INDIANA TRAILS
INDIANA TERRITORY NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS

The Sprig of Liberty, Gettysburg, PA

September 21 1804

We learn from Vincennes, Indiana Territory, that about the middle of last month, (August) the Delaware Tribe relinquished to the United States, all their claim to the extensive tract of country which lies between the Ohio, Wabash, and the road leading from Post Vincennes, to the Great Falls of Ohio. It fronts the Ohio, about 300 miles, and its acquirements by the United States, is of immense value, as it will facilitate the establishment of extensive settlements on White river, the Wabash and the Mississippi; great part of it is first rate land, plentifully watered, and abundantly supplied with good timber.

October 5 1804

We lately stated on information from the Indiana territory that the Delaware Tribe of Indians had ceded to the United States, all the country between the Ohio and Wabash rivers, as high up as the road leading from Vincenes to Louisville. We are now informed that the title of the U.S. was incomplete by the relinquishment of the Delawares, as the Piankashaws who were the original proprietors of the country, had refused to admit the right of the Delawares to sell it. It appears that the latter, who are emigrants from the shores of the Chesapeake and the Delaware bays, went to that country about 35 years ago, and the Piankashaws offered to divide with them their land upon condition of uniting with them against their mortal enemies the Chikasaws, with whom they at that time waged a bloody and unsuccessful war. The Piankashaws on the contrary assert, that the Delawares were only to have the use of the country to live and hunt upon in conjunction with themselves, but that they had no right to sell it. The dispute however, has been happily adjusted, and a treaty was signed on the 27th of August last, by governor Harrison, as commissioner on the part of the United States, and the chiefs of the Piankashaw tribe, by which the whole right of the latter to the above described country is vested in the United States.(Contributed by Nancy Piper)

Indianapolis Daily Star January 14 1923

POLICE RAID DAMPIER, HOME AND GET BOOZE

    Police raided the home of John Dampier. 1208 Gimber Street, yesterday afternoon and took away eighty six half pint bottles of  white mule,  three pint bottles of red whiskey, and four gallons of while mule in jugs. Dampier who is 44 years old and his son Arthur Dampier, age 22 years old were arrested on a blind tiger charge. Charles E. Humphrey, 27 years old, 1201 Tabor Street  who was found near the Dampier home with  a half pint of white mule was also arrested. Dampier was held under a bond of  $5,000. The other men were held under bonds of $2,000. each.
    Dampier has been arrested and fined several times on blind tiger charges, police records show. He was at one time a saloon keeper. Officers who conducted  the raid were Lieut. Eisenhut, Sergt. O'Connor, Patrolmen Kohler and Sebert.

BODY OF MINER FOUND AFTER FIRE BURNS OUT

    Bicknell, Indiana Jan. 13- The body of Thomas Kinney, 38 years old, who was reported missing following the explosion and fire late yesterday in the Knox Consolidated company's Mine No 1, in which Peter Daugherty, 32 years old was killed and John Brennan injured, was found by a rescue crew shortly after noon today. The body which was badly burned, had been over looked in the dense smoke and was found near the shaft, after the fire had burned out.
    The loss, caused by the explosion and fire has not been determined it was said.

Oct. 27 1818

The crime of murder is increasing in the country to a most alarming degree. Scarce a Mail arrives, which does not furnish some new instance of that awful crime. It is but a few days since we had to record the murder of a father by his own son, and a wife by her own husband, and now we had to add, a brother by  his own brother. The latter case is thus stated in a paper of the 20th ult. published in Salem Indana....." A most inhuman murder was committed in this county, about seven miles from Salem, on the night of the 25th just, the horrid deed was perpetrated upon Joshus K Lakey, whilst he was lying in bed, and probably asleep, near the hour of midnight, he was stricken two blows with the edge of an axe, across the side of his head. He was discovered soon after the transaction, and was the alive, but expired in a  few hours. A Cproner's inquest was held over the body of the deceased, and the jury returned a verdict of willful murder and that the act was perpetrated by Clj? Lakey, brother to the deceased. We have not  heard whether the said C. Lakey, the supposed murderer, has as yet been arrested.


