Part 85
“That I can’t, for the life of me, tell! There’s two stories about it. One of them puts it on Dan Dougherty, but I believe him just as innocent as the babe unborn—and the other charges it on Major’s own brother, William, hitting him be mischance, when firing after the Hibernian company’s boys—for ye must know that the whole trouble came about through a quarrel between the Hibernian an' the Citizen Fire Companies. One is wholly made up of our countrymen, an' the other of Modocs—English, German, Welsh an' what not! I suppose ye know that?
“Yes! But who started the row?” queried McKenna.
Clark replied that he was sure it was not Dougherty. He told McKenna of the fire which had called out the companies, and the fact that many firemen were drunk. That on the way home some firemen got to fighting, when Chief Burgess George Major came out of his house, flourished his revolver, and during the confusion shot a dog that was barking nearby. This led to more shooting, when someone in the crowd took off the Chief Burgess, and his brother shot Dougherty in the neck.
McKenna then met Clark’s brother, who was a Mollie, and they went to Dougherty’s home, and soon gained permission to see the wounded man.
Dougherty was almost delirious, and barely recognized his friends. He was terribly wounded, the surgeons even thinking it unsafe to probe for the bullet.
McKenna and Clark then went to McCann’s and soon gained the landlady’s confidence and she invited them upstairs, where McCann was found in bed, also wounded. He claimed Major had fired three shots at him.
Here the scheme was hatched to swear out a warrant for the Chief Burgess before he should die, charging him with an assault with a deadly weapon. That, they contended, would place McCann on the witness-stand and prevent him from being brought to the bar as a defendant. Others present desired McCann to make his escape.
The Chief Burgess succumbed to his wounds Tuesday, November 3, and received burial, with suitable honors, the ensuing day.
McKenna returned to Shenandoah and reported to the Mollies the issue of his trip. He had previously sent to Mr. Allan Pinkerton daily bulletins of his inquiries and their results.
Dougherty recovered, had his trial, early in May, and was acquitted.
McKenna was not ready to call his work at an end. Sufficient evidence had not yet been obtained to bring the band of criminals to justice.
But it was only a few months later when the murderers of Alexander Rae, Gomer James, William and Jesse Major, F. W. S. Langdon, Morgan Powell, Thomas Sanger, William Uren, and others were brought to trial and such evidence obtained that the usual Mollie alibi was broken down and those guilty were made to suffer the penalty which they deserved.
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Captain John Hambright Leads Expedition from Fort Augusta Against Great Island, November 4, 1756
Fort Augusta was built and garrisoned during the summer and fall of 1756 under the direction of Colonel William Clapham and 400 Provincial soldiers recruited for that purpose. This formidable fortress was situated at Shamokin, at the Forks of the Susquehanna, in what is now the city of Sunbury.
The soldiers had barely landed at Shamokin until reports were brought there that the French were coming in great force to besiege the fort.
The Indians, hostile to the English, committed such depredations that Colonel Clapham sent out expeditions against the Indian towns on the Juniata, at Chincklamoose (now Clearfield); at Great Island (now Lock Haven), and up both branches of the Susquehanna River.
During October, 1756, intelligence was received that Indian families, resident at the Great Island, were making many incursions against the settlements. Several of them had visited Shamokin in August, when they killed a bullock guard at the spring. And as they had formerly lived at Shamokin, they were capable of very great mischief.
Colonel Clapham directed Captain John Hambright, of Lancaster, to lead a company of picked men and destroy the village.
The instructions for this perilous expedition are peculiar and of unusual interest to the present day residents along the West Branch of the Susquehanna as far up as Lock Haven and, because they reveal the dangers such enterprises always encountered, they are given in full:
“Sir:
“You are to march with a Party of 2 Serjts., 2 Corporals and 38 Private men, under your Command to attack, burn and destroy an Indian Town or Towns, with their Inhabitants, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, to which Monsieur Montour will conduct you, whose advice you are directed to pursue in every Case.
“You are to attack the Town agreeable to the Plan and Disposition herewith given you, observing to Intermix the men with Bayonets equally among the three Partys in the attack, and if any Indians are found there you are to kill, Scalp, and captivate as many as you can, and if no Indians are there you are to endeavor to act in such manner, and with such Caution, as to prevent the Discovery of your having been there by any Party, which may arrive Shortly after you, for which Reason you are strictly forbid to burn, take away, Destroy or Meddle with anything found at such Places, and immediately dispatch Monsieur Montour, with one or two more to me with Intelligence.
“When ye come near the Place of action you are to detach Monsieur Montour, with as many men as he shall Judge necessary to reconnoiter the Parts, and to wait in concealment in the mean Time with your whole Party till his Return, then to form your measures accordingly.
