the point, but many of the lands in and contiguous to Fish House, in which village the Northampton and Sacondaga patents unite. The cottage erected on Summer-house point, stood precisely in its centre. It was a tasty one story build ing, fronting the south, upon which side w^as its front entrance. The roof sloped north and south. A piazza 36 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. supported by square columns extended around the sides and east end, with a promenade upon the top nearly as high as the eaves. It had a gable window at each end on the first floor, and two windows at each end on the second. A hall ran across the building in the centre, with a square room upon each side of it, hand- somely finished, well furnished, and each room lighted by two front windows. It had a nice cellar kitchen, the entrance to which was on the w^est end, which room was always occupied in the summer season by JVicholas and Flora, a pair of the Baronet's slaves, who were there to keep every thing in order, and mi- nister to his comfort during his visits. The cottage was painted white, with the corners, doors, window- casings and columns painted green, as was the English taste of the times — the whole contrasting beautifully with the wild scenery around. A large garden was cultivated on the point, two cows kept there, and when the Baronet w^as there two horses also; as he usually rode there in a carriage. He planted fruit trees there, and two antiquated apple trees of a dozen or more are still standing. The stone of which the cellar and well were made, were brought from Fish House in a boat, and as stone were scarce on the sandy lands contiguous, early settlers with sacrilegious propensity have carried off and converted them to other uses. The plow has removed all traces of the well, which was on the verge of the knoll south of the house, and has nearly filled the cellar, a small TRAPPERS OF NEW YORE. 37 cavity only remaining. A log house and well were built on the south side of the point toward the west- ern end just after the Revolution, but the dwelling is now gone, and most of the stone which w^ere used in that cellar. The nearest^ house now to the point, is that known as the Brown place, where Samuel Brown, an old pensioner, lived and died. I have said that the Kennyetto coursed through the vlaie. It enters a narrow strip of it south-west of the point, and runs along the latter upon its southerly side; where it is some two rods wide, and usually three or four feet deep. The Mayfield creek, a mill- stream about two-thirds as large as the Kennyetto, runs through that part of the marsh in Mayfield, and sweeping its north margin, unites with the latter stream at the extremity of the point. The Brown farm lies between the two strips of the marsh named, and near where they approximate. Besides those named, several other streams enter the marsh. On the north side at Cranberry point, a mile from Summer-house point, Cranberry creek runs in, and nearly loses itself before reaching Vlaie creek, as the stream is called after it receives Mayfield creek. On the south side two mill streams run in, in Broadalbin, one nearly opposite Cranberry creek^ called formerly Frenchman's creek, and the other a mile below called Hans's creek; and yet so great is the natural process of absorption and evaporation constantly going on here, that the creek, where it issues from the vlaie and enters the Sacon- 4 38 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. daga at Fish House, discharges but little if any more water than passes Summer-house point, in the Ken- nyetto: indeed, it is said by some of the observing citizens near its mouth, that less water issues from the marsh than did formerly. Frenchman's creek is so called, because a French- man named Joseph DeGolier located at an early day upon its shores about two miles from its mouth. It has since been called McMartin's creek, after Duncan McMartin Esq., who established himself and erected mills upon it many years ago. McMartin was a sur- veyor and laid out most of the roads in and around Broadalbin. He was a man of wealth and respect- ability, and was appointed a judge of the common pleas in 1818 — was a master in chancery, &c. &c.; and as an evidence of his enterprise, erected a sub- stantial brick edifice upon his farm, some few years before his death. This same stream has also been called Factory creek, from the fact that a woolen manufactory was established upon it near the residence of Mr. McMartin, as early as 1812 or 18 14. It is still in operation. Hans's creek got its name from the following circumstance: Some few years before his death. Sir William Johnson and John Conyne were fishing for trout in the mouth of this stream, when as Conyne was standing up, an unexpected lurch of the boat sent him out floundering in the water. He ship- ped a sea or two, as the sailor would say, before he was rescued by the helping hand of his companion TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 39 from a watery grave. My informant heard the Ba- ronet relate the circumstance at Johnson Hall to a large circle of friends soon after, with his usual gusto for such adventures. He not only had a hearty laugh over it then, but often afterwards when telling how Conyne 'plunged into the water to seek for trout. Hans being the Dutch of John, and the familiar name by which Sir William called his companion in relating the incident; hence the name for the stream. There is now along the sides and lower end of Summer-house point, a stunted growth of alder and swamp willow, but when occupied by Sir Willian Johnson, the bushes were all cut off, and the margin of the stream kept clean. He had a beautiful boat there, in which he used to go down to the Fish House, four miles distant, sometimes with company, for he entertained numerous distinguished guests, and at other times attended only by a few servants, or possibly by his faithful Pontiac, who rowed the boat while he sat in the stern and steered it. His greatest time for hunting and fishing, was in the spring and fall. When the marsh was flooded, a boat would pass over it any- where, the water raising at Summer-house point, from six to eight feet above low water mark. At such times the prospect was grand from the promenade of his cottage, access to which was gained by an out- side stairway, near the hall door. Thousands ^^pon thousands of ducks and 'vild geese were then floating 40 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. upon the waters, at which time his double-barreled gun was in almost constant requisition. Some twenty- five years ago, ducks used to breed about the vlaie. They are sometimes caught in nets there, and taken to market. In company with Dr. William Chambers, Marcellus Weston, Esq., my patriotic old friend Jacob Shew, Col. John I. Shew his son, and little Haydn Shew, I visited Summer-house point on the 29th day of Au- gust, 1849, and well was I compensated for the jour- ney. It is a most delightful place, divested of all historic associations, but clothed with them, it is one of the most interesting spots imaginable. Recreating in fancy the white cottage with green facings, I could almost hear the notes of Billy's old fiddle, as his greatest skill was taxed to please the ear of some fas- tidious city guest; and at some witticism of the happy host, I seemed to hear peal after peal of merry laughter, and now and then an Indian whoop, as in former days, they rang out upon the gentle breeze. The fairy craft of some forest son seemed once more to be gliding along the grass-hidden stream, with its blanket- clad navigator sitting erect as of yore, and bound for Sacondaga. Imagination pictured Pontiac caress- ing his favorite steeds, and calling on Nicholas to aid a black driver in rubbing them dry; and as I passed the entrance to Flora's department, to look at the noble animals, I seemed to see upon one side of it TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 41 scores of pigeons and wild ducks, with the saddle of a deer; and on the other a large heap of golden trout, to supply the cottage larder and feed its guests. But I find I am growing visionary, and will dismiss this subject, with my grateful thanks to the gentlemen who conducted me to Summer-house point, where I trust I may again light up " the council fires " of ima- gination — again be surrounded by intelligent friends — again see some little Haydn hooking perch or sun- fish — again see the happy hay makers near the upper stacking-ridge — and again seek for some relic of the point's first occupancy, if only to be rewarded by the limb of an old apple tree. CHAPTER m. Sa-con-da-ga is an aboriginal word, which signifies, as the Indians assured Godfrey Shew, much water. Capt. Gill, an Indian hunter, said it meant sunken or drowned lands. It no doubt has particular reference to the flooding of the vlaie. The Sacondaga shooting out from the mountains in Northampton, enters the semi-amphitheatre in a south-eastern course, and con- tinues that direction in what seems a great basin, until it gets to Fish House, where, receiving the Vlaie creek, and striking spurs of the Maxon mountain, its course is changed to a north-eastern one, thus making two equal sides of a triangle some twenty miles in circuit. The vlaie is about as low as the bed of the river, and when the latter rises suddenly, it sets back up the creek with a heavy current, so as not unfre- quently to carry bridges up stream, that were over the streams in the marsh. The Sacondaga continues a north-easterly course, until it enters the Hudson some thirty miles from Fish House. A small steam boat has been plying for two seasons between Fish House and Barber's Dam, a distance of about tAventy miles. This dam is situated at the head of what is usually denominated the Horse race, or rapid water, which TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 43 extends from thence to the Hudson. Conklinville, a small hamlet, with several mills and a leather manu- factory, has recently grown up at the dam. Daly's creek, a stream running into the Sacondaga on the east side, and near Barber's dam, got its name from the following circumstance. Patrick Daly, an ardent friend of Sir William Johnson, was at the mouth of this stream with the latter on a fishing ex- cursion, as in days gone by it w^as a great place for trout. A little eddy in the water had caught up a bed of leaves, and the top ones were so curled and dry, as to lead Mr. Daly to suppose they were quietly reposing on the top of a small sand bar. It is not unlikely that Sir William, to please himself or guests that may have been with them, humored the joke, if he did not set it on foot. Catching the painter, the angler sprang out to draw the boat upon the bar — when lo ! he went plump up to his arms in the water. This incident not only added a yarn to the Baronet's long budget, which he often spun at his friend's ex- pense, but served to originate a name for the, stream. Some few years after the above incident transpired, Godfrey Shew, his sons John and Jacob, and Edmund Pangburn, were fishing at the mouth of Daly's creek, when a similar little eddy of crisped leaves attracted the notice of young Jacob, and to get the wrinkles out of his legs, he concluded to step out of the boat on the bar. He did so, and down went the leaves, and still deeper down the boy to get a handsome ducking. 44 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. and be laughed at by his comrades when again in the boat. Query: Should not this stream be called Shew's creek, some part of the time ? Near the mouth of Hans's creek, and about half> way from Summer-house point to Fish House, dwell before the Revolution the family of Henry Wormwood. He had three daughters and two sons. The oldest daughter, whose name is now^ forgotten, married and went to Schoharie; the other two, Susannah and Eli- zabeth, lived at home. Susannah, the eldest of the two, was a beautiful girl, of middling stature, charm- ingly formed, with a complexion fair as a water lily — contrasting with which she had a melting dark eye and raven hair. Elizabeth much resembled her sister, but was not quite as fair. An Irishman named Robert or Alexander Dunbar, a good looking fellow, paid his addresses to Susannah, and soon after married her. The match w^as in some manner brought about by the Baronet — was an unhappy one, and they soon after parted. She however retained as her stock in trade a young Dunbar. What became of Dunbar is un- known. Sir William was on very intimate terms with both the Wormwood girls, but the most so w4th Susannah, after she became a grass-widow — at which time she was about twenty years old. Those girls were often at the cottage on the point, and not unfrequently at the fish-house. As the latter place was not fur- nished, when Sir William went down there, intending TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 45 to stay over night, he took down a bed from the point, which, " as the evening shades prevailed," was made up on the floor. In passing Wormwood's dwelling, some half a mile distant from his boat at the nearest point, if he desired an agreeable companion for the night, he discharged his double-barreled gun, and the two shots in quick succession, was a signal that never failed to bring him a temporary housekeeper. Su- sannah was his favorite, and so pleased was she with his attentions, that she often arrived on foot at the Fish House before he did, especially if he lingered to fish by the way. Wormwood and his wife sometimes accompanied one of their daughters to the fish-house, where they occasionally remained over night. The old man had the misfortune to break an arm, and by imprudence he kept it lame for a long time. Early one morning he called in at Shew's dwelling, situated over a knoll and perhaps one-fourth of a mile from the fish-house Rubbing his arm he began to give a sorry picture of its lameness, in which he was suddenly interrupted by Mrs. Shew. "Poh!" said she, "you have made it lame by sleeping on the floor again at the fish- house." "No I haven't," said he; "I slept on a good bed; for Sir William brought down from the point a very nice wide one, which was plenty large enough for four" — " Four ?" quickly interrogated Mrs. Shew, greatly 40 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. surprised at the reply of Wormwood, '' pray how did you manage to sleep foiir in a bed ?" « O, easy enough. Susannah made it up very nicely on the' floor, and then Sir William told us how to lay. He first directed the women to get in the middle, and now, said he to me, you get on that side and take care of your old woman next to you, and I'll get m on this side and try to take care of Susannah. No, I didn't make my arm lame by sleeping on the floor last night." It is unnecessary to add, Mrs. S. did not question her neighbor any farther. To dispose of this family in a few words, which catered for years to pamper the baser passions of an influential man, liberally endowed with Solomondic lust; the two sons went to Canada with Sir John Johnson ; Elizabeth married somebody, and moved away; Susannah, with an heir, if not two, to the Sa- condaga vlaie-sex unknown— remained about Johns- town with her parents until late in the Revolution, and then went to Canada. Old Wormwood was seen at Amsterdam after the war by a former neighbor, who enquired ivhere he lived ? " Any where," he re- plied " where I can find a house." Poor weak man, he hL beyond doubt parted with his 'mortal coil' long since; but his old bones, we hazard a conjecture, more than once felt the need of Sir William's ' wide bed,' or some other, before that solemn event. About the fish-house, Sir William Johnson re- served one hundred acres of land, which was confis- TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 47 cated with his son's estate in the Revohjtion. When sold by the sequestrating conniiittee, it was purchased by Major Nicholas Fish (he was adjutant-general of militia after the war), for one hundred pounds. Maj. Fish sold it at the close of the war to Asahel Parkes, of Shaftsbury, Vermont, who resided several years upon it. He built a dwelling upon the low ground a few rods from the mouth of Vlaie creek; and the fol- lowing spring he w^as driven out of it by some four feet of water. Traces of this building are still to be seen west of the road, just above the river bridge. Parkes sold the Fish-house farm to Alexander St. John. The village has since been built uj)on it. The bridge just alluded to crosses the river where it makes its great angle, and only a few rods below the mouth of Vlaie creek. The Sacondaga at this place is about tw^o-thirds as large as the Mohawk is at Fultonville. The cost of this bridge, a covered one, in Barber & Howe's Historical Colledioiis of Mew York, is erroneously stated to have been ' sixty thou- sand dollars.' It cost about six thousand dollars, and was built by the state's munificence in I8I8; at which time Jacob Shew was in the legislature and advocated the measure w'ith success. It was supposed the state would soon realize the funds again, by the sale of her lands on the north side of the river, a mari:et for which would be more readily found by improving the way to them. How profitable the investment has proved for the state we are unable to say, but the 48 TRAPPERS OF NEW-YORK. convenience of a free bridge to the public is invalua- ble. The state was soon remunerated. Shew. Among the unwise measures adopted in the early part of our struggle for liberty, was that of fortifying Summer-house point; it being supposed by some that an enemy from the north, would be likely to approach the point by water. Part of a regiment of continental ti'oops under Col. Nicholson was stationed here much of the summer of 1776. An intrenchment six feet wide and several feet deep was cut across the eastern end of the point; while the cottage in green livery, as we may suppose, assumed a warlike aspect. The point as a military post was abandoned at the end of the summer. The summer-house shared the same fate as the fish-house, in the Revolution; as they were both burnt about the year 1781. We suppose that, from the fact that this cottage had been occupied by the Americans as a military post, and that the repos- session of it by Sir John Johnson was now placed almost beyond a doubt among the impossibilities; he gave instructions to some hostile invaders to burn that and the fish-house, that they should fall to the own- ership and occupancy of no one else. All traces of the fortifications on the point have disappeared, the ditch having become entirely filled up by deposits from the marsh. Just before Summer-house point was garrisoned, a scout of several men was sent from Johnstown to re- connoitre in its vicinity. From the point they crossed TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 49 the marsh to the bank of the Sacondaga, and not find- ing any trace of an enemy's approach, they returned to the point. When ready to retrace their steps to Johnstown, they found the boat had been left by some person on the opposite shore of the Kennyetto. In attempting to cross the stream and get it, one of the men, named Willie Boiles, a continental soldier, was drowned. His body was recovered and buried on the northerly end of the point, a few rods southerly from the fence toward the road, and not far distant from the Mayfield creek. No stone or stake indicates the spot. Summer-house point was sold by Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, one of the committee for sequestrations, to James Caldwell of Albany. Who now owns this delightful spot I am unable to say. Formerly, when it became the rallying spot for hay-makers, cranberry- pickers and fishermen, temporary bridges were made across the creeks upon its sides, by throwing over stringers and covering them with brush and hay. The timber was drawn upon the point in the winter, to be restored in the summer. A settlement was begun in Mayfield, some ten miles to the northward of Johnson Hall, under the patronage of Sir William Johnson, about as early as Stoner's location at Fonda's Bush. The first settlers who ob- tained a title from the Baronet to one hundred acres of land each, were two brothers named Solomon and Seely Woodworth, Simeon Christie, two brothers named Reynolds, Jacob Dunham, Cadman, Jona. 5 50 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Canfield, Capt. Flock, a captain when in New England; and possibly one or two others. Christie was a Scotchman; the rest of the settlers, or nearly all of them were enterprising Yankees. The Wood- worths were from Salisbury, Connecticut; Seely set- tled near the present site of Mayfield Corners, and his brother about a mile to the westward of him. The rest of the pioneers were scattered about the wood- man's neighborhood. Perhaps the only descendant of this early settlement now living upon the homestead, is Simon, a son of Simeon Christie. Solomon Wood worth was killed by the Indians in the Revolution, as I have elsewhere published. The circumstances attending his death, as related by an eye-witness, I design to give the public at some future day, as also the captivity of several of the settlers at Fish House and Fonda's Bush, and fate of Eikler and young Shew. Old Mr. Dunham was murdered by the Indians in the war, as related on page 294 of my His- tory of Schoharie County, etc., where the name is in- accurately printed Durham. His "wife was not mur- dered at the time, as there stated. The house was plundered, but from motives of policy not then burned. Dunham had a son, a young officer under Capt. Solo- mon Woodworth, who shared the fate of his brave commander, as will be shown hereafter. After Shew located at Fish House, and before the Revolution, John Eikler, Lent and Nicholas Lewis, brothers, Robert Martin, Zebulon Algar, a family of TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 51 Ketchums and one of Chadwicks, also settled in that neighborhood. All of them left at the beginning of difficulties, except Shew, Martin and Algar. These pioneers at first had to go to Johnstown for their mill- ing. To accommodate them and the Mayfield settle ment. Sir William Johnson erected a small grist mill at the latter place, in 1773 or '74, and had the avails of it during the remainder of his life. It was either burnt in the war, or rendered nearly valueless by neglect. The mill property having been confiscated, it was purchased at the close of the war by Abraham Romeyn, the oldest son of the Rev. Dr. Romeyn, who had been an artificer in the Revolution. He rebuilt the mill again, and put it in operation. Soon after Romeyn got his mill in operation, Thomas Shankland— who had been a prisoner among the Indians — erected a grist mill on the Kennyetto, in the present town of Providence, to which the Fish House settlers repaired, as it w^as a mile or two nearer than the Mayfield mill, with no intervening marsh. This mill is now owned by Jonathan Haggidorn. The bolts in those mills to separate the flour from the bran, were turned by hand. It was the usual practice for customers to turn the bolt for their own grist — a task they were by no means pleased w^ith. After the country became more settled, and probably as early as 1800, one A^an Hoesen erected a mill also in Provi- dence, situated about half a mile east of Fish House, on a stream which rises on the Maxon mountain. 52 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Speaking of millsj we are reminded of the follow- ing anecdote of Sir William Johnson. While he was living at Fort Johnson, he made some alteration in his grist-mill near by — putting in a new pair of mill- stones. A German named Francis Salts, who was erecting a mill for Messrs. Philip and Jacob Frederick, situated on the Schoharie river, some five or six miles above its mouth, called on the Baronet to purchase the old grinders. The price was stipulated, and after some little conversation about the terms of payment, the quondam owner told his customer to take them home, get his mill in operation, and if he would sing a song when the debt was due, that pleased him, he would exact no other pay. It was not long ere the buzzing and clitter clatter evinced the new mill in successful motion. When pay day for the millstones arrived, Mr. Salts went to Fort Johnson to cancel the debt. He was quite a song singer, and had possibly prepared himself with something new, expressly for the fastidious ear of his creditor. In the presence of several of the Baronet's friends, who were, no doubt, invited in expressly to hear them, song after song was sung, to the evident amusement of all save the one he desired to please; but his features remained uncommonly rigid. Having exhausted his catalogue of German songs, without discovering any expression of delight on the counte- nance of his creditor, the millwright thrust his hands into a deep pocket, and drew forth a long pouch of TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 53 the ready, singing in no very good humor as he did so: Der Warn Ml beja!)lt ^dn.* " That will do — nov/ put up your money," said Sir William, at the end of a burst of laughter. "And are you paid? " asked Salts, with evident sur- prise, as he returned the purse to his pocket. " Yes, yes," said the now delighted lover of fun, " that will do— that's the best of the whole." The songster went home rejoicing, and left the Baronet and his guests to discuss the merit of his songs over a bottle of wine, when he was far away. — Col. Peter Young and Volkert Voorhees. If Sir William Johnson enjoyed a joke at the ex- pense of some friend, they occasionally got the rig upon him, as the following anecdote will show. .Just after the close of the French war, in which he had acted so conspicuous a part, and for which he was placed on the baronial list. Sir William had occasion to go to Albany. At that period there were only two or three dwellings in the whole distance between Albany and Schenectada, and they were little if any better than squatter's lodges of more modern times. There were numerous little swamps and marshes along the road, and the Baronet returning to Schenectada on horseback, passed a little marsh, in which he heard, * Money bag ! money bag ! you must come out ! The man he will be paid ! 5* 54 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. as he believed, the voice of a new animal. Nearing a house just after, he inquired. What animah were making such a strange noise? He was answered with a grin, that they were bullfrogs! He spurred up his horse, not a little mortified to think he had but just learned, as his countrymen would say, " what a toad a frog was.^' The family of which he inquired knew him (indeed that family which did not know him in Western New York, was behind the times), and soon the nature of his inquiry reached the ears of his most intimate friends, who bored him so unmercifully about it, that he was obliged to own up. He admitted that he never was so ashamed of having asked a question in his life, as he was of that about the new animals on the pine plains below Dorp. — James Frazier. After the preceding pages were stereotyped, I learned that the given name of Dunham, mentioned on page 49, w^as Jacob: that when he w^as murdered, as stated on page 50, which took place April 11, 1779, a son named Samuel met the same fate. Zebulon, another son, was made prisoner, but escaped from his captors while they were engaged in plundering the house. John, a third son of Jacob Dunham, fell with Capt. Wood worth, in Fairfield. — Hon. John Dunham y of Wells, N. Y., a son of Ebenezer Dunham, and grandson of Jacob Dunham, above named. CHAPTER IV. Very little is known of Nicholas Stoner's boyhood, but from his propensity in riper years we may suppose, that if he did not play off some wild pranks, it was only for the want of a butt. With perceptions na- turally quick, his city life afforded him a fine school for the study of human nature as developed in the actions of men; but the transition at so early an age to sylvan shades, where, instead of artificial objects he might behold nature by the pencil of God adorned, was genial to his untamed spirit, and he was soon fitted to enjoy to the fullest extent the life of a wood- man: finding music in the scream of the panther, growl of the bear and bay of the wolf When a cry from the Boston Cradle announced that the infant Liberty was about to be strangled by its pretended nurse; the Gray Forest Eagle, " An emblem of freedom, stern, haughty and high," having plumed his broad wing for a heliocentric flight, was up — " And away like a spirit wreathed in light," he fluttered over the land of his choice, until he aroused the patriotism not only of the indweller of city and village, but of him, who, though isolated his home, could appreciate untrammeled thought and act. 66 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. The first two years of the war of Independence, the pioneer inhabitants of New York enjoyed comparative tranquillity; for the swift-footed Indian had not fully determined to raise the hatchet of death against un- offending innocence, in a quarrel that did not directly concern him, and crimson the altar of domestic hap- piness for the golden calf royalty had set up: but as the portending storm lowered, and it became known that the red man, having sharpened his scalping knife and participated in the war dance of his nation, was then on his way to the frontiers; exposed settlers who were inclined to look with favor on the acts of those who were raising an arm of rebellion along the sea- board, found it necessary to remove to thickly peopled neighborhoods. Accordingly, the families making up the small and scattered settlement of Fonda's Bush, except that of Helmer and Putman, removed early in the summer of 1777, to Johnstown : soon after which Nicholas Stoner went to reside with the Fisher bro- thers in the Mohawk valley.* Living with patriots, • John and Harmanus Fisher, They resided at that period where the Hon. Jesse D. DeGrofF now resides, between the vil- lages of Fonda and Amsterdam, and were both killed and scalped by the Indians and tories in the summer of 1780; at which time the former was a captain and the latter a lieutenant of militia. Col, Frederick Fisher (or Visscher, as he wrote his name in the latter part of his life), a third brother, chanced to be there at the time, and was scalped and left for dead, but recovered and lived many years. For a more particular account of the Fisher family and their sufferings, see my Border Wars of New York. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 57 although a lad of only 14 or 15 suiiimers, it is not sur- prising that young Stoner, who had been properly schooled at home as the removal of the family indicates, should have iuibibed the spirit which throbbed in older hearts, and been ready to stand or fall with the com- mon cause of his country. Visiting his friends in Johnstown in the summer of 1777, at which time it had become a military post, Nicholas, for whose ear martial music had peculiar charms, needed but little persuasion to become a sol- dier, and enlisted as a fifer into a company of New York troops, commanded by captain Timothy Hughes. Not long after his brother John, a mere boy, enlisted under Capt. Vv'right. Captain W. had been a British drmn-major previous to the Revolution, and being pleased with John, undertook to perfect him in the art of flammadiddles and paddadiddles — in other words, in the ability to make a world of noise in a scientific manner. Henry Stoner, imitating the example of his boys, soon after enlisted under Capt. Robersham for a term of three years. The father and sons were all in the same regim.ent, so that they not only saw^ each other almost daily, but the former could to some little extent, still exercise the duties of a parent. The re- giment alluded to was commanded by Col. James Livingston, of which Richard Livingston was lieuten- ant-colonel, and Abraham Livingston captain; the three Livingstons being brothers. In August 1777, the troops under Col. Livingston joined the army of 58 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Gen. Aniold, while on its way up the Mohawk valley, to succor Col. Gansevoort at Fort Stanwix. Among the patriotic rangers who left Johnstown at this time was Jacob Shew, who is still living. Nicholas Stoner saw the spy, Han Yost Schuyler, who was captured at Shoemaker's place (where Spen- cer now lives, at the upper end of Mohawk village), set out on his mission to excite the fears of the enemy, and thus save his own neck from a halter.