MURDERS CONFESSED. Feb. 13, 1882 Startling Disclosures by a Dying Man In Indiana

New Albany, Ind., Feb. 11.There is great excitement here over the announcement that an old German, named Peter Hoffman, who died In Harrison county yesterday, had made some startling disclosures regarding two mysterious and brutal murders that had been perpetrated near his home. It appears that Hoffman was taken sick a short time ago, and as he grew worse he evinced great mental suffering. On being informed that he was about to die he cried out for a priest, and, in despairing tones, confessed that be had murdered three men, One of the crimes he had committed in Germany, to escape punishment for which he had fled to thls country. The other two murders be said be had committed In Harrison county,
and since he was taken sick he had been overcome with remorse. His mental torture became so unbearable that he was compelled to confess his guilt His statement about the murders are fully corroborated by the evidence in the bands of the authorities.

THE ROADSIDE MURDERERS.
[From the New Albany Ledger-Standard.]
A Double Murder in Indiana Supposed to have been Committed by the Bender Family following a BloodyTrail.

The details of the terrible Bender murders in Kansas come to us with fearful emphasis, in view of our discovery of the fact that the inhuman murderers were probably for some time in the neighborhood of this city, and that circumstances in connection with the recent developments in Kansas strongly point them out as the authors of a mysterious double murder which happened in our midst some year and a half ago.
    Our readers will remember the circumstances attending the murder of a German and his wife by the name of Bandle, and the burning of the house over thelr bodies. The mystery has never been removed from that terrible tragedy, and up to this time no person has ever been accused or even suspected of the commission of that crime. We believe that the blood trail leads us to the Kansas fiends. At the time of the Bandle tragedy there was resident near this city a family by the name of Bender.
    The familu consisted of two men and two women. The men were employed on the McCulloch farm, on Silver creek, at the time of the Bandle murder, and it will be remembered that this identical farm was the sccue of that homicide. Soon after the occurrence of that shocking affair the Benders left and went to Kansas. It seems that on reaching Kansas they entered on a career of crime which is without parallel in the history of our times.
    Taking up their residence near Cherryvale, Kansas, in an unfinished house standing on roadside, and out of the view of any human habitation, they constructed, with devilish ingenuity, a regular trap for any traveler whom they could inveigle into their den. They placed the table from which their meals were taken near a curtain of cotton cloth, so that the victim would sit with his back against the curtain. A candle placed
on the table would of course, shadow the form of the person sitting against it on the cloth, and a blow with an axe or hammer given by a man on the opposite side of the curtain would fell the sitter to the floor, and then the cutting of his throat could be easily accompIished. The number of their victims is as yet unknown. Eight bodies have already been disinterred and recognized by their clothing, or by marks upon their persons.
    The circumstantial evidence which connects them with the mnrder of Bandle and his wife may be summed up thus:
1. The identity of the names.
2. The description of the Kansas murderers answers exactly to the Benders who lived here.
3. Their manner ot living in Kansas, the two men and the two women living as one family, is exactly as they lived here.
4. The Benders left this city for Kansas, the place we find them now
5. The time of their departure from this point corresponds with the time of their arrival in Kansas
6. The residence of the Benders on the farm on which Bandle and his wife were murdered, and the immediate departure from the scene.
The Benders fled from Kansas when tiny discovered the suspicion of the people there; but we predict that before they all swing from the scaffold some one of them will confess their    complicity with the Bandle tragedy near this city.

MURDER IN INDIANA. June 17, 1874

Cincinnati June 10. Dispatches from Lawrenceburg, Indiana, report a horrible and mysterious murder was discovered today, two miles from that place. Mrs. Mary E. Bradley and two daughters, aged ten and twelve, were found dead, horribly mutilated. Mrs. Bradley's body  was cut open and the vicera exposed. The faces of the daughters were beaten to a jelly. The baby was found alive suffering from a slight wound, and a three year old boy was found wandering in the adjacent woods uninjured. The family was poor and had no money.  The husband was absent working on a farm in Ohio. There is no clue to the motive or persons of the murderers.
Oct 10 1878 A Horrible Murder in Indiana

