The name of Robert McMahon is connected with one of the most
terrible Indian atrocities ever committed in Illinois. It
occurred in 1795 while he was a resident of what was afterward
known as the "Yankee Prairie." Four Indians attacked
his house in daylight, and killed his wife and four of his
children before his eyes. The dead bodies were laid on the cabin
floor in a row, and McMahon himself and two of his daughters were
carried away in captivity. The murders occurred in December, and
the weather at the time was excessively cold. One of McMahon's
arms was tied behind his back, and the party struck off in a
northeast course over the frozen ground. Prairie du Long creek
was crossed not far above its mouth. The encampment the first
night was made on Richland creek about half a mile below the
present city of Belleville. McMahon was tied down on his back
with ropes so that he could neither move nor stir. His shoes, and
most of his clothes were taken from him and put under the
Indians, to prevent his getting them should he attempt to escape.
In addition a belt, finely wrought with porcupine quills and
small bells was put around him so that if he stirred, the bells
would rattle and give the alarm. A scanty portion of dried meat
formed the supper for the almost famishing party.
The next morning, the Indians and the captives pursued their
course across Silver Creek, above the present town of Lebanon,
and camped the second night near the sources of Sugar Creek. This
night it snowed. During the night McMahon contrived, when all
were sound asleep, to slip off the cords from his arms and body.
With his little clothing he covered the belt of bells so that
they should make no noise, and was about rising quietly to
escape, when one of the Indians raised his head, looked around,
but lay down again without noticing anything unusual. When the
Indian was once asleep again, McMahon managed to steal quietly
from the camp without his shoes, hat and a principal part of his
clothing. He was bare-footed, and almost naked on the snow. He
slipped back to the camp, and tried to get his shoes, or a pair
of the Indian's moccasins, but could obtain neither. Fitted out
as he was started in the night toward New Design as far as he
could discover his course. The next night he slept beside a log
with some dry leaves for cover. He missed the New Design
settlement, and found himself at Prairie du Rocher, where he
first saw a white man. McMahon was in a deplorable condition when
he reached the settlement. His feet and arms were partly frozen.
His clothes were torn and tattered, and his skin and flesh
injured and torn in many places. For four days he had tasted
little food, and he was almost exhausted with hunger.
Meanwhile some days elapsed before the murder was discovered
by the neighbors. A small dog, which had been much petted in the
McMahon household, came frequently to the settlement of New
Design, running backward and forward toward the residence of
McMahon and whining piteously in a vain attempt to summon
assistance to McMahon's desolated cabin. But the faithful
creature's appeals for aid were not understood, the dead bodies
were first discovered by chance by Mr. Judy, an old settler of
the New Design neighborhood, who reported it to the settlement.
The rugged pioneer is said to have shed tears when he recited the
dismal intelligence to the neighbors. The citizens went out and
gave a respectable burial to the dead, and the same evening a
religious meeting was called, at the for of James Lemen, as a
kind of funeral devotion for the victims of Indian cruelty. It
was just as this meeting closed, at nine or ten o'clock at night,
that McMahon arrived at the house from Prairie du Rocher, to the
surprise of the startled assembly. McMahon's dog was in the
house, and at first did not recognize his master so great a
change had his miseries and privations created in his appearance.
As soon, however, as he saw McMahon's face, and heard his voice,
he leaped into his master's lap, almost wild with joy, while
McMahon broke forth in lamentations at the murder of his family.
His two daughters were afterward ransomed form the Indians.
McMahon himself, a few years after, married again. He located on
the Ridge where it is now crossed by a road leading east from Red
Bud to the Okaw, on the old Ralls place, now owned by Beverly
Wiltshire, section 12, township 4, range 8.
The above story was extracted from the "Illustrated
Historical Atlas of Randolph Co. Illinois", published in
1875.
Submitted by Terry