* Boats • This Han Yost (John Joseph) Schuyler and Walter Butler were fortunately made prisoners near Fort Dayton, about the time of Arnold's arrival at that post. Butler was sent down to Albany as a prisoner. Schuyler had entered the Mohawk valley as a spy — was tried by court-martial and sentenced to be hung, his coffin being made ready to receive his remains. Gen. Arnold thought to turn his life to more profitable account than his death, and agreed to spare him on condition that he would enter the camp of St. Ledger, and by an exaggerated account of the forces ad- vancing under his command, thus contribute towards raising the siege of Fort Stanwix, then called Fort Schuyler. Schuyler accepted the terms for his life; and his brother Nicholas was retained as a hostage, to suffer in his stead in case of a noncompli- ance. Han Yost entered the enemy's lines, and his known fidelity to their cause gave his representation of Arnold's forces no little weight. Probably Schuyier had been sent below to learn whether American troops were approaching. The camp was thrown into confusion, and it was resolved to raise the siege. Several shrewd Oneidas friendly to the American cause were in the secret, and ere St. Ledger began his retrograde movement, one of them dropped into the camp as if by chance. He was interrogated as to his knowledge of the approaching Yankees, and replied mysteriously, but in a manner to inspire awe. *' Are the Yankees numerous/" inquired a tory o'R'-er. The Indi m pointing to the surrounding TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 59 laden with provisions were taken up the Mohawk, guarded by troops along the shore. As they drew near the theatre of the brave Herkimer's disasters, evidences of the terrible onslaught at Oriskany met them. Near the mouth of the Oriskany creek, a gun was found standing against a tree with a pair of boots hanging on it; while in the creek near, in a state bordering on putrefaction, lay their supposed owner. In the grass a little way from the shore, lay a genteely dressed man without coat or hat, who it was supposed had made his way there to obtain drink. A black silk handkerchief encircled his once aching head. John Clark, a sergeant, loosened it, but the hair ad- forest replied by asking — " Can Oneida count the leaves? Can white man count the stars?" The siege was precipitately aban- doned, and agreeably to arrangement another and* another Oneida entered the ranks of the foe to add their enigmatic testimony to that of the first. The stratagem succeeded to a charm-, and find- ing opportunity to return to the army of Arnold, and thence to Fort Dayton, Schuyler saw his brother set free and went back to Canada. Subsequent to the war, Schuyler returned to Herkimer county where he died. Facts from Johi Roof^ who was on duty at Fort Dayton, and saw the coffin made for Schuyler, and who was familiar with the circumstances which led to his arrest and novel liberation; corroborated by John Dockstader^ of Herkimer. Says the latter, this Schuyler had a brother and two sisters who were carried captive to Canada in the French war, and were re- tained there until it closed. Herkimer, then called the Palatine's village, was invaded by the French and Indians in November, 1757, its dwellings, grain, mills, etc., destroyed by fire, and its inhabitants mostly slain or carried into captivity •, as we may show at some future day. 60 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. hered to it on its removal, and he left the prize. He took from his feet a pair of silver shoe-buckles. His legs were so swollen, that his deer-skin breeches were rent from top to bottom. Nine dead bodies lay across the road, disposed in regular order, as was imagined, by the Indians after their death. The stench was so great that the Americans could not discharge the last debt due their heroic countrymen, and their bones were soon after bleaching upon the ground. A little farther on an Indian was seen hanging to the limb of a tree by the heels. He was suspended with the traces of a harness from a baggage wagon by the Americans, as believed, after death. Col. St. Ledger having made a flying retreat towards Canada, Gen. Arnold, after giving his troops time to rest, left Fort Stanwix and returned with his command to the army of Gen. Gates near Stillwater. At some period subsequent to the action of September ■J9th, in which Gen. Arnold was by many thought the master spirit of the American officers engaged, an altercation took place between him and Gen. Gates, supposed by some on account of envy entertained to- wards the former, either by Gen. Wilkinson or Gen. Gates, and possibly both,* which resulted in his being deprived of his command. Consequently, in the san- guinary battle which took place on Bemis's Heights, October 7th, Gen. Arnold had no authority for the glorious deeds he there performed. Towards evening * See Neilson's Burgoyne's Campaign^ page l.'iO. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. GI of that day, that daring chief led a body of troops into the very heart of the Hessian camp; carrying dismay along the whole British line. In this impetuous onset he was shot through the leg,* and would to God the ball had passed through his heart ; and that that fear- less and reckless leader, who, up to that hour had been one of Liberty's boldest champions, could have sealed w^ith his life-blood his former deeds of glory ! Yes, would to God that that brave general, who had faced his country's foes on the snow-clad plains of Abraham, and been a companion in peril of the gal- lant, warm-hearted Montgomery, could now have found a grave on those heights, where his own blood had mingled with that of the foeman ! But alas ! alas ! a sombre destiny awaited him. Among the death-daring spirits who followed Ar- ^ nold to the Hessian camp, was Nicholas Stoner, and near the enemy's works he was wounded in a singular manner. A cannon shot from the breastwork killed a soldier near Stoner, named Tyrrell. The ball de- molished his head, sending its fragments into the face af Stoner, which was literally covered with brains, hair and fragments of the skull. He fell senseless, with the right of his head about the ear severely cut * A wounded Hessian fired on Arnold, and John Redman, a vo- lunteer, ran up to bayonet him, but was prevented by his general, who exclaimed, " He's a fine fellow — donH hurt him .'" The Hessians continued to fight after they were down, because they had been told by their employers that the Americans would give no quarters . — Stoner . 6 62 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. by portions of the skull bone, which injury still affects his hearing in that ear. Shortly after, as the young fifer was missing, one Sweeney, an Irish soldier, was sent to seek out and bear him from the field ; but a cannon shot whizzed so near his own head, that he soon returned without the object of his search. Col. Livingston asked Sweeney where the lad Stoner was? " Ja — s! colonel," replied the soldier, " a goose has laid an egg there, and .you don't catch me to stay there !" Lieut. William Wallace then proceeded to the spot indicated by the Irishman, and found our hero with his head reclining upon Tyrrell's thigh, and taking him in his arms, bore him to the American camp. W^hen young Stoner was found, a portion of the brim of his hat, say about one-fourth the size of a nine-pound shot, was observed to have been cut off very smoothly, the rest of it was covered with the ruins of the head of Tyrrell, who, to use the words of Stoner, did not know what hurt him. Peter Graff, from Switzer Hill, and Peter Conyne also from the vicinity of Caughnawaga, were at the American camp as teamsters on the day of this bat- tle, and served as volunteers among the troops led on by Arnold. Conyne having raised a gun to fire on the enemy, received a bullet in his arm and breast. Young Stoner and Conyne were taken from Stillwater to Albany in a boat with other wounded Americans. Col. Frederick Fisher chanced to be in that city when they arrived, and took Stoner home with him, from TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 63 whence he carried him to Johnstown. He was under the care of Dr. Thomas Reed, a surgeon in Livingston's regiment, and was cured. Conyne also recovered. In the summer of 1778, the three Stoners were all on duty in Rhode Island. In an engagement with the enemy while there, the father was wounded by a musket ball, which lodged in his head. He was sent to Providence, where he was trepanned, and recovered. A piece of silver placed over the wound, it was be- lieved, the Indians who afterwards killed and scalped him, obtained wath their plunder. The relic (an ounce ball), was preserved by the wounded man, but was lost when his dwelling was burnt by the hirelings of Britain. While the Stoners were serving in Rhode Island, the following incident occurred in the American camp. Two soldiers, Williams a Yankee, and Gumming an Irishman, had a quarrel, in which the former gave the latter a severe flogging. To revenge his chagrin, the worsted combatant took a shirt from his own knap- sack, and placed it in that of Williams, to give it the appearance of having been stolen, in the hope of seeing the latter punished. The officers found it ne- cessary to use severe measures for petty theft, as it was of very frequent occurrence. The missing gar- ment of Gumming having been found in Williams's possession, the latter was tied up with his coat off to be whipped. The son of Erin, conscience stricken, then advanced into the ring, and drew off his coat to 64 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. take the lash. He said he had received one licking from Williams, and although he had used stratagem to get him publicly flogged, he would rather receive the scorpioji- tailed cat himself, than see a man pun- ished for a crime of which he was not guilty. So manly a confession on the part of Gumming, excited the admiration of the Rev. John Greenough, a baptist minister, and chaplain of the regiment, who interceded with Col. Livingston, and he readily forgave them both. The Americans had several skirmishes with the enemy in Rhode Island, in the summer and autumn of 1778, in two of which Nicholas Stoner was engaged. Capt. Hughes v/as out one night with his command as a piquet guard on Poppasquash point, opposite Bristol. The troops having been observed before dark by a British vessel in the vicinity, a body of marines and grenadiers landed and made them prisoners. The enemy having gained the beach in boats, came round a salt marsh which w^as separated from a corn field by a stone wall. Capt. Hughes and his men were on the marsh side of the wall, and fired on the marines as they approached. The latter called to them not to fire, saying, " we are your own men." As they drew near, their white belts betrayed them however, and the Americans attempted their retreat. In endeavoring to leap the wall, our hero missed his footing and fell back, at which instant he was seized by the collar by a British grenadier named John McGaflfee. At this TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 65 instant another soldier raised his musket to strike him down, but was prevented by McGaffee, who exclaimed, " Vast, shipmate, it is only a child." Daniel Basin, a Frenchman, who was leaping the wall near Stoner, w^as bayoneted and killed. Capt. Hughes and all his men were made prisoners, except the one killed, and two who were missing, supposed to have scaled the fence and escaped j and as the American army was near, they were hurried into the boats and taken to Conanicut island. While crossing the marsh to the boats, the young fifer thought it was best to secure the rum in his canteen, and accordingly took a long gurgling swig, which was broken off by McGaffee, who claimed a share, as being his by the fortune of war, and he gave the finishing guzzle. As they neared the beach, Stoner threw the empty casket away. An officer hearing it strike the water, raised his sw^ord to punish, as he supposed, an act of treachery, think- ing a prisoner had cast a cartridge-box from him, but McGaffee, wuth his tongue now oiled, again inter- posed, and observed that the boy had only thrown away an empty and valueless canteen. At daylight the prisoners were paraded and lodged in the enemy's prison on the island. When aroused by the morning roll-call, young Stoner, who had been wofully drunk, from his attempt to swallow the contents of his own flask the evening before, and whose brain was still broiling from the effects of the potation, started up, supposing at first he was required to play the re- 6# 66 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORIt. veille in the American camp, but he was soon brought to his senses, and to a situation in which he could get sober at his leisure; in other words, he learned that others were to pipe while he danced. John Stoner was at this time a drummer in the American camp, not far distant from where his brother was a prisoner ; indeed, the spangled banner was floating in sight.* Gen. Prescott,* the British commander on that sta- tion, was captured the summer before Capt. Hughes was taken. He had gone to pay his devoirs to a buxom widow, at a little distance from his own camp, and a slave of the lady found means to communicate the fact to the Americans. Lieut.-Col. Barton, of the Providence militia, an officer of spirit, at once con- ceived the bold project of his capture. At dead of night, in a barge, well manned by stout-hearted volun- teers with muffled oars, he landed and approached the house in which the general was so happily quar- tered. Feeling quite secure, he had accepted the kind lady's hospitality, and resolved to tarry all night. Possibly his arrest was set on foot by the fair hostess, for woman often proved the champion of freedom. The general was nabbed in a bed-chamber; and without allowing the drowsy hero time to collect his *At the time Gen. Prescott's capture was noted, it had escaped the writer's recollection that an account of it had ever been pub- lished-, and Stoner's narrative of the event was adopted in the first edition, making it a year later than its occurrence. It took place July 10, 1777 — five miles from Newport. Col. Barton left Warwick Neck with 38 men in two boats, surprised the general in bed, and returned with him in safety {Holmes's Annals). TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 67 scattered thoughts, or the war-god to chase the dreams of lov^ from his mind — or, indeed, what was far more uncharitable, time to put on his breeches, he was hurried off to the rebel barge. Passing through a piece of standing barley, his legs were tickled, as we may suppose, not in the most agreeable manner. So silently had the Americans arrived, and so brief had been their stay, that they were even bending their oars for their own camp before the general's guard could be mustered. Great was the surprise among the British next day, when it became known that their general had been spirited away. On being apprised of the fact, some of the soldiers were heard to say, " The rebels have got the old rascal, and I hope they'll kill him! " He was a man some sixty years of age, was a severe disciplinarian, and not very popular. He was exchanged for Gen. Lee — for which object he w^as possibly captured — in April preceding the surprise of {/apt. Hughes. After several months imprisonment, (Japl Hughes and his command were exchanged. In the fall of 1778, the several regiments of New York state troops having become much reduced, a new organization took place, their number being les- sened, at which time Nicholas Stoner joined the com- pany of Capt. Samuel T. Pell, attached to Col. Cort- landt's regiment, which marched to Schenectada. The state troops w^ere sent, during the winter months, to different frontier stations, and Capt. Pell proceeded to Johnstown for winter quarters. 68 TitAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Small parties of the enemy kept the inhabitants along the frontier of New York, in a state of almost constant alarm. While stationed at Johnstown Nicho- las Stoner often went hunting and fishing with other lads, to provide a dainty morsel for some officer, who thought more of his palate than of his purse; and con- sequently paid liberally for their success. Young Stoner, in company with three others, one Charles- worth, Charles Darby and John Foliard, all nearly of the same age, went out with guns and fishing tackle, in the vicinity of Johnson Hall. After they had be- come busily engaged along the Cayadutta,* all at once Darby, without uttering a word, was seen to start as if terribly frightened, and run off in the direction of the Hall. His comrades soon learned the cause of his alarm, by seeing a small party of Indians emerge from a patch of hemp not far distant from them, and near the Hall barn. One of them fired on Charlesworth, but the boys scattered, fled and all effected their escape. These Indians, or, as probably some of them were, tories disguised, had no doubt visited the settle- ment as spies, and were anxious to take back a pri- soner as a proof of having accomplished their mission. They were sure of their reward, if they could return * Ca-ya-dut-ta signifies rnuddy creek^ says the Hon. John Dun- ham, of Hamilton county, who had the signification from Indian hunters. The creek courses in Johnstown through a soil which gives to the water at most seasons of the year a dirty appearance ; hence the aboriginal name. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 69 with occular evidence of having visited the place de- signated by some British or refugee officer in Canada. Thomas Harter, an inoffensive man, nearly seventy years old, who resided in Scotch Bush, a few miles from Johnson Hall, went to his field, bridle imhand, to catch a horse, and was made prisoner and taken to Canada, by a small party of the enemy ( in the fall of 1778, or spring of 1779), that did not wish to harm him, but were anxious to prove they had been to Johnstown. His unaccountable absence from home greatly alarmed his family, but their apprehensions were softened by a tory neighbor, who assured them he was alive, but had been taken prisoner as a matter of necessity, and would be kindly used. His treat- ment was not as cruel as that meted to most prisoners, and he lived to return home, to the great joy of his friends. CHAPTER V. Conrad Reed, a baker in New York city, married Miss Barbary Stoner, a second sister of Henry Stoner, and removed to Johnstown just before the Revolution. He dwelt some distance from the fort, but Avas em- ployed to bake for the garrison. When on duty at Johnstown, the Stoner boys not unfrequently took occasion to visit their uncle's family, but those visits were not approved by their father; who knew that his kinsman was tinctured with royalty, and he often cautioned them against going there. Nicholas called tliere one evening, and had been but a short time in the house, when he heard a slight tap upon a window. Mr. Reed instantly disappeared through a trap-door into the cellar without a candle, and his wife went out of the house. There seemed a sprinkling of mys- tery in the affair, but it did not excite Stoner's fears, and he awaited in silence the issue. After a few minutes' absence, his aunt came in having in her hand several gaudy handkerchiefs. She appeared rather more reserved after the singular interruption of the family, and he soon returned to the fort. Stoner learned subsequently, that a small party of the enemy, one of whom was John Howell, who dwelt between Johnstown and Sacondaga, had visited the TRAPPERS OF NEW VORtf. 71 settlement as spies: that they had seen him through the window, and by a tap on a pane of glass, a signal she well understood, had called out Mrs, Reed, to con- sult her about making him a prisoner. She told them that if he was captured there, it would be the ruin of their family; for her husband would certainly lose his employ as baker for the garrison, if in fact he was not imprisoned. They reluctantly withdrew, although Howell could hardly consent to let so favorable an opportunity pass for securing certain evidence of having accomplished their mission. The young fifer did not know until long after, how near he had been to a Canadian prison. The handkerchiefs left with Mrs. Reed were presents, to adorn the necks of several tory ladies, whose husbands or lovers were in Canada. About a mile from the Johnstown fort (the jail in- closed by strong palisades), dwelt Jeremiah Mason, ■whose family was numbered among those in the vicinity, as friendly to the cause of liberty. This Mason had a daughter named Anna, about the same age as our hero; who was a maiden very fair to look upon. Nature had given her charming proportions; a stature seemly, gracefully jutting out where swell- ings w^ere most becoming, and bew^itchingly tapering where diminution is sought in female form. Her skin was clear and fair, and her hair and eyes black, the latter shaded by raven lashes under the control of nmscle, that gave to the organs of love a most melting expression. 72 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Some distance farther from the fort, and on the same road as Mason, dwelt a family named Brow^se; the male members of which w^ere in the camp of the enemy. At home were Mrs. Browse and two beauti- ful daughters. They, too, were in their teens, and like Anna Mason, they had sparkling black eyes, ruby lips and cherry cheeks. The war of the Revolution soon rendered neighboring families distant and formal, where they looked with diverse favor upon the acts of the contending parties, even though they had been intimate before. The resolutions of vigilance com- mittees often tended to such a result. I have remarked elsewhere, that young Stoner, when on duty at Johnstown, went hunting in the proper season. His pigeon hunting often gave him an inter- view with the young ladies named, and not unfre- quently did Anna, as the hunter was about to proceed farther from the garrison, with some anxiety and a reproving look, cast a caution in his path from her father's door, such as " Nicholas, you'll be surprised yet at that tory house and taken off to Canada: you had better not go there." If the maiden had not con- ceived some attachment for the young fifer, the reader will agree with me, that she was possessed of sisterly feelings. He w^as then quite partial to Anna, as he admits, and we think he must have promised her to limit his future excursions to a nearer range, else why the caution observed in another visit. As the young musician usually hunted in the same TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 73 direction, it was suspected by more than one at the station that he went sky-larking, and James Dunn, who was possibly in the secret of his destination, one day told Capt. Pell that " if he did not look out he would lose his fifer, as he not only went upon danger- ous grounds, hut hunted two kinds of pigeons.^' The captain, whose inclinations led him to follow all the fortunes of w^ar, took occasion secretly to catechise the young hunter ; and the latter, with his usual can- dor, owned up. The consequence was, the commander of the garrison concluded the hunting of pigeons must be rare sport, especially if they were not too lean, and soon obtained a promise from young Nimrod to take him where he could find one nestled. Arrangements having been made for a hunt, secretly of course, a garment was thrown over the back of an old white mare belonging to the widow Shutting, which sought its living around the fort; and selecting a propitious evening, the hunter and his pupil — under cover of a cluster of trees a little distance from the garrison, mounted their Rozinante and set off. The reader may be surprised that they started on a pigeon hunt in the evening, and still more when informed that they left their shooting-irons behind; but this is all owing to his ignorance of the policy of war, for he should know that game is easier taken on the roost than on the wing. It was the wish of the master hunter to avoid pass- ing on their way the house of Jeremiah Mason, and 7 74 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. why, possibly the reader may infer; he says himself, however, it was from fear a watch-dog might betray the nature of their errand and thus startle the best game : consequently a blind and circuitous route was chosen, some distance from the public highway. Whether the animal was too heavily loaded or not, we can not judge any better than the reader (sin is said to be weighty), but sure it is that in threading an intricate footpath carpeted by a web of briars and un- derbrush along a ravine, the mare stumbled and went heels over head, sending her riders far from her, if not pell-mell, certainly Pell and Nick. Ec^towing some harsh epithets upon the poor beast, which probably had the worst of the bargain, they did not attempt to remount; but leaving the old mare to her fate, they proceeded on foot. On arriving near the hunting-grounds, Stoner went forward to reconnoitre, and finding the coast clear, returned and conducted his captain into a neat little cottage, with two rooms below, and possibly as many above. The ceremony of an introduction once passed, the captain soon found himself quite at home. The time for retiring to rest at length arrived, and as the old hen roosted in the room they were in, it became necessary for the hunters to leave it: consequently the hunter most familiar with the premises, followed the pullet in its flight to a chamber. The other bird soon after fluttered past the captain into an adjoining room, whither he pursued possibly to capture it. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 75 I do not consider it important to the present narra- tive to stop and inquire of an ornithologist, "If birds confabulate or no: 'Tis clear that they were always able To hold discourse, at least in fable;" and that the genus columha, Soon are cooing when together If they meet in coolish weather, is a fact so well established, it must be obvious to the reader that pigeon hunting may be rare sport. Some time after the beautiful birds under consideration had flown to separate rooms, into which we can not think of introducing the reader, as the cooing was done agreeably to the most approved style then in vogue in western New York, the loud barking of Mason's dog fell upon the ears of the hunter closeted above. His apprehension was in a moment on tiptoe; for to be surprised by a party of the enemy and either slain or captured with his captain in such a place and at such an hour, without their having the least means of de- fence, he readily saw must bring scandal if not dis- honor upon the American arms; and he descended (although his bird attempted with a delicate little claw to prevent) to take a midnight observation. It turned out that Mason's sentinel was barking at the old mare the hunters had abandoned. Having collected her scattered limbs, she too had concluded to go browsing, and was, as the reader will perceive, on the right track. On the return of his pioneer, the 76 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. captain was gratified to learn that there was no real cause of alarm, and pigeon hunting soon prospered again. Towards the dawn of day the sportsmen re- turned to the garrison; Capt. Pell exacting from his musician the most solemn assurances of secresy re- specting his successful and only attempt at fowling among the Browse, until he should meet with me. The female and infant part of many families in the border settlements of New York, whose male members were foes of the country, removed about this period to Canada, among which was this Browse family; and such others as did not go voluntarily, were compelled to by an act of the state legislature soon after. In the summer and autumn of 1780, Nicholas Stoner was on duty in the valley of the Hudson. He was a fifier of the guard at Tappan, which attended Major Andre from his prison to his gallows; and witnessed the execution of that unfortunate man. The gallows was constructed, as he says, by the erection of two white oak crotches, with a cross-piece of the same kind of timber, all with the bark on. Not far from the gallows was an old woman selling pies, to whom Stoner directed his steps. He met at her stand Elijah Cheadle, then a stranger to him. They paid this huckstress $100 in continental money, for either an apple pie, or pumpkin pie, which at first she declined receiving: she finally concluded to take it, observing as she did so, " My children, the pie is w^orth more than the money, but T will take it that I may be able TRAPPERS OF NEW -YORK. 77 to say, I sold a pie for one hundred dollars.'*^ Mr. Cheadle settled at Kingsborough after the war, where he resided at the time of his death, Sept. 23, 1849. While stationed at Snake Hill, near the Hudson, young Stoner's inclination to mischief procured for hiin a duplicate flogging. There was daily about the camp a boy named Albright, who had been so un- fortunate as to lose an eye. Stoner, inclined to be waggish With all, procured the eye of a beef butchered in the neighborhood, and offering it to Albright, said to him, '' Here, take this and you will then have two eyes and be somebody." The boy complained to his mother, an Irish woman, who, stating the matter to the commanding officer, had the satisfaction of know- ing that he was punished for treating her son so un- kindly. Stoner did not relish the interference of the mother, as the boy was about his own age, and began to puzzfe his wits for some method of retaliation. A soldier's agent is powder, although he may be a fifer, and loading an ugly looking bone with the dangerous dust, he watched a favorable opportunity when she was near his tent, and applied the match to it. The explosion was greater than he had anticipated, and the scattering fragments not only tore the old woman's petticoats, but severely wounded her arm. Although he had improved a most promising occasion to avoid detection, yet some trivial incident betrayed Stoner as the artillerist, and he was very severely whipped for the act. He was served rightly no doubt. 7* 78 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. In the fall of 1781, Nicholas Stoner was on duty at Yorktown, and when the seige of that place closed, he saw Gen. O'Hara surrender his sword to Gen. Lincoln.* A part of the time while at Yorktown, our hero was a fifer under the noble-hearted Lafayette. One * Several errors have crept into history about this ceremony. The facts were as follows: In May, 1780, Gen. Lincoln, then in command at Charleston, S. C, was compelled to surrender his sword to Cornwallis, When his lordship found himself obliged to yield to the allied army, he knew that Lincoln, who was his equal in rank, was with the conquerors, and as the terms now meted to him were precisely like those dictated to Lincoln, he possibly may have conjectured that that officer would be designated by the great American commander to receive his own polished blade. Be that as it may, certain it is that instead of appearing on the occasion, as a man of real courage and generosity would have done (for that officer lacks moral courage who can not share defeat with his men), he feigned illness and sent Gen. O'Hara to do the disagreeable honors 5 and that officer very handsomely per- formed the ceremony of tendering his sword to Gen. Lincoln, who was appointed by Washington to receive it. Capt. Eben Wil» Ztams,*w^ho was present assured the writer, that Lincoln received, reversed, and again restored the hilt of the weapon to its owner, with a dignity and grace of gesture he could never forget, for he had never seen it equalled. Several persons who witnessed this ceremony have corroborated what I have here stated, and an old soldier {James Williamson), who received half the British stand- ards, to the question, why did not Cornwallis surrender his own sword? replied, " / guess he was a little sick at his stomach!'''' In a picture intended to represent this scene, and but recently got up. Gen. Washington erroneously appears in the act of re- ceiving the resignation from O'Hara, the latter being on foot. The * This hero died at his residence in Schoharie, July 1, 1847, aged nearly 98 years. He was beloved by all who knew him. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 7& Darby, a fifer, having been killed, Stoner was sent as a substitute to Gen. Lafayette's troops. Mr. Nicholas Hill, a worthy and intelligent citizen of Florida, N. Y., was also at Yorktown during its seige, as a young musician. He informed the writer, at an interview in the summer of 1846, that the firing on the British works did not take place until the Americans had completed a line of redoubts and bomb batteries, so as to play on the greater part of the ene- my's fortifications at once. The allied army had raised a liberty pole, and the signal to commence an assault was given in the evening, by a hand-grenade sent up near the liberty pole, attached to a sky-rocket. The gunners stood ready with linstocks on fire, and as soon as the grenade exploded in the air, they w^ere applied to the cannon. (Dr. Thatcher, in his Military Jour- nal, says Gen. Washington applied the first match.) The simultaneous discharge of such an array of ord- nance, w^as perhaps never heard before; and nothing general officers present, American, French and British, as several witnesses have assured the writer, were all mounted. The pic- ture of this scene by Trumbull, a beautiful steel copy of which is made the fontispiece of Howe^s Historical Collections of Virginia. although painted soon after, presents the British general trudging along on foot, and without side arms-, while Dr. Thatcher, in his Military Journal, made at the time and published long since, stated that he was elegantly mounted. Col. Abercrombie, who commanded the left wing of the British army on this occasion, was also on horseback. It is to be regretted that more care is not taken in preparing historical pictures, lest truth be violated, and tlae young taught popular errors never to be corrected. 80 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. could in the night exceed the sublimity of the con- cussion. To use the language of Mr. Hill, "/^ seemed as though the world was at an end — or that the heavens and the earth were coming together P'' It must have been the most magnificent salute ever before given in America. After the first discharge the firing con- tinued as fast as the pieces could be loaded. At some period of this seige, Mr. Hill was so for- tunate as to obtain eleven guineas from the pocket of a dead Briton. " While this money lasted," says Stoner, " we who were so fortunate as to have the pleasure of his acquaintance, lived like fighting cocks." The British prisoners made at Yorktown, were sent to interior military posts; and Col. Cortlandt's regi- ment, to which Nicholas Stoner belonged, on its re- turn march took five hundred prisoners, destined for Fredericksburg, in charge for some distance. While the troops were crossing at a ferry, probably York or Rappahannoc river, Stoner saw a French officer drop his purse, and lost no time in restoring it to the owner. The officer grateful for its recovery, although he had not yet missed it, rewarded him with a half doubloon ($8), numerous bows, and not a few expressions of re- gard, such as — " You pe a grand poy! You pe bon honest American ! You pe a ver fine soldier, be gar ! " and the like. The reception of this money, obtained through the generosity of a kind hearted stranger, for an evidence of commendable integrity, afforded young Stoner more pleasure, as he assured the writer, than TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 81 could possibly the whole amount the purse contained, had he dishonestly kept it; for to retain that which we know another has lost, is almost as great a crime as to purloin it either by stealth or force; and a "con- science void of offence," allows its possessor to sleep soundly and have pleasant dreams. The young musi- cian had many friends while his eight dollars lasted, for come easy, go easy, was the soldier's motto. Henry Stoner, as elsewhere stated, enlisted for a term of three years, in the American army. At the expiration of that time he received his discharge at Verplanck's point, soon after which he reenlisted at Groton, for three months, to fill another man's place. After the time of his second military engagement was up, he returned home. For about one year he lived on the farm of Col. John Butler, on Switzer hill, from which he went to reside near Tribe's hill, not far dis- tant from Fort Johnson. The farm to which he re- moved from Butler's, is now in the town of Amster- dam, and was long known as the Dr. Quilhott place: the late John Putman, if we mistake not, was residing on this farm at the time of his death. In the summer of 1782, a party of seven Indians traversed the forest from Canada to the Mohawk val- ley, the ostensible object of whose mission was to capture or destroy William Harper, afterwards judge (he resided for some years in Queen Anne's chapel parsonage), John Littel, afterwards sheriff, and such others as chance might throw in their way. Arriving 82 TEAPPERS OF NEW YORK. at the house of Dries* Bowman, to the eastward of Johnstown, the hostile scout learned that Henry Stoner was a whig of the times; that he had two sons then in the American army, and that he was living in a situation from its retirement, exposed to their mercenary designs. Thwarted in their original plan, they direct- ed their steps, piloted by Bowman, to the dwelling of Stoner, and on their way captured a man by the name of Palmatier. Unsuspicious of danger, Mr. Stoner, accompanied by a nephew named Michael Reed (son of Conrad Reed), went early one morning to a field to hoe corn; it was the first hoeing for the season. Mrs. Stoner having prepared breakfast, blew a horn to call her friends, and they were about to leave the corn-field, as young Reed, a lad then in his teens, discovered two Indians armed with hatchets approaching them from adjoining woods, and directed the attention of his kinsman that way. The latter, who kept a loaded gun in his house, attempted to gain it by flight, seeing w4iich, one of his foes ran so as to cut off his retreat. While making an angle in the road, the savage headed him, by crossing a piece of growing flax. Whether the victim offered to surrender himself a prisoner to the British scalper, is not known; it is very probable he did; but the cry of mercy was un- heeded, and the assassin's keen edged tomahawk de- scended with a crash, through an old fashioned beaver * Dries is an abbreviation for Andreas^ the German of Andrew. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 83 hat and what resistance the skull offered, and pene- trated the brain. The scalping knife was quickly unsheathed, and several fingers of a hand the stricken patriot had laid imploringly upon his aching forehead, were nearly cut off with the scalp lock — the merchan- dise that would then most readily command British gold. Some of the Indians now ran to the dwelling, which was soon rifled of its most valuable contents, and set on fire. As they approached, Mrs. Stoner dis- covered them near the door, and snatching up a frock, threw it out of a back window which was open. The enemy lingered sufficiently long to secure what plun- der they desired, and see the house so effectually on fire as to ensure its destruction, and then directed their course towards Canada. No personal injury was offered Mrs. Stoner, and soon after the destructives had retired, she obtained the dress cast from the win- dow, the only article she was enabled to save, and went to the house of John Harman, a neighbor, sup- posing her husband and young Reed w^ere prisoners. Bowman aided the prisoners in carrying their plun- der to a secret hiding place, near the Sacondaga, where, beside a log, they had concealed food. Pal- matier effected his escape on the first night after his capture, to the great joy of his friends; and the feigned prisoner. Bowman, was allowed to return home the night following. From their secret rendezvous, near the present village of Northville, the party journeyed with their captive Reed, by the northerly route to 84 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Canada, where he became a drummer in Butler's Ran- gers and remained until the war closed. Harman, after the arrival of Mrs. Stoner at his house, suspected Bowman of treachery, and made knowm his suspicions to some of his neighbors, who went with him to Stoner's premises. Going from the ruins of his house to the corn field, they found him where he had been cut down, in or near the road. He was still alive, and although unable to speak, sig- nified by signs, his desire for water, which was pro- cured in a hat as soon as possible; but on drinking a draught he expired immediately. He was buried be- neath a hemlock tree, near which he had been slain. Thus ignobly perished a brave man, who with scores of other citizens on the frontiers, of all ages, sexes, and conditions, found an untimely grave, because the evidence of their destruction would command a liberal price in the camp of the enemy. English freemen, where is thy blush? Where is thy shame fiDr the deeds of hellish cruelty inflicted by thy hirelings, not only on brave men, but on unoffending mothers and smiling infants? Liberty purchased at such a price, oh, with what jealousy should it be guarded! When Palmatier returned and made it known that Bowman had aided the Indians in carrying their stolen goods, the latter was arrested by patriots and confined in the Johnstown jail, then fortified. A party of whigs, among whom w^ere Godfrey Shew and his son Heiiiy, John Harman, James Dunn and Benjamin TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 85 DeLine,* assembled, fully determined to make Bowman confess his evil deeds. Among other devices resorted to, to make the tory disclose the information desired, a rope was thrown round some fastening overhead with a noose upon his neck; and he was required to mount a barrel. But he was interrogated and threat- ened in vain; and after the patience of his accusers was w^ell nigh exhausted, Dunn, who partook largely of the patriotic spirit of the times, swore he should hang; and kicking the barrel from under him he did hang — -or rather stood very uncomfortably upon air for a little time; but was finally taken down, and with various warnings about his future conduct, was again allowed his freedom. At the time of his father's death, Nicholas Stoner was on duty at King's Ferry. * At the time of Sir John Johnson's invasion of Johnstown and its vicinity in the summer of 1780, DeLine and Joseph Scott were living in Johnson Hall. When Johnson visited there to procure his concealed property, DeLine and Scott were made prisoners and taken to Canada. From his having heen a hunter and fa- miliar vidth the forest. DeLine was tightly hound. This was the second time they were taken to Canada durmg tne war, and how long they remained prisoners there at this time is unknown to the writer. James Jones of Florida composed the following distich, which was often sounded in their ears after the war : And when tliey rame to the Hall, the house they did surround, And Ben De Line and Joseph Scott made prisoners on the ground. CHAPTER VI. John, a son of Philip Helmer, named as one of the pioneer settlers in Fonda's Bush, who remained there after his patriotic neighbors had removed to Johns- town, accompanied Sir John Johnson to Canada on his removal from Johnson Hall, early in the Revolu- tion. Returning to the settlement not long after, he became an object of suspicion; was arrested by the patriots, and confined at Johnstown. A sentinel w^as placed over him who was very green in the service, and improving a favorable opportunity, the prisoner took occasion to praise his gun ; and closed his adula- tion by requesting permission to look at it, which was readily granted. The piece had hardly passed out of the young guard's possession, ere his authority was set at defiance, and its new owner took it to a place of retirement to inspect its merits; which were not fully decided upon until he had safely arrived in Canada. At a later period of the war, young Helmer again had the audacity to visit the Johnstown settlements. He returned late in the fall, and was concealed at his father's house for some time, intending on the return of spring, if possible, to take back some recruits w^th him for the British service. The nonintercourse so generally observed between whig and tory families TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 87 favored his design, but by some means his place of refuge became known to three patriotic neighbors, Benjamin DeLine, Solomon Woodworth and Henry Shew, who determined on his capture. Well armed, they proceeded one night to the vicinity of his father's dwelling, and concealed themselves at a place where they had reason to suppose he would pass. They had not been there long when, unsuspicious of danger, he approached the trio, who poised their fire-arms and he yielded to their authority, and was lodged in the Johns- town jail. The entrance to the fort through the pick- eted enclosure, was on the south side. Helmer had a sister named Magdalene, the Germans call the name Lana, by this name she was known. Miss Lana was on intimate terms with a soldier then on duty at the Johnstown fort; and at an interview with him after one of several visits to her brother, to whom she carried such little comforts as a sister can provide, she got a pledge from him, that when on sentinel duty he would unlock the prison door and set the prisoner free. It was in the night time and while his vigils lasted, that she had found access to the pri- soner. True to his promise, Lana's lover did set her brother at liberty, and, with another soldier, was se- duced from his duty by the prisoner, when both fled in his company. When she wills it, what can not wo- man do? A sergeant and five men, Amasa Stevens, Benjamin DeLine, before named, and three continental soldiers were soon upon their trail, which they were 88 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. enabled to follow by the fall of a light snow, and taking with them a lantern that they might travel by night, they came up with and sm^prised them in the woods. The two soldiers were fired upon and killed, but Hel- mer, with a severe bayonet wound in his thigh es- caped: he was afterwards discovered nearly dead, in some bushes where he had concealed himself, and was taken to the fort: there he was cured of his wounds and again imprisoned. By some unaccountable means he succeeded the third time in effecting his enlarge- ment; fled to Canada, and there remained. He, too, had been a hunter before the war, and was familiar with the forest. A part of the preceding facts were from Jacob Shew. At an interview between Helmer and Nicholas Stoner, which took place in Canada subsequent to the war, he told the latter that he suf- fered almost incredible hardships in making his last journey to that country. In the last year of the Revolution, Nicholas Stoner belonged to a band of musicians, which marched into New York with troops under Col. Willett, on its evacuation by the enemy. He played the clarionet, as did also Nicholas Hill. During the stay of Gen. Washington in that city, an exhibition of fire-works took place, on which occasion the band alluded to performed. Stoner also saw Washington enter the barge at Whitehall on his leaving New York; and to use his own words, was one of the band that played him off. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 89 Mischief lurked in the veins of young Stoner to the end of the war, and often brought him into diiHculty, from which fortune sometimes extricated him quite as easily as he deserved to be. The summer of 1783, was one of comparative inactivity in the army, as hostilities had nearly ceased that spring. Stoner was with a body of troops which were encamped back of Newburgh, when a little incident occurred which afforded some momentary amusement. In the camp was a black soldier, who had frozen off his toes while under Col. Willett the preceding February, in his abortive attack on Fort Oswego. In consequence, the poor fellow experienced such difficulty in walking, that few could observe his peculiar gait, without having their risible faculties get the mastery. As he was waddling along near the young musician, the latter called him a stool-pigeon. The words were scarcely uttered, ere the sable patriot, who felt the in- sult sensibly, pursued the offender, armed with a bay- onet, threatening vengeance. A clarionet w^as a poor weapon with which to repel an attack, and its pos- sessor fled for dear life, and took refuge in the hut of Lieutenant-Col. Cochrane, who was then entertaining several friends. So abrupt an entrance started all to their feet, little doubting that the enemy from New York were upon them : but fears of an invasion were soon at an end, as close upon the heels of Stoner came tumbling in the infuriated, frost-bitten hero. Whafs the matter ? What has happened ? What means this 8* 90 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. intrusion? several voices were at once demanding, as the last enterer, almost out of breath, stammered out— « Massa curnil! dis deblish rausiker, he 'suit me berry bad; I'm lame, can't help it; froze my feet, like to froze my body too: all under Curnil Will't in de bush; snow knee deep: dis rascal call me tool pigeon ; I no stand it." "I comprehend," said Col. Cochrane: "you have been very unfortunate while in the service of your country, and it grieves you, as well it should, to have any one speak lightly of your misfortunes." "Eezzur!" •" Well, my good fellow, leave the matter to me, and go to your quarters: I'll punish the impudent « Dat's wat I want," said the lame soldier, now re- stored to good humor; " he desarbs it, and I hope you whip him berry hard, massa curnil; yah-yah-yah— " " That I will," interrupted the officer. "Tank you, curnil, cause you my friend;" con tinned the offended warrior, as he turned to go out, and restored a care worn drab and black hat to his bump of pugnacity. While closing the door to leave the presence of his umpire and friends, a smile of satisfaction was seen lurking about his under lip, and he was observed to close his fist' and shake it at his offender, as much as to say—" Ha, de curnil gib it to you; you get your hide loosened dis time." While the dialogue lasted, a frown sat upon the TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 91 brow of Col. Cociirance, and the young culprit began to feel in imagination the whistling lash his unruly tongue had invoked; but no sooner had the complain- ant closed the rough door, than, in spite of all his efforts to the contrary, he found himself obliged to join his merry companions and laugh heartily. The figure of the limping negro, who, if he did not wear cotton, was amazingly outward-bound, seemed still before him, and turning to the mischief-maker, he with no little effort gave him a sharp reproof for thus imprudently wounding the feelings of one who should exite his sympathy; and then, not daring to venture a longer speech, lest he should spoil it with a laugh, he ordered him from his presence with a threat of terrible vengeance at the end of a rawhide, if he ever did the like again. Bowing his thanks for the easy and unexpected terms meted to him, young Stoner promised to do bet- ter in future, and as he left the hut to seek his own, the walls of the rude dwelling behind him shook with the boisterous merriment of its inmates, at their very unique entertainment. When the war of the Revolution closed and the dove took the place of the eagle— when the prattling infant could nestle in its mother's bosom secure from midnight assassins — when the warrior once more laid aside his sword and musket to grasp the hoe and spade of thrift — when commerce again spread her white wings without fear of the foeman's fire — when art and 92 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. science again smiled o'er hill and dale, enriched by the blood of freemen slain — when Liberty, with a home of her own, invited the oppressed of the earth to her embrace, extending to the penury-stricken the horn which needed only his industry to become one of plenty — then and not till then did our hero, grown to man's estate, return again to reside in the vicinity of Johnstown. Where is the hoary-headed warrior that never felt the melting influence of woman's smiles? If any such there are, let them come forth while I tell them a brief love-story of their own time. I have already informed the reader, that there dwelt at Johnstow^n in the Re- volution, a soft haired, dark eyed maiden named Anna Mason ; and have shadowed forth the fact, that a little intimacy existed between her and our hero in their youthful days. As no matrimonial engagement had passed between them, not having seen or heard from the young pigeon hunter for several long years ; . and not informed whether the glory of a dead warrior or the triumph of a live one were his ; in fact, not know- ing if he were alive in a distant colony, but what some other young heart then beat against his own ; it is not surprising that she looked upon him as lost to her, however vividly fancy at times may have brought back his graceful figure. Among the Johnstown patriots was a young man named William Scarborough, who answered also to the name of Crowley. His mother, at the time she TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 93 married Jeremiah Crowley, was a widow Scarborough, her husband having been killed in the batteau service, and was already possessed of little Willie, but people did not always stop to consider his true parentage, and after a while he almost ceased-to be called Scarborough. On page 477 of my History of Schoharie County ^ etc., where his death is mentioned, he is called Crowley, as I w^as then ignorant of his true parentage. William Scarborough, w^ho was in some respects a very worthy young man, paid his addresses to the charming Anna Mason. Now William was a brave youth, and had been in the service of his country, which Anna hap- pened to know, and on which account she the more highly respected him; for the women of that period could and did discriminate between right and wrong; between liberty and oppression. To cut a long story short, for wooing is full of mazes and phases, and in- teresting filagree, W^illiam found himself enamored with the bewitching Anna, who, on his making tender advances, cast a long sigh on the war-path of a cer- tain hunter, blushed deeply and reciprocated ardently his attachment. Early in the year 1781, but in what month we can not speak with certainty, Anna Mason was led to Hymen's altar, an altar on which have been offered many pure affections, but few more unsullied than hers, and became the bride of her heroic William. Days, weeks, even months passed, and still the young wife was happy; should she ever be otherwise? for 94 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. she had a kind husband, and was surrounded by those who loved and respected her. The green summer flew past, and autumn with her russet-clad meadows and golden forests arrived, and still Anna Scarborough was cheerful and happy: but alas ! a civil war that had raged for years and stained with life-blood the threshold of many dwellings within a few miles, was still devastating the land; and although the war-cry for a little season was removed to a distance, and no immediate danger was appre- hended, yet the midnight alarm might again break on the ear, and the most tender ties be sundered in a mo- ment: for Storms that have been again may be I The battle-axe if yet on high, Stained with the blood of martyrs free — When thought most distant may be nearest by; And from it fondly cherished may not fly. On the morning of October 25, 1781, a large body of the enemy under Maj. Ross, entered Johnstown with several prisoners, and not a little plunder; among which were a number of human scalps taken the after- noon and night previous, in settlements in and adjoin- ing the Mohawk valley; to which was added the scalp of Hugh McMonts, a constable, who was sur- prised and killed as they entered Johnstown. In the course of the day the troops from the garrisons near and the militia from the surrounding country, rallied under the active and daring Willett, and gave the TRAPPEKS OF NEW YORK. 95 enemy battle on the Hall farm, in which the latter were finally defeated with less, and made good their retreat to Canada. Young Scarborough was then in the nine months' service, and w-hile the action w^as going on, himself and one Crosset left the Johnstown fort, where they were on garrison duty, to join in the fight, less than two miles distant. Between the Hall and woods they soon found themselves engaged. Crosset after shooting down one or two, received a bullet through one hand, but winding a handkerchief around it, he continued the fight under co\er of a hem- lock stump. He w^as shot down and killed there, and his companion surrounded and made prisoner by a party of Scotch troops commanded by Capt. McDonald. When Scarborough was captured, Capt. McDonald was not present, but the moment he saw^ him he or- dered his men to shoot him down. Several refused ; but three, shall I call them men? obeyed the dastardly order, and yet he possibly would have survived his wounds, had not the miscreant in authority cut him down with his own broadsword. The sword was caught in its first descent, and the valiant captain drew it out, cutting the hand nearly in two. Why this cold-blooded murder? Were those hostile warriors rivals in love? Had the epauletted hero, com- missioned at the door of the infernal regions, sought the hand of the blooming Anna and been rejected be- cause his arm was raised against his suflfering country? Or must the prisoner be destroyed because in arms 96 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. with his countrymen? A more hellish and malignant act was not perpetrated, even by the sons of the forest, on the frontiers of New York* Jeremiah Crowley, the step-father of Scarborough, was made a prisoner by the enemy and taken to Canada. Mrs. Scarborough, who was at her father's on the morning of the action, fled to the fort with her father, Mrs Mason choosing to brave the dangers of the day to save her effects. Mason's house stood a little north of the present site of John Yost's tavern, and on the edge of the Hall farm. The action was fought in its vicinity, and thir- teen balls were fired into it, which no doubt kept the old lady from falling asleep. One of McDonald's men, * Previous to the war, McDonald and Scarborough were neigh- bors, and in a political quarrel which took place soon after the commencement of national difficulties and ended in blows, the loyalist was rather roughly handled. A spirit of revenge no doubt prompted him to wreak his vengeance on an unarmed prisoner. — Stoner. Scarborough was overbearing and at times insolent towards those who differed with him in politics. On one occasion during the war, at the gristmill in Johnstown, Scarborough met an old man upon whom he heaped a deal of abuse. The young miller, a mere lad, offended at such unkind treatment, jumped into a sleigh then at the door, rode up to the fort, and informed the garrison of what he had witnessed. Several soldiers, determined to see fair play, returned with the miller; and on their reproving Scarborough for ill treating the poor old man, he turned upon and began a quarrel with them. The result was he received a severe castigation for his temerity, which cooled him down. From James Frazier^ then a boy, who, if I mistake not, witnessed the whole scene at the mill. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 97 who had been ordered to fire on young Scarborough and refused to obey, was so disgusted with his captain for the act, that he deserted the same evening and joined the Americans. On the morning after their death, the remains of Scarborough and Crosset were taken to the fort on a wooden-shod sleigh drawn by horses.* Need I stop to tell the reader how the young bride, Anna Scarborough, was overwhelmed with sorrow on the day succeeding the Johnstown battle? How her keenest sensibilities were on fire, at beholding the mangled remains of her beloved William; and what mental agony she endured? But such sufferings are at all times the attendants of a civil war, in which neighbor is clad in armor against his fellow, and kinsman against those of his own blood. Some time after the death of her husband, and about eleven months after the sealing of the nuptial vow, Mrs. Scarborough was presented with a daughter as a pledge of her early love, which tended in no measured degree to reconcile her to the cruel fate war had meted her. This daughter grew up to woman's estate. Time and change of circumstances, with the bless- ings of social intercourse returning at the close of a protracted war, again restored the young widow, who possesed a buoyant disposition, or a spirit to wrestle *Yockuin Folluck, a soldier killed in the Johnstown battle, was found with a piece of meat placed at his mouth, as supposed by the Indians in derision. Folluck resided in the vicinity of Johnstown, — David Zielie. 9 98 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORE. successfully with trials, to the enjoyment of society and the shaded realities of life. One that has won, again may win ; and soon after the return of Nicholas Stoner to Johns- town, he came within the pale of the young widow's charms, w^hich in the military camp had often brought him to his senses, and shortly after sought and obtained her hand in marriage. Although her affections had been chastened by the blight of sorrow, her young heart was still susceptible of an ardent offering to the one who had inspired the first budding of love there, and she proved a boon companion and cheerful wife. The fruit of this connection was four sons and two daughters. Three of the sons are still living. The daughters were Mary and Catharine: the former mar- ried William Mills, and now ( 1847) resides in Fulton county; and the latter died when a young woman. Nicholas Stoner, the first two years after his mar- riage, lived near Johnson Hall, and then settled at Scotch Bush, now known as McEwen's Corners, in the western part of Johnstown, where he resided many years. John Stoner, whose temperament did not bring him into trouble often, continued in the army to the close of the war ; after which he was for several years employed by Col. Frederick Fisher, who built him a farm-house nearly on the site of his homestead, and w^here he had been scalped by the Indians. To the location of this dwelling, a substantial brick edifice, I have already alluded. After John Stoner left the TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 99 employ of Col. Fisher, he married Miss Susan Philes, hy whom he had a daughter, Catharine Ann, and four sons. Soon after the Revolution, Nicholas Stoner was for three years a deputy sheriff under John Littel, Esq. He was also a captain of militia, and filled several town offices at different periods. When we again came to blows with England, because of her insolence in searching our ships and impressing our seamen into her service, the Stoner brothers were once more en- rolled in the American army; John enlisting in 1812, and Nicholas in 18 13. John Stoner, who was a drum- major in this war, was taken sick at Sacket's Harbor and died there. Nicholas enlisted at Johnstown into the 29th New York regiment, of which Melancthon Smith was colonel, G. D. Young lieutenant-colonel,* and John E. Wool, major. He joined the company of Capt. A. P. Spencer, Lieut. Henry Van Antwerp being the recruiting officer under whom he enrolled his name. He proceeded to Utica, and from thence to Sacket's Harbor, where he remained until fall; at which time he went into winter quarters at Greenbush. Early the following spring he joined the army at Plattsburg, going from Whitehall by water. Lake Champlain and the territory adjoining it, in in September, 1814, became the theatre of some of the most important events which characterized the war • Lieut. -Col. Young was killed in 1817, in the abortive attempt of Gen. Mina to revolutionize Mexico. iOO TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. of that period. The withdrawal of troops from Platts- burg to succor Fort Erie, determined the governor general of Canada, Sir George Prevost, to attack it with a force he supposed irresistible ; and for that pur- pose he invaded the territory of the States on the 3d day of September, with an army some fourteen thousand strong, well equipped and provided with a splendid train of artillery. About the same time, so as to make a clean sweep. Commodore Downie, with a naval force far superior in number of vessels, guns and men, made preparations to engage the American flotilla on Lake Champlain, then under the command of the gal- lant Commodore Thomas McDonnough, who, ten years before, had so distinguished himself under Decatur in a captured Turkish ketch before the walls, and under the very batteries of the bashaw of Tripoli. Gen. Macomb, at Plattsburg, had only about fifteen hundred men at his command when the invasion of Prevost began, but his call on the patriotic sons of New York and Vermont was promptly obeyed, and he was enabled to keep a vastly superior force at bay, until reinforced sufficiently to cope with his adversary. From the 3d until the 11th of September, repeated engagements took place contiguous to Plattsburg, in several of w^hich Nicholas Stoner, then a fife-major, was engaged. He took a musket, however, and per- formed duty at this time as a sergeant, and as he was a good marksman, several must have fallen before his deadly aim. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 101 There was not a little excitement in the American camp at Plattsburg as the British army was advancing on that post, and great exertions were made to put it in a fit state for the enemy's reception. The merit- orious young Trojan, Captain Wool, as a reward for his daring conduct in storming Queenston heights, in October, 1812, had been appointed major, of the 29th New York regiment, and in the absence of its colonels, the command of it devolved upon him in September, 1814. As the enemy were approaching, Major Wool vo- lunteered his services, and repeatedly on the 5th of September, urged General Macomb to allow him to meet the enemy and make at least a show of resistance; as nothing more could be expected against such odds. The general met his earnest solicitations with some coolness, and expressed his apprehensions that if he went out he would be captured. On the evening of the 5th, the gallant Wool received a reluctant assent to meet the enemy, but was not allow^ed to do so until morning. So anxious was he for active service, how- ever, that long before day light on the 6th, the major had mustered his corps and w^as on the Beekmantown road. Gen. Macomb had assured him Capt. Leonard, with his company of artillery, should accompany him, but the latter declined marching without the express orders of the general, and he moved forw^ard without him. His own regiment then numbered only 200 men. to which were added about 50 from other regiments, 9* 102 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. and some 30 volunteer militia: in all nearly 280 men. Gen. Mooers had been stationed on the Beekmantown road with a regiment of 700 militia, previous to Maj. Wool's going there, and the latter was commanded by Gen. Macomb to set the militia an example of firm- ness. The enemy on the morning of the 6th were ad- vancing by three roads, the eastern road running along the western shore of Lake Champlain; the west- ern leading from Chazy to Plattsburg, and called the Chazy road, and the centre known as the Beekman- town road. Maj. Appling with a body of riflemen was posted on the eastern or lake road, Maj. Wool on the centre; while the enemy were allowed to advance on the Chazy road without opposition. Maj. Appling directed his attention chiefly to obstructing the road by falling trees, and fell back in time to join Major Wool near Plattsburg. On arriving, just at day light, at Gen. Mooers's camp, seven miles from Plattsburg, Maj. Wool found the enemy, 4000 strong, were not far distant on that road, and already moving. Gen. Mooers made several at- tempts as the enemy drew near, to form his men for action, but they broke and fled, most of them without firing. Maj. Wool told him he had better head his men if possible, and with them make a stand upon the road, so as to cover his own retreat. The unexpected flight of the militia, as may be sup- posed, created some copfusion in the infantry, to re- TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 103 cover from which and gain a little time, Maj. Wool ordered Capt Van Buren with his company to charge the enemy. The brave captain expressed a doubt about his ability to do it; fearing his men would de- sert him. " Shoot down the first rtian that attempts to run, or I will shoot you .'" was the peremptory order of the enthusiastic major. Van Buren quickly moved forward to execute the command, but when within a few rods of the foe, satisfied his handful of men could hardly be trusted to charge such a billow of animated matter, he ordered them to halt and fire. The fire was well directed and told fearfully in the enemy's ranks, which were sufficiently retarded for Maj. Wool to dispose of his Spartan band to his mind. That Capt. Van Buren did good service in his morning sa- lute, is proven by the fact, that twenty of the enemy were carried into the house of a Mr. Howe, living near by. Maj. Wool formed his men in three several double platoons; one occupying the road, and the others the fields or woods a little in rear of the first, and on either side of the road with out-flankers. The British in column continued to advance, and in the order named the Americans kept up a street fight, firing and retreating before the enemy: the troops in the street again forming and deploying in the street after each fire, a little in the rear of the field troops; and those in turn forming and deploying in rear of the platoons occupying the street. Thus did this little detachment of brave men resist the invader's approach 104 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. step by step for nearly six miles, doing at times fear- ful execution in his ranks, and setting truly an ex- ample of firmness that would have done credit to veteran troops, with a Buonaparte for a commander. On an eminence in the road, called Culver's hill, Lieut.