A dispatch from Vincennea, Ind., gives an account of the murder of John D. Vacelet, his wife and two sons, two miles South of that city,  Pierre Provost, who live with them as a farm hand, gave the alarm to the nearest neighbor about half a mile away, at four o'clock Thursday morning having come to them in his night clothes, saying in broken Euglish that they had had a hll of a time over to Vacelet's. On going to the house the neighbors found two sons aged fourteen and sixteen in bed, the father lying in the doorway of an adjoining room, and in the next room the mother in her bed, all dead and cold. The deed was evidently done with an axe, as the heads and throats of the victims were cut and gashed by such a weapon, and two or three bloody axes were found. Provost is under arrest and can give no satisfactory account of the affair.
He claims to have also been attacked by the murderers and escaped, but this is already proven untrue. Circumstances are entirely against him. Threats of lynching do not seemingly disturb him, and he preserves astonishing composure amid the excitement.   P. S. Provost committed Suicide Sunday night.

September 6, 1880 BEATEN TO DEATH.
Brutal and Unprovoked Murder In Indiana.

BROWNSTOWN. IND., September 4. Yesterday evening at Browning's, three miles from this place, Lafe Morgan was knocked down with a club and then unmercifully pounded, by Dick Barr, a young stripling not  yet  twenty-one. In a few hours Morgan died from the effects of the beating. Barr was immediately arrested  and committed to jail. The assault was brutal in  the extreme and entirely unprovoked.    Morgan was a house carpenter, and leaves a wife and two smalee children in destitution.

May 17 1885 ANOTHER ITALIAN MURDER.
Laborerd Brutally Murder their Boss in Indiana

Kokomo, Ind. May 16, During last fall a company of eighteen Italians procured work on the New Lafayette, Burlington and Western Railroad, under the supervision of Contractor McCarty, now of this city.  Four of them it seems, rented an old building on the farm of Mrs. Livingstone, twelve miles west of this city. When winter set in and work was suspended these four Italians who were all that remained of the 18, worked about the neighborhood at odd jobs and lived as best they could until Tuesday, the 5th inst, in hopes of getting the wages due them from the railroad. The Monday following they were seen buring rubbish near their cabin. Tuesday they boxed up their things and hired Buck Livingston to take them to Flora Station, in Carrell County, stating to Livingston that they were going to Chicago. But onw was absent, and the remaining three
bought tickets to Cincinnati. Nothing more was thought of the matter until Thursday morning, when Buck Livingston and W.T, Kelly went to the shanty and discovered an old mattress and two pillows in the house badly stained with blood. This aroused suspicions and they immediately instituted a search of the premises. On going down the ravine one hundred yards from the house they discovered a fresh pile of dirt in a secluded place, and were soon horrified at finding a man's arm. They quit digging and sent word to Coroner Smith, of this city. The coroner had the whole body disinterred, and it was identified as that of Antony Nicoli. the boss of the laborers and a subcontractor on the railroad works. He had a rope about  five feet Iong around his neck and had his skull crashed in by what appeared to be the pole of an axe, or a heavy club. The rope was used to drag the body from the scene ot the murder to its burial  place.There is some evidence going to show that the other italians had threatened him, believing that  he was responsible for their pay, and this, most probably, was the cause of the deed, as Nicoli had neither money or valuables to tempt them. The last seen of Nicoli alive was Saturday evening, May 2nd. This night, it Is believed by the neighbors, was the time of his murder by his companions. The inquest is now in progress in this city. The three companions of Nicoli are suppposed to have  gone  to Sharon, Ohio, to work on the public works.

May 1, 1885 MURDER   AND    SUICIDE. An Indiana Wretch Kills His Wife and Himself.

BRAZIL, April 30. An atrocious murder and suicide was committed here today. James Young, aged 50, who was janitor at the court house, killed his wife, firing three bullets into her breast. He had accused her of infidelity, and since January they had not lived together. Mrs. Young was 45 years of age. The murder occurred at the home of her mother, four miles from this city. Young sprang upon a horse that was in waiting and galloped back to the court house. He ran to his room in the basement, called up County Recorder Kaiser through a speaking tube and bade him good bye, and immediately afterwards fired two bullets into his body, dying almost instantly.

August 29, 1895 Horrible Cause of Deadly Epidemics In an Indiana Town Discovered

South Bend, Ind., Aug. 28. For several years Mlshawaka, a small place three miles east of South Bend, has been visited annually by contagious diseases, causing many deaths. About three months ago an epidemic of diphtheria broke out which quickly spread over the entire village with many fatal cases. Workmen engaged on an electric plant shut off the water to drain the large pit, or reservoir, from which the the water mains of Mlshawaka are supplied. The bed of the pit was covered with dead fish, snakes, dogs, cats and other dead animals. Workmen who attempted to clean the pit were overcome. All of the water used In Mistawaka was drawn through this mass of decaying animal matter.