After having burnt and destroyed the Town, you are in your Retreat to post an officer and twelve men in Ambush, close to the Road side, at the most convenient Place for such Purpose which may offer, at about Twelve miles Distance from the Place of action, who are to surprise and cut off any Party who may attempt to pursue, or may happen to be engaged in Hunting thereabouts, and at the same Time secure the Retreat of your main Body.
“'Tis very probable, that on these Moon Light Nights, you will find them engag’d in Dancing, in which case embrace that opportunity, by all means, of attacking them, which you are not to attempt at a greater distance than 20 to 25 yards, and be particularly careful to prevent the Escape of the Women and Children, whose lives Humanity will direct you to preserve as much as possible.
“If it does not happen that you find them Dancing, the attack is to be made in the morning, just at a season when you have Light enough to Execute it, in which attempt your party are to march to the several houses, and bursting open the Doors, to rush in at once. Let the Signal for the general attack be the Discharge of one Firelock, in the Centre Division.
“If there are no Indians at the Several Towns, you are in such case to proceed with the utmost Caution and Vigilance to the Road which leads to Fort Duquesne, there to lye in Ambush and to intercept any Party or partys of the Enemy on the march to or from the English Settlements, and there to remain with the Design till the want of Provisions obliges you to return.
“I wish you all imaginable Success, of which the Opinion I have of your self, the Officers and Party under your Command, leave me no Room to doubt,
& am, Sir, “Your Humble Servant, “William Clapham.
“P. S.—You will not omit to post the Sergeant with a party on the other side of the River during the attack, according to Direction, in order to prevent the Enemy from escaping that way and to reserve always one half of your Fire.
“Given at Fort Augusta, Nov. 4th, 1756.”
A close examination of the route of march reveals to those at all familiar with the topography of that part of the State that the expedition crossed the river at Fort Augusta and marched through the ravine to the lower side of Blue Hill, into what is now known as Granger’s Hollow, and continued up the country on the west side of the river, passing through what is now Winfield, Lewisburg, West Milton, New Columbia and White Deer, where they evidently marched over the present Loganton road, following alongside White Deer Creek and then into the Nippenose Valley; thence over the hills and down again into McElhattan Gap, emerging at the river near Great Island.
This is the most direct route, and, as the Indians were good civil engineers and usually found the easy grades for their beaten trails, there is little doubt but that Captain Hambright and his sturdy band of chosen men surely experienced a hard, rough march, even for that early period.
He surely carried out his instructions, but what actually happened on this march is unknown, as no records of his report are to be found among the papers of that period. This is a matter of sincere regret, for the expedition was one of great importance.
It is believed from notes made on a time-stained paper now in the State Library that the first village visited was situated a few miles above the mouth of Pine Creek, opposite what is now the village of Pine, Clinton County. The paper bears the following indorsement: “4th Nov., 1756. Route of Capt. Hambright’s Secret Expedition, Inclos’d in Col. W. Clapham’s Ler of” (This sentence was unfinished).
Antiquarians inform us that many years ago great quantities of Indian relics were found at this site. It is only a short distance east of Great Island, and nearly the exact distance from Fort Augusta, by following the river, that is noted in Colonel Clapham’s letter.
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Disputed Boundary Lines Settled at Fort Stanwix November 5, 1768
Notwithstanding the surrender to the Six Nations by the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, in September, 1758, of “all the territory lying to the northward and westward of the Allegheny Mountains,” the white settlers continued to encroach on the hunting grounds of the Indians.
At the great treaty held at Albany, the Proprietaries purchased and received a deed dated July 6, 1754, for the land of the Province above Penn’s Creek, in what is now Snyder County.
The Indians afterward asserted they were defrauded in this sale; that the territory included lands they did not purpose selling and there was much dissatisfaction.
To settle their trouble a compromise was made at the Easton treaty, October, 1758, by the terms of which the Proprietaries authorized Richard Peters and Conrad Weiser to release and reconvey to the Six Nations all the territory lying northward and westward of the Allegheny Mountains which had been conveyed to the Proprietaries by the deed of July 6, 1754, “provided the Six Nations fully stipulate and settle the exact and certain bounds of the residue of the said lands included in the before-mentioned purchase.”
Following the successful termination of the Pontiac Conspiracy in 1764, the whites were less fearful of the Indians and settled in the Indian country with much more confidence. The Indians were quick to grasp the situation and made vigorous complaint to the Governor and all the other provincial authorities.
Proclamations were issued against the settlers without effect, and finally, February 3, 1768, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act on the subject. It was enacted that if any persons, already settled or afterward moved on unpurchased lands, neglected or refused to remove from the same within thirty days after they were required to do so by the Governor after notice prohibiting occupancy as aforesaid, being legally convicted, were to be punished with death without the benefit of clergy.