-Col. Willington, of the 3d regiment of British Buffs, an officer of gallant bearing, was slain, with a number of his men; while a little farther on, forty of the enemy, dead and wounded, were borne into the house of Maj. Piatt, among whom was Lieut. Kings- bury, and possibly some other officers. Learning in the morning that Capt. Leonard had not accompanied Maj. Wool, Gen. Macomb ordered him forward to his assistance. At the junction of the Chazy and Beek- mantown roads, called Halsey's corners, he joined the infantry with two six-pounders. At this place the militia, having recovered from their panic, were brought into action by Gen. Mooers. They were posted in woods on the right and also in the rear of the artillery; the infantry being mostly behind a stone wall along the Chazy road, to the left of the ordnance. A part of it was stationed so as to conceal the artillery, however, and as the British advanced, unsuspicious of receiving such a salute, the vr'ds followed, graced by an exchange of harsh epithets, until " Revenge impatient rose." The Indian on shore, who was nearest to Stoner, and on whom the latter vented not a few wicked say- ings, declared that he had seen the traps alluded to at some distance above, and that they had not been molested. The white hunters insisted upon having the accused go back with them to see if the traps wene as they had been left; this the other party attempted with sundry excuses to evade doing. The one on land then endeavored to gain a little distance under some pretext, and the other, saying he would go back as desired after gathering some bark, was observed to grasp his rifle, abandon his canoe and leap from it to the shore opposite Dunn. 128 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. At this instant the sharp crack of a rifle was heard, and in the echo sent back by the hills came a yell from the quivering lips of the Indian on the lake shore, not unlike that of a savage in his last mo- ments—the tortoise-shell falling unreclaimed from his hand. Indeed, human bones might have been seen on this spot long after the incident here related had transpired. Dunn was a man of small stature, but made up in nerve and agility what he lacked in physical strength; and seeing the Indian leap from his canoe, he sprung into it in his pursuit, thinking thus to cross the creek dry-shod and detain him. But the frail barque would not withstand his weight, aug- mented with his descent from the shore, and he went through it plump up to his waist in the water. Ob- serving that his antagonist was fleeing, without waiting to extricate himself from his unpleasant dilemma, he raised his gun and snapped it, but as the priming had been wet by his fall, (percussion locks are an invention of a later date,) the trapper escaped. Had he looked back and observed the plight of his pursuer, he would no doubt have halted long enough to have sent a bullet through his head. Whether these two Canadians were alone on this hunt is not known, but their loud halloo would seem to indicate that they were not. It was conjectured that the hunter who had just escaped from Dunn had fled directly to the Indians' camp; and with his trusty piece well loaded, Ston^ TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 129 left his companion at their own canoe to get dry as best he could, and being set on the opposite shore, proceeded in search of said camp. To seek this wil- derness lodge alone, without know^ing its whereabouts or how it might be guarded, was, after what had transpired, one of the most presumptuous and daring feats any individual could perform, as a concealed foe might have detected an approaching footstep and speedily revenged the fall of a friend; but the mission was just suited to the spirit of the trapper w^ho had undertaken it, and onward he went, regardless of peril. In a secluded spot some half a mile or more from its outlet and not far distant from the lake shore, he arrived at the object of search. It was a well built cabin for comfort, constructed principally of bark and set against a bold rock, so as to make that subserve the purpose of one wall. It had evidently been aban- doned with precipitation, for it was not only cheered by a blazing fire, but in it had been left a beautiful bark canoe, finished and decorated in the most tasteful Indian style, a trap with one spring, a spear, and a scalping-knife. The latter instrument had no doubt been forgotten in the hot haste, attendant on removing fur, eatables, etc., as so indispensable an article to an Indian's full equipment for the chase would not have been left intentionally, unless it re a duplicate. The articles found in this camp became a lawful prize, according to the custom prevailing at that period among trappers, predicated on the rule of might and 130 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. right. The Indians' canoe at the outlet of the lake was constructed of spruce bark, and made near there, but the one at their wigwam was of birch or some very light bark, and had doubtless been transported from Canada. Launching his trophied craft on the bosom of the sheen lake, this white forest son returned in it to his anxious companion. The Johnstown hunters, reclaiming all their own traps but one, after continuing their avocation a while longer with some success undisturbed, indeed Sole monarchs of those crystal streams, set their faces towards home, to relieve the solicitude of their families and engage in cultivating the soil. After another seed-time and harvest had gone by, Maj. Stoner, accompanied by William Mason, his brother-in-law, returned to the same hunting grounds that himself and Dunn had visited the preceding spring. Expecting again to renew the exciting avo- cation of a trapper, Stoner concealed his traps in the spring in some safe place near Trout lake, after greas'ing them thoroughly to prevent injury by rust. Loaded with provisions and Mason's traps, having said the necessary good-byes, the trappers buried them- selves in the dark forest, the one familiar with the destination acting as pilot, " Their clock the sun in his unbounded tower." The Johnstown trappers struck the Sacondaga, where, discovering signs of a beaver, they set one ot TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 131 Mason's traps, and with a vigilant look-out for other evidences of the desired game, they proceeded on in the direction of Stoner's traps. Next day Stoner sent Mason down several miles, to see if the first trap set did not contain a beaver. He returned with an assurance that the trap was not sprung, and whether it had been or not he could not determine; but that on a log which crossed the river near it, he had noticed the tracks of a bear. Stonor thought it strange that a beaver had not sprung that trap, and still more won- derful that a bear should prowl around it; and the morning after Mason's return they visited it together. The instant the practiced eye of the senior hunter caught a glimpse of the foot-print pointed out by his partner, provoked at his stupidity in not determining more readily what animal had made it, he demanded w:ith a look of surprise, in rather ill humor and possi- bly at the end of an oath, if bears wore moccasons? Mason, who now rightly divined how the tracks came there, was almost as much surprised at his dullness of perception as his companion had been. On examining the trap, the discriminating eye of the master hunter also discovered that it was not in the position in which it had been left two days before, and it was conjec- tured that a beaver had been taken from it and the trap again set. Stoner now proposed to Mason that he should re- main concealed and await Bruin's return to obtain an interview; but the latter, who was a very strong man, 13^. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. though timid, refused to remain alone. " Well," said the former, " then I will lay near the trap and see what kind of a bear comes to it." He secreted him- self, with the young trapper in his rear, and had been there about half an hour, when he heard on the oppo- site side of the stream the muffled and cautious tread of the anticipated bear. At this most exciting mo- ment might have been heard a noise in the morning stillness, resembling that of one iron slipping suddenly against another. The delicate ear of the visitant caught the sound, and listening, with head bent for- ward, surveyed with scrutiny every surrounding object. All was again silent as death, save the murmur of the rippling rivulet; and reassured that he was alone, and that the click which fell upon his acute organs was made by the leap of a squirrel, or some small animal that had suddenly broken a dry twig, Mason's bear, with an eye oft scanning the direction of the trap under consideration, stealthily approached the fallen tree, which served as abridge to cross the limpid river. The bear, which, as we have already seen, wore moccasons, was tall, very erect, with long, black straight hair, and was clad in a smutty blanket, strongly girdled at the waist. In one of its huge paws it carried a dangerous weapon sometimes called a tomahawk, and beneath the bosom of the blanket above the girdle, peered out the hairless tail and pos- sibly hind legs of a muskrat. A rifle that seldom required a second poise at the same object, was steadily TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 133 aimed at this old bear from the time of his appearance until he reached the centre of the log ovei the stream, when it suddenly exploded, and unable longer to re- tain an upright position, Bruin reeled and fell off with a death-groan, his life-blood crimsoning the pure waters of the Sacondaga. The traps of the Johnstown hunters were not again disturbed this fall, and at the close oF thf trapping season they returned home bearing a valuaiile lot of fur, among which there was at least on nuskrat's pelt. The junior trapper, notwithstanding: his bear had met with a fate " which," to use the words of his partner, " would let the succotash out of his stomach and the eels in," could not be induced to visit his traps alone in this excursion after the second day. 12 CHAPTER IX. While Maj. Stoner was living in Johnstown, and not long after he commenced housekeeping, a large bear came into his wheat-field, doing no little mis- chief. To destroy this grain destroyer he erected a staging and watched repeatedly for him, but his vigi- lance was all in vain, and the wheat, when ripe, was harvested. As the corn began to fill in the ear. Bruin again thrust himself upon the hospitality of the major. His bearship soon found, however, as have some more worthy though less courageous, that the charities of the world are granted grudgingly to strangers. For scR^eral evenings after his first entrance, the husband- man vainly sought an interview with his unwelcome guest, with malice aforethought rankling in his breast, death intent absorbing all his thoughts, and a rifle loaded with two balls resting in his arms. At length, in one of his nightly watchings, he heard his dusky visitant testing the quality of the tender ears, and although the night was dark, he approached suflficiently near to gain an indistinct view of him, and instantly leveled and fired. At the report of his rifle, agreeably to concert, a large watch-dog confined in the house was let out by Mrs. Stoner, and as the interloper retreated from the ;orn, was soon yelling TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 135 at his heels. He leaped a fence into a field where a lot of flax had been spread, and after pursuing some distance the dog returned home. In the morning, blood was observed on the fence where the animal had crossed, and it was conjectured that if wounded he would not return. Imagine Stoner's surprise, therefore, the very next day, when a neighboring woman came running to his house, near which he chanced to be at work, to tell him that the bear had come back, and was then in their orchard, but a short distance oiF. Leaving the dog confined in his dwelling, to be let Cttit if he fired, armed with his rifle, he ran to the orchard. He was not long in getting a shot, and soon the dog was at his side. The bear, badly wounded, was overtaken by Growler at the roots of a dry tree, and several times, as the former attempted to ascend, the latter pulled him back. Without leaving his tracks after he fired, the sportsman, as was his cus- tom, lodged another charge in his rifle. To his chagrin he found that the stopple to his powder-horn was broken ofl*, and he was obliged to cut a hole in the horn to obtain a charge of powder. This occa- Koned some delay in loading, and by the time he had finished, his dog was crying most piteously. Not pleased with being so unceremoniously drawn back, the bear turned upon his adversary, and succeeded in getting a paw of the latter in his mouth. A dog in distress never fails to bring down the ^36 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. vengeance of its owner upon the object causing it; and\urrying to the tree where was enacting the tug of war, he thrust the muzzle of the piece into Bruin's mouth to pry open his jaws and liberate his canine friend. Not altogether pleased with the interference, the grain and apple-eater struck a blow at the intruder With one of his monstrous paws, tearing off one leg of his pantaloons, and leaving the prints of his nails on the flesh. The end of the gun being still m the animal's mouth, he discharged it and blew out his brains. The yell of the dog attracted the attention of several neighbors, and just as Stoner fired a second time, Lieut. Wallace and his hired man, Hulster, ar- rived at the scene of action, armed with pitchforks. The bear proved to be very large, and had one white paw. On examining, to learn the cause, it was found that one of the bullets fired at him in the corn- field, had passed through the centre of a forefoot while in an erect position, and the animal had sucked it until the inner part was white as snow. Major Stoner was not only a trapper, but in the proper season he indulged frequently in a deer or a fox hunt; in which he was generally successful. On a certain occasion many years ago, accompanied by Benjamin DeLine and Jacob Frederick, he went to hunt deer around the shores of the Canada lake, since by some called Fish lake, and by others Byrn lake. They succeeded in killing two noble deer, and started toward night to cross the lake in the direction of TRAtPERS OF NEW YORK. 137 home. Their water-craft, a tree canoe, when they were all in with their game, was loaded almost a^ heavily as she could float; and the wind causing the waves to roll, made the voyage a dangerous one. Stoner managed the canoe, while his companions, seated on its bottom, used the utmost caution to pre- serve its equilibrium: but long before the little barque iieared her destined landing, she began to dip water. Safety required that his comrades, whose seat becamte uncomfortable as the water ran round them, should keep quiet, while Stoner renewed his exertions at the paddle to gain the opposite shore. As it became doubt- ful whether the destined haven could be gained, Stoner steered for the nearest land, which proved to be a pro- jecting point of a small rocky irjland, which, in the absence of a better name, I shall call Stoner's island. The farther they sailed, the more the gale increased, and as wave after wave left a portion of its crest in the overloaded canoe; the situation of its inmates be- came one of the greatest peril. DeLine and Frederick, substituting their hats for basins, used their utmost exertions to keep the boat afloat by bailing, while Stoner, urging upon his friends the necessity of cool- ness and a uniform position, sent her forward rapidly. Still several rods from the land, and already up to his knees in w^ater, as the canoe was nearly full; DeLine sprang out and found bottom, although the water was several feet deep. Fearing that if their craft found- ered they would lose their guns and game, and ob- 12* 138 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORJt. serving that DeLine got on so well, Frederick also jumped into the lake; but a little distance made quite a difference in the depth of water, for he found no bottom. He was unable to swim, and seeing him sinking below the surface, Stoner leaped out to his rescue. His hair fortunately was done up in a cue, wound w^ith an eel-skin, and at this his deliverer made a successful grab and swam to the shore. All having gained the land, the canoe, which had been guided along by DeLine, was drawn up on the beach, its valuables removed to a place of safety, and its water emptied out. Frederick, whose powders of suction had gained him one swell too much, soon disgorged the contents of his stomach; and when he could again speak, he broke out with an oath in imperfect English, " / cross de ocean all safe from Sliarmany, and O, musht 1 pe troivn in dish tarn vrog-pont ,'" Stoner's island, although preferable to the bottom of the lake, was far from affording the weary hunters a very comfortable night's rest. It had indeed some trees and wild-w^ood vines, but nothing like a human habitation; still, as the gale continued with unabated violence, and it was now^ almost night, it was out of the question to think of proceeding farther that eve- ning: they therefore set about making themselves as comfortable as circumstances would permit. As not only their guns and ammunition were wet, but their materials for kindling a torch, they were obliged to camp dow^n w^ith their clothes saturated and their TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 139 bodies shivering, without one blazing faggot to dry their garments or cheer the midnight hour. The Sun once more came peering o'er the Earth, sending his light in golden streams through the pri- mitive forest which covered the surrounding hills, to reflect their mellowed rays on the glassy waters of Lake Byrn; in the bosom of w-hich Stoner's island lay reposing, as calmly and as quietly as an infant nestled to sleep in its mother's arms. The deer-hunters rose betimes, and although their study of cause and effect, as we may suppose, had been somewhat limited, still the contrast of nature's dramatic scenes since the previous evening had been so great, that they could not fail to mark the change, and look with an ad- miring eye on the rich and varied scene Heaven had spread before them. Once more embarked with their treasures, they gained the lake shore in safety, and proceeded home without further adventure. For the kind services rendered him at the lake, said Frederick, on his arriving at his ow^n dwelling, " JVow, JVick, schurst so long ash I has von cent in de vorld, so long you shall never wants for any ting, for hulling me out from dat tarn vrng-pont mit mine eel-shkin dail.^^ For saving his life in the manner here related, this worthy German proved the sincere and grateful friend of our hero to the hour of his death, just before which event he urged upon his children as a debt due to himself, that they should never see his lake savior want the comforts of life. It is gratifying to observe 140 "TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. that the Fredericks (a very respectable name in Ful- ton county) have honored their father, even in death, by remaining the warm friends of the old trapper, their father's friend; having ever held themselves re- sponsible for the proper fulfilment, if needs be, of their parent's unostentatious wush. On the eve of our last war with Great Britain, Major Stoner and William Mason entered the wilder- ness with their traps, and were gone over tw^o months. Their stay was protracted several weeks beyond the time intended, and their anxious friends, who had heard nothing from them, began to consider them as lost forever. Hunters usually carried fishing tackle, and although they often had to do without bread in long hunts, they could generally procure a ^pply of fish or wild game. Their food frequently consisted of either deer's or bear's meat, and not unfrequently of squirrels, rabbits, ducks, partridges, and possibly the flesh of beaver. Meats were usually roasted before the fire on a spit of wood, one end of which was planted in the ground. If the reader will just peep in at the entrance of a well regulated hunter's camp, he w^ill see at a glance how the disciples of Nimrod live in their wilderness, womenless home. He will observe that excitement renders them not only contented but comparatively happy, in a little hut, destitute of a chair, table, or bed. Should the visitor accept an invitation to step in and dine, he may expect to receive a liberal slice TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK 141 of meat, scorched upon one side and nearly raw on the other, with a reasonable allowance of salt and a morsel of stale bread, if not too late in the hunt, served with a hearty welcome upon the inner side of a clean piece of bark; while he is seated upon a large stone, or block of wood. If he tarried over night, for an evening's entertainment, he would listen to not a few perilous adventures in unexpected encounters with wild animals, or novelties attending the chase; and at early bed-time, he would find himself stretched upon a hurdle of hemlock boughs in one corner of the lodge, gathering himself into as small a heap as possible; with a secret prayer that no hungry wolf would thrust its nose beneath the blanket or pelt that covered him, while midnight visions of squaws and beaver-skins haunted his brain. Out of provisions and almost out of their reckoning, Stoner and his friend, having hung up their fur in some safe place which they could again find, were making their way to one of the nearest white settlements, when suddenly they came upon an Indian in the forest, whom the major mistaking for some other animal, possibly a bear, was about to fire upon. The Indian, whose name was Anderly, proved to be one of the Caughnawaga tribe, from Grand river in Canada. He had with him a little daughter, his wife having died in the forest. The sudden appearance of two white men greatly ter- rified this little forest flower; but her fears were quieted with an assurance of friendship, and the white hunters 142 TRAPPERS OF NEW YOKK. shared the hospitality of their dusky friends over night. This Indian first communicated to the Johnstown trappers the fact, that hostilities had commenced be^ tween England and the United States. Knowing this fact, and thinking that possibly the whites were either spies or foes, was what at first caused the fear of the young wood-nymph. Parting with their new friends, with whom they were much pleased, Stoner and Ma- son journeyed on, and finally came out in Norway, Herkimer county; where they obtained provisions, and where too, they saw several families that were removing from the Black river country to the Mohawk valley. They also came in contact with a body of United States drafts marching to the line between New York and Canada. Trappers in their excursions seldom take shaving utensils with them, and not unfrequently on their re- turn home, they might have been mistaken for the prototype of Lorenzo Dow, of long-beard memory. The Johnstown friends had wandered so long in the forest, that their clothes were much worn; and Mason, whose appearance was perhaps the most ragged, was arrested on suspicion of being a spy, and his gun taken from him. Stoner having been a hero of the preceding war, was fortunately known to some of the soldiery, and succeeded in effecting the liberation of his com- rade and the restoration of his gun; and after liberally replenishing their larder, they again buried themselves in the moaning wilderness. In this hunt, Stoner car- TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 143 lied his rifle and Mason a ibwling-gim with which to shoot small game for food. On their way back to the place where they had secreted their fur, and when in a gloomy, mountain-encompassed dell, they accident- ally fell in with two Indians, who were there on the same errand as themselves. It seems to be a pretty true, though stale maxim, that two of a trade can not agree. The strangers were Canadian hunters, having very little fur, one of whom w^as armed with a rifle. Scarcely had the parties met, when the one last alluded to commenced a fierce quarrel with Stoner. He took the latter for Green White, another bold trapper, and accused him of plundering and then burning their camp some two years before. Stoner, enraged at the false charge, retorting the harsh epithets of his accuser, denied being White; or having stolen the fur of any one. The other Indian, who said he had seen White, told his companion that he wa§ not the hunter before them, but this the passionate savage would not admit, and the dispute continued. Observing that his partner w^ould not be appeased, and that the quarrel must prove a serious one, the In- dian without a rifle approached Mason, who, as we have seen, was a little timorous in such an emergency, and desired to look at his gun. His object undoubt- edly was to arm himself. This seemingly small favor would possibly have been indulged, had not a caution from Stoner, in the Low Dutch tongue, reached his friend, to beware of a treacherous design. The master- 144 TRAPPERS OF NEW TORS. hunter could not only understand, but ^poke the Indian dialect very .ell. Determined to possess hm.seK of Mason's gun, his antagonist grappled with h.m to !^rstit frL his hands. A shrill rifle-shot now rang .Zltth^ towering hemlocks, followed by a yell so rtheir mountain lair. A moment f -"^ ^J, J « of an Indian was seen receding m he forest w.th^he fleetnessof an antelope, and the cl.ck of a J - -^ fell on the ear; but its priming having been lo t m Lis scuffle with Mason, it missed fire, and the dark form vanished in safety and alone. After this adventure, the Johnstown trappers pur sued theirway, without further molestat>on,tothe.rf^ and their traps, and ere long they returned hom^o the great joy of their friends; bearing a «ost valu hie lot of fur, and a spare rifle. It is not nnprobaW that heir store of fur was augmented some m that lone spot, where they had left a human carcass to return to its earthly affinity. Major Stoner was gone so long that a_ rumor pre- judicial to his character was put in crculat.on m iohnstown just before his return. It was reported, a^d Shaps by some believed, that he ha been en- gaged in the contraband trade of smugghng goo.b Lm Canada to that village, for Cornehus Herr.ng and AmaziahRust. He says the accusation wasfals^ and although he saw goods -^y^f " ^^^t. at this time, which may have been destmed lor Johns TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 145 town; they were in the hands of individuals who were strangers to him. Squaws generally started with the merchandise from Canada, and at some designated place they met and gave it over to men employed to run it through. It is not unlikely that Green White, to whom allu- sion is made in these pages, who was a celebrated and successful trapper, traversing the wilderness from Otsego county to the shores of the St. Lawrence, had numerous and sometimes fatal quarrels with rival hunters. John G. Seely informed the writer that he once playfully, though ironically, remarked to White, " he did not like it that he was killing off all his na^ Hon" The hunter replied, " D — n them, they must not search my traps then. The last one I saw was peeking over the hushes to look into one of my traps, and soon after my dog was shaking his old blanket .'" Some further account of this hunter, with his melancholy fate, is given in another part of this volume. 13 CHAPTER X. White hunters as well as Indians wore moccasons on their long hunts; usually making their own from the pelts of wild animals. Aaron Griswold hunted with Maj. Stoner on one occasion, and having killed a bear, as his boots chafed his ancles, he was not long in making himself moccasons from the raw hide, with the fur inside; and hanging up his boots in some secure place, they journeyed on some fifteen miles. Stoner had a favorite dog with him at the time, and in the night the animal ate up one of the newly made moccasons. Griswold was very angry next morning, and sware he would shoot the dog; but Stoner ap- peased his wrath by cutting the needed garment from his ow^n blanket, which lasted until the return of Griswold to his boots; about which time the major shot a deer, and the breach in his companion's ward- robe was repaired from its skin. Maj. Stoner was on a deer-hunt many years ago to the Sacondaga vlaie, in company with Captain Henry Shew. At a suitable place to camp out, he collected some dry wood and struck up a fire for their comfort, his companion in the meanwhile, visiting a favorite crossing place of the deer. Having started his fire, he crossed the low ground to the baiik of the creek TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 147 which courses through it. He had scarcely reached the stream, when he saw the tall grass covering the bog on the opposite shore bending towards him. He at once recognized in the undulatory motion of the grass, the probable presence of some wild animal; which he thought hardly lofty enough in its carriage for a deer. He remained quiet, and soon the object made its appearance near the creek. At first sight he thought it a hunter's dog, but its wild appearance undeceived him, and he shot it. This was near night, and the following morning they made a raft of drift- wood, on which Capt. Shew crossed the stream to see what Stoner had killed. It proved to be a large she wolf, and a young cub which had just been trying to obtain nourishment from it, fled on the hunter's ap- proach, (as he had not taken his gun along,) and se- creted its famishing form in the rank grass. Shew skinned the wolf, and Judge Simon Veeder paid them twenty shillings, the then legal bounty, for its scalp. Maj. Stoner shot but one other wolf while hunting, although he trapped them often. He never killed a panther, as none were so reckless of life as to cross his path; but he very often heard their startling scream from their mountain haunts. He killed no less than seventeen bears in two seasons. The celebrated Nathaniel Foster and Maj. Stoner were hunting together one fall, when they trapped a large eagle. They set the trap beside the carcase of a deer the wolves had killed on the ice upon 148 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Round lake; and the national bird, as a reward for the low company it kept, was caught in a wolf-trap, and flew off with it; a heavy clog being attached to its chain. The following spring one Barrington visited the place with Stoner, and in searching they found the trap in the bush beside the lake, where the clog had become entangled, else the majestic bird would possibly have soared away to its eyry with its vast load. It was dead when discovered, and the trap, which was Foster's, was restored to him. During the time he was a hunter, a period of forty or fifty years, Maj. Stoner hunted with very many in- dividuals; among whom were several Indians. He was out some time with a man named Flagg, of whom we can say nothing, except that he wore a cu- rious cap, made from the skin of a loon with its downy coat on. He hunted one season with a St. Regis Indian, named Powdus, and his acquaintances wondered that he dared to do it. With this Indian he explored the head waters of Grass river, which empties into the St. Lawrence. At this place they met with a small area of land with a fine growth of hickory and oak timber. Persons going from Canada to Johnstown in the summer season, either had to go by way of the Sacondaga river, or else far to the west of it, on account of a large territory of drowned lands in the vicinity of Grass river. The latter district was traversed with ease in the winter, however, by hunt- ers on snow shoes, when the low lands were frozen. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 149 Near the head of Grass river, the Johnstown trappers met a French Canadian hunter, who had a squaw for a wife. He w^as desirous of going as far south as Johnstown, and Stoner traced a map of the most feasi- ble route for him, upon a piece of birch bark, to en- able him to accomplish the journey. Whether he ever reached the designated point is not known. Subsequent to Maj. Stoner's hunting with Mason, Dunn, and Jackson, who were most frequently his companions; he hunted two seasons with another St. Regis Indian, called Capt. Gill; with whom he was very successful. They caught twenty -six beavers and five otters, beside considerable other game, in one spring. Beaver usually sold for about one dollar a pound ; and good skins would weigh about four pounds each. Otter skins sold from five to seven dollars the pelt. Stoner has received one hundred dollars for peltries taken in a single season. Gill had his squaw Molly with him while hunting, and a daughter, or a Molly junior, who, the Indian said, was not his papoose. Indian women usually remained at the camp, and did the cooking for the hunters. Beavers generally built their dams across the outlets of the lakes. Gill was very successful in spearing those sagacious animals in their houses. While to- gether, they once trapped no less than four beavers in a single night. This Indian w^as a catholic, and in a thunder shower would cross himself repeatedly. He was in the English service in the war of the Revolu- 18* 150 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. tion, and was present at the destruction of Stone Arabia; but in the last war he took protection under the authorities of New York. He entertained no lit- tle fear, and possibly harbored not much love for his fellow countrymen; and on an emergency, would per- haps have scrupled as little as did his fearless com- panion, to punish their aggressions. Eben Blakeman, who several times hunted w4th our hero, was once on a hunt when the Indians disturbed his traps; but being joined by Stoner, they left the hunting grounds sans ceremonie. Obadiah Wilkins, another lover of the chase, was more than once asso- ciated with Major Stoner in trapping excursions. Their wives were cousins. On one occasion when they were hunting in Bleeker, Wilkins, to replenish their larder, took fishing tackle and seated himself on a rock in West Stoney creek, a tributary of the Sa- condaga. He had barely gained the position, when a stout Indian came to him and inquired rather insult- ingly, " What doing here ?" He replied, " I am fish- ing." " Have got gun ?" interrogated the visitor. *• Yes, at the camp," said Wilkins, a little disconcert- ed at the fierce manner of his inquirer. Observing the advantage he had gained, the red hunter continued, " This Indian^ s hunting ground — Yankees no business here — you must leave him .'" As Wilkins made but little reply to the last remark, the speaker continued, " Has white man got partner ?" " Yes, at the camp." " What his name ?'' " Nick Stoner." TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 151 Had the witch of Endor risen before him, the forest-son would not have been more disagreeably taken a-back, and he gave a loud guttural " Umph! " Observing the magic wrought by the utterance of a single name, Wilkins became reassured, and invited the blanketed hunter to go with him to the camp. "' JYof Indian go to his own camp ! " he responded, and soon after disappeared in the wilderness. This Indian had frightened a hunter, named Wheeler, from these grounds not long before; but when he heard that Stoner was in the neighborhood, the air seemed to oppress his lungs; and hastily collecting his traps, he broke up his camp and sought afar off a new forest- home. The reason assigned by Wilkins to his part- ner for being disconcerted at the interrogatories of this savage hunter was, that the latter was armed with a hatchet, and himself only with a fishing-rod. The last difficulty Stoner had with the Indians while trapping, occurred at Lake Pleasant. Dunning, who then lived at the Ox-Bow, four miles from Lake Pleasant, had left his traps in the wilderness where he had previously hunted, and was afraid to go after thera alone at the return of the hunting season. Obadiah Wilkins left home with Stoner on this enterprise, and leaving him to hunt with Dunning's father nearer home, Stoner and Dunning set out to find and use the hidden traps. Before reaching them, and about thirty miles from the settlement, Stoner set two of his own traps for beaver, one in the stream and the other on 152 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. the shore of a small lake; a little distance further he set another trap for an otter. Arriving at a pond which lay in their route, not far from where the last trap was set, they found a large moose in it fighting flies, which Stoner, wdth some twinges of conscience, drew up and shot. They skinned it and sunk the hide beneath the water, to get the hair off; and two musk- rat skins they had already secured they hung up in the vicinity. Not more than one-fOurth of a mile far- ther on, they came to a deserted camp, with the appearance of having been recently occupied. Much wearied and the day far spent, they tarried over night at this hunter's lodge. On the following morning, as the distance was not very great. Dunning went back to the place where the nearest trap was set, but could not find it; and before renewing the journey for his traps, they returned together, if possible to learn the fate of the one, and recover the other two traps. The trap set for an otter was indeed clear gone, and about it were Indians' tracks, but the other two were safe. In the one left in the creek a beaver had been caught that proved wise enough to gnaw its own leg off, and escape by leaving its foot in the trap; and in the other they found an otter. While on their way to obtain their traps, they heard the report of a gun fired in the distance, which they thought might possibly tell what direction the lost "property had taken. Recovering Dunning's traps. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 153 they now went to another stream to hunt, where they had some success. Visiting their haunts one day, they found one trap had been robbed of its game; and as it was a very heavy one, the robber not caring to take it along had left it suspended by the jaws upon a stump. On their route home, the hunters halted where the moose had been slain; and here they found fresh evidence of intrusion upon their rights. Well was it tor the evil doer that he had not lingered there, else he might have been mistaken for another of Mason's bears. The moose-skin had been pulled up and some of it cut off, and the muskrat-skins had found a new owner. Arriving at Dunning's Saturday afternoon, they learned that two Indian trappers had just come in at the lake settlement, four miles distant, with fur; at which place there was a tavern, a small grocery, store, &c. Capt. Wright kept the tavern, and one Williams the grocery; the latter dealing principally in such articles as ammunition, blankets, rum, &c., to sell to trappers and adventurers. Stoner wished to visit Lake Pleasant to see whether the hunters had not got his lost trap and stolen fur; but Wilkins de- clined going with him, and the younger Dunning became his companion. On their arrival at Wright's they learned that the Indian hunters w^ere Capt. Benedict and Francis, a large yellow-skin, and that they were encamped in the woods about one hundred yards from the inn. As 154 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. it was nearly dark, they concluded to defer a visit to their place of rest until morning. Some time in the night, a sister's son of Wright awoke his uncle to inform him that the dogs of the Indian hunters were killing their sheep. Stoner got up and accompanied the young man to the field to drive the dogs from the sheep, one of which they had already slain. In the morning Stoner visited the Indians at their fire in the woods. Near it lay the dogs, and at hand were two rifles, a basket of potatoes, and a piece of pork. The rifles were resting one on each side of the basket, while between his knees Francis held a jug of whiskey, over which he was singing a huntsman's chorus. Capt. Benedict, who was a pretty likely Indian, was well known to Maj. Stoner, and as the latter ap- proached, told his companion who he was. In the group lay a bundle of traps tied together with thongs of Stoner's moose-hide, and conspicuously among them appeared his lost trap. It was known the previous evening in the neighborhood what the object was of Stoner's visit to the lakes, and when he went to the hunter's lodge early in the morning, Wright, Wil- liams, one Peck, and perhaps others who may have taken a nap the less to enable them to, stole up behind trees as near as they could without being ob- served, on purpose, as they afterwards said, to witness the fun they anticipated would follow the interview. After friendly salutations had passed between Stoner and Benedict, the former walked to the traps and TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 155 jerked his up from the rest, enquiring sharply how it came there ? He would have recognized the trap among a thousand others : it was made by William Mann, of Johnstown, and had on it Stoner's private hunter's mark. When blacksmiths made traps for hunters, they generally put some peculiar mark on them their own fancy suggested, never placing the same device upon the traps of different hunters. Seeing Stoner about to cut it loose, Francis exclaimed, "JYb cut him ! JVo cut him .'" extending his hand to pre- vent the act, at which interference the claimant raised the whole bundle and knocked the intruder down with it. Regaining his feet and seeing the trap already in the possession of its owner, the con- science-stricken trapper said gruffly, " If trap yours, take himT^ Pay was next demanded for the lost fur, and epi- thets were bandied between Stoner and Francis, of which passion was the parent. Benedict, who was evidently ashamed of his company, now interfered, and to some extent pacified his old acquaintance, who accepted i\iQJvg of friendship, and drank of its sup- posed healing and cooling, though very fiery waters. As readily would oil put out a flame, as alcohol have quieted the storm of human passion. After a little further conversation with Benedict, not wishing to be outdone in generosity, Stoner asked the Indians to go to the tavern and drink with him. The invitation was readily accepted, and Francis, as the partner of 156 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Benedict, went along, although at first he pretended he would not go. The two friends before the bar soon held each a tumbler of liquid fire, and Stoner asked Francis to pour out and drink with them. He declined in a very insolent manner, whereupon the former smashed the tumbler he held, liquor and all, against his head. The Indian, as soon as he could regain a standing posi- tion, enraged at the act, closed with his adversary, and in the short scuffle which followed, the latter proved too smart for his yellow antagonist, and pitched him neck and heels out of the bar-room door upon the ground. He had a hard fall, and when he rose up several gravel stones remained half buried in his cheek and temples. The fight would no doubt have become a deadly one, had it not been arrested at this point by the by-standers, who held the parties asunder until their ardor and passion had a little time to cool down. When reason began to assume her throne, Stoner demanded of Francis either the furs stolen from his traps or the money for them. The parties now went to Williams's store, where they found the green bea- ver-skin stolen from the heavy trap, which the Indian had there sold the previous afternoon. He finally admitted having taken that skin from the trap men- tioned, but denied having taken the two muskrat pelts, although several were among the fur he had sold Williams, saying that probably some young TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 157 Indians who were then hunting in the woods had taken them. A compromise was now made, and Francis paid Stoner a certain sum to settle their diffi- culties, a receipt for which was drawn up by Williams, as dictated by Stoner. About this time the young In- dians referred to, five in number, came in. They had several marten-skins, but more fully to establish the guilt of the acctised they had not the pelt of a single muskrat. One of the boys, a likely young Indian, who answered to the name of Lige Ell, and who w^as a son of Benedict, when told that he had been accused by Francis of having taken Stoner's fur, seemed highly offended by the insult. The truth was, the traps of Francis being fastened together by strips of the moose- skin, near which the lost pelts had been left, if it did not prove his guilt, was at least strong evidence against him. Lige Ell went to the store to buy a pocket-knife, but did not like any there. He said of all Williams had, " there wasnH no more fire in 'em than there was in his nose.^^ Hunters wanted a heavy knife, with which they could not only skin large game, but one, the back of which would elicit from flint the spark of comfort in the wilderness. Stoner handed the lad his own knife, with which he seemed delighted, and as the old trapper was rather partial to the boy, he made him a present of it. The young Indian then, to cap the climax of his happiness, bought a quart of the red man's exterminator, rum, and a cake of maple 14 158 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. sugar, got pretty drunk, and with his no less tipsy companions went to shooting at a mark. Here is no doubt given a true picture of the manner in which the' Sabbath is too often kept, or rather, broken, on the outskirts of civilization. Benedict's son told Francis, after a knowledge of all that had transpired between him and " Old Stoner," with whom by repute he was no stranger, that if he desired to live, he must never show his head in that region again ; as, if he did return, he would certainly be killed. It is believed he never afterwards intruded on the hunt-- ing grounds of the Johnstown trappers; if he did, he certainly was cautious not to disturb either their traps or their furs. It was customary some twenty years ago, in the summer season, for Indian families to come down from the north and locate themselves for weeks, and some- times for months, in the neighborhood of the Mohawk river settlements and make baskets, which they ex- changed at the nearest villages for trinkets, gay calicoes, liquor, tobacco, scarlet cloth, &c. Three of a party that had taken up their residence one sum- mer to make baskets in Stoner's neighborhood, lodged in his barn. The major had a large dog at the time, and his guests a small one. One day when he was gone from home, his dog, not pleased with the In- dians' canine friend, which he considered intruding upon his rights, took him by the neck and gave him a hard shaking. The owner of the little yelper, armed TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 159 with a knife, set out to revenge the insult with the death of the offender. This incident happened when Mary Stoner was in her teens, and at the time, she and her mother were at home alone. Hearing an unusual noise, Mary- opened the door, and seeing the Indian in pursuit of their dog, she called it into the house and fastened it in. Arrested at the door, he uttered numerous threats, and several times stuck his knife into it, at which moment Stoner approached. Seeing an Indian armed with a long knife, attempting to enter his dwelling, he ran up and knocked him down, and was giving him a few hasty kicks, when the other two Indians came to the rescue of their comrade. Hearing her father's voice. Miss Stoner looked out, and seeing two Indians hold of him, she feared they would kill him, and hastened to place in his hand a heavy fire- shovel for his defence. The act proved the girl " a chip of the old block," but he told her to carry back the weapon, that the Indians would not hurt him. They did not seek his injury, but to rescue their friend. The day after this dog difficulty the Indians in the neighborhood all disappeared, and one of the party who had borrowed a blanket of Stoner to go deer- hunting, forgot to return it. Maj. Stoner was a very successful trapper, and frequently brought in such large quantities of fur that many suspected he had obtained it unfairly from other hunters, but such he declares was never the case. CHAPTER XI. Maj. Stoner became a widower when he had been married over forty years; after which he lived be- tween fifteen and twenty years with Mrs. Polly Phye, and until her death. Her husband, Daniel Phye, abandoned her, for what reason is unknown. He died many years ago at the westward. After Phye had been gone several years, and dark mystery had drawn her curtain of uncertainty around his fate; gossip sometimes made Mrs. Phye a grass, and at others, a hay-widow. At this period Maj. Stoner paid his addresses successfully, to the supposed widow; and although she considered herself absolved from all farther connection with Phye; still, as he might be alive and 'possibly return, prudence prevent- ed a ceremonial marriage, which could by law con- sign her to the inner walls of a prison; and they re- solved to unite their stock in trade, and move along cheerfully if they could, in the great wake of the human family. Thus they did pass on quietly and happily until separated by death. They had no chil- dren by this voluntary marriage. Let the stickler for a rigid adherence at all times to established laws without reference to their operation, imagine this case wholly their own, before they feel prepared to TRAPPEKS OF NEW YORK. 161 condemn the course of this couple, or brand their con- duct with the title of crime. On the 23d day of April, 1840, having been a second time a widower for several years, Maj. Stoner married his present wifej who is considerably young- er than himself. Her maiden name was Hannah Houghtaling, but at the time of their marriage she was the widow Frank. At the present time ( 1846), the old trapper resides in the town of Garoga, Fulton county; at a settle- ment which has recently sprung up, called Newkirk's Mills. He owns a comfortable dwelling in which he lives, draws a pension from the general government, and from keeping several boarders, who work in the mills, which the industry of a smart wife enables him to do, he passes down the evening of his life very comfortably. Garret Newkirk, the proprietor here, has an extensive tannery, and a saw-mill in which two saws are almost constantly rending asun- der the trunks of the surrounding forest. The place has some fifteen or twenty dwellings, a school- house, a post-office, (called Newkirk's Mills) &c., and is situated pleasantly on the outlet of the Garoga lakes, two crystal sheets of water, each several miles in circuit, located some twelve or fifteen miles to the westward of Johnstown. Since the above was writ- ten, a public-house has been opened at this place, several new dwellings erected, and a plank-road con- structed from thence to Fonda, sixteen miles distant. 14* 162 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. I have somewhere alluded to Chase's Patent, Wm. Chase, the patentee, was in early life a sea-captain, and in the Revolution became an American privateer. He was captured and taken to Europe, and while there visited France. After the war he removed from Providence, Rhode Island, to Hoosick, New York. At the latter place he built a bridge, by con- structing which, ne was enabled to purchase some 12,000 acres of land in the western part of Fulton county. A large tract of land adjoining his, and which Chase intended to buy, was subsequently sold in Albany by auction, and was purchased by Barent Bleeker, Cornelius Glen, and Abraham G. Lansing. It was known as Bleeker and Lansing's patent. Fail-^ ing to secure this tract of land, on which he seems to have set his affections, Capt. Chase was heard to ex- claim with an oath, " 1 would rather have lost my right in Heaven, than a title to this soil / " People when excited often utter expressions devoid of wit and common sense, if not, in fact, foolishly wicked. In most of the surveys of wild land in and adjoin-^ ing Fulton county, made since the Revolution, Maj. Stoner, who was peculiarly fitted for the task by his familiarity with the forest, and his ability to endure fatigue, acted as pilot for the parties. At one time while engaged in exploring lands with Capt. Chase, the latter lost a gold snufF-box which had been a pre- sent in France, a gift he prized far above its real Talue. Stoner, fortunately for the old privateer's TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 163 peace of mind, for he was not a little vexed at the misfortune, seeing it glitter in the leaves, picked it up aud restored it to the owner, who almost waltzed for joy. This same Capt. Chase was not a little ec- centric, and usually got up at least once in the night, to drink and take a pinch of snuff. When the lands contiguous to Piseco* lake, known as the Ox Bow tract, were surveyed, a road, " begin- ning eight miles northerly from Johnstown," was laid out from thence to Ox Bow lake, a distance of 26 miles and 9 chains. Major Stoner attended the surveyor and commissioners as pilot, and was thus engaged for two seasons. Lawrence Vrooman of Schenectada was the surveyor, and Stephen Owen and James McLalin were the commissioners on the road, as appears by a map of the survey, which was filed in the county clerk's office April 1, 1811. Not a few pleasing incidents transpired in the wilderness during this time, to keep the party, which sometimes numbered nearly twenty, in good spirits. Of the number while laying out the road, who thus enjoyed a portion of the novelty attending a trapper's life, and learned how large mosquitoes will grow in the woods if well fed, were J. Watts Cady, and Marcus T. Reynolds. At • Pi-se-co is an aboriginal word, and in their pronunciation the Indians speak it as though spelled Pe.sico ; giving a hissing sound to the second syllable. It is derived from pisco, a fish, and therefore signifies fish l^ke.-.Tohn Dunham. Piseco, says Spafford in his Gazetteer of NeivYork, and which he spells Pezeeko, is so called after an old Indian hermit who dwelt upon its shores. 154 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. that time Aey were young men, possibly with some " wild oats," but since then they have become legal gentlemen of no little notoriety. At one time when the surveying party were near th. Ox Bow, a name significant of the shape of one of the lakes, and far removed from any human habi- tation; they got out of provisions, and the pack-men, whose duty it was to go after a supply, were unwil- ling to start, entertaining some doubts about ever finding their way back. In this emergency Stoner volunteered to proceed with as little delay as possible to the nearest settlement, which was Lake Pleasant, and relieve the necessities of his comrades. Arriving just at evening at the house of a pioneer, named Denny, the family baked nearly all night; and early in the morning, with a sack upon his back, contain- ing nearly a dozen large loaves of bread, and a good sized cheese to balance, he set out on his return Knowing the necessities of his forest friends he did not tarry to let the bread get cold, and as the weather was warm, his back was almost blistered on bis arrival. Before he reached the place of destina- tion, he met a messenger despatched by Vrooman to assist him; bringing a junk-bottle of rum. _ Speaking of his experience in surveying in the Fi- seco country, Cady observed of Stoner, that he would kindle a fire— climb a tree-cook a dinner-empty a bottle-shoot a deer-hook a trout- or scent an In- dian, quicker than any other man he ever knew. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 165 The old trapper, as he informed the writer, took some pains to show the young men named, (who were law students at the time,) how to catch trout, and in the north branch of the Sacondaga, Cady, under his teaching, caught a bouncing one; of which exploit he was very proud, as in fact he had a right to be; for it made a meal for the whole surveying corps. Anxious to get through as soon as possible, the party laying out a road, continued their labors in some in- stances on the Sabbath. Stoner usually carried a small flag, and while crossing a mountain in advance of the men on Sunday, he discovered a mass of ice between the rocks, and gave a shout that at first ex- cited the anxiety of his comrades, lest some wild beast lingered in their path. The next day they cap- tured a large turtle on the shore of Piseco lake, and from it took one hundred and seventy-two eggSy of which they made egg nogg; cooled before being served round by ice obtained by letting one of the corps down between the rocks. About twenty indi- viduals partook of the beverage, among whom were Seth Wetmore, the state's agent for opening an intersecting road, and Obadiah Wilkins. The last named gentleman acted as master of ceremonies in dressing and cooking the turtle's meat, which afford- ed the party a fine repast. This was on the 4th day of July, 1810. At some period of the survey, Stoner shot a hedge- hog, which Vrooman wanted skinned; and besought Jg5 fRAi»l»ERS dF NEW YORK. several to do it, but in vain: they did not dare to handle it. The old trapper volunteered and took oil the bristly pelt; which the surveyor, on his return, carried home with him. The southerly portion of country under considera- tion is hilly and in many places mountainous. The soil is generally stony, though in many instances, fertile; but far better adapted to grazing, than the production of grain. The prevailing rock is of the primitive order, consequently the shores of the lakes which sparkle here and there in the glens, abound in deposites of beautiful sand; which often afford good writing sand. The timber is principally beech, birch, maple, hemlock and spruce. xMuch of the hemlock is sawed into fence-boards, and acres of the spruce annually wrought into shingles or sawed into floor- plank; all of which find a ready market at the nearest accessible point on the Erie canal: and since the Garoga and Fonda plank road is favorable to its re- moval, not a little will find its way to FultonviUe, where considerable quantities were landed before the plank road was laid out. Much of this country still has a primeval look, but its majestic forest lords and advantageous water powers, must in time invite in the thrifty artisan and hard- fisted yeoman, to subdue and cultivate it: indeed, the time may not be distant when this new country shall not only " bud and blossom as the rose," but wUh the rose It certainly must be a healthy district; for it tRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 16^ abounds in waters the most limpid, and breezes the most invigorating. The lakes and their tributaries are stored with an abundance of delicious trout; and if not walled castles, stately mansions may yet rear their imposing fronts in those glens; to be known in future ages as the rivals of the far-famed glens of Scotland; when some Scott or Burns shall rise up, to picture their Indian legends in story and in song. The outlets to some of the lakes around which Maj. Stoner used to trap the sagacious, though too often confiding beaver, run off in a northerly course to swell the Hudson, while other lakes send their tribute in a southerly direction to the Mohawk. The most east- ern of the latter class are the Garoga lakes, discharg- ing in a creek of the same name, which runs into the Mohawk in the western part of Palatine. Some two or three miles to the westward of the Garogas is a larger lake, known among the early hunters as Fish lake, though often called Canada lake, because it pays tribute to the East Canada creek. An anonymous writer in the Geneva Courier, over the signature of Harold, has thus pertinently described this sheet of water and its locality, in that paper, bearing date, Oct. 28, 1845. " Two and a half miles from Caroga [Garoga must be the aboriginal word] is a larger lake, about four miles in length, to which I gave the name of Lake Byrn. It takes exactly the form of the letter S. I think this is the most romantic spot I ever visited. The surface of the ground rising |gg TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. back from the shore, is covered with large irregularly shaped rocks, from five to forty feet in diameter, lymg entirely above ground, and often tumbling together in mountain masses, lodged and wedged in like drift- wood. Many of these rocks are riven asunder and the base of each portion thrown outward from the line of separation, the superior parts resting against each other, thus forming apartments with a solid stone roof large enough to shelter a dozen or twenty men. This T think must have been the work of fire. Strange as it may seem, all this is in quite a dense forest, and almost infinite are the shapes taken by the trees m their turnings and twistings to avoid the numerous rocks. In some instances the roots of a single tree have grown astride a huge rock, the base of the trunk resting on its apex, six or eight feet from the ground. The appearance is the same as if the rock were forced up from the ground beneath, elevating the tree with it, but not a particle of earth attaches to either ; and these are all living, healthy trees, It is in this neighbor- hood that tradition says large sums of money were buried by certain Spaniards, in the time of the Ameri- can Revolution; but ' ifs sure never a hate o' it did I find at all, at all P So said a hard-fisted son of Erin, relating the story. Near the centre of Lake Byrn, is a small rocky island, covered with evergreens, birch and flowering shrubs." This island, the reader will remember, I have named Stoner's island. The writer above quoted called on Major Stoner, at the time of TEAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 169 his visit, and his Chips of Travel contained a l)rief summary of the old warrior's military life. A few miles distant from Lake Byrn is a body of water of nearly the same size called Pine lake, on ac- count of the lordly pines about its shores: it empties into the former. Two small crystal sheets above Pine lake are called Stink lakes. Their unpoetic name at- tached from the following incident. Stoner and De Line Avere there on a hunt, and discovered many bushels of dead fish, principally suckers, which had got over a beaver's dam in a freshet; and w^hich, be- ing unable to return, had died on the recession of the water, to the great annoyance of those hunters, who thus named the lakes. Their outlet runs into that of Pine lake. Several small lakes in the southerly part of Hamilton county, unite their waters to form the head of West Canada creek. Lake Good Luck, some ten or twelve miles in circumference, which lies only a few miles to the northward of Stink lakes, empties into the west branch of the Sacondaga, one and a half miles below" Devereux's mills. This lake derived its name from the following incident. While Vrooman was surveying near it, and several of his party were making a large canoe from the trunk of a tree, John Burgess, his son-in-law, discharged his gun at a loon, off on the water. The piece burst and scattered its fragments harmlessly in every direction. The acci- dent terminated so fortunately, that the name the lake now bears, was entered on the surveyor's field-book. 15 170 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. About two miles below the mouth of the outlet from Gook Luck, is a small lake called Trout lake. It abounds in trout, which circumstance originated its name; and not a few anglers visit it to replenish their larder. On the shore of this lake, the reader will re- member, a poor Indian once lost a turtle's and his own shell. Stoner at different times, killed two moose in the edge of this lake, while the animals were fighting flies- Satterlee's mills are located on West Sacondaga, at a rapid some two miles below the outlet of Trout lake. From those mills to the outlet of Piseco lake, the stream is rapid, affording fine mill-seats. At this rapid was also a carrying place, w^here the Indian and other hunters carried their canoes over land to get into Piseco lake. It is some twelve miles from the inlet of Piseco lake, to where the east and west branches of the Sacondaga unite. The Piseco is the largest of a cluster of lakes in Hamilton county, which empty into the west branch of the Sacondaga, and is some nine miles long, and in places, nearly three broad, or twenty miles in circum- ference. 