December 5 1895 COMMITTED MANY MURDERS
An Indiana Convict Makes a Startling Confession
Long List of Murders Which He Claims to Have Committed 
A Western Farmer Butchered in Buffalo
Other Bloody Crimes of Which He Claims to Have Been One of the Authors

    Fort Wayne, Dec.4. William Stone, formerly a member of the Dalton gang, under sentence of 10 years here for shooting Deputy Sheriff Harold, has confessed several murders.
    Stone says that he and his partner, William Walrath, killed a man at Kansas City in 1883 and robbed him, but later gave the money to Henry Donnelly, a policeman, for protection. He confesses to the murder of Mrs. Stewart and her son Clarence, in Cleveland. The bodies were cut to pieces and thrown into Lake Erie He says the following morning he killed a boy in the Big Four yards in Linndale, Ohio.
    In Buffalo he and Walrath and a man named Burns, a saloon keeper, killed a wealthy western farmer who was looking for a good time. The money was divided and Stone and Walrath returned to Chicago and with their share started a restaurant. Here Walrath married Stone's sister. Mrs. Walrath died and Stone and Walrath left Chicago. Later Stone returned and was implicated in the murder of a father and son named Prunty.
    Three men are said to be now serving life sentences at Joliet for the crime,  but  Stone  was  not arrested. Another murder was committed at Union City, Pa., the victim being an old man, named Horton. Another murder was committed  by  the  trio  near Youngstown, O., the victim being a resident of Ashtabula
    The last murder committed by Stone and Walrath was on April 29, 1895, on a Pennsylvania freight train. At this time Stone was shot and did not get medical aid until South Bend was reached. The next desperate act of the trio was the robbery of a Grand Trunk train in Michigan where five watches and money were secured.Two of these watches have been identified since their arrest here.
    This afternoon, when the officers learned that John C. Stone's confession had become generally known, he was hustled out of the city to the Michigan City penitentiary to serve a term of 10 years. When Stone made his private confession two months ago he implicated his pal, John Duffey, as the leading spirit in the bloody highway robberies.  This sensational confession was kept concealed till Duffey was placed on trial yesterday for assanlt  with intent to kill a posse of  deputy  sheriffs. The confession became public too late to have any effect on Duffey's case, as, when the jury retired at night, the wild tale of crimes had not reached the jury. Duffey only received a 4-year sentence.
Police Do Not Credit It.
Cleveland, Dec. 4. The police of this city think the confession of John Stone, at Fort Wayne, Ind., is based largely on imagination. Nothing is known here of the crimes which Stone says he and Walrath committed in Cleveland.
November 29 1903
Crimes Committed By Indiana Bandits
Will Stand Trial For Murder At An Early Date
Indictment Voted Against Murderer Of Officer Quinn

  Indictments were voted by the Grand Jury today against Harvey Van Dein, Peter Neldermeier and Emil Roeski, the three young bandits who were arrested yesterday. An indictment was also voted against Gustav Marx, who murdered Officer Quinn, and was with the others in the majority of their crimes.
Indictments were voted charging Van Dein with complicity in five murders; against Neidermeier for four charges of murder and of Marx for four murders. Roeski will stand trial for one murder. The following are the crimes for which indictments were voted by the jury.
    Van Diel and Marx for the murder of Otto Bauder July 9th; Neidermeier, Van Dein and Marx for the murder of Frank W. Stewart during the car barn robbery August 20th; Van Dein, Neidermeier and Marx for the murder of John B. Johns at the barns for the murder of Detective John Quinn November 21st; Van Dein and Neidermeier for the murder of Adolph Johnson August 1st. at North One Hundred and Seventy eighth street and West North Avenue in the saloon of B.C. Legrosse, also the murder of Legrosse at the same time.
Cognizance con not be taken in Illinois of the murder of Brakeman Sovca in Indiana Friday, nor of the shooting of Detective Driscoll and Zimmer in Indiana
It is the intention of State Attorney Dincen to bring the men to trial as quickly as possible. It will take two weeks, as all four of the men worked together, but it happened when the greater crimes were committed one of the men was absent. Roeski was not at the robbery of the car barns and had no part in the murders committed at that time. Marx was alone when he killed Officer Quinn and was in jail yesterday when the murders were committed in Indiana. Either one of these two, therefore, will probably have a separate trial unless a general plea of guilty is made by all four men.
    Peter Neidermeier confessed tonight that he had been guilty of robbing trains, in addition to his other crimes. He admitted that he was the leader of a gang that held up and robbed a Baltimore and Ohio passenger train near Miller, Ind., about two years ago. The robbery was committed the spoilt where the three men were discovered yesterday by the police and Neidermeier said tonight that the dugout in which he and his companions were found yesterday, was the exact spot where he and hs partners in the train robbery had hidden before holding up the train. He also confessed to the killing of a train detective who attempted to put him off a freight train on which he was beating his way through Canada.

