Newspaper Page Text
George Rogers Olark-^s^
Story of a Young Man Who Went
- * . - West For Uncle Sam
The great French and Indian War
ended in 1763. Its result was to
break the French power in America
for all time and to make English ter
ritory of the region between the Alle
ghanies and the Mississippi.
At that time the war between the
Colonies and the British Government
was sti'il a dozen years in the future.
The colonists —especially the Virgin
ians—at once planned to settle and
occupy the conquered region, w r hich
was then known as the Ohio country.
Companies were organized to go into
the new region and occupy it, settling
there with their families, clearing
away the forests, opening farms and
making homes for themselves in the
wilderness. N
But these pioneers were compara
tively few, and the difficulties they
encountered were very great. There
were no roads anywhere, no bridges
across creeks and no secure means of
communication except by way of the
rivers. In the main, therefore, they
settled upon the river banks, leaving
the vast interior country to the occu
pation of the powerful Indian tribes,
who viewed all white settlement with
jealousy and hatred.
Meanwhile south of the Ohio a con
siderable number of adventurous Vir
ginians and Carolinians had crossed
the mountains and made little settle
ments in what we now call Kentucky
and Tennessee. These included a num
ber of wandering hunters, like Daniel
Boone, Simon Kenton and George
Rogers Clark, whom the Indians
called the “Long Knives,’' because
they always carried their hunting
knives in their belts.
Sometimes two or three families
settled near each other; sometimes
each family was far removed from
each other, and depended solely upon
Its own members for the means of
subsistence and for defense against
the Indian foe.
This sparsely settled Kentucky
country constituted a county of Vir
ginia.
When the Revolutionary War broke
out the thirteen colonies lay east of
the Alleghanies. They had no secure
hold upon the great rich region west
of the mountains and north of the
Ohio River. That was held by the
British, with headquarters at Detroit,
to which place a capable but very
cruel and unscrupulous man named
Hamilton was sent as British com
mander of all that region, to hold it
securely.
There were a number of French
towns and settlements in the region
north of the Ohio, and their inhabit
ants had submitted themselves to the
.British power ki America. The
•French settlers in this country were
always loyal to the dominant power,
whatever it might happen to be, their
sole concern being to preserve and
profit by their trade with the Indians.
For the rest, the region was occupied
by fierce tribes and confederacies of
Indians, who looked with jealous fear
upon the American advance across
the mountains.
*
t During the Revolutionary War
Hamilton availed himself of this In
dian jealousy and hatred as a means
•of striking the Americans in the reai\
Disregarding all considerations of
civilization and humanity, he set his
agents to stir the Indians up to a sav
age warfare that should “drive back
the settlements over the mountains.”
Under inspiration of these agents,
who actually paid bounties to the In
dians for such American scalps as
they should bring in to the British
posts, the savages made war alike
upon men, women and children.
It was then that George Rogers
Clark saw' clearly what nobody else
bad seen at all.
He saw that although the colonists
might hold their own against Indian
attacks during the war, and might
ultimately win in their struggle for
independence, the possession of all
that northwestern country by the
British, who already held Canada on
the north, would shut the young re
public in and forever forbid the pos
sibility of its natural expansion west
ward.
A thought of imperial proportions
was born in the mind of George Rog
ers Clark, the backwoodsman, who
was only twenty-five years old, and
who had lived from boyhood in the
wilderness. His thought was this:
"Why not conquer all that region
now, while its conquest is possible?
Why not make it now and forever a
possession of the young republic to
which of right it ought to belong?”
Full of this idea Clark set out to
travel on foot from Kentucky to Vir
ginia, in order to secure the men and
the means with which to accomplish
his great purpose. This journey was
made in the autumn/ f 1777.
But George Rogers Clark
was always reckless of danger on his
own account, he was never reckless
of the results of his undertakings.
He understood fully that an enter
prise ending in failure was immeas
urably worse than no enterprise at
all. He undertook nothing until be
had carefully studied the conditions
of the problem and satisfied himself
of his ability to solve it.
Accordingly before setting out for
Virginia Clark sent two or three of
his friends among the young men of
Kentucky to find out and report to
him all the facts bearing upon the
situation. Cautious, prudent, secre
tive man that he was, he did not give
to these agents the smallest intima
tion of the plans that were forming
In his mind.
They reported ;hat although the
French in all the forts were loyal to
the British their loyalty was indiffer
ent —passive rather than active. They
wanted peace and good trade condi
tions, and they did not actively care
for anything else.