0{ the lakes in the neighborhood of Piseco, are Mud lake, so called because its shores are muddy; Spy lake, so named by the surveyors, because ap- proached so unexpectedly by them; Round lake, the name indicating its form; and Ox-Bow lake. The last mentioned is three or four miles long, though not very wide, and shaped like the bow of an ox-yoke. In the territory adjoining, and known as the Ox-bow TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 171 tract, Seth Wetmore, a former sheriff of Montgomery- county, owned some thousands of acres, a consider- able portion of which was received from the state as compensation for opening a road, the survey of which I have alluded to, from the shore of Piseco lake to the Bleeker settlements. Lake Pleasant, another large and beautiful sheetof w^ater, lies off to the north- east of the Piseco; and its outlet, with other streams, forms the eastern branch of the Sacondaga: to the westward of Lake Pleasant, some ten or twelve miles, is a pretty lake, called Louis's lake, after a Canadian Indian, who formerly hunted upon its shores. The land in the Piseco country, though hilly and often mountainous, is said to be less stony and more fertile than that of the Garoga and Bleeker territory; and when New England gets her telescope upon it, it will beyond all doubt, be thickly peopled by enter- prising inhabitants. Many acres of the soil are covered with a heavy growth of pine and spruce timber, which only needs an avenue to market richly to reward the pioneer for the blows of his axe and saw. From the lakes of Hamilton county, streams run off in almost every point of compass. Besides the lakes named, there are numerous others in different parts of this county; among which are Lake Janet, named after the accomplished wife of Professor James E. De Kay, zoologist of the state in her late scientific survey; Lake Catharine, named after a multitude of good Dutch women, and one in particular; Racket and Long 172 TRAPPKRS OF NEW YORK. lakes. The two last named are the largest in the county, being one fourteen and the other eighteen miles in length. Hamilton county, from her isolated situation with regard to the export of her products; being too far removed to warrant a transport by land to a good market, is mostly in a wild and unsettled condition; she having only one legal voter to every twenty-six hundred square acres of her territory; but could a communication by rail road or canal be opened to some good market place, it would soon teem with a busy population. That a connected water commu- nication is feasible, is thus hinted at by Professor Emmons, in his volume of the New York Geology. He observes, speaking of the waters of Hamilton county: "These lakes, together with their bays, inlets and outlets, and other waters which may be connected with them, are capable of forming an extended line of water communication, by which a large portion of this section of country may be traversed; and proba- bly the time may not be far distant, when it will be thought expedient to form and perfect some of the natural channels of communication which intersect this part of the state." In one of his annual reports during the geological survey, Dr. Emmons thus describes this region of country. " I have the pleasure of stating that it is far from being the wet, cold, swampy, and barren dis- trict which it has been represented to be. The soil is generally strong and productive; the mountains are TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 1*) J not SO elevated and steep, but that the soil is preserved of sufficient thickness to their tops to secure their cultivation, and most of the marshy lands may be re- claimed by ditching; by this means they will become more valuable than the uplands for producing hay. In fine, it will be found an excellent country for grazing, raising stock, and producing butter and cheese. The strength of the soil is sufficiently tested by the heavy growth of timber, which is principally of hard wood, as beech, maple, yellow-birch, butternut and elm. The evergreens or pines, are confined mostly to the lower ranges of mountains. Some of them are of the largest growth of any in the state, and are suitable for the main shafts of the largest of the cotton mills. In the main, the county resembles the mountainous districts of New England, and like these produces the same intermixture of forest trees, and has about the same adaptation for the production of the different kinds of grain, as wheat, rye, oats, peas, barley, together with fine crops of potatoes." Comparatively little is yet known of northern New York, indeed, a great part of what hag heretofore been known, was only so in error; this is my apology, for saying so much about it. In a hunting excursion accompanied by Lieut. Wal- lace and one Coffin, Major Stoner went down to Jessup's river, some fifteen miles below Fish House; and in the woods between that river and the Sacondaga, they found the body of a white man they supposed 15* 174 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. had possibly been insane; and had strayed into the .ildLess and there died: but he -ay 1>-^ ^^^ hunter and crossed the track of one of hke craft, who revenged with death a real or supposed injury. The local Indian names Garoga, and Kennyetto I have sought in vain to get the English definition of. If any individual can give the signification of_ either of them, they will confer a favor by communicating the same to my address. It is not only important that Indian names be preserved, but that their true mean- ing be handed down to future generations, which divested of the prejudices that influence the present, will drop a tear of pity over the wrongs and mjur.es done this brave, indeed once noble but now degraded race ; and cherish the significant and purely American names they once gave to our lakes, rivers, and moun- tains, as they would their household gods. CHAPTER Xn. Nathaniel Foster, justly celebrated as a hunter and trapper of northern New York, was a native of Hins- dale, Windham county, Vermont; the town is now called Vernon. He was named after his father, and was born about the year 1767. At the age of three or four and twenty he married Miss Jemima, daughter of Amos Streeter, of New Hampshire; a year or two after which, and nine or ten years subsequent to the close of the Revolution, he removed to the town of Salisbury, Herkimer county. New York; at which time the country around his new home was mostly a wilderness. In person he was nearly six feet high, erect and strongly built, with a large muscular frame that seem- ed well fitted for fatigue. His features were com- manding, though not finely marked, and when cheer- fulness lit up his countenance through his keen dark eye, they were rather prepossessing. His complexion was sallow, his hair was a sandy brown, but not very gray to the hour of his death, although he grew bald in the latter part of his life. At the time of Foster's emigration to New York, wild game was so abundant in the northerly part of Herkimer county, that,with his fondness for the ex- ■jJQ TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. citement attending a hunter's life, circumstances com- bined to make him a perfect Nimrod. To adopt the language of a correspondent, " He was a Leatherstock- ing of an original stamp, and devoted to a wild^wood life:' He began his pioneer residence in the wmter, and the following spring he took a sufficient quantity of fur, principally beaver, to purchase a cow and many articles necessary in housekeeping. He after- wards obtained yearly large quantities of valuable fur, such as beaver, otter, musk-rat, marten, &c. He has been known to have three or four hundred musk- rat traps set in a single season, employing at times several men to help him tend them. Deer, bears and wolves were so numerous for years after Foster made his home on the borders of the forest, that he slaughtered them in great numbers. Indeed, it is believed, that he has killed more of those animals collectively, than any other individual in the state during the same period; having slam no less than seventy-six deer in one season, and nmety- six bears in three seasons. He has also been known to kill twenty-five wolves in one year; having a line of traps set for them from Salisbury to the St. Law- rence. These animals were so great a pest among the sheep-folds when the country was new, that a liberal bounty was paid for their destruction by the state; increased at times by the liberality of certam counties and towns in which they were the most nu- -ierous. The avails of his hunting and trapping TKAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 177 amounted in one year, when a liberal price was set upon wolves, to the sum of twelve hundred and fifty dollars. He occasionally killed a panther. The bounties paid for the destruction of wild ani- mals, often made the taxes of frontier towns a bur- then ', and a wealthy farmer in the neighborhood of Foster, took a stand one season which prevented the paying of such a reward for the destruction of wolves as hunters thought they deserved. The consequence was, that all the old and young Nimrods in the vi- cinity turned their attention to other game, and pur- posely let the wolves alone ; which in a year or two more were greatly on the increase. Foster told his farmer friend at the election, he would be sorry for the manner in which he had voted, and after the animals had had time to inci ease, he was not much surprised, one morning, to hear a most pitiful story from him, about the injuries he had sustained the night before by wolves ; they had been into his sheep- fold and destroyed more property in a single night, than his tax, when the highest bounty was paid for their scalps, had amounted to in several years. He soon found, to use a hunter's phrase, he was barking up the wrong tree for sympathy. " Well," said Leatherstocking, with not a little manifest indiifer- ence, " I don't know as I can pity you much. If you are unwilling to pay me for protecting your sheep, you must buy traps and take care of them yourself.''^ It is perhaps unnecessary to add, the penurious far- 178 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. mer was ready to vote a more liberal bounty than ever for the destruction of wolves, at the next proper election. Some winters Foster turned his attention almost wholly to the killing of deer, disposing of their sad- dles and skins for the eastern market. The visitor to the Albany Museum will there see the skin of a large moose which was shot by this hunter, and for which he received from the proprietor some fifty dollars. There is the skin of another large moose in a New York or Philadelphia museum, also killed by this hunter. The following incident attended the death of one of those animals. Foster had a favorite dog, as fond of hunting as was his master. The bay of this saga- cious animal one day called its owner to a retired spot in the forest, where he discovered Watch holding a moose by the nose; keeping his own body between the fore-legs of his adversary, to avoid the heavy blows aimed at him with the antlers of the enraged animal, which formidable weapons weighed together nearly thirty pounds. On nearing the spot Foster sent a bullet through the heart of the moose, which in its death-struggle dashed the dog off with a terrible blow. The print of the dog's teeth remained upon the nose of the moose, but both animals appeared to be dead. Foster took off his coat and laid his canine friend upon it, at which time a partner in the hunt arrived upon the ground. With a heavy heart Foster prepared to skin TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 179 the game, when his comrade observed a moving of the muscles about the dog's neck, and told the former it would recover, but the old hunter shook his head doubtingly. After a while Watch raised his head slowly from the ground to receive the caress of his master; but as soon as his eye rested upon his fallen antagonist, he sprang to his feet and seized the life- less moose by the throat, from which he was with no little difficulty removed. The restoration of his favor- ite dog to life, caused Foster more real joy than could possibly the killing of a dozen moose. One or two years after Nathaniel Foster settled in Salisbury, his father removed from the east with his family, and located in the same town. He, too, was something of a sportsman. Nathaniel had two bro- thers younger than himself, who, as they attained sufficient age, indulged occasionally in hunting deer. The following incident will show how providentially the elder brother was once saved from harm. His brother Elisha having on some occasion borrowed his gun, sent it home by a young son. The lad as he neared the dwelling saw his uncle going in at the door, and to be very smart, as boys sometimes are, he drew up the piece and snapped it at him. On enter- ing the house he told his kinsman what he had done; when the old hunter took the piece from the hand of his nephew, walked to the door and snapped it, ^nd a bullet whizzed through the air from its muzzle. He remarked as he went to set it away, that he had 180 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. shot seventy-six deer with his rifle that season, and it had not before missed fire in a single instance during the whole time. The rifle with which Foster usually hunted w^oald carry two balls as well as one; and when he desired to render the death of large game doubly sure, he loaded with two bullets. Foster and Stoner had each a rifle at one time made after the same pattern, by Willis Avery, of Salisbury, and called double shotters. They were made with a single barrel with two locks, one placed above the other far enough to admit of two charges, and have the upper charge of powder rest upon the lower bullet. The locks were made for percussion pills, and when the pick which crushed the pill at the first lock was down, there was no dan- ger to be apprehended in firing the lower charge. These rifles cost about seventy dollars each. That of Stoner was borne by a soldier into the late Florida war. The following incident will serve to show one of the numberless perils to which hunters are exposed in the forest. Nathaniel Foster and his brother, Shubael, \vere on a deer hunt many years ago in St. Lawrence county, when the former came suddenly upon two noble bucks trying titles to the soil. To end the dispute, he drew up and shot one, and as it fell the other bounded off a few rods, and halted to wit- ness a more novel engagement than its own recent one. The fallen deer was not killed, but was badly TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 181 stunned by the ball striking it near the back-bone, and as the hunter ran up to cut its throat, the animal sprang upon its haunches, and in rts own defence struck furiously at him w^ith its antlers. Quick as thought, t'his modern Leatherstocking placed the knife between his teeth, and grappled the weapons of his unexpected foe. The struggle for the mastery was long and fierce, the hunter not daring to let go his hold; but, as good luck would have it, he got the head of the deer between two trees, against one of which a horn was broken, and the worried animal thrown down. Before it could recover, the hunter dealt it a blow upon the head with a club fortune had placed at his command, when he succeeded in cutting its throat. The tussle lasted more than thirty minutes; and when his brother arrived upon the ground, he found the grass and bushes trampled down for several rods around. The strength of the hunter was nearly exhausted in the engagement ; while his tattered gar- ments gave evidence, that a visit to his w^ardrobe would alone restore his outward man to the condition it was in an hour before. On a certain occasion, Shubael Foster visited a wolf-trap, in company with his brother, Nathaniel, in which a wolf was caught by one of its hind legs. It crawled under a log on their approach; and the senior hunter conceiving it would make him a fine pet, resolved to take the snarler home alive. With a forked stick he fixed a -kind of halter upon its 16 182 TKAPPEKS OF NEW YOKK. nose and loosening it from the trap, he thus led the ; vehome. It would go ten or fifteen rod^ as qltly as a dog, and then spring at the.r faces ^.th an tts might. He kept it muzzled and fastmg ahou tZ! for several days, much of -^^-h *.■- ' concealed itself under a bed. It was finally slam and a bounty taken for its scalp. Nathaniel Foster was familiarly called Uncle Ivat amo g his intimate friends. His early advantages a Lhool were limited, as were those of many of the hardy pioneers of western and northern New York, tho chanced to be boys in the great Am^rcan con- Test for merty. When he settled - ^a hshury h could neither read nor write; but, ^b-t he y a 1810, William Waterman, then a merchant n Salis bury, learned him to write at his store, as he mformed * Thtnortherly part of Herkimer county was not only a wilderness when Foster began the life of a hunter but much of it is still in a state of nature. It .s dotted Wh numerous crystal lakes and rivulets, to the shores If whichFoster was invited inhishuntmgexcurs.ons as wild game grew scarce nearer h.s home About I year 1793! or 1794, John Brown, a cap> ahst of rLL Island, purchased a tract of ^»oW«.. es - the last settlement, we have to scow our luggage over; and frequently to swim our ^or- 7^ river at this point is twice as large as the West ^.a „ad e k, and quite rapid. In fact, the ent.e leng* "the riv r is one continued fall, or succession of Ifd ; making sufficient water-power, .f improved, ;:rthe use of L whole state of New York. F.om X +v,« fircf p1 paring- we reach on mown b Moose river to the nrst ciediiug wc ^act is eleven miles, over a most horr.bly rod. , ston; cold region; though very well covered with Sr, such as spruce, balsam, beech, b.rch, some maple and hemlock.* ,, . n } \.\u "The first clearing you enter is called Coal h.ll, from the fact, I believe, that most of the t.mber from this clearing was made into coal for the use of th iron-works erected by Herreshoff, son-m-law to Brown. A short distance from this you enter a large fmprovement with one framed house, where Herres- hoff used to live. [This is in township number 7.] nihrclearing he expended a large amount of money in searching for iron ore; blasting and d.ggmg at the Le of a rocky hill or mountain running through th,s . That much of this tract in an agricultural point of view has !, forbidding aspect, there can be but little doubt. Judge iZ'T^ZJy, o'nce observed of it, "that it wasso poor f.I'uld n,alce a crow shed tears of blood to fly over ...■ THAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 193 improvement. Failing to accomplish what he ex- pected, he became discouraged: his friends at the same time refusing to advance him any more funds, and left alone as he was, to bear the blame of a fail- ure^ disheartened and spirit-broken, he died, ' as the fool dieth,' by blowing out his brains with a pistol. "Since Herreshoif's death, the improvements made by him have been mostly abandoned, except by hunt- ers and fishermen. There is still one settler residing there, however, a Mr. Arnold, who has a large family. He accommodates fishermen with boats. He keeps several cows, horses, &c., and raises a large quantity of oats yearly, which he draws to market in the win- ter. On leaving this clearing you cross one branch of Moose river, which is the outlet of eight small lakes, of which I shall speak hereafter. Passing through several improvements for two and a half miles, you reach the spot where once stood the forge, a saw-mill and grist-mill, with several dwellings ; but now entirely gone with the exception of one barn- frame with the roof on, otherwise entirely stripped of covering. " All the improvements at one time must have cov- ered some two thousand acres, w^ith about f(yrty fami- lies upon them. All the buildings now remaining are two dwellings, one barn, and two frames of barns divested of covering. When Foster left the tract [1833], some remains of the forge, mills, &c., were still standing. Iron was manufactured at this forge 17 194 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Of a good quality, though said to be at a cost of one dollar per pound. I have no doubt .ron ore abounds „ s'region, in inexhaustible quantities, w.h o^her valuable ores, waiting for enterprise to develope them, after the gol fever has subsided. Where Herreshoff e lid hi mills, is one of the best water powers m Te w rW. A dam some forty feet long is stdl stand- S and when first constructed, raised the water m Z Fourth lake about two feet. This dam >s about , , , .x.^ TTir^t lake TThe lake usually three miles below the First lake. L' denominated the First lake m th.s cham .s m truth the last, or Eighth lake; but approached as they generally are from Moose river, the last is recogn.ed L the first, and the reader will understand when * relative numbers of those lakes - g.-n, th^ tM number upward, or from west to east ] After h^s dam was built, it was three months before the water flowed over it; in fact, search was made supposing the water had found some other outlet. t At Herr^hofF's dam we take boats for fishmg excursions, and three miles up the stream we enter the First lake, a beautiful pond, say one mile by one and-a-half miles in extent, containing one sm^l is- land, called Dog island; a dog having been found upon it by an early visitor. About half a mile down the outlet, and near a point of land now called n- dian's point, Uncle Nat shot the Indian. Leading thislak'e you pass into the Second lake, separated from the First by sand-bars, with a narrow channel TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 195 some twenty feet wide. This lake is some longer than the First, but is not as wide, and has no islands. Along the north shore of Second lake, rises a most grand and sublime mountain, presenting a front of naked rock for Jiearly one mile, at a height of several hundred feet. On its summit Uncle Nat told me he had often been, * that from it he could see numbers of lakes; and that there he could enjoy himself, and not be troubled by the d — d Indians.' [This bold pro- montory I shall take the liberty to call Foster^s Ob- servatory.'] "From the Second you enter the Third lake by passing through a strait of some ten rods. It is a pretty, pure, deep pond, about the size of the First and Second. In this lake is a small island, called Grass island, because it is well covered with grass, and has few^ trees or bushes upon it. Leaving the Third you pass up a stream some fifty or sixty rods, and enter the Fourth lake, which is seven miles long, and from one to two miles wide. It has four islands, the first of which in ascending is called Deer island, containing about 100 acres of well timbered land." Desirous of permanently fastening the names of the most celebrated Nimrods of this region upon its scenery, I shall take the liberty to call this island Benchley's island, after George Benchley; who shantied at the head of Third lake, but a short dis- tance from the island, and who perished in the wil- derness while following the fortunes of a trapper. 196 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK, George and Joseph Benchley (brothers of my cor- respondent), were engaged in trapping in the fall of 1819, in the region of country under consideration. George, who was the oldest, possessed a roving and very romantic disposition. For a while he was en- gaged in a sea-faring life, but tiring of its monotony, he severed the halliards which bound him to the " roll- ing deep," and returned to the home of his childhood. The pursuit of a forest-hunter seemed well suited, from its excitement, to his danger-daring tempera- ment. The brothers had a line of marten traps, extending from the Fulton lakes to some point on the State road, running from Wells to Russel, not far from Racket lake, where they had a shantee. The line of traps extended thirty or forty miles, with several hunters' cabins on the route. They were engaged in their pursuits until the last of November, having two men employed to assist them. They took turns in travers- ing the route, and George was alone on the eastern end of it, when a heavy fall of snow suspended their operations. Joseph and the assistants were at the main shantee, at the head of Third lake, where they remained several days anxiously awaiting the return of the senior hunter. As he did not come in, two unsuccessful attempts were made to seek for him; but the great depth of snow in that direction prevented the possibility of reaching him without snow-shoes, and they had not a pair with them. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 197 While in a feverish state of anxiety about their absent friend, not caring or perhaps not daring to return home without some tidings of him, an old hunter, named Morgan, arrived at their lodge on snow-shoes. He had come, he said, directly from their eastern shantee on the State road, and assured Joseph that his brother was well, and had gone out to Lake Pleasant to obtain food. Giving full credit to Morgan's statement, Joseph and his men returned home. The winter wore aw^ay, and nothing further was heard from the absent hunter by his friends at New- port; but, as he was a single man, and well weaned from home, little anxiety was felt about him, as they supposed him safe at the house of some back-woods- man in Hamilton county. In the spring a message reached Newport, that the body of a man had been found by Indian hunters, in a shantee near Racket lake. The probability was, that Benchley's shantee was indicated, and his brothers Jenks and William, anxious to know his fate, made a journey out there, in company with two other persons. The body, which had been buried, was exhumed, and their worst fears were realized — the remains were those of their kins- man. Dark mystery has ever hung over the last moments of this unfortunate hunter, and suspicion over the character of Morgan, who was doubtless the last indi- vidual who saw him alive. That hunter was not very 17* 198 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. scrupulous of his acts, as was well known, and it has ever since been surmised that he seriously injured Benchley in some manner, took his fur, if he had any, and left him to perish. The Indians found his gun in the shantee, but no fur; and, as he had gone over the whole line of traps, it seemed impossible that he should have taken none. Morgan had considerable fur when he left the forest. That Benchley suffered most acutely in his last hours, there can be no doubt. He had, w^ith his hunter's knife, evidently cut small pieces of wood to feed his fire, from the logs of which part of the hut was built, w^hile he had strength to do so; but, how long he hungered — how keenly he suf- fered, in body and mind — how many cold, dark and dreary nights he lay shivering, without an earthly " eye to pity, or arm to relieve," is only known to Him to w^hom no mortal's fate is a mystery. Joseph Benchley was a musician; and the fall he was hunting with his brother, he had his violin with him, and often played it, " to drive dull care away," and afford a pastime for the wild animals within its hearing. Orpheus, a celebrated Greek musician of lang-syne, is said to have called down the mountains to listen to the melody he discoursed in the valleys. It would have troubled him, we opine, to have started any of those on Brown's tract, as their roots were too long ; and Benchley, aware of the fact, very properly chose his position, not at their base, but upon their summit TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 199 The hunter Morgan, was a morose and rather petu- lent fellow, and not very popular among the craft. He traversed the forest for several years, on and about Brown's tract, but finally went off to Canada and died there. He was pretty successful in taking fur, and at times was accused of getting it unjustly. He was one of those devil-daring woodsmen of whom the Indians stood in awe. From this digression I return to Benchley's description of the country. " The next island in Fourth lake [above Benchley's island], contains about one quarter of an acre, is a pile of bare rocks, and is known by the name of Elba; which name can not fail to remind the reader of the ambitious and unfortunate Buonaparte. It produced a solitary pine, which for many years was its only object of attraction. A Vandal hand has lately cut it, to the deep regret of all sentimental hunters. (App. E.) " The third island in Fourth lake contains ten or fifteen acres of land, and is called Bear island, an early hunter having killed one of those animals upon it. Near the head of this lake, and some fifty or sixty rods from Bear island, is a small island called Dollar island, from its rotundity of shape. There is, in shoal water, between Elba and Bear island, and about a mile distant from the former a bare rock, called Gull rock. This rock is said to be on the line between Herkimer and Hamilton counties. Brown's tract ex- tends across Herkimer, and into the counties of Lewis on the west, and Hamilton on the east. 200 ThAPPERS OF NEW YORK. " On the forest-bound Elba of Fourth lake, I have shantied several times with Foster. On one occasion, w^hen there, the Indian (whom he afterwards killed) and his squ-.w, came and spent the night with us, taking from the lake their bark canoe and dried moose- skin for a shelter. I have spent several days upon this lake v/ith Foster. He conversed but little, and his restless, roving eye was never still. With his rifle beside him, he seemed ever anxious to discover some- thing on shore, worthy of his never erring aim. " The bald-eagle, which frequents this region, he would never disturb, for he thought those noble birds were made to live unmolested by man, * although,' as he said, 'the c — d Indians killed them.' He seemed to feel as though he was lord of Brow^n's tract, and that no one else, especially an Indian, had as good a right there. With the Indian he shot, I was w^ell ac- quainted. He was indeed a noble looking fellow in appearance. He w^as of the St. Regis tribe, with a cross of French blood. [Says Mr. Graves, in a com- munication to the author, *' I have often seen the In- dian Foster killed. He was a very friendly, intelli- gent man, and belonged to the St. Regis tribe on the St. Lawrence."] His wife w^as slender and very feminine. She was under the most perfect subjection to her husband, and was no doubt often ill treated by him when tipsy; in fact, I believe that his and Foster's difficulties first commenced when they had both been drinking. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 201 " Frequently, when on these waters, Foster would direct my attention to an object on some distant, grassy beach, saying, ' See! there is a deer: watch, and you will see it move.' He was never mistaken; still a man unacquainted w^ith the wood, would very seldom sup- pose that any thing of the kind w^as in sight. " At the head of Fourth lake was formerly a grove of white pine. [To this grove HerreshofF was going when he was compelled to take a cold bath.] Five distinct echoes to the human voice may be heard at this place, and here I have repeatedly discharged a gun, to hear mountain after mountain send back its tardy response, until my rifle's shrill note had been mimicked by five (as I suppose) mermaid hunters. " Lying parallel to the Fulton chain, and mostly op- posite Fourth lake, say tw^o miles to the north of it, is a chain of three small lakes, several miles in extent, which also discharge their w^aters into Moose river. The stream is called the North branch, and the lakes are known in the forest by the name of North Branch lakes. " Leaving the Fourth, you pass up the inlet some half a mile, into the Fifth lake, a small pond of eight or ten acres. From the Fifth to the Sixth lake, is a continued fall of three-fourths of a mile. Here is a carrying place ; and Foster, at the age of sixty, would take his skiff upon his head and shoulders and carry it from one lake to the other, with but one stop. In fact, at that age, Foster was known to carry a deer 202 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. three miles on his back. With a single lock between Fifth and Sixth lakes, a water communication might easily be obtained the whole extent of the eight lakes. " The Sixth lake is quite small, and after wading and pushing up a narrow, rapid stream, say one and a half miles, you enter the ' Noble Seventh,' as Uncle Nat called it. The visitor on entering this lake, meets with a grand and beautiful view\ The lake is about four miles long and two wide, wath a nameless island near its centre, of some fifty acres, covered with rocks and pine timber. [I have mentioned in these pages a forest-trapper named Green White, who was often on the island under consideration. With the reader's permission, I will call this island W^hite's island.*] Near this island, on its south shore, we frequently get * White was rather under the middling stature, with a dark complexion, and possessing a very keen, dark eye. He was a man of few words, but celebrated for his shrewdness. He learned the blacksmith's trade at Schenectada in his early life, and always made his own hunting-knives and hatchets. He was a very suc- cessful hunter, was extensively known, and by Indian hunters he was universally feared. The Indians^ he said to his friends, never stole his fur but once. He occasionally crossed the track of Maj. Stoner, to whom he was well known, but as he hunted to the westward of Stoner, they did not often meet. Says il'jnry Graves, of Boonville, "I was well acquainted with Green White, who was a great trapper on and about Brown's tract. He hunted some in connection with Foster, but they generally had the separate interest. White, however, was much the most successful trapper. He would sometimes bring in a hundred dollars worth of beaver at a time — lay drunk until he TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 203 the salmon trout in 100 feet depth of water. [Another informant says they are caught here weighing fifteen or twenty pounds.] " At the head of Seventh lake is a grove of pitch- pine timber, which timber is not elsewhere seen in the district. On entering this lake at one time with Foster, he discovered a deer feeding upon a grassy beach, nearly half a mile distant. Said he, ' B., put me on shore and I will give you some venison for din- ner.' I did so, and then rowed out into the lake, far enough to see the deer. After remaining some time, I saw Foster step suddenly from the bushes upon the beach, some distance from the deer. Almost the very bad spent it all, and then back to the woods. Not so with Fos- ter: he liked a glass, but would be called a temperate mau. " I should think White had been dead some fifteen years. He with another man was coming in from the tract ; they halted by the way-side, built them a brush shantee and stopped for the night. During the night, a small stub of a tree fell across the shantee and broke White's leg. Early in the morning the man with him came to Boonville about seventeen miles for help. He was brought in on a litter ; but before a surgeon could be obtained to amputate it, the limb mortified and he died." In the fall of 1815, said the surveyor Smith, White came in from Brown's tract with three hundred dollars worth of fur, and as usual on such ocasions, he trained until it was all gone. While hunting, after the provisions were gone he had taken in from the settlem.ent, he lived on wild game and fish. This was the usual fare of hunters in the forest. White is said to have been about the same age of Foster, and is believed to have followed trapping about the Fulton lakes a few years earlier than did Foster. There was a hunter named Williams, on and about Brown's tract in 1815. 