INDIANA NOTES:
The Ninth Indiana Cavalry will hold its annual reunion at Fortville on Oct. 12, 1899.A company of 54 men has been mustered into the State militia of Muncie. J.K. Ritter is Captain, and John Seldomridge and Jacob Melton first and Second Lieutenants, respectively.

An epidemic of malaria of a very severe type has broken out along the Mississinewa river, near Matthews , owing to the pollution of that stream. Whole families are sick, and 3 deaths have occurred within 2 days. The infected strip does not extend more than half a mile inland from either bank of the river.
Jan. 04,1899
“Old Dick” the oldest horse on the farm of the Indiana Reform School is dead. For nearly a score of year this faithful animal has served the State. Last Thursday afternoon, while drawing a small wagon, he staggered and fell over on his side and soon after breathed his last. He was about 30 yrs old and was buried near the place where he fell.
Indiana Notes.9,14,1898
W.H. Hawkins, ex-United States Marshal for Indiana, has been appointed general passenger and freight agent for the Indiana and Illinois Southern Railroad.

The name of Mr. Harry S. New, retiring Senator from Indiana, will be presented to the Senate for confirmation of his appointment as Postmaster General some time before that body disperses. At the same time the nomination of Postmaster General Hubert Work as Secretary of the Interior will go to the Capitol. President Harding has a Cabinet again. The resignation of Secretary Fall for announced reasons of ill health left a vacancy difficult to fill. When Secretary Hoover and Mr. John Hays Hammond, obvious first choices, refused the position, the President found himself in a difficulty. Mr. New is 64. Included in his qualifications is experience as a big game hunter, as an editor, and as a soldier in the war against Spain. [Time Magazine, Saturday, Mar. 03, 1923]

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INDIANA: The House passed by a large majority a tax of one cent on every package of cigarettes sold Saturday, Mar. 03, 1923

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INDIANA: Governor McCray announced that he would pocket-veto a bill passed by the Assembly, providing a bonus of $10 for each month of service for veterans of the World War or the war with Spain. Saturday, Mar. 17, 1923

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Senator James E. Watson, of Indiana, regular Republican, returned to Washington from his home state and informed his comrades : " All would be well if we had dollar-and-a-half wheat and ten-dollar hogs."Senator Watson stands high in Administration councils. He is not only a member of the Republican Senatorial Committee, but he is next to Senator Lodge for the Republican leadership in the Senate. In 1916 and again in 1920 he defeated Thomas Taggart, Democratic "boss" of Indiana.He has a straightforward if rather blunt way of dealing with the situation of farmer dissatisfaction which confronts the Republicans in the Middle West. Wheat at $1.50 and $10 hogs are not his entire program. Said he to an interviewer : " The best thing that could happen to this country would be to have Congress not meet for three years, and have no State Legislature meet for four years." Asked if he were willing to " concede that it is all up with the Republican Party now " in the next election, he replied: "No, sir, I am not. What we need now is some old-fashioned party loyalty ! " It is noteworthy that this optimistic view is not generally shared among Republican leaders. Senator Moses, Chairman of the Republican Senatorial Committee, and Representative Wood, Chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee, view with alarm both the President's World Court proposal and discontent among the farmers. Senator Watson's optimism is not as sweet as the President's. But it is more specific. Monday, Aug. 06, 1923