Three weeks after the enactment of the foregoing law Governor Penn issued a proclamation to every person to remove themselves and their families off and from the said lands on or before the first day of May next ensuing.
But proclamations, edicts and acts seemed to be of no avail, and the disputes between the whites and Indians became most acute. At length, in the summer of 1768, Sir William Johnson, the great English agent and true friend of the Six Nations Indians, determined to hold a great council with the Indians “not only for the purpose of renewing the ancient covenant chain between the English and the Indians, but to establish a scientific frontier.”
In preparation for this great council twenty large bateaux, laden with presents best suited to propitiate the Indians, had been conveyed to Fort Stanwix, now Rome, N. Y. Sir William Johnson ordered sixty barrels of rice and seventy barrels of provisions. When the council opened 3200 Indians were present, “each of whom,” wrote Sir William, “consumes daily more than two ordinary men amongst us, and would be extremely dissatisfied if stinted when convened for business.”
The Indians invited to the council began to assemble at Fort Stanwix early in October, 1768, and by the middle of the month the various officials expected to be present were on the ground. From Pennsylvania came Governor John Penn, the Reverend Richard Peters, Benjamin Franklin and James Tilghman.
Governor Penn remained only for the preliminary negotiations, as important business of the Province compelled his early presence in Philadelphia.
Messrs Peters and Tilghman represented Pennsylvania as Commissioners. Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia and New York were also represented by high officials.
Eight tribes of Indians, including the Delaware, the Shawnee and all the tribes of the Six Nations, were present in larger numbers, while many other tribes were represented by small delegations.
The Seneca went to this great conference armed as if going on the warpath. There were also present a large number of private citizens either through curiosity or by reason of some personal interest in the proceedings.
The records of this great council would indicate that Sir William Johnson and the Commissioners dined together. They formally drank various toasts, as was usual in those times. Frequently these toasts were drunk to the King’s health, and on one or two occasions the language used gave offense to certain of the King’s officers at the table. Once a minister proposed a toast “not to the King of England, but to the King that hears our prayers.” The trouble with the mother country was even then brewing.
Sir William opened the council by telling the Indians that “the King was resolved to terminate the grievances from which they suffered for want of a boundary, and that the King had ordered presents proportionate to the nature and extent of the interests involved.” The Indians retired and for several days were in private council.
The new boundary had been practically agreed upon at a treaty held in 1765, its course being diagonally through Pennsylvania from a point one mile above the mouth of John Penn’s Creek, Snyder County, to a point then called Oswegy, now Oswego, N. Y. Beyond that point, the direction in which the line should be run seems to have occasioned the greatest discussion.
The question was finally and satisfactorily settled, and a deed was made and signed November 5, 1768, by a representative from each tribe of the Six Nations, fixing and describing the boundary-line and granting the land east of it to the King of England. The actual sum paid for this vast territory was about $50,600.
From a point on the Allegheny River several miles above Pittsburgh, this historic line of property ran in a northeasterly direction to the head of Towanda Creek, proceeding down the stream to the Susquehanna; thence it went northward along the river to Tioga Point, eastward to Owego, and crossed the country to the Delaware, reaching it at a point a few miles below Hancock. From here it went up the Delaware to what is now Deposit, Broome County, N. Y. Thence the line went directly across the hills to the Unadilla, and up that stream “to the west branch, to the head thereof.”
The “Fort Stanwix Treaty Lines” through Pennsylvania included all or part of the present counties of Pike, Wayne, Susquehanna, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Bradford, Sullivan, Wyoming, Montour, Northumberland, Lycoming, Union, Clinton, Center, Clearfield, Cambria, Indiana, Armstrong, Allegheny, Westmoreland, Somerset, Fayette, Green, Washington and Beaver.
It was also at this treaty that the Proprietaries were actively concerned in the purchase of the Wyoming lands then claimed by the State of Connecticut. In this object the Pennsylvanians were successful.
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First Siege of Yellow Fever Checked in Philadelphia November 6, 1793
Philadelphia was visited twice by the dreaded pestilence of yellow fever, first in the year 1793 and again in 1798. The general consternation which incited many to flee from the destroyer “produced scenes of distress and misery,” wrote Matthew Carey, “of which parallels are rarely met with, and which nothing could palliate but the extraordinary public panic and the great law of self-preservation. Men of affluent fortunes, who gave daily employment and sustenance to hundreds, were abandoned to the care of a Negro after their wives, children, friends, clerks and servants had fled away and left them to their fate.
“In some cases, at the commencement of the disorder, no money could procure proper attendance. With the poor the case was, as might be expected, infinitely worse than the rich, and many of these perished without a human being to hand them a drink of water, to administer medicine or to perform any charitable office for them. Various instances occurred of dead bodies being found lying in the streets, of persons who had no house or habitation and could procure no shelter.”