204 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. instant the deer raised its head from feeding, I saw the flash of his rifle and the deer fall. At Foster's call I went ashore, he not knowing that I had seen the deer fall. Well, Uncle Nat, said I, have you killed him? He straightened up like a soldier, wdth his head erect, and eyes glistening; and grasping his rifle in his right hand and holding it above his head, he said, ' B., he never told a lie. When you hear him speak, he always tells the truth.' I stepped on shore and found he had put his ball precisely in the centre of the deer's forehead. He must have been full twenty-five rods from the animal, and fired the instant it raised its head. In a very few minutes he had a fine piece of venison roasting before a good fire, and ere long we had a sweet morsel to dine upon. "At another time, while we sat fishing from our boat, he discovered an old doe with two fawns, the latter about as large as lambs at two months old. They were feeding and playing upon the beach, perhaps a quarter of a mile distant. Foster was on fire imme- diately. If he could kill the old doe, he said, he could kill the fawns, and their runnets would bring him fifty cents each. I remonstrated against killing the little fellows for so small a gain, and proposed to pay him the dollar and let them go. But no; nothing would satisfy him short of a shot. I then rather refused to row him within shot; but one look from him satisfied me that I might as well comply. However, I managed in the operation to make noise enough to frighten the TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 205 old doe ; but not witliout strong suspicions on his part, that it was done intentionally. " From the Seventh to the Eighth lake is three or four miles, and the lake is some four or five miles long. From these eight lakes runs the stream on which the mills on Brown's tract were erected. A carrying place from the Eighth lake, some two miles, brings you to what is called the Racket inlet, running easterly, down which you can go in a skiff into Racket lake, and from thence down Racket river to the St. Lawrence. " The poor Indian Foster killed, was buried on a point near where the mill dam now stands, and a rude cross was erected at his head by his friends. Last September [1848], I looked for the grave, but it was so overgrown with grass and bushes I could not find it. When he shot the Indian, he went about five miles to gain Indian Point before his victim arrived." The Indian here alluded to, is said to have been quite successful in killing deer. He often floated for them. This was done in the night time. In his bark canoe, behind a few green boughs, he would proceed as silently as possible along the shore of a lake, and shoot the timid deer there feeding on grass, or stand- ing in the w^ater's edge to cool, as they gazed in won- der at the torch light in the bow of the craft, which seemed at times to fascinate them. This mode of kill- ing deer much displeased Foster, and is believed to have been one cause of difficulty between them. 18 206 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Besides the lakes already named in the region of country under consideration, there are several others of greater or less importance. The Jerseyfield lake, a handsome sheet of water some two miles long, and around the shores of which Foster, in his earlier days, used to hunt, lies in the easterly part of Salisbury. Black creek, which is one of the tributaries of West Canada creek, has its source in the Jerseyfield lake. Jock's lake, so called after Jock (Jonathan) Wright, an early trapper upon its shores, is a very pretty lake, five or six miles long, though not very wide; and is situated in the north-eastern or wilderness portion of Herkimer county, some ten miles from a place called Noblesborough. Its outlet is one of the sources of the west branch of W^est Canada creek. Some four miles south of Jock's lake is a small sheet of water called Little Salmon lake, and about tw^o miles to the westward of Jock's lake, is another trout inhabiting pond, called Black River South lake. Around those lakes, and along their stieams, were favorite haunts of the trapper Wright. Of the physical outline of 'Hamilton county and the northerly part of Herkimer, Prof. Lardner Vanuxem, thus remarks in his volume of the Geology of New York. " The most interesting feature of the wilder- ness region is its chain of lakes, placed so nearly upon a level that but little labor from man is required to connect those of three counties together. The lakes of Herkimer and Hamilton are arranged upon TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 207 a line which is parallel with the St. Lawrence river and Ontario lake, and with the Ohio, &c.; appearing not to be accident merely, but the result of a law whose operations were in their direction, and on several parallels. These lakes, were a communica- tion opened from east to west, would be much resorted to. The beauty of their waters, their elevation, and the wild scenery which surrounds them, would not fail to attract visitors." CHAPTER XIV. With the death of its proprietor, the HerreshofF settlement on Brown's tract became tenantless, and in a short time all the improvements were going to waste and destruction. Hunters occasionally visited the place, and when there, camped in the deserted dwellings. In May, 1830, the premises were leased for a small sum, and in February 1832, Nathaniel Foster, who had for years traversed this region, pur- chased an assignment of the lease and moved his family there; that he might with greater convenience follow his favorite avocation of a wilderness trapper. His family, consisting of himself and wife and his son David and wife, occupied the HerreshofF dwelling nearest the forge. In a hut not far from Foster dwelt an Indian hunter named Peter Waters, familiarly known in the forest by the name of Drid; and in an- other house erected by the original proprietor, resided three old bachelors, William S. Wood, David Chase, and Willard Johnson. Johnson first entered the forest with HerreshofF, to work at his forge. Some part of the time there were three or four other persons on the clearing, increasing the population to some fifteen in- habitants, all of whom depended principally upon hunting and fishing for their support. Johnson, who TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 209 was a man somewhat advanced in life, often hunted with Foster; and Wood, of whom we know but little else, would have frozen to death on one occasion, but for the attentions of Foster. The condition of the other settlers at this period on Brown's tract, was rendered the more comfortable by the family of Foster, whose women were able and ready to dispense the numerous little comforts the sex can command. A difficulty arose between Foster and his Indian neighbor, Avhich, from one of a trifling na- ture, assumed a most serious aspect. A feeling not the most friendly began to gain a place between them, and some person, either from motives of mis- chief or terror, took occasion to tell Drid that Foster was unfriendly to him — that he did not like other hunters — ivas a dead shot, and the like. It was a per- son or persons, no doubt, who had had some misun- derstanding with the Indian, and adopted this method to excite his fears without intending Foster any in- jury; possibly the informer was merely desirous of intimidating him, by making him feel conscious that one man, at least, who did not fear him, had the ability to punish him; whatever the motive was is unknown, but the red hunter's worst passions were now aroused, and ere long he resolved to destroy a supposed foe, at whatever hazard. On several occa- sions, when intoxicated, he threatened the life of Foster, and to such a state of feverish excitement had he arrived, that he only seemed desirous of an oppor- 18* 210 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. tunity for executing his diabolical threat. The hunter Johnson, on several occasions, accompanied Foster to prevent a surprise from his avowed enemy. The Foster family had always been very kind to that of Drid, and when the latter was gone on a long hunt, his squaw depended almost entirely upon the former for the support of herself and children. As Foster kept a cow, the family of the Indian neighbor was supplied with milk free of charge; while not a few necessaries dealt out to them when Drid was from home, had been carried into the clearing by Foster, upon his back. Of the latter articles he made a charge, and embracing some favorable opportunity, he asked the Indian to pay the account, in amount about seventeen shillings; the latter promised to pay a part of it. Foster now told the Indian that he had heard of his having threatened his life; this he ad- mitted, said they lived there retired from any settle- ment, where there wis no law, and added, ^' If I kill you, I kill you ; and if you kill me, you kill me ! " Foster told him he would make no such agreement, that he did not wish or design to injure him, and he must not harbor such feelings. One of the earliest causes of difficulty between these hunters originated as follows; nearly a year before his death, Drid took Foster's boat without permission and left it in the river a mile below where he had taken it. He was admonished that he must not re- peat such an act if he would not be punished for his TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 211 temerity, at which just reproof he w^as very indignant; and soon after w^as heard by several persons to say, ''Me got a bad heart, me put a bullet through old Fos- ter.^' It was about the time of the boat disturbance, that certain individuals attempted to terrify Drid by threats of Foster's vengeance. In July, and about two months before his death, Drid was returning to the tract in company with a man named John Carpenter, when, as he drew near his home, he fired off his rifle, reloaded and carefully primed it. His companion inquired why he did it ? saying they would then find no game. The Indian replied, " Me going to old Foster^s, me shoot him else he shoot me! " He did go to Foster's dwelling, and standing at a little distance from the door, he hailed several times, to draw the object of search to an ex- posed situation. Mrs. Foster came to the door, and was alarmed to see the threatening attitude of her neighbor. He inquired for her husband, and being told that he was not at home, he exclaimed as he turned to go away, " Me shoot him if he had been ! " Next morning the family of Drid being out of pro- visions, applied as usual to Foster's family for food. Informed of the Indian's conduct by his wife and Carpenter, Foster took some flour and in company with Carpenter, sought the red man's cabin to relieve the wants of the family. In the presence of the wit- ness he asked Drid if he had not called at his door intending to shoot him ? He admitted that he had, 212 TRAPPLKS OF NEW YORK. and assigned as a reason, that he had been told that Foster had threatened to kill him for taking his boat. " / made no such threat,^' said the old trapper, " / said it would not be well for you or any one else, to take my boat a second time and fasten it a mile from _ my landing. ^^ In August following the above incident, Drid re- turned from Racket lake with furs, and halted at Foster's door, at which were several neighbors; when the old trapper very civilly asked him to pay his ac- count. " You are d — d liarf'^ said the Indian, " me don't owe you cent ! " He raised his tomahawk to strike the old man, who sprang into the house. He opened the door with his rifle in hand, when his foe sullenly fell back and exclaimed, " If you ever go to Seventh lake, or to Racket lake, me kill you ! " Fos- ter threatened to complain of him before a justice of the peace, and he replied, " /'// get there soon as you do — haint no law in ivoods here! " The Indian with many threats then went off to his cabin. Soon after this encounter with his adversary, Fos- ter went before Joshua Harris, a justice of the peace in Brantingham, Lewis county, twenty miles from his ow^n residence, although the nearest one, and com- plained that this Indian had then a third time sought his life, on which account he demanded his arrest The magistrate declined issuing a process against Drid, saying that if he proceeded against him, the latter w^ould be as likely to kill him as complainant. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 213 Failing to get a precept against his dusky antago- nist, some of his acquaintances advised Foster to re- move his family from the forest, but he declared " he would not he frightened off hy an Indian.^' He was very malicious, so much so that Aleck Thompson, an Indian hunter, who had a shantee near his, would have nothing to do with him, at least, so say the friends of Foster. The apprehensions of the Foster family were such all the latter part of the summer, that they sel- dom lit a candle in the evening, from fear that Drid would fire in at their windows. Indeed, he had threat- ened to enter the house in the night time, and stab him in his bed. He had even inquired on which side of the bed Foster slept, that he might make sure of his victim. When told that so rash an act would endanger the life of Mrs. Foster, he replied, " She good woman — me no care to hurt her — hut ra- ther kill ''em hoth, than not kill him /'^ On the morning of Drid's death, Foster was, agree- ably to an arrangement made the evening before, to accompany Wood and Chase on a hunting excursion to Fourth lake. The Indian had left his traps and rifle at Racket lake, some twelve miles beyond the intended destination of the party, but concluded to go up with them as far as they went. Foster called in the morning to see if the bachelors were ready for a start, and the Indian being present, renewed his quarrel with the former and attempted his life. He was a stout young man, between twenty-five and 214 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK, thirty years of age, and Foster was upwards of sixty. He succeeded in getting the old man down upon the floor, but was foiled in taking his life by the inter- cession of the by-standers, who drew them apart, not however until the Indian had cut his arm, m the attempt to thrust a knife into his heart. Thwarted when he thought his victim sure, he threatened ven- geance, and declared at the end of a horrid oath, «yow no live till Christmas r Foster, whose worst passions were now excited, retorted, " you'll do d well if you see another moon /" Foster retired after the difficulty with the Indian, and did not join the party, increased on its setting out by several others, who were going a few miles on a fishing excursion; but well satisfied that his foe would return and lurk about his dwelling to shoot him, as soon as he had obtained his rifle, he at once resolved to destroy the Indian, and thus prevent the possibility of a future surprise. He accordingly pro- ceeded up the river nearly to the First lake, where, npon its northern shore, a point of land projected into the river, now known among hunters and fishermen as Indian's point. With his rifle carefully loaded with two balls, Foster obtained a commanding posi- tion on the point, to await the arrival of the party. After some delay in getting ready they left the dam at the forge, Drid in a light bark canoe, Wood and Chase in a large bark canoe, and the fishing party, consistino- of four persons, in a boat. DEATH OF THE INDIAN TRAPPER. See page 215. TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 215 The Indian, fearing no doubt from the morning's encounter and Foster's threat, that his personal safety was in jeopardy, kept his little craft near that of Wood and Chase. At length the party neared the point, at which its present occupant knew the white hunters must land to get some concealed traps. The fishing party rowed on as the canoes put in for the shore, and passing the point they discovered the old trapper in the bushes, and pointing in the direction of the bushes, they said to the hunters, " there^s old Foster .'" This announcement caused the Indian, who was then betw^een the other canoe and the shore, to ^ change his position, and take the lake side of his companions. The object of Foster's visiting the point w^as rightly divined by the white trappers, w^ho landed and obtained their traps without loss of time, and put off from the shore, when Drid placed his canoe along side of theirs, so as to bring himself about midway betw^een them, if possible to endanger their lives should a shot be attempted at himself. Although Foster w^as several rods distant from the canoes, still the position of his foe did not secure his safety. The Indian's eye caught a glimpse of the fearful figure in the bushes just as the rifle was poised, and he threw up his arms in terror at the moment of the explosion. Both bullets entered his left side near the arm pit, passed through his heart and went out just below the right arm. They entered in the same spot, but left two places of egress opposite. The i 216 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Indian fell backwards, with his head and shoulders in the water, his feet and legs remaining in the canoe. He fell so dead that his position continued unchanged, the fairy craft preserving the cradling motion com- municated to it by his fall, for some length of time after the spirit of its owner had winged its flight, "To range the circuit of the sky." The party in company with the Indian at the time of his death, either from fear or some other motive, did not offer to touch the body, but returned as speedily as possible to the place of starting. Leaving their boats, several proceeded directly to Foster's house, where they found him lying on a bed. The distance from the dam to Indian's point by water is greater than by land, and the old trapper having finished his morning's work, had gained his own dwelling, wiped out his rifle and prepared it for other game, ere the messengers arrived there. Foster ex- pressed some surprise at seeing the party return so soon, and enquired what brought them back. He was answered, that a dead man was up the lake, the Indian Drid, and they desired him to go up and aid in getting him down. Agreeably to the request, Foster went up with the party to get the body, and himself took it into the boat, as the rest seemed afraid to touch it. He also aided in burying it, near the Indian's former residence. For killing this Indian, Foster was arrested soon after, b, the authorities of TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 2 17 Lewis county; but when it was ascertained that the scene of blood was not within the jurisdiction of that county, he was removed from Martinsburg to Herki- mer, where he gave bail for his appearance when required, and returned to his family. Note, explanatory of the engraving. A friend who made a little drawing of the Fulton chain of lakes, to give the writer an idea of the position of the parties, inadvertently placed the point on the south side of the lake, which led to an error in the cut representing this scene, as the point is on the north side. The cut, though an ideal one, is said (by per- sons who have been on the ground) to give a very striking representation of the point, as Foster came out between two trees. A row of fir trees are seen in the distance, said to be more numerous than are here represented. The cut is rather a spirited one, and if the reader will imagine the point transposed to the opposite shore, and the position of the parties changed accordingly, he will get a good idea of the tragic scene. 19 CHAPTER XV. Having been indicted for murder, at a court of general sessions, in Herkimer county, on the third day of February, 1834, for killing the Indian Drid, or, as called in the indictment, Peter Waters; Nathaniel Foster was arraigned for trial at the circuit court held in that county on the fifteenth day of September fol- lowing. The trial, which lasted nearly two days, was one of very great interest, and drew together an im- mense crowd of anxious spectators. Several indi- viduals, some of whom were hunters, were subpoenaed to prove the quarrelsome disposition of the Indian killed by Foster; but they were not called upon the stand. The court consisted of his honor, Hiram Denio, cir- cuit judge, and Jonas Cleland, John B. Dygert, Abijah Osborn, and Richard Herendeen, judges of the bench of common pleas. After setting aside eleven jurors, who were challenged on the ground of having pre- judged the cause, the following jurors were impan- neled: Jacob Davis, John Harder, Henry Ostrander, James F. Fox, William Bouck, Peter Rickert, Wil- liam Shoemaker, James Shoemaker, Lester Green, Nicholas A. Staring, Earl Trumbull, and Peter Bell. From the fact that so great a number of jurors were disqualified for the reason assigned, we may properly TkAPPEKS of new YORK. 219 infer that the circumstances which induced Foster to take the Indian's life, were generally known; and it may be questioned whether any twelve freeholders, called promiscuously from the county, would have ren- dered a different verdict from that given by the jury impanneled. James B. Hunt (district attorney), and Simeon Ford, w^ere counsel for the prosecution. The prisoner was defended by E. P. Hurlbut, with whom were associated J. A. Spencer, A. Hackley and Lauren Ford Mr. Hunt opened the cause by observing that the pri- soner was arraigned for murder, a rare crime in that county; stating in a brief and pertinent manner, the facts he expected to show in the progress of the trial. Having cited from the statute laws what w^ould and what would not be justifiable homicide, he adduced the following testimony: DAvro Chase, sworn. — Was at West Brunswick on the 17th of September last; there saw Peter Waters; knows the prisoner; saw him also that morning. Jona- than Tyler, William Tyler, Hiram Thomas, and Nelson Stimpson, started together in one boat to go up the lake; Wood and witness were in a bark canoe; Wa- ters was in a canoe [of bark] alone; they started from the forge in company, and kept up the pond, east, until they came to a point of land about two miles from the forge, when they stopped to get their traps; witness and Wood were going to trap with the Indian in partnership ; Waters's boat was six feet from wit- 220 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK, ness and along side; the other boat was opposite four or five rods. At this point of land, First lake com- menced; as Wood stepped out to get the traps, wit- ness heard a rattling in the bushes and looked up the lake, thinking it was birds; turned his head and kept watch; saw Foster, he was bent over a little, ap- parently, going sideways; saw him while passing, a distance of six or eight feet; had no doubt as to the person. Wood took up a load of traps and brought them to the canoe; does not know but he went again; thinks he brought them in two loads; went back out of sight half a minute; came out very quick; clenched up the traps and threw them in the boat in a hurry, and then moved off; Indian, as he heard a rattling in the bushes, shoved his boat close up to witness; they shoved off from shore and brought the Indian between witness and Wood, in his own canoe; the gun then was heard to go off upon the shore on the point; wit- ness turned and Indian was falling backwards from his canoe; made two motions with his hands; his legs stuck in canoe and thus he died. Witness turned to shore and saw Foster on shore in the direction of the report, and where he saw him before; witness and Wood had each a rifle; neither of their rifles were discharged. Witness called to his companions and said ' here is a dead man: Waters had no fire-arms; an hour from leaving forge to that time, he thinks, but is not certain. Witness examined the body; un- • der the left arm, about two inches, the balls entered, TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 221 and came out about six inches below the right armj these killed him; gun was very heavily loaded 3 saw no other person on shore but Foster; Wood was in the boat before gun was fired. Cross-examined. — It was two or three rods from their boat to where Foster stood; after report saw him in the same open spot again; did not see any gun in his hand either way he passed; did not notice any smoke; was pretty badly frightened. Nelson Stimpson sworn. — Was present 17th Sept. last; saw Waters and prisoner; mentions same party in boat named by previous witness; Wood and Chase were in one canoe and the Indian in another alone; went up two miles; is not acquainted there; thinks it may have been an hour before the catastrophe ; saw a wake in the bushes; boat passed along but Wood's boat had stopped; witness saw Foster pass ten feet partly bent over (lurking) in the bushes; witness and his party w^ere hallooed to at a distance of thirty rods from this, and after the report of a gun, came back and found Indian's head and part of his body lying in the water, and his legs in the canoe; did not see any gun in Foster's hands; did not examine body; Chase fired off his gun two charges; it was a double shatter, and appeared to have been loaded sometime; Wood discharged his gun; did not see Foster after report of gun; saw no smoke there. Williston Tyler, sworn. — Saw Foster on the 17th of Sept. last at Foster's house; saw Waters at the 19* 222 traffers of new york. forge same day; went up from forge with party spoken of j they went up to the point (say two miles) in company; Wood and Chase together; Waters alone; all making to this point of land; W. and C. went a-shore; Stimpson spoke "There goes Foster;" witness looked and saw a man there that he (witness) called Foster; they rowed round the point out of sight of the rest; Foster was walking a little stooped and sideways; rowed thirty yards, heard report of a gun; heard Wood or Chase hallo " come back as quick as you can;" they went back, and Chase said they had a dead man there; Waters's head and shoulders were in the water and his legs in the canoe; did not examine his body; two holes in the shirt un- der one arm ; examined guns of the others and found them charged as stated by the other witnesses; saw no gun in Foster's hands; bushes two feet high; was five or six rods distant when he saw him; witness and Wood went to Foster's house; found Johnson on the hill after this in a house occupied by Wood and Chase carrying in some hay; Johnson lived with Foster; this was four miles from the place of exe- cution; did not see Foster after report of gun until at Foster's house same day, four miles from point. Cross-examined. — Went to Foster's house on the way from point; found him there lying on the bed; did not know Foster until the night before; he was a stranger until then; Foster may have passed eight or ten feet in witness's sight while they were going TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 223 along in the boat; there were bushes there but not so high as elsewhere; some were ten feet high; saw side of his face; judge of him partly from his gene- ral appearance; he was without a hat; was bald- headed; he was leaning the same way they were passing; stooped; did not see his hands; Foster was between two and three rods from the point which was to the left; when they found Foster he was lying on a bed; saw his gun in a corner of the room; does not know whether it was loaded or not; was nothing peculiar in Foster's dress; witness was not rowing when he saw Foster in the space; neither saw him before nor after he was at that point. Direct testimony resumed. — Foster discharged and reloaded his gun before he started; this was about une quarter of a mile from Wood's house; Foster's house is on the right-hand side of outlet; and he saw him at the other side of the outlet; the nearest way to get to that place from Foster's house was to cross the bridge at the forge; had a conversation with Foster after he fired the gun and reloaded; witness inquired " have you shot the deer? " " No, that d — d Indian," showing on his wrist a scratch and blood; " have had a squabble with the Indian and he cut this spot; and if it had not been for Mr. Wood and Chase the Indian would have killed me; go either forward or behind; I shall not go fishing." Cross-examined. — The place called the forge has not been used in many years; this is about eighteen 224 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. miles from any settlers; the outlet is from ten to fif- teen rods wide; they talked of going to the Fourth lake; lives in Leyden, Lewis county; the houses were dwelling-houses erected by some past settlers. William S. Wood sworn. — Knows the prisoner; knew the Indian killed; was with Chase; did not see Foster there [on the point] that day; went ashore to get traps; heard the report of a gun; the Indian was killed; saw no person in the bushes; heard no noise; was very busy; got into the boat about as quick as usual; was about three or four yards from Waters when shot; W^aters's boat lying still; witness was in his boat when the gun was fired; did not see Foster at all up there; saw him at home lying on his bed after the killing; also before that at my house in the morning; it was three fourths of an hour from the time Foster left my house in the morning to the gun report; not far from 9 a.m. when gun was fired; about four miles from my house to the point. For the prisoner. — The counsel for the defence here offered to show that the premises where the Indian was killed, were leased on the 4th of May, 1830, by Caleb Lyon, for himself and as agent, to David and Solomon Maybee; that the Maybee's went in and oc- cupied under the lease, until the 26th of February, 1832; at which time David Maybee assigned the lease for the sum of ten dollars, to the defendant, who took possession and occupied under said lease until the alleged murder was committed; at which time his TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 225 right had not expired. Judge Denio said that the defendant was presumed to occupy in his own right; and rejected the evidence offered as conventional. William S. Wood recalled. — Has known the In- dian eighteen months; was twenty-eight years old as he said; was a short able-bodied Indian; have hunted with him. Counsel. — Did you ever hear this Indian threaten to kill Foster? Counsel for prosecution, — Objected to, on the ground of irrelevancy. Counsel for defence. — We urge the evidence, be- cause it is competent, and goes to establish the fact of " imminent danger," to the life of Foster; and whether it sufficently establishes that fact is for the jury to dijtermine. Judge Denio said the testimony was inadmissible, and Judge Dygert was of his opinion; but when the whole Bench w^as appealed to, behold! the other three judges were for admitting it; and for the first time and probably the last time in his official station, his Honor found himself over-ruled by the Common Pleas judges. Witness. — Has heard Indian at different times threaten to kill Foster. " He said Foster was calk- ing his boat (this was in July) and he had a mind to go up and tomahawk Foster and throw him into the the river; but his squaw took hold of his coat and persuaded him to go to his shantee;" he said he had 226 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. a notion to go backj " If I can not do it now," said he, " the first time I catch him alone I '11 be the death of him." This was a year ago last July^ Foster came to witness's house the morning of Sept. 17, to see how long before witness would be ready to start up the lakes; witness lives on south side of outlet, and Foster on the north side; a mile from witness's to Foster's; one and three-fourths miles from witness's house to the forge; Foster came to the door, (Chase and witness were eating breakfast). " How long be- fore you will be ready to go? " asked Foster. " In an hour or perhaps less," we answered. Foster turned round to go out; Indian was standing at the fire-place and said, " What you call me d — m rascal, d — m Indian, so much for ? " " Because I am a mind to," he answered; the Indian sprung upon Foster, took him by the neck and drew his knife upon him, which Foster knocked out of his hand upon the floor; Indian said, " You old devil, I got you now, I kill you;" witness then sprang and grabbed the Indian, and Chase secured Foster's rifle; then witness relieved Foster, who stepped to the door, saying, " Where 's my rifle." Indian said, " Where 's my tomahawk ? d — m old cuss! " Witness said, " You want no toma- hawk; be peaceable; " said Indian after Foster went out, " Now Foster wont live to see another Christmas ! I'll kill him, d — m old cuss!" It was an Indian hunting knife which he carried by his side; in a sheath in his belt; knife looked as if it had been a TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 227 case-knife, ground off to a peak and pointed; Foster was cut across his wrist and face in the flesh; Indian belonged to the St. Regis tribe, a Canada Indian; British Indian stout and athletic; after Foster went out Indian said, " I should have killed him then if it had not been for Chase and witness;" three-fourths of an hour after this, Indian was killed; witness was with Indian about six weeks, and left him. Cross-examined, — Did not tell Foster the last threat at witness's house; about a quarter of an hour after this they started; were about half an hour in walking up to forge; Waters went with witness and Chase; were not long at forge; found others at forge; about twenty or thirty minutes at forge, can't say precisely; took perhaps twenty or thirty minutes to go to point; never told Foster of any of the threats; witness and Chase and Indian were going trapping together; Chase was not in first partnership of witness and Indian. Counsel for defence. — Object to evidence of de- fendant's confessions, as opening the case anew after the prosecution had rested; overruled; witness went to Foster's house, and Foster went back with them [to the lake to get the body] ; did not hear Foster say any thing. JuDAH C. Marsh sworn. — Was at Foster's between the 15th and 20th of August, a year ago; Foster asked Indian for seventeen shillings, pay for sundry articles; Indian offered to pay a part but not all; 228 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. Foster said, " I 've let you have articles to keep yoii from starving; Indian meal and potatoes which I have carried on my back seventeen miles; " Indian offered to pay a part; " why not pay the whole? I ve dealt with you like a brother; I 've heard you threat- ened to take my life; you came once where I was fixing a boat (I've been informed) on purpose to kill uie; you came once to my house with your rifle load- ed and called me to the door to kill me; " "yes; " why do you want to hurt me? I never wanted to hurt you; I would as soon kill a white man as an In- dian; I would not kill you for a million of worlds; Indian asked how soon he would come to the Seventh lake- said "You must never come there; if you do you never come back again alive; we're now on Brown's tract and out of the way of all law; if you kill me you kill me; if I kill you I kill you; " Foster said " I agree to no such thing; am afraid of your sly Indian way of fighting; I have heard that you threatened to kill several at Lake Pleasant; and a „,an by the name of Lyon; I shall complain of you and have you taken care of; I am afraid of my l.fe;^^ Indian said, " Complain and be d-d, me meet you; Indian threatened to kill David Foster (son of defend- ant) if he came to the Racket lake; Indian started to the door, took up his tomahawk; prisoner stepped into the house, and Indian let his tomahawk drop after prisoner was out of sight. Cross-examined.