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Sued for divorce. Voris ("Jack") Reynolds, wrestling instructor at the University of Indiana, by Mrs. Emma Reynolds, at Cedar Rapids, la. She charged cruelty. Reynolds claims to be world's welterweight wrestling champion. Monday, Aug. 13, 1923

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At French Lick, Ind., a gentleman, crimson from top to toe, crimson even to his dangling tail, ladles water from a spring. It is a sulphurous, brimstony drink, known as Pluto Water. There, by Pluto's Spring, assembled George E. Brennan, Thomas Taggart and Charles  F. Murphy, each of whom holds the Democratic politics of a state (Illinois, Indiana, New York) securely between thumb and forefinger. They are known to be gentlemen who view with alarm the candidacy of William G. McAdoo. Mr. Taggart is President of the French Lick Springs Hotel Co.; the charms of the resort —its healthful climate and salubrious waters — attracted the others. Probably for like reason Ralph Pulitzer, publisher of Manhattan's most virulently Democratic newspaper, The New York World, was also at the watering place. The joy of an affluent passerby who casts a handful of pennies into the street to watch the urchins scramble is doubtless being tasted on much larger scale by Edward W. Bok, who offered $100,000 for a practical plan for international peace in which the U. S. can participate (TIME, July 9). The deadline for submitting plans brought the contest to a close with 22,165 plans submitted. On the last day over 700 were presented to the Policy Committee of the American Peace Award. Miss Esther Everett Lape, author, and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, wife of the ex-Assistant Secretary of the Navy and erstwhile Democratic candidate for Vice President, sat up until midnight to receive the last plans. The Committee of Award, chairmanned by Elihu Root and including Brand Whitlock, Colonel Edward M. House, Major General James G. Harbord, William Allen White, has been considering the plans submitted for over a month. Its final decision is to be made about the first of the year. Then a straw vote of the country will be taken on the chosen plan.

Among the plans submitted are known to be:

 A system of music, based on the theory that harmonious sound is a social agent.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Birth control and division of wealth.

Strict censorship of the press.

Deep and profound remarks were absent from Mr. William G. McAdoo's admission that he would be a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination next year. (See page 1.) Nevertheless he delivered himself of some opinions:

" Prospects are elegant for Democratic success all over the country. I congratulate Nebraska on having a Democratic Governor" [Charles E. Bryan, brother of William Jennings, and considered a "favorite son"]. A reporter asked: "Would you support Governor Bryan for the Presidency?"

"I would support any man the Democrats nominate."

"What about Henry Ford?"

" Henry Ford is a perfectly good citizen."

Monday, Nov. 26, 1923

INDIANA TERRITORY

The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA, February 22, 1809

Rice Jones, Esq., a member of the House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory was deliberately murdered in the streets of Kaskaskias, on the 7th December by Dr. James Dunlap.  500 dollars is offered for the apprehending of Dunlap.
Contributed by Nancy Piper

 

The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA, November 4, 1809

On the 30th ult., a treaty was concluded between the Governor or the Indiana Territory and the Miami, Potawatomi and El River Tribes of Indians, who have ceded to the United Stated 2,600,000 acres of land, lying on both sides of the Wabash, said to be some of the finest land in the United States.
Contributed by Nancy Piper

 

The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA, August 28 1811

Lexington, (K.) July 6

A very unfortunate transaction we understand took place a few days ago at Vincennes; the circumstances are as follows:

Some misunderstanding having taken place between Captain Posey and Lieut. Jennings, of his company, the latter received a challenge to meet him in an honorable way, which was refused. Capt. P., a short time after asked Lieut. J. into a room and presented him with a pair of pistols and told him to take his choices; that he should fight or he would kill him.  Jennings still refused to fight the captain who immediately discharged one of the pistols at him which failing to kill, Jennings wretched it from Posey but the other pistol was resorted to and when Jennings was in the act of retreating a deadly wound was given which terminated his existence immediately.