The cessation of business, in consequence of the plague, threw hundreds of poor people out of employment. Want and famine made their appearance. While the fatal atmosphere of contagion overspread the devoted city the most frightful exaggerations of the real condition of things were spread throughout the country, the consequence of which very soon became serious.
In nearly all the cities and towns, near and far, with a few humane exceptions, all intercourse with Philadelphia was prohibited. This added to the general distress.
The deadly disease swept away whole families. Eleven persons died in one house within a day.
Philadelphia with 50,000 population in 1792 was then not only the largest and busiest city of the Nation but its seat of government. The Congress moved from the city to Germantown; President George Washington and the members of his Cabinet and their families departed the city, and every person who could afford it followed their example.
One out of every five who remained in Philadelphia died. Churches and schools, as well as the stores and mills closed their doors. Half the houses stood empty. Those who ventured to walk abroad held over their nostrils handkerchiefs soaked in vinegar and avoided shaking hands with any one.
Grass grew high in the main streets. Carts passed the main thoroughfares to carry the bodies of those who had perished. The drivers called out at intervals, “Bring out your dead!”
The disease itself was horrible and filthy. The sick were gathered into hospitals, but these, unlike the great hospitals of today, added to their misery. They were mere barns where patients lay crowded together, without proper care. Nurses could not be obtained even at high wages, for to nurse the victims of yellow fever meant almost certain death.
Mayor Mathew Clarkson asked for volunteers to form a Committee of Safety which should do whatever seemed possible for the health of the city. Only twelve men in that greatest of American cities answered the call, so serious was the situation.
One of these volunteers was none other than the greatest man of his day, Captain Stephen Girard. Only two of these twelve volunteered to serve at the hospital, and these heroes were Stephen Girard and Peter Helm. Both possessed great wealth and might have fled the city to live in safety and comfort far from the scene of this horrible pestilence, but they nobly chose to help their fellow men and risk their own lives.
Of these two men Girard took the post of greatest danger, the interior of the hospital. There for two months he spent a large part of each day, nursing his patients. No money could pay for such services and Girard would have accepted no return. Moreover, he went with his own carriage to the houses where the sick lay, entered them, and drove with them to the hospital.
At last the benevolence of the inhabitants elsewhere came to their relief, and contributions in money and provisions were poured out with a liberal hand, which relieved the physical distress. But it took the return of cold weather to check the fever and on November 6 the citizens who had fled at the beginning of the plague began to return, and from that day conditions rapidly improved.
In the plague of 1793 the mortality was 3293, as reported by the “Minutes of the Committee.”
In this scourge there were on Market Street and north thereof 1178 houses shut up and 1066 open, and 1152 deaths. Of the white inhabitants 4627 fled, 7332 remained in the city, and of the colored inhabitants 64 fled out of the city and 474 remained.
South of Market Street 1009 houses were closed and 969 remained open and occupied, 1068 died, 4289 fled and 6133 remained, and 174 Negroes fled and 833 remained to face the plague.
In the Northern Liberties 302 houses were closed and 822 remained occupied; 546 died, 1751 fled and 4943 remained; 28 Negroes ran away and 205 remained.
In the district of Southwark 239 houses were empty and 742 occupied; 527 died, 1239 whites fled and 4521 remained, and 24 Negroes fled and 234 remained.
Thus in the city 2728 houses were closed on account of the occupants fleeing the city or dying and 3599 remained occupied. More than 12,000 inhabitants fled the city, while 25,000 remained and came into close contact with the fever victims.
The figures given here were taken during the month of November, when the cooler weather was beginning to check the ravages of the plague. According to the statisticians of that day, the average of those who fell victims to the fever amounted to more than six and one-third persons to the house.
Among those attacked were Governor Thomas Mifflin and Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury in President Washington’s Cabinet.
Both recovered and on November 14 the Governor issued a proclamation stating the pestilence had ceased and fixing a day of thanksgiving, fasting and prayer. The disease was considered to be conquered about November 6, and from that time confidence returned.
When the city was again desolated by yellow fever in 1798 the deaths reached an enormous rate and much greater than in 1793.
In the month of August, 1798, the deaths in Philadelphia were 621 and in August, 1793, 264; in twelve days in September, 1798, 720 died, and during the same days in 1793 there were 290 deaths reported. From August 8 to October 3, 1798, there were 2778 deaths, and in this same period in 1793 there were 1847 deaths, so it is safe to predict that about twice as many deaths occurred in the second plague as in the first.
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Philadelphia Merchants Rebel Against Stamp Act in Great Meeting, November 7, 1765
The relations between the colonies and the mother country at end of the French and Indian War would doubtless have continued friendly had the latter not seen fit to pursue a new policy toward the former with respect to revenue and taxation. The colonies, until then, had been permitted to tax themselves.