Press enter after choosing selection

A Scare

A Scare image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
October
Year
1873
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

in ene eariy pin'i oí uie ye&r io.ju .i n,.. un.; hito Aun Arbor and m the erarse of the day oue of thein entcred the house of J. E. Field Esq., and as Mr. Field was absent, and 110 person in the house at the time but Mrs. Field and the kitchen girl, Mr. Indian, who had imbibed rather freely of sruta wa boo, and was some what squiba, proposed to enjoy ft little sport at the expense of the feinales, by flourishing his tomahawk over their heads and enjoying their fright. On the return of Mr. Field the proceedinga of the Indian vero told him. It was not long after before he in" company with with an athleüc blacksmith, anncd with a good horse-whip, went in Beardi of the red skin and fouud him, and the whip was well applied to the fellow's back. A few dnys after it was rumored about the streets ot our little quiet village that the Indian had (lied of the whipping, and that his comrades had declared vengeance on the inhabitants dnleis the aforesaid blacksmith was, giveu up to them to be dealt with ao:ording to their eustom in ■ach cases, l.ittle attention was paid to the rumor, and it was soon forgotten ; but in the sumiller this story was revived with additions. Of course such a proposition could not be enterfor a moment. Some dozen of the young men óf the village were at the bottom of all this, for the sake of the fun they could make out. of it. Many believed the stories and tbought the viljage in danger of being btirned and the inhabitante slaughtered. Sume of the wise men of the place were so firin in the belief of the truth of the statement that a contribution was taken to purchase ammunition to be used in repellingan attack should ono bo made. It was said that the Indians were colleeting, in forcé, among the short hills in the i part of the eouuty, preparatory to a iattent opon the village. At this crisis a man who could talk Indiau was hiied to go to the enemies' camp and negotiate a treaty of peace if he could. He was unsuccessful and returned and reportad the nnwelcome news. These storics werc not idle travelers. They were in the moutlis of every one, all knew the great , and many fult it. What was next to be dnne was Uk; qüesttoh. Au uttack would be made Erom the west ïi at all, and it was resolved by the Solons of the village to station a guaní at the forks of the Jackson and Dexter roads - a mnimted guard. At that time there iras a haliwitted teamster, known by the name of Kankes John, living here. He beliered all the stories and was just the man for that place ; so he was hired to mount his best horse, armed with a tin boni and an old horse-pistol, and posted at the forks of the road. His instructions weré, if ho snw the Indians to discharge his pistol, run his horse into the village, and blow his horn as he caine to give warning of the approach of the aavages. üf courae these dozeu young nicn the arrangement aud prepared aètortjingly. John mouTited guard about nine o'clock in thfe ÍVening, and had marched back and forth on his beat for about an hour when he was suddenJy attacked by a party who fired at him from the field north of the road. Like a true soldier John obeyed orders, discharged his pistol, and put bis liorse to his best time for the village. Toot, ta' toot, toot ta toot souuded the horn ! Indians ! Indians ! yelled John, till he reined up at the corner of Main and Huron streets. John reported that he was fired upon by a large body of Indians while on his beat, that he distinctly heard the bullets strike the fence, but fortunately neither he nor his horse were hit. The whole village was aroused. IN ot long after John had reported, a hrmg was heard in tlie northern irart of the village, near the residence of James Harrington, now of Chelsea. lira. Harrington was sick at the time and her hasband was setting up to take care of her, and to use a cant phrase " he didn't scare worth a cent." So taking down his rifle and loading it with powder and ball, he watched for the next flash of the Indians' rifles, aimed as near the spot from whence the fire came as he could, an:l ft'red. It was said his ball cut through the boot leg of one of the Indians. They finding that he meant