"On page 222 it is stated that Captain Robertson's company was now relieved by one hundred and seventy men from Gen. Gage's army, com-. manded by Captain Schlosser. These soldiers had suffered much from the savages near Lake Erie, which rendered them averse to the Indians.' "These facts will show clearly that the military authority was unwilling to attempt the avengeance of the Paxton Boys.

"It is a little remarkable that three of the persons who were most deeply concerned in the murder of the Indians at Lancaster, William Hays, the Sheriff, and two persons of the name of Smith and Howard, met with an untimely fate; Hays was killed in a Saw Mill, Smith drowned himself, and Howard fell on a knife, which he had in his hand, by accident, which caused his death.

"Wm. Hays, jr. the son of the Sheriff, and Donnelly the jailor, were also suspected of being in the plot.

"The Paxton Boys, after the commission of the murder, gave three cheers, and said 'We have presented the citizens of Lancaster with a Christmas Box, and we shall present the Philadelphians with a New Year's Gift.""

Narrative of Smith, one of the Paxton Boys.

"I was an early settler in Paxton, a member of the Congregation of the Rev. Mr. Elder. I was one of the chief actors in the destruction of Conestogo and in storming the Work House at Lancaster. I have been stigmatized as a murderer. No man, unless he were living at that time in Paxton, could have an idea of the sufferings and anxieties of the people. For years the Indians had been on the most friendly terms; but some of the traders were bought by the French; these corrupted the Indians. The savages unexpectedly destroyed our dwellings and murdered the unsuspicious. When we visited the wigwams in the neighborhood, we found the Indians occupied in harmless sports or domestic work. There appeared no evidence that they were any way instrumental in the bloody acts perpetrated on the frontiers.

1

"Well do I remember the evening when stopped at my door, judge my surprise when I heard his tale: "Tom followed the Indians to the Big Island; from thence they went to Conestogo; as soon as we heard it, five of us, rode off for the village. I left my horse under their care, and cautiously crawled where I could get a view; I saw Indians armed; they were strangers; they outnumbered us by dozens. I returned without being discovered; we meet to-night at -; we shall expect you with gun, knife and ammunition.' We met, and our party, under the cover of the night, rode off for Conestogo. Our plan was well laid; the scout, who had traced the Indians, was with us; the village was stormed and reduced to ashes. The moment we were perceived, an Indian fired at us and rushed forward, brandishing his

tomahawk. Tom cried, 'mark him,' and he fell by more than one ball; ran up and cried out, 'it is the villain who murdered my mother.' This speech roused to vengeance and Conestogo lay harmless before us. Our worst fears had been realized; these Indians, who had been housed and fed as the pets of the Province, were now proved to be our secret foes; necessity compelled us to do as we did.

was

"We mounted our horses and returned. Soon we were informed that a number of Indians were at the Work House at Lancaster. sent to Lancaster to get all the news he could. He reported that one of the Indians concerned in recent murders was there in safety. Also, that they talked of rebuilding Conestogo, and placing these Indians in the new buildings.

"A few of us met to deliberate; Stewart proposed to go to Lancaster, storm their castle, and carry off the assassin. It was agreed to; the whole plan was arranged. Our clergyman did not approve of our proceeding further. He thought everything was accomplished by the destruction of Conestogo, and advised us to try what we could do with the Governor and Council. I with the rest was opposed to the measure proposed by our good pastor. It was painful to us to act in opposition to his will, but the Indian in Lancaster was known to have murdered the parents of one of our party.

"The plan was made. Three were chosen to break in the doors, five to keep the keepers, etc., from meddling, Capt. Stewart to remain outside with about twelve men, to protect those within, to prevent surprise, and keep charge of the horses. The three were to secure the Indian, tie him with strong cords and deliver him to Stewart. If the three were resisted, a shot was to be fired as a signal. I was one of them who entered; you know the rest; we fired; the Indians were left without life, and we rode hastily from Lancaster. Two of the Indians killed in Lancaster were recognized as murderers.

"This gave quiet to the frontiers, for no murder of our defenceless inhabitants has since happened."

The foregoing account was communicated by a father to his son, in Carlisle, and by the latter to Redmond Conyngham.

The Rev. Mr. Elder mentioned in the preceding statement was a Presbyterian minister and held the commission of a Colonel. In a letter on this subject addressed by him to Governor Penn, dated January 27, 1764, occurs this passage:

"The storm which has been so long gathering, has at length exploded. Had government removed the Indians from Conestogo, which had been frequently urged without success, this painful catastrophe might have been avoided. What could I do with men heated to madness? All that I could do, was done; I expostulated; but life and reason were

set at defiance, and yet the men in private life are virtuous, and respectable; not cruel, but mild and merciful. The time will arrive when each palliating circumstance 'will be calmly weighed. This deed, magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered as one of those youthful ebullitions of wrath caused by momentary excitement, to which human infirmity is subjected."

A calm survey of all the facts of the case, as far as known, compels us to reach a different conclusion. The twenty or thirty men engaged in the bloody transactions at Conestogo and Lancaster, were lawless men, and their lawless conduct cannot be justified any more than their indiscriminate slaughter of suspected murderers and helpless old men, women and innocent children. The transactions referred to are foul blots on

the page of our provincial history.

It should be stated that the Rev. Mr. Elder, in a letter to Col. Burd, asserts that the Paxton Boys did not cut the bodies of the Indians to pieces, adding, "the inference is plain, that the bodies were thus mangled after death by certain persons to excite a feeling against the Paxton Boys. This fact, Stewart says he can and will establish in a fair trial at Lancaster, York and Carlisle."

There is no doubt that Stewart imposed upon the amiable Mr. Elder, to whose command of Rangers he and the other persons concerned in the Lancaster murders belonged; but it is difficult to believe Stewart whose record by no means redounds to his credit. He was emphatically a man of violence and lawlessness; he joined the Connecticut men, was a prominent actor in the civil wars of Wyoming and slain there, during the Revolution, in the disastrous battle of July 3, 1778.

The bodies of the murdered Indians were collected and buried in one grave, at the corner of Chestnut and Duke streets, in Lancaster. Peter Maurer told I. Daniel Rupp that he saw them buried in the same place, where the workmen, engaged in making excavations for the Railroad, dug them up in May 1833.1

When the news of the second Indian massacre reached the Governor, he issued another proclamation, as inefficacious in its results as the former, in these words:

"By the Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware.

"A PROCLAMATION:

"WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day of December last, I issued a Proclamation for the apprehending and bringing to Justice a number of Persons who, in violation of the Public Faith, and in defiance of all Law, had

1 Rupp's History of Lancaster County, p. 360.

inhumanly killed Six of the Indians who had lived on Conestogoe Manor for the Course of many Years, peaceably and inoffensively, under the Protection of this Government, on Lands assigned to them for their Habitation. Notwithstanding which, I have received Information that on the Twenty-seventh of the same month, a large party of armed men again assembled and met together in a riotous and tumultuous manner, in the County of Lancaster and proceeded to the Town of Lancaster, where they violently broke open the Work House, and butchered and put to death fourteen of the said Conestogoe Indians, Men, Women, and Children, who had been taken under the immediate Care and Protection of the Magistrates of the said County, and lodged for their better Security in the said Work House, till they should be more effectually provided for by order of the Government: And whereas, common Justice loudly demands, and the Laws of the Land, (upon the preservation of which not only the Liberty and Security of every Individual, but the being of the Government itself depend), require that the above offenders should be brought to condign Punishment; I have, therefore, by and with the advice of the Council, published this Proclamation, and do hereby strictly charge and command all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, Constables, Officers Civil and Military, and all other his Majesty's faithful and liege Subjects within this Province, to make diligent Search and enquiry after the Authors and Perpetrators of the said last mentioned offence, their Abettors and Accomplices; and that they use all possible means to apprehend and secure them in some of the public Gaols of this Province, to be dealt with according to Law. And I do hereby further promise and engage, that any Person or Persons who shall apprehend and secure, or cause to be apprehended and secured, any three of the Ringleaders of the said party, and prosecute them to conviction, shall have and receive for each the publick reward of Two Hundred Pounds; and any Accomplice, not concerned in the immediate shedding the Blood of the said Indians, who shall make discovery of any or either of the said Ringleaders and apprehend and prosecute them to conviction, shall, over and above the said reward, have all the weight and influence of the government, for obtaining his Majesty's pardon for his offence.

"Given under my hand and the great seal of the province, at Philadelphia, January 2, in the 4th year of his Majesty's reign, A. D. 1764. "JOHN PENN."

"By his command.

"JOSEPH SHIPPEN, Jr., Sec'y.

แ "GOD SAVE THE KING."

With a view to prevent the repetition of similar outrages, the Moravian Indians were removed to Province Island, near Philadelphia. The insurgents threatened to march down to destroy them also; the Assem

bly resolved to resist them, and the Indians, frightened at the fury of their enemies, petitioned the Legislature to send them, a hundred and forty in number, with their two ministers, to England.1

But this being impracticable, the Governer furnished them an escort, to proceed through New Jersey and New York, to sir William Johnson, under whose protection they were desirous to place themselves. William Franklin, then Governor of New Jersey, granted them a passport; but Governor Colden of New York, by advice of his council, refused to admit them within his province. The council of New York were offended by governor Penn sending so large a body of Indians into their colony without their consent; and professed themselves more disposed to punish than to protect the Indians from the east side of the Susquehannah, whom they considered as their worst enemies, composed of the rogues, thieves, and runaways, from other Indian nations. They also condemned the policy which returned these men to strengthen their nation. The progress of the Indians being thus obstructed, General Gage, who had succeeded General Amherst in the chief command of the English forces in America, directed two companies of the royal Americans to re-escort them to Philadelphia, where they were secured in the barracks. Their return, however, reanimated the ire of their enemies in Lancaster, who, assembling in large numbers, marched for the city. The force of the insurgents was very considerable; since six companies of foot, one of artillery, and two troops of horse, were formed to oppose them; and some thousands of the inhabitants, (including many Quakers) who did not appear, were prepared to render assistance, in case an attempt should be made upon the town. The barracks, also, where the Indians were lodged, under the protection of the regular troops, were fortified; several works being thrown up about them, and eight pieces of cannon mounted. But the Governor would not venture to command his forces to attack the insurgents, until he obtained indemnity for himself and them, by the extension to the province of the English riot act. The bill extending it was passed very hastily through the House.3

The insurgents, finding the ferries over the Schuylkill guarded, proceeded to Germantown; where, learning the amount of the force raised to oppose them, they listened to the advice of some prudent persons who visited them, and to the remonstrances of the agents of the Governor, and promised to return peaceably to their habitations, leaving two only of their number to represent their views to the government. The alarm in the city was great. The Governor fled to the house of Dr. Franklin for safety; and nothing but the spirited measures of the inhabitants of the city, saved it from the fury of an exasperated armed multitude, who

1 Gordon. 3 Heckewelder.

2 January.

Franklin's Life. Penn. Gaz. 1764. No. 1833.