-ls a son-in-law of defendant; TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 229 resides at Auburn; went there last July; don't recol- lect the amount of flour, &c., that Foster called over; when items were mentioned once he said it was cheap enough; Indian spoke tolerably good English; some- broken; witness staid but eight or ten days on tract after this; David left after October; witness advised defendant to come away; he said he should come as soon as he possibly could; for he considered his life in danger every moment; Seventh lake is some fifteen miles from Foster's; Indian had a squaw and two children: squaw went back to St. Regis; defendant and w^ife, son and son's wife, witness and his wife, and Johnson were in the house, and three children, two of David's and one of witness's. Direct testimony resumed. — Foster said, " as soon as I can get the old lady away, I shall go;" she was rather feeble; she was not able to go with witness; wanted to wait till sleighing; David's wife was un- well; a numb palsy affection. Abner Blackman, sworn.-— Knew the Indian named and Foster; Foster was narrating a story about In- dian's coming to his house; he said the " Indian had loaded his rifle and come to his door to shoot him; Indian said it was well for him that he v^^as not at home, as he came to shoot him; he would have put a bullet through him; he (Foster) would have seen his God in two minutes;" witness told him that the In- dian had told him the same thing, as to his coming 230 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. to his house to shoot hira; has heard the Indian threaten the life of Foster. Cross examined. — Had a conversation with Foster; he said the Indian had threatened to kill him a good many times; and indifferent ways; he had spoke of not being afraid of Indian, but he was really afraid, and looked behind every old log and bush expecting the Indian ready to kill him; he trembled as he walked; said he would have been glad to have got away, if he could conveniently; but his property and family were there; his son's wife unwell, and could not be moved then; he said like this, " he had a gun that had always told him the truth, and he had pushed a bull off the bridge;" he said they came down to his house for him to go up; he went, and found Waters in the canoe; no one dared to take hold of him; he took hold of him and pulled him up; did not tell him how the Indian got killed, nor that he killed him; was talking about hunting and killing deer when he said he pushed the bull oif the bridge; and, perhaps, about the Indian also; were not talking about the Indian when he said his gun always told the truth; has seen Indian at witness's house; heard Indian say he belonged to St. Regis tribe; witness lives in Greig, Lewis county; conversation in that town on witness's way to and from Herreshoff's; Greig is nineteen or twenty miles from Herreshoff place. Joshua Harris, sworn. — Lives in Grieg, Lewis county; was a magistrate in September last. The TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 231 defence offered to prove by this witness that Foster applied to him to get a warrant, and complained that he was in fear of losing his life; that the Indian had threatened to kill him repeatedly; had intimated several times that Indian had threatened to kill him. Witness. — Has conversed with Indian; has heard him say repeatedly, he would kill Foster; " if Foster goes up to Fourth, Fifth, Sixth or Seventh lake again, he will never return alive if I can catch him there;" the Indian roused up, " Foster, how many deer you kill ?" " Don't know." " D— m him, I'll pile him up with my deer by-and-by ;" at another time in harvest, he said, " I'll serve Foster, d d old cuss, as I have a number of the d d Yankees, I w^ill take his life, or butcher him;" the threats were often repeated; he would rave against Foster. Cross examined. — Indian was there a year ago last October, and often, until killed, shantied [li^^ed in a shantee or hut] on witness's farm, forty rods from house, about two months; was about twenty-eight years of age; has conversed with Foster since the death; he intimated as much as though he had killed the Indian ; said " he was not guilty of shedding inno- cent blood; what he had done was done in his own defence;" he was talking about his being taken for killing the Indian, and his trial. Asa Brown, sworn. — Knows Foster; knew Indian; has heard the Indian threaten the life of Foster; In- dian came to witness's house in Greig, Lew^is county, 232 TRAFPERS OF NEW YORK. in the fore part of August, a year ago; between the first and twentieth; he said he did not want to say much about old Foster; he d d old cuss; Mrs. Foster good old woman; he went on and stated how well she had used him, and squaw, and little pap- pooses; then he said, after the favors, " old Foster, d — m old cuss, want to make me pay for it;" he said he should not; he meant to kill old Foster; "me get good rifle; me shoot straight; me put ball right through the heart." I said, " Peter, you must not talk such language as that, for you are liable to be had up and confined." " Me care not a d — m for that; no law on Brown's tract." Said T, if there is no law on the tract, there is here, and w'ill put you where the dogs wont bite you. "Me no care for dat; me kill d — m old cuss." Witness advised him to peace with Foster. "Mrs. Foster use me well; good woman; Foster d — m old cuss; put ball through his heart." Never saw^ him alive after that. Cross examined. — Saw Foster about two weeks after this, and told him what the Indian said ; Foster replied, " If the Indian would come in sight, and shoot quicker than he did, then he (Foster) w^ould be killed; if not, not; he had a rifle that never told a lie; and said he had heard a great many such threats from the Indian, and felt in danger of losing his life when traversing the forest for his traps; he said his eyes were continually on the watch, for fear the Indian was skulking about to shoot him;" has seen Foster TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 233 but once since the Indian's death; heard no confession of killing. WiLLARD Johnson, sworn. — Knew Foster and In- dian; resided on Brown's tract; has heard Indian threaten Foster to kill him; the first difficulty was about a boat; Foster said, " you should not do so; if you want a boat, ask for it." Indian said, " d — m old Foster, I'll put the ball there," pointing his finger in center of his forehead. The next, Foster had let him have things, and Peter refused to pay; about two or three months after, can't say exactly, Foster said, " this is the usage 1 get, I backed in these things and paid my money for them." Waters flourished his hatchet; Foster went in quick, and if he had not, he would have struck the hatchet between Foster's shoulders. Again, the morning before Waters was shot, witness was at his own place, a mile from Fos- ter's, when he saw Waters; talked with him; said "go along w^ith me and make peace with Foster;" " old Foster I will kill, if I can get him out to shoot him. I'll butcher him in his bed; I know which side of the bed he lays; and if you hear anything there, don't you come nigh, you may get hurt; old woman is good; I wont hurt her; but you must not come nigh me." [The Indian requested Johnson to tell Mrs. Foster to keep her own side in the bed.] Cross examined. — Thinks he told it to Foster the night before the killing; every time witness saw Wa- ters, he would enquire when he was g:oing home; and QO* .234 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. witness did not know what to make of it; an Indian is an Indian; Foster went to swear the peace; Indian was a crabbed sort of a fellow; had no conversation with Foster since Indian w^as killed. The counsel for the prisoner offered to prove threats of the Indian to kill Foster, by several other persons, but was overruled, and the defence rested. For the prosecution. WiLLisTON Tyler, sw^orn. — Was at Foster's the evening before killing; he said the Indian had threat- ened his life; but he was not afraid of the d d black blood, unless it were by secret revenge; he said if he could catch him out any where, he would put him where the dogs would not bite him; they were talking about his complaining against Indian; he said it would be of no use: he would go into the woods before they could take him; but if he should catch him out, he would put him where the dogs wouldn't bite him; in going back up to the point where killed, witness asked the question w^hether he was standing or sitting the moment he was shot; Foster replied, " Sitting down; why I say he was sitting down is, that they always did sit down, and never stand up in a bark canoe;" Foster went to the place where In- dian was killed; thejt covered up Indian; went back next morning and re-covered it [the grave] ; might have been four hours from time witness saw Foster last to killing. Cross' examhii'd. — Wood told Foster, TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 235 news to tell you; Peter's dead;" Foster asked, " Did he die in a fit ?" Wood informed Foster that he was shot and at what place, in answer to his inquiry; pre- sumes they generally sit in a bark canoe. David Chase, sworn. — Don't remember every item of the scuffle; they were fixing to go away that morn- ing; Foster came in his house; said " Good morning;" witness was busy packing up things to go away; Foster was eight feet from a small fire place; witness about ten feet away, packing; Indian spoke, but don't know what he said; Foster answered, but don't re- member what; Indian pitched upon him and grabbed Foster; witness rose up and took Foster's rifle and set it up side of the house, about twelve feet from where they clenched; got back and Indian had thrown Foster; witness got his right hand, and Wood his left hand, and told Indian to let loose; Indian rose up; one called for his tomahawk and the other for his rifle; Foster went out, and witness said stay and gel your things; he did so; witness went into the house, got his hat and rifle, and gave them to him; after this Foster said, " How long before you will be along ?" As witness turned to go back, he saw blood on hi;-: own hand; this was pretty early in the morning; i: was near noon when the shooting happened; betweet- three and four hours; Indian, Wood and witness were going tiapping. Cross examined. — Did not see a knife; as they took them apart. Indian was talking fast; and when h 236 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. came back he was cooled down; Wood got to Indian and Foster first; had no conversation with Foster since Nelson Stimpson, sworn.^Saw the Indian clench Foster; Foster went into the house and spoke to Chase and Wood; asked them what time they would be up the lake; Indian "How many times more will you call me d d liar ]" Foster, " Do you want to pick a quarrel with me this morning, you black son of a bitch ?' The Indian sprang and clenched him, and jammed the door too, and witness saw no more of it; saw Foster as he came out; he told witness to go down to the forge; four hours from time of scuffle to killing; had some conversation with Foster coming from tract next day. Francis E. Spinner, sworn. There was some con- versation when Foster came down from Martinsburg; he said something; don't think he said he killed him; witness advised him to say nothing; he said there would p)-obably be no dispute about the facts; there would 'be proof enough; thinks he said the Indian suspected something, and put up his hands; he said he examined the body, and in examination found he was shot with two balls; he said his rifle never told a lie; don't know whether this latter observation was in that conversation; he said they were afraid to take care of the body, and he went up; found it was a centre shot; a hole under one arm, close up, and two on the opposite side; is not clear, but he may have TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 237 said that his arm must have been thrown up, or the ball could not have entered there. The testimony having closed, Mr. Hurlbut opened the defence to the jury, and his associates, Spencer and Hackley, summed up. The cause is said, by spec- tators, to have been very ably conducted on both sides. Judge Denio, who was from another county, a stranger to the parties and unbiased by the prejudices which made either for or against the prisoner, deter- mined to try him fairly and impartially. There can be no greater virtue in any tribunal, than that of impar- tiality in the administration of justice. Indeed, when other motives influence judicial decisions than those of equity, and power is warped to favor, rapine and anarchy stalk the earth unbridled, honesty wears weeds, and disinterested benevolence folds herself up in a garment of sackcloth. The following is a brief memorandum made by Mr. Hurlbut, of Judge Denio's charge to the jury. " The court advise the jury, that the law applies to the region of country where the offence was com- mitted. The law pervades every section of the coun- try. There is no place where crime is not cognizable. " In regard to the race of men to which the de- ceased belonged, when the question is, what will authorize the taking of the life of such an one? we answer, no one can take such life without such rea- sons as would authorize the taking of the life of any other human being. 238 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. " There are two cases of kWWng whiol, i. not mur- der First, when there is killing in a sudden affray: it is manslaughter. If, at the time of the rencontre in the morning, before his passion cooled, the prisoner had shot the Indian, it would have been manslaughter onlv But if his passion cooled, and contrivance or malice was aroused, it would have been murder. Second, a man has a right to kill another in self de- fence The court would not abridge that privilege. If Wood's account be true, if the Indian came with his knife drawn and oiTered a fatal blow, and Foster had not time to retreat, he would have been author- ized to shoot him dead. That would have been a legitimate case of self defence. The law of this country is not, when a man is out of immediate dan- ger, but has a secret enemy, that he has a right to kill him. This would not be a good code of laws if that were so. In a state of nature, it would have been morally right to have taken the Indian's lite w this case. The principle of self defence applies on^ to the case of present attack upon the accused. If Foster seriously believed he was right and justified, it makes no difference in law, morally it does. « These views you have a right to overlook. You are not bound to pay any further regard to this opinion, than the superior means of the court of pos- sessing information may entitle it to." The jury retired. Before the trial commenced, Mr. Kurlburt received TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 239 from Foster the most urgent instructions to convict him of murder or acquit him altogether. He pro- tested against being found guilty of manslaughter, as he dreaded imprisonment, even for the shortest term, worse than death. The jury, after a deliberation of two hours, returned into court with a verdict of acquittal. As they entered and took their seats, the " cloud of witnesses " be- came hushed; the moment was one of intense interest; and to so great a tension had the feelings of the old gentleman been drawn by the excitement his preca- rious fate had invoked, that his spirit seemed hovering between life and death. Says Mr. Hurlbut, " When the jury came in with their verdict, he was insensible; and it was with some difficulty he was roused to con- sciousness, so as to understand the verdict. When the words not guilty, after being two or three times repeated to him by his counsel, struck his senses fairly, he rose up, stretched out both hands wide over the heads of the spectators, and exclaiming, * God bless you all / God bless the people ! ' rushed out of the court room, and strode home his well known hun- ter's pony." A murmur of applause ran through the crowd, the sympathies of which were nearly all enlisted in his favor, as the old trapper left the court room for the street, to which he was followed by scores of people of all ages, anxious to offer their congratulations. At Little Falls, great was the rejoicing and clapping 240 TRAPPERS or NEW VORK. of hands, when the news reached that place that Foster was free; indeed his enlargement met with one universal hurst of approhation throughout the county. Not because he had killed a poor Indian, and been acquitted; but because he was not to be hun- for having killed a man in his own defense, as they viewed it. There can remain little doubt, when it is known as a characteristic of the red man that he never forgives a known or imagined injury, and seldom a grudge, especially one he has determined to punish with death, but that he would have killed Foster "before Christmas," if Foster had not slam him* But we leave this case to Him who set his own mark on the first mr.rderer, Cahij and to whose mercy Moses was subjected, when he slew and con- cealed his man in the sands of Egypt. *The celebrated Jose,h Brant, once found it necessary to kill hU own son. The latter had taken umbrage ^t h.s parent for some cause, and on an occasion, pursued him w.th a kn.fe tant on his destruction. Brant retreated to the corner of a room, armed with a tomahawk; and satisfied the son wouU execu e h« threats, as he rushed upon him, the father sunk the fatal toma- hawk in his head.— isaac H. Tiffany. CHAPTER XVI. About the time of Foster's trial, to an interrogatory from the Hon. Charles Gray, whether he did not con- sider the lives of the white hunters as greatly endan- gered, when he directed the balls between them only a few feet apart, which penetrated the heart of his victim? he replied, " No, not ai all ! my old rifle never made so great a miss as that! " Remarking to Maj. Stoner my surprise, that Foster should have dared to fire between two white men in a changing position at a third person, the old Natty Bumpo replied, " Poh ! Foster would have shot the Indian's eye out had he desired to! The truth is, either of us could send a bullet just about where we chose to." At an inanimate and fixed target they were not so remarkably celebrated as marksmen, but give them game moving sufficiently to excite their anxiety, and these two modern Nimrods may be said to have been a dead shot. At a reasonable dis- tance they would have driven an apple every time from the head of some young Tell, and scarcely dis- placed a hair, provided the head was moving. When a sufficient length of time had transpired after this Indian's death for intelligence of it to go to his friends near the river St. Lawrence, a brother-in- 21 242 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK* law of his, who was a chief of the St. Regis tribe, and a very likely man, came down to Brown's tract to remove his sister. He said the deceased was at times a bad fellow, and had been expelled from their tribe for some misdemeanor. He had even threatened the life of this chief more than once; and he did not express any regret that he was killed; on the con- trary, he said he thought Foster was justifiable in taking his life under the peculiar circumstances. Drid's squaw was present when the body was brought down, but instead of manifesting sorrow she smiled, and with a pair ol scissors she cut out a piece of his blanket or shirt, having in it a ball hole, and placed it carefully away in a work-pocket. Her brother had the body taken up and interred in Indian style; and before its reburial he cut out that part of the blanket having the remaining bullet holes in it; which he carried home with him. Foster had been sent to Martinsburg before this Indian arrived; but previous to leaving the tract, he advised the members of the Foster family still living there, to leave the place, as they were innocent of Drid's death; and it was possible some of his blood might attempt to re- venge his death. He took his sister and her children back with him, that he might provide for their wants. After the death of Drid, Foster visited Brown's tract but once. He feared the Indians might catch him napping; indeed it was said that several were there in wait for him, but a correspondent who says TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 243 he was there the next season, saw no Indians. Fos- ter reiuoved with his family to Boonville, Oneida county. From thence he went to reside for several years in the north part of Pennsylvania, where he again followed his favorite pursuits. His mind seemed never at rest after killing this Indian, says a friend, and he tuould vot, after his return to Boonville from Pennsylvania, . enture out of doors in the dark. He died at the house of Mr. Edgerton, his son-in-law, in the western part of Boonville (now Ava), Oneida county, in March, 184 Ij at the age of about 74 years. His widow died at the residence of her son, Amos Foster, in Palatine (near Stone Arabia), Montgomery county, in December, 1844. It is the belief of very many of Foster's acquaint- ances, that Drid was not the only Indian with whom he had had a fatal rencontre. The following story furnished the author by Mr. Frederick Petrie, comes so well authenticated and corroborated, that there can be very little doubt of its truth. Before the American Revolution there dwelt about two miles from the present village of Little Falls, an Indian named Hess, who took an active part in that contest as a hireling of Britain; and who undoubted- ly was one of the most cruel and blood thirsty of his race. Some ten or twelve years after the war, this Indian retin-ned to his former hunting grounds, to pro- secute his favorite employment. A country inn at this period was, for the spread of knowledge to be 244 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK, smoked in and watered, a kind of " circulating rae* dium," a place where in the absence of our now thousands of newspapers, the people of the surround- ing country met to learn news from quidnuncs; and as Little Falls, with possibly her dozen (much scat- tered) insignificant dwellings, was then a place of some notoriety, on account of her nev) inland locks, and old moss-clad rocks, the bar-roon of the village one-story tavern became the place where all the clas- sic events of olden time, and all the improvements of modern days, particularly those which aided the river sailor in navigating the far famed Mohawk, were, sans parliamentary forms, freely discussed. On a certain occasion Foster met the Indian Hess in the bar-room of the Little Falls tavern, and observ- ing that his dress a-la-mode was that of a hunter, he attempted to engage him in a conversation. He feigned ignorance of the English language, however, until his white competitor in beaver skins oiled his tongue freely at the bar, when lo! the seal upon his lips was broken, and he spoke English tolerably well. The two hunters soon after left the village and tra- veled some distance together, when the conversation turned upon Revolutionary scenes: boasting of his individual exploits on the frontiers of New York, the Indian exhibited a tobacco pouch. "This," said the crafty warrior, " me got in the war. Me kill white woman; rip open belly; find young pap- poose; skin him some; make pouch!" He also TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 245 Opened the box in the breech of his rifle, and exhibit* ed some evidence he there carried of the number of prisoners and human scalps taken by him in the war^ the tally ran up to the almost incredible number of forty-two. Just before parting, the Indian inquired of Foster his name, and on hearing it he exclaimed, " Ha ! JSTat Foster I y lu had man; you kill Indians /" On the Indian's making the recognition of him, Foster thought he detected in his look and manner a lurking devil that seemed to say, " if ever you fall in my power you will feel itj" and hearing himself called an Indian killer, he believed the old hunter, if opportunity presented, would not scruple to take his life. The boast of murdered innocence drew a frown across the sunburnt brow and stern features of the young hunter, that seemed to send back defiance to the red man's look of meditated death. They parted soon after, and if not as friends, certainly not as avowed enemies; but each no doubt felt apprehensive, that a second interview might not terminate so for- tunately for them both; and certain it is, that one at least resolved not to be over-reached by the other. Not long after the above incidents transpired, Fos- ter was threading the forest alone, in the northerly part of Herkimer county, in the pursuit of game. In a secluded spot, he came unexpectedly upon and shot a moose cow. While securing the noble game, its mate, a most ferocious bull, attracted to the spot by the bellowing of the dam, attacked him with great 21* 246 TRAFPERS OF NEW YORK. fury. In a dodging fight, the hunter was obliged to make some half a dozen shots in rapid succession. Foster reloaded his rifle before he ventured to ap- proach an animal that had been so tenacious of life, although dying (he seldom changed his position in the woods without a charge in his gun); and w^hile advancing to it, he was startled to hear a footstep within pistol shot distance of him, and was possibly not less surprised to find in the person of his new visitant, the muscular form of the Indian Hess. Supposing, as is presumed, that Foster's rifle was unloaded, his recent acquaintance, who now experi- enced no difficulty in " murdering the King's Eng- lish," at the end of a whoop that told credibly for his lungs and the absence of balsams, shouted aloud, " JS'oiD Foster me got you ! me kill you now ! " Be- tween Hess and his intended victim there was a marsh, over which was a fallen tree. Mounting the log to approach the white hunter, with uplifted toma- hawk and death-boding mien, the report of a rifle again echoed amid the fir-tops of the forest, and up sprang the Indian high in air from the log. A bullet had plowed its way through his heart, and with a guttural groan, the dark warrior fell dead upon the marsh. Lest Hess might not be unattended in the forest, the eagle-eyed marksman, whose rifle had not only been quickly loaded but q'jckly discharged, stamped the carcase of his victim deep into the mud. Dark mystery hung over the fate of this lone hunter TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 247 for years. Many remembered that his disappearance was sudden and unexpected ; and others that they had heard Foster say, shortly after his interview with him at Little Falls, that he had wxt him once, and only once after that time. He confidentially communicated, many years after, to Jacob I. Christman, with whom he was hunting, the fate of this unfortunate savage, for whom No solemn bell's metallic tongue E'er tollM its death note on the breeze •. Zephyrs alone his requiem rung-, Where ivy green her mantle hung Mid plumed and bowing trees. Foster, although a man of undoubted veracity, when speaking of his own exploits, made use of aphorisms, or such unexplained expressions, as left them a mystery to his auditors. This was particu- larly the case where legal advantage could be taken of his sayings and doings; hence, it is impossible to arrive with positive certainty, as is believed, at some of the most interesting incidents in his life. On this point, says a correspondent, " Foster would occasion- ally tell some of his exploits, but in such a way you could hardly guess his meaning. For instance, " The best shot I ever made, I got two beaver, one otter, and fifteen martin skins; but I took the filling out of a blanket to do it !' And again, ' 1 was once in the woods, and saw an Indian lay down to drink at a brook; something was the matter; he dropped his face 248 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. into the water and drowned; I thought I might as well take his fur, gun, blanket, &c., as leave them there to spoil.' " Says the same correspondent, " On his way to jail, I saw Foster; he said to me, ' Brother B., I am the man that 'pushed the hull off the bridge ; I never liked Indians /' While confined at Herkimer, he was ask- ed how he fared? He replied, " 0, very well, only T don't like to be stall fed among gentlemen ! " About the time of Foster's trial, while some friends were speaking of his success as a hunter and extra- ordinary skill as a marksman, he said the greatest shot he ever made was at otters, securing eighteen of their valuable pelts at a single shot. Although the fame of the (then) old hunter was very great, this story seemed to stagger the faith of his most confi- dential auditors; and when one ventured to express a doubt as to the truth of the assertion, he explained as follows. In a hunting excursion he had once fallen in with an Indian, who carried upon his back eigh- teen otter skins ; that he had no intention of harming the Indian; did not know that he had killed him; but that he never let an otter skin escape him alive. He fired; they all fell; he picked them up and came away. In the latter part of his life, Foster's sight began to fail him. His brother, Shuhael Foster, who is many years younger than Nathaniel, says he was deer hunting with the latter, not many years before his death, in St. Lawrence county, on the Oswegat- TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. 249 chie,* in which excursion they killed twenty. Informant shot several before his brother got any; when they came together, the latter procured a good slice of venison, saying that if he could get a piece of deer into him, he could see to shoot them. During this hunt, they one day cornered a flock between them and a ledge, exposing the innocent creatures to their cross- fire. They drove the terrified animals from one to the other until they secured five of their number, four of which fell before the old rifle of the senior hunter. So much for eating a good steak of venison. Foster and Stoner were both remarkably expert at loading their rifles, but the former most so, at least if it became necessary to make several shots in hot haste, and at a short distance. Foster has been known repeatedly, upon a w^ager, to commence with his rifle unloaded and fire it oflf six times in one minute. This, to the reader, if a modern marksman and unaccus- tomed to taking game upon foot, seems incredible, but it is nevertheless true. While hunting he usually wore three rifle balls between the fingers of each hand, and invariably thus in the left hand, if he had * Os-ive-gatchie or Ogh-swa-gatchie^ an Indian name, the his- torian James Macauley, informed the author, which signifies going or coming round a hill. The great bend in the Oswegat- chie river (or the necessity of it), on the borders of Lewis county, originated its significant name. An Indian tribe, bearing the name of the river, once lived upon its banks; but its fate, like that of many sister tribes, has been, to melt away before the pro- gressive step of the Anglo-Saxon. 250 TRAPPERS OF NEW YORK. that number of balls with him. He had a large bony haa