Every person who is acquainted with Capt. Posey must sincerely regret that he should have been led to commit so rash an act – a deed which has not only destroyed a fellow soldier in a way not to be commended, but one which is fraught with ruin to himself and the most poignant grief to his relations and friends.  We give the circumstances as we have heard them from various persons without vouching for their accuracy.  We have not learnt that Captain Posey has been arrested or pursued.  He is said to have escaped to Louisville in this state.  We hope the circumstances of this affair may turn out more favorable to Capt. Posey.
Contributed by Nancy Piper

WAR OF 1812 - INDIANA

The Centinel, Gettysburg, Pa , September 16, 1812
Vincennes, August 18.
The editor has been politely furnished by General Gibson, (acting governor) with the perusal of a letter from the commanding officer at Fort Harrison, dated the 9th inst., in which he says that he has been informed by different friendly Indians, that Tecumseh was preparing a considerable force to strike an important blow somewhere against the whites and that the full of this moon was the time fixed for his commencing hostilities.  All the accounts received concur in stating his present force as much greater than at the battle of Tippecanoe, and that he expects a large reinforcement about the time of his contemplated attack.  All agree in opinion that this place is their first object.

It has ever been our belief that in case of a war with England, an Indian war would follow of course, and everything we have yet heard on the subject has tended to confirm us in that opinion.  We are happy though to be able to say, that from the preparations already made and those daily progressing, we shall at this place be able to give a good account of any party of Indians that may take to invade us. There is at this time embodied in this place and doing duty, six companies of militia infantry, and a detachment of Capt. Parke’s troop  of dragoons, besides two companies of rangers in this place and neighborhood.  In addition to which two companies from Clark and two from Harrison counties in this territory and 800 men from Kentucky, are on their march and shortly expected to arrive.

The Centinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), October 14, 1812
We stop the press to announce the arrival of an express from Captain Z. Taylor, commandant at Fort Harrison, dated the 13th inst., at which time the garrison was safe, after having withstood a desperate attack by the Indians.  Captain Taylor had lost but three men killed and two wounded.  He has been out of provisions ever since the attack, which was on the 4th, except a little corn, they burnt one block house, but he has filled up the place by pulling down the guard houses.

The Centinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), October 21, 1812
From Vincennes, Sept 15
On Saturday last, Col. W. Russel at the head of Col. Willock’s regiment of Kentucky militia, Col. Jordon’s regiment and a detachment of Col. Evans’ regiment of Indiana militia and three companies of rangers started from this place on an expedition against the Indians at Fort Harrison, which place we have before said was besieged, the whole amounting to about 1,200 men, all in high spirits and anxious to meet the enemy.  On Sunday they marched 20 miles, since which we have not heard from them.  We understand that Col. Russel calculated on reaching Fort Harrison on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, so that we may calculate of hearing something of importance by Tuesday evening at farthest.

The Centinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), October 21, 1812
Dayton, September 30,
In our last we stated that Governor Harrison had proceeded on from St. Mary’s to Fort Wayne, for the relief of that place, which was besieged by the Indians. He reached there on the 12th  inst., without opposition.  On his approaching the Fort, the Indians, who were supposed to have amounted to seven or eight hundred, retired with precipitation, after having destroyed the house and other property of the inhabitants who resided there. The people in the garrison were very much rejoiced at their deliverance from the fury of a foe.  At Fort Wayne, Col. Adams’ regiment of Ohio volunteers, who turned out spontaneously for the protection of the frontier, and whose promptitude and patriotism we noticed at the time, were discharged. Two expeditions were immediately set on foot against the Indian settlements: Colonel Wells with about 1000 men was dispatched to a Pottawatomi town, which he completely destroyed, together with all their corn, & C.  General Harrison with the rest of the army laid waste the settlements of the Miami tribe; he destroyed four villages – after which the whole army returned to Fort Wayne, having met with no Indians in their tours.

The Centinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), October 28, 1812
Gallant Defence Louisville, September 24, 1812
Extract of a letter from Captain Z. Taylor, commandant at Fort Harrison to Col. R. Taylor, of this county dated Fort Harrison, September 10, 1812.
“The Indians have put their threats into execution.  On Thursday the 2d inst., after retreat bearing four guns were heard to fire in the direction where two young men, citizens, who reside here, were making hay, at 400 yards distant from the fort.  I was immediately of opinion that they had been killed by the Indians, but did not think it prudent to send out at that late hour of the night to see what become of them – and their not coming in by the next morning convinced me that I had been right in my conjecture, and about 8 o’clock next morning I sent out a corporal with a small party to find them, if possible, without running too much risk of being drawn into an ambuscade.  He soon sent back to inform me that he had found them dead and wished to know what further orders.  I sent out the cart and oxen and had them brought in and buried.  They had been shot with two balls, scalped and cut up in the most shocking manner.  Late in the evening of the same day a large party of chiefs, amounting to about 45, with eight or ten women, arrived from the Prophet’s town and of his party with a white flag for the purpose, as they informed me of holding a council next morning.  At retreat beating I examined the arms and found them all in good order and completed their cartridges to 16 rounds per man.  In consequence of the number sick I could not mount a sufficient guard to see every part of the garrison, and having just recovered from a very severe attack of the fever, was not able to be up through the night; I therefore directed one of the non-commissioned officers of the guard, after tattoo, to walk continually through the night and keep a good lookout, to prevent the Indians taking any advantage of us, should it be their intention.  About 11 o’clock at night, my attention was drawn by the firing of one of the sentinels.  I immediately jumped up and ran out, and ordered the men to their posts & in a few seconds the the firing began to be pretty lively on both sides, when my orderly sergeant, who had charge of one of the block houses, called out that the Indians had set fire to the other, which was filled with combustibles of different kinds and contained to contractors stores. I directed the buckets to be got ready and water brought from the well and the fire extinguished immediately.  From some cause they were very slow in executing my orders, and by the time they got the water and broke open the door, the fire had unfortunately communicated to a quantity of whisky and in spite of every exertion in less than a moment it ascended to the toll and baffled every exertion to extinguish it.  Most of the men gave themselves up to despair as the block house immediately joined the barracks that make a fourth part of the fortification and it was some time before I could get any order executed – and sir, what with the raging of the fire, the yelling and howling of several hundred Indians, the cries of the women and children, a part of the soldier’s and a part of the citizen’s wives and desponding of so many of the men, which was worse than all, I can assure you that it was one of the most awful situations, which a man could be placed in – nor were these more than ten or fifteen able to do much, the rest being either sick or convalescent, and to add to our misfortune, two of the strongest men in the fort jumped the pickets and left us.  But my presence of mind did not for an instant forsake me.  I saw, by throwing off part of the roof of the barracks and keeping the end perfectly wet, that the whole row of buildings might be saved, which would only leave an entrance of 18 or 20 feet for the Indians, after the block house was burned down, and that a temporary breast work might be raised to prevent their entering it.  This I showed to the men, which appeared to inspire them with new life and never did men behave with more firmness and desperation.  Those that were able mounted the roots of the house under a shower of bullets with Dr. Clark at their head (who rendered every assistance during the time the attack lasted, which was seven hours) and in less than a second threw off as much of the roof as was necessary, while the weak and sick kept up a constant fire from the other block houses and two bastions.  This was done with only the loss of one man and two wounded.  I am in hopes neither of them dangerously.  Although the row of barracks was several times in a blaze and the immense quantity of fire against them, the men used such exertions that they kept it under, and before day had the breastwork raised higher than a man’s head, although the Indians kept up a tremendous fire on that place and shot innumerable arrows into the parade during the night. I had but one killed inside the fort and he lost his life by being too anxious.  One of the men that jumped the pickets about an hour before day begged for God’s sake for it to be opened.  As I did not recollect the voice, and expected it to be a stratspem of the Indians, I directed the men in the bastion, where I happened to be, to pay no attention to him but to shoot him if he came to the gate.  One of them shot at him, but fortunately he ran up to the other bastion where they knew his voice, and Dr. Clark directed him to lie down close to the pickets behind an empty barrel and at daylight I had him let in.  His arm was shattered in a shocking manner, which he said was done by the Indians, and which I suppose was the cause of his returning.  I suspect he will die.  The other the Indians caught about 130 yards from the fort and cut him to pieces.
“They continued their firing until six o’clock next morning at which time we began to return it with some effect.  After day light, when they withdrew out of the reach of our guns, they drove up the citizens horses, and as they could not catch them, shot them – about 60 head.
“Some continued about the garrison until next morning.  I have heard nothing of them since; their number was considerable but can form no idea of their extent.  They suffered smartly, and we lost the whole of our provisions.  We are not making use of green corn for bread, until we can get supplied, which I hope will not be long.”
Contributed by Nancy Piper




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