Clark judged that by a due exer
cise of force and diplomacy he might
be able to keep the French neutral,
or, possibly, in case his attempt
should be successful, might even win
them to his own cause. As for the
British and Indians, he was confident
of his ability to deal with them if
only he could secure official permis
sion and men enough.
Accordingly he set cut for Virginia
and after a painful and very danger
ous journey laid his plans before Pat
rick Hen it, w’ho was then Governor
of Virginia. He explained the im
portance of the mission he was about
to undertake, and the lasting effect
its success must have upon the future
fortunes of the republic which was
struggling desperately for independ
ence.
The British were closely pressing
the Americans at that. time, and no
troops could be spared to aid in this
enterprise. But Patrick Henry gave
Clark permission to enlist lour com
panies of volunteers, of fifty men
each, for the expedition.
This had to be done secretly. Even
the men enlisted must not know upon
what service they were intended to
go. For if Hamilton, at Detroit,
should suspect Clark’s purpose, he
might easily and certainly defeat it
by throwing re-enforcements into the
posts likely to be attacked.
With some difficulty Clark man
aged to raise his four companies, al
though not one of them had its full
force of fifty men. In all, he secured
considerably less than 200 men for
an enterprise for which 1000 would
not have been an excessive number.
There were three French towns in
the region to be conquered, which
constituted the principal British posts
and the possession of which practi
cally determined the control of the
entire territory. One of them was
Kaskaskia, in Illinois, not far from
the Mississippi, about thirty miles or
so below the Spanish town of St.
Louis. Another was Cahokia, which
Jay just across the Mississippi River
from St. Louis. The third, and most
important, was Vincennes, on the
Wabash, in what is now Indiana.
Clark decided to assail Kaskaskia
and Cahokia first, although those
towns lay 200 or 300 miles further
west than Vincennes. Accordingly, he
embarked his little force of fighting
men on flatboats and went down the
Ohio River to an island near the
mouth of the Tennessee.
There he landed and hid his boats,
and there he was joined by a little
company of Tennessee hunters who
had recently visited the towns he
purposed to assail. From them he
learned that at Kaskaskia the fort
was strong, the militia was drilled
and well armed, with Indian allies all
about, and that the force which would
oppose his attack was much larger
than his own.
But George Rogers Clark faltered
not nor failed. Knowing himself to
be outnumbered by the enemy, he
saw clearly that his only hope of suc
cess lay in effecting a surprise. He
therefore decided —instead of going
up the Mississippi in boats and thus
inviting discovery—to march secretly
through the woods and swamps and
fall upon Kaskaskia unexpectedly.
On the night of July 4 Clark,
whose approach had not been sus
pected, quietly slipped into Kaskas
kia. He quickly disposed his men so
as to prevent the assembling of the
militia. He ordered all the French
people to betake themselves to their
homes and to stay there on pain of
instant death.
These French people had heard
terrible stories of the cruelty and bru
tality of the Kentucky Long Knives,
so they obeyed the command, glad of
even a chance to escape with their
lives.
The commandmant of the place, a
Frenchman named Rocheblave, who
was devoted to the English cause,
was holding a dance in the fort at
the time, with not a hint or a suspi
cion that a force of Long Knives was
approaching the town he was set to
guard. Thus even the fort itself was
without a sentinel on duty, and the
evening was given up to merrymak
ing.
Having posted his men in such
fashion as to forbid the firing of an
alarm or the mustering of the defen
sive force, Clark slipped into the fort
and stood in the doorway of the danc
ing hall looking on at the dance. Sud
denly an Indian who had seen him
before recognized him and gave the
alarm. Instantly confusion seized
upon the assemblage, but Clark
quietly bade the people go on with
the dance, adding: “But remember,
you now dance under Virginia, not
under Great Britain” 1
His mastery of the situation was
already complete, % and he promptly
made the most of it. The terrible
reputation the Long Knives had
among the French served Clark well.
These people not only made no resist
ance to their conqueror, but they of
fered to become slaves if he would
spare their lives. Their terror was
all compelling.
Then Clark assumed a magnani
mous role. He told them that the
American Republic was engaged, not
in enslaving men, but in setting them
free. He said that such of the people
of Kaskaskia as would swear alle
giance to the United States should
immediately have all the rights of
American citizenship.
To a Catholic priest who asked If
he might holtl service in his church
Clark replied that he had nothing to
do w'ith any church except to protect
it, and that under the United States
all religions were equally free. The
priest at once espoused the American
cause, swore allegiance to it, and
made his parishioners do the like.
His name was Pierre Gibault, and he
became at once an intensely loyal
American.
The commandant, Rocheblave, ob
stinately refused to accept Clark’s
terms. When Clark, meaning to be
friendly, asked him to dinner, he sent
an insulting note in reply, and Clark,
who knew how to be severe as well
as how to be gentle, arrested the man
and sent him to Virginia as a pris
oner.
One thing that helped Clark in all
these proceedings was the fact that
an alliance had been formed between
France and the United States. Fickle
as they w r ere, the French in America
still held a sentimental allegiance to
their home government, and, upon
learning that France had espoused
the cause of the Americans against
the British, they were eagerly ready
to become Americans, particularly
when and where the American power
seemed to be dominant.
Some of them joined Clark as mili
tiamen, and he sent a force to take
possession of Cahokia, which was ac
complished without difficulty.
Then the Americanized French
priest, Pierre Gibault, volunteered to
go to Vincennes and win the people
there to the American cause. He
was completely successful.
But by that time Hamilton, the
British commandant at Detroit,
learned what was going on. He in
stantly organized a force of British,
French and Indians to march upon
Vincennes and re-establish British
supremacy there. It required a con
siderable time for Hamilton to ac
complish that purpose, but after a
few months he achieved it, and Vin
cennes became again a strong British
post.
This left Clark in a very perilous
position. He was in control of a half
hostile population, which had indeed
sworn allegiance to America, but
which, as he very well knew, was
ready to change its allegiance upon
any plausible pretext. He was sur
rounded by hostile Indians, fully
armed and fully fed by the British,
and fully ready to do the British bid
ding. His only military base lay at
Pittsburg—hundreds of miles to the
east—and Vincennes, with its strong
garrison, lay immediately between
him and that base.
It was Hamilton’s purpose, of
course, to assail Clark and conquer
him, thus recovering Kaskaskia and
Cahokia' to the British power.
But he decided to rest for the win
ter. Clark saw liis opportunity, and
although the term of his men’s en
listments had run out, he persuaded
them to begin a march against Vin
cennes. It was a terrible ordeal.
Food was scarce and there were no
tents nor blankets. The army had to
wade through icj^streams, gun over
head. At last, however, they arrived
at the fort. Clark’s rifles prevailed
against the defenses after a day and
a night of fighting. Hamilton and
his men "were made prisoners.
Clark paroled the greater part of
them, but he sent Hamilton and
twenty-five others as prisoners of war
to Virginia.
George Rogers Clark was now mas
ter of the Northwest, and by virtue
of his extraordinary conquest of that
region Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi
gan and Wisconsin are to-day great
States in the American Union instead
of being—as they otherwise must
have been provinces of British
America. —Youth’s Companion.
\M^uriousJM
In 1907 72,500 barrels of apples
were imported direct from the United
States and Canada to Manchester.
49fe
Mount CamertfrQfla the west coast
of Africa, long extinct
volcano, was found to be still alive
and in danger of eruption by a party
of German explorers recently.
At Yale University there is a skull
of a prehistoric animal which meas
ures nine feet long and six feet
broad.
Many doctors say that lawn tennis
is the most healthful form of recrea
tion.
From time out of mind certain de
votees of Japan have visited a cele
brated temple at Narita twice a year
to perform the pious act of fasting
■within its sacred precincts.
Municipal pawnshops have been
opened in Pekin for the relief of
the residents who have been hereto
fore the victims of extortionate pri
vate establishments. The city
charges are fifteen per cent., while
they have been paying fifty.
The Great Lakes rank next to the
Atlantic Coast in the quantity and
value of coal consumed in steam pro
pulsion. Out of 11,300,000 tons
loaded on vessels for bunker pur
poses in 1907 these waters alone are
credited with twenty-five per cent, of
the total coal tonnage required.
SPLENDID BARRACKS OF THE PORTO RICO REGIMENT NEAR
MQRRO CASTLE, SAN JUAN, P. R.
J -r
■>
-"■STSrTf fg, j i uififj-frri r.
—From Leslie’s Weekly.
THE NEEDLE-EAGLE.
And How It Pounces Upon the Poor
Baa-Baa.
This is quite a startling exhibition
on account of the lifelike qualities of
the eagle, which really soars into mid
air up the mountain crag after the
defenseless sheep.
The eagle may reach its prey or
hover about it in the air in an unsuc
cessful attempt as long as the youth
ful operator wishes.
|<^i
SiSP I
How It Looks to the Audience.
A small toy theatre stage presents
the best setting for the trick, al
though it can be done on an ordinary
table, but with the stage setting by
far the best effects may be obtained.
You can easily fashion a set of
mountain scenery by cutting out
mountains from colored pictures in
old magazines and setting them up
either in the slits of the stage or on
small wooden stand mounts if you
have no toy theatre.
Two “wings” of mountain scenery
will be enough that is, the front
w r ing w'hich is the mountain side in
the foreground, and the other “wing”
made up of the hills in the oack
ground as shown in the picture.
Now cut out a very small picture
of a sheep and paste it on the “wing”
in the foreground at poiut A.
Now cut out a small eagle from
fine tissue paper. A small sewing
i ‘' hi
How It Looks to You.
needle should be procured. Thread
it with a piece of fine thread about a
foot in length and run it lengthwise
through the body of the paper eagle.
The most important thing of all to
secure is a very strong magnet. You
place the theatre or table in such a
way as to enable you to stand direct
ly behind the stage, where you can
use both hands at the same time.
Take the magnet in your right hand
and place it at the point marked A
behind the mountain and out of sight
of the audience.
The needle-eagle starts to fly to
ward the invisible magnet. You in
stantly check its flight by pulling
backward on the thread, the erid of
which you have grasped in your left
hand.
Now you gradually move the invis
ible magnet upward in the direction
indicated by the dotted lines.
The astonished audience sees the
eagle slowly fly up the mountain side.
This seeming miracle is easily accom
plished by holding the thread erid so
that the attracted needle-eagle will
be just far enough away to gat the
full strength of the hidden magnet’s
attraction without quite being able
to touch it, and as the magnet is
raised upward behind the mountain
the eagle naturally arises with it.
The audience sees only the eagle,
and, of course, is greatly mystified.
If your hand is steady you may di
rect the eagle’s flight at will, being
careful to always keep the magnet
out of sight behind the scenes.—
Philadelphia Record.
Vessels move faster through deep
water with the same amount of
power.
HINDOO NAUTCH GIRLS AND MUSICIANS.
V- ■—— ■ —■■ ....
Convenience in Postage.
Reduction of postage between the
United States and Great Britain from
five cents to two cents per letter of
first ounce or less, took effect October
1. The convenience and economy to
the people of this change is manifest
to all who will be affected by it.
Those who only occasionally send let
ters to England or Ireland are re
lieved of the doubt of the number and
denomination of stamps to be used.
We can now stamp our letters for
England and Ireland with the usual
two-cent stamp, same as to Canada.
At the New York Postoffice, first day
of the reduction, the increase of mail
for England and Ireland was so great
that tw r enty extra clerks were detailed
at the foreign branch. It is estimated
that 75,000 letters for England and
Ireland were mailed during the day.
Already there is an immense increase
in the circular business. The increase
in business will soon be found to
largely make up for the decrease in
price.—Cincinnati Inquirer.
A Good Trick.
Draw a big U on cardboard or stiff
paper and then, with a sharp knife or
scissors, cut it out. Laying it on the
table, ask who can, in two cuts, divide
it into seven pieces. ' That seems
a difficult thing to do, doesn’t it?
But it is quite easy. The picture
shows how you may do it. First cut
across from 1 to 2, which will divide
it into three pieces. Then place the
pieces side by side, and one cut where
you see the dotted line will give you
seven pieces.—Good Literature.
Trance Makes Girl Taller.
The case of Clara Konter, the eigh
teen-year-old girl who became un
conscious recently, is growing more
peculiar. The father of the girl said
his daughter had # grown fully two
inches taller in the past three days,
and every dress she has worn is too
small for her.
“The girl is now perfectly ration
al,” said Dr. C. P. Kerr, w r ho exam
ined her. He advised the parents
that the girl should not be spoken to
on the subject, and even the county
detectives, who have been prying into
the case, were forbidden to question
her. Pittsburg Telegram to the
Philadelphia Record.
A Slight Mistake.
Young Hopeful “Mummy, have
gooseberries got legs?”
Mother—“No, dear.”
Young Hopeful—“Then I’ve swal
lowed a caterpillar.”—The Tatler.
In Paris last year 4 9,298 horses
were killed for food, which was 5 000
more than the previous year. These
animals yielded 26,600,000 pounds of
meat.
.'SOPHIA
‘Wthesen^^^^
HEALTH VERY POOft?®
RESTORED BY PE-RU-Na,
Catarrh Twenty-five Years-
Had a Bad Court
writes: S ° Phia KitUes '. Evanston, ‘
“I have been troubled with raHm-i ,
neatly twenty-five years an,l &!
many cures tor tt, but obtained Jg
■Then inv brother advised me to
Peruna, and T did. 0 tr ?
“My health was very poor at n,.r
I began taking Peruna. My “throat ?
very sore and I had a had cough as
“Peruna has cured me.
catarrh is gone and my Health hvnl
m u ch i mpro red . e, l/
“I recommend Peruna to all j
who are troubled as I was ” y fnends
PERUNA TABLETS I—Some neonlun
fer tablets rather than medicine in a £i
form. Such people can obtain Peruna 1 1
lets which represent the medicinal ini
dients of Peruna Lach tablet equals one
average dose of Peruna.
Man-a-lin the Ideal Laxative.
Ask your Druggist for a Free Pel
runa Almanac for 11)09.
A man isn’t necessarily n nslieT.
man just because he is a' liar.
H ! C^ 9 ’ apndin ® C™* Women’s
Monthly Pams, Backache, Nervoujnw
end Headache. It’s Liquid. Effects
diately. Prescribed by physicians with W
results. 10c.. 25c., and 50c.. at drug Jr*
Not a Safe Place.
Old Aunt Hepsy Garslde never had
Been a moving picture show before.
She gazed in speechless wonder at
the magic contrivance by which mes
senger boys were niade to move with
breakneck speed, barbers to shave
their customers in less than a min
ute and heavy policemen to dash
along the street at a rate never at
tained by a living specimen, either
on or off duty.
It w’as all real to her. She mli
not doubt the evidence of her senses.
All those things were taking placa
exactly as depicted.
Presently an automobile came in
sight in the far background, moving
directly toward the audience at tin
rate of at least a mile a minute. Just
as a catastrophe seemed inevitable
it swerved aside, passed on and dis
appeared.
Aunt Hepsy cculd not stand it no
longer. Hastily grasping the hand of
her little niece she rose and started
swiftly for the door.
“Come alcng, Minervy!” she said.
“It ain’t safe to stay here any longer:
That thing didn’t miss me more than
two feet!” —Youth’s Companion.
OBLIGING.
Mrs. Chinnon— “Tell Mario I want
her to come up and take my ha ir
dow r n.”
Rose (the new r maid) —“Can’t *
take it dowm to her, ma’am?"—Har
per’s Bazar.
LIVING ADVERTLSEME NT.
Glow of Health Speaks For Postum.
It requires no scientific trainin, to
discover whether coffee disagrees ei
not A iicfl
Simply stop it for a time and
- in place of It, then note
beneficial effects. The truth
pear.
“Six years ago 1 was in a ' e r>
condition,” writes a Tenn. lady,
suffered from indigestion,
ness and insomnia. m
“I w f as then an inflate <
drinker, but it was long before c Cjl
be persuaded that it was COifee . JVO I
hurt me. Finally I decided to
It off a few days and find on
trUth * - r i.ft off coffee
“The first morning I left on <-
I had a raging headache, so I L
I must have something to ta
place of coffee.” (The headac
caused by the reaction of the
drug—caffeine). ~r nUz !i
“Having heard of Postum tb
a friend who used it, I bought a {
age and tried It. I did not * a kß
first, but after I learned ho" 0 o3
it right, according to directions
pkg., I would not change back
fee for anything. t lin 1
“When I began to use cos
weighed only 117 lbs. an y
170, and as I have not lbu ie
tonic In that time I can on ‘ / heU 5e
my recovery of good health to
of Postum in place of coffee. a nd.
“My husband says I am a I glad
▼•rtlsement for Postum- 1 1
to be the means of inducing m.
friends to use Postum. too.
Name given by Postum ( ’_ t 0
Creek, Mich. Read ‘‘The . v o e a*
Wellville,” in pkgs. “There s *
son.” - ? A
Ever read the above m r
new one appears from Gnu j )U ,
They are genuine, true ami i-•
man interest*