business left that locality for a safer place. That was the last of the firing for that mght. It was said that one man had puimied the water out of hia cistern and when he heard John'a toot ta toot, Indians, Indians! got into it with his family, where they passed the night. Another man and his wife, in their night clothos took refuge in a wheat field where they fctaid until morning. An elderly man, iu what is now the First ward of the city, said he was not airaid, but, said lie, ' like an old fooi I took down my shot gun and stood right between the window and the caudle and loaded it, and I was in such a hurry that I didn't think to pull down the curtains, and they inight have shot me just as well as r.ot, but I put in a swad of eight penny nails for the red skins if I had got a shot at them. Aftor a whilo the truth of this afluir leaked out. This squad of young men had concocted the whole thing - they were the only Indians engaged ; they were the ones who made the attack on John at the forks of the road ; half of them were armed with rifles, the rest had stones and when the fire was delivered the stones were thrown against the fence. These stone9 were what Jolin mistook for bullets. The Indian who was so rude to Mr Field's family received no more of a whipping than lie deserved, and was afterwards Been iu our streets, and probably ueither he nor auy of his tribe ever thought of or demanded the blacksmith, or of doing any mischief to our villnge ov any of its inhabitants. E. C. This article was prei)ared for last week's Argcs, but necessarily laid (jvpf. Tt was read at ihe Pioneer Society meeting oullonday, f rom a pmof sheet, whioh Wïïi aoconnt lor its getting into yesterday's Detroit Tribun. The Studente' Lecture Association hrts annouiiced the following engagements and appointmerrts for the coming course : James T Fields, whose lecture on Tennyson was so well received last year, for Oct. 29 ; Bret Harte,- his first appearance before the Associatiou - for Xov. 1 ; Eev. E. H. Chapín, who in the last course made himself a host of friends and ailmirers, both amou citizens and students, for Nov. 19 ; Trof. E. S. Morse, of Salem, Mass., whose lecture will be Bcientiñc and illustrated !iy blackboard drawings, for Xov. 26 ; pt. J. (i. Holland, popular both as writer and lecturor, lor Doe. ö: Mrs. M. F. Scott-Piddons, whoe readinga Ia3t season were so loudly applauded, or Jan. 1 ; Hon. W. Parsons, always.a favorita, or Jan. 28 ; Mra. Livermore, the leader of the 3oston or unti-'Woodliull ring of the woman nflragrato, for Feb. 11; ïlios. Nast, the great :aricaturi8t of llurper's Weehly, witfc crayou iketehes of his auditors, for Feb. 27 ; and Richard A. Proctor and M'me Camilla Urso, dates ïot giren. These names give promise of a series f iirst-class entertainments ; but in addition efiorts ave being made to secure "Wilkie Collins md one or two other prominent and well-known ;'furriners" who are to forage the coming seaion in the fat lecture fields of the land. We bespeak for the Association a liberal patronage, and especially íl hirge sale of seiison tickets. A session oL the Board of Regenta was held on Tuesday eve. last, every member present. The President's annual report was read and was an interesting review of last year's work. The annual report of the Finance Committee was presented, rnd showed a very limited balance on hand. The Librarian's report was received also the report of Prof. Hilgard, setting forth the needs of his department. Prof. Irving was appointed acfcng Protessor of English Language and Literatura lor the year at a salary ol Z,UUU Séneca Hazelton was appointed instructor in Mathematics; Edward tí. Dunster, M. D., loe urer upon obstetrics and diseases of women anc ohüdren f or the year- Dr. Sager's shair;and Fred. H. Gerrüh, M. D., temporarily to Prof Cheever's chair. Capt. W. H. Dalí, of the ÍT. S Coast Sarvey and Prof. Harrington were thank ed for valuable contributions to 1lie museum, in cluding Alaska plants ; the usual appropriation were maúe and other routine (jisines8 transacted The Detroit Erenin; iVeics vvalks squarely up to the confessional in this Btyle : " Yes, sir The Evening Nevé does get items from the Ann Arbor Aeotts. Let the confession stand fo all futurity, for vp shall do it again."

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus