THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, JULY So, 1909.
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" the fiove
T TRVTVJ S CORF.
eald the House Detec-
' the St. Recklens. "I see
i-ernraent la after them
tusar trust magnate agin. I'm glad of
"Po-m I." jaid the Hotel Clerk, cheer.
runy. gladder than a broken les. Al
most as glad, as an attack of acute In
flammatory rheumatism affecting the
entire left side. I couldn't be any more
Kladsome over It than I am. not it I'd
just been carried into a bospital for
Incurables with great care to keep me
from Jostling: apart before I reached
the operating room. Glad? Why. Larry
Tra that glad that when I dream about
It at night, I sob aloud in my sleep.
And why not be glad? Why not. I
ask you? Tm always glad when this
relentless blood-hound of a Govern
ment of ours some say blood-orange.
but I prefer the stronger term when
this relentless blood-bound of a Gov
ernment of ours goes out after one of
the big trusts. It doesn't do the trust
any damage and look what good exer.
else It is for the Department of Jus
tice, or the Bureau of Mound-Builders'
I.elics and Flint Arrowhead Collections,
or the Curator of Postage Stamps at
the Smithsonian Institute, or whatever
nranch of the federal Administration it
is that has charge of these determined
and searching prosecutions. 'Tis like
a puppy dog chasing his own tail, only
perhaps less exciting. It works up
line healthy circulation for the pup
and when the ardors of the chase are
relaxed and the excitement dies down,
there's the tail still wagging away like
a well, like a horse and wagon, let
us say. Trust-busting, with us, Larry,
Is a gentle, dainty art, like archery, tat
ting and making Battenberg edgings
by hand. Tea-pouring is a far more
arduous calling.
"About once In so long not so often
perhaps as in the days when B. W.
Tumbo, Esq., was on the Job but about
on-e In so long. Larry, about once in
to long. Alary, or words to that effect,
Il's customary for the Attorney-General
of the United States and his alert
and vigilant assistants all over the
country to undertake the dissolution of
some one of the grasping, greedy trusts
that oppress us. Fine and nutritious!
A corps of highly trained special Inves
tigators, who got their Jobs by special
appointment because they couldn't pass
the Civil Service examination for Cus- i
tom-House janitors, go forth on special
trains, under special appropriations and
spend several special years working up
the special evidence. When they have
amassed several thousand pounds of
documentary proof that nobody will
ever read, a Federal grand jury returns
the Indictments and the Federal Mar
shal calls a Grand Lodge of Deputy
Marshals together and makes the ar
rests. Whereupon, three cheers from
the populace and those large grape
trellis headlines on the front page of
the paper. Hip. hip, hip-disease! At
last the common people are coming into
their own!
"They're coming Into their own. all
right. Larry, but there's to be none of
this mad precipitate haste about it, and
the poor foolish creatures might as well
understand that now as some other time.
There's a special organization of experts
to see to It .that the common people don't
corns tearing into their own with a crash
that would be liable to knock down the
whole train shed. "Let them come into
their own," say these kindly specialists,
including corporation lawyers, civil law
yers, lawyers who are only civil at rare
Intervals, criminal lawyers, very criminal
lawyers and plain lawyers to do the in
side work, 'let them come into their own,
but let them do so gently and by degrees.
so as to soften the shocV- We'd suggest
that the ultimate arrivalshould be post
poned until some suitable date, say about
SO years from now, by which time, so our
esteemed clients assure us. everything
could be suitably arranged for withstand
ing the strain of the common people com
ing into their own, God bless 'em, we
hope they choke!'
And you may have noticed. Larry, that
there is indeed no wild rush about it.
which helps to explain my own uncon
trollable gladsomeness when I hear that
the Government's gone out again to try
to catch enough trusts to make a mess.
Tou see, I know from past experience
along this Interesting line how it's going
to turn out. The law of limitation Inter
venes every trust official seems to have
a private stable of little limitations on his
country place, they being Just the same
to him as the life net is to a trapeze per
former. Or they find a flaw In the indict
ment, or a bunch of flaws, all true, Fed
eral indictments being apparently com
posed of one strong flaw superimposed on
another, and that one on another, and so
on through. Or a new welterweight
champion arises on the horizon or Eva
Tanguay brings out a new dance, or
something, and the fickle public loses in
terest In the proposition. Or the lawyers
for the trust come into court and make a
r- nut. TiTii'iV' .
7 a ntrf"FAS. TUP' V
A& DEEP AS THE'
G(?ANti.C ANYOfl.OFiCpuORADO.
frank, free, open confession. The law
has indeed been violated. The guilty per
son is a man high in the ranks of the de
fendant company. All the others ere in
nocent, as innocent as the u ash eared
lamb but he. of & certainty and beyond
the peradvanture of a doubt, is. most
deeply Incriminated. It's deplorable, but
only too true. The offender deserves the
severest punishment. The lawyers for the
trust admit it. Nothing would gratify
them more at this very minute than to
bring him to the bar and stick him for
the whole round. But unfortunately
there's, an obstacle in the way of reach
ing the culprit wretch. The reason is
this: He's dead. Thoroughly dead.
Firmly and irrevocably dead. He's been
dead a number of years. He's dead of
sevral of the most expensive and deep
seated diseases known to civilized man.
The famous specialists who dug into his
own .person before his decease and into
his bank roll afterward agree that he's
dead. The lawyer who drew up his will
for him knows that he's deaJ because
he's been trying to break the same ever
since the sad event occurred The under
taker who buried him with much eclat and
the tombstone-maker who erected a mauso
leum over him that looks like a cold stor
age plant done in Italian marble, and the
sorrowing family who mourn his loss,
but not to an undue excess, will all swear
if necessary that he's dead. He's as
dead as Hector, or H. H. Holmes. He's
guilty, but also he's dead. If he were
any deader than he is something would
have to be done about it. The lawyers
for the defense are exceedingly sorry that
such should be the case and they express
their deep regrets to the court and do
now move to quash the indictment. Moved
and seconded that the guilty party be-ing
dead, the indictment bo quashed. All in
favor will please signify by saying aye.
The ayes seem to have it and the ayes
have it, and the indictment is quashed.
Call the next deceased, Mr. Clerk of the
court.
'"Ha always is dead the guilty party is.
It s a failing of his and a fatal one at
that. When a successful politician dies
he turns into a statesman; but when
trust millionaire passes away, be becomes
a malefactor. When the Government
comes along, and indicts his late asso
ciates, he wakes up some pleasant morn
ing out at the cemetery and finds he has
no more reputation than a rabbit. He's
so guilty he has gilt-edges. He has so.
OUt edges and gold tips, and with pain
he notes that all the plating has rubbed
off his patent collapsible, or crush opera
halo over night, allowing the brass to
show thrown in spots, plainly. Back to
the family vault for his. Gone, But Not
Forgotten. At Rest, Yet Guilty. Asleep
in Peace. With the Goods on Him. Re-
quiescat In Pace especially the scat
part. John .Doe s body lies a'raouldering
in the grave but his trust goes lying on.
That's the answer, Larry."
"The way you talk, a fellow'd think
there ain't never goin' to be no chance to
bust up a trust," said the House De
tective. "I s'pose you figure that some
of these days the trust'U have all the
money in the country corded up and
stacked away in a cool cellar."
"Not by any means," said the Hotel
Clerk. "Not a chance. Nature'!! take
care of that. Kindly note the gratifying
fact that our great captains of industry
all have to die. And mostly they leave
their possessions to their sons. That's
what saves us. It's what I'd call a pro
vision of nature, not a wise provision of
nature, knowing some of the sons as I
do, but just a plain provision like oats or
smoked hams. An all-seeing Providence
has decreed that a certain kind of pa
nearly always has a certain kind of kid,
and that's where the Amalgamated Asso
ciation of Under and "Watch Dogs, mean
ing us, Larry, or if not us, our descen
dants, will yet get the chance to break
even on this proposition.
"The average trust in this fair land of
ours has been put on its feet and started
going good by one of those wise old
squinch-owls who knows the trick of
selling the public all there is to a dough
nut, except the fried part. He's satis tied
merely to keep the ring around the crul
ler and let us have the center. His tem
p rature never goes above 30, which is
2 below freezing, and his shirt stud is
an ice water push-button, two rings for
a full pitcher. He can scent the lone se- i
questercd dollar bill in its lir further
than a colored circuit rider down South
can smell a Spring chicken turning ovrr
in a hot skillet, and that's the far the rest
away that the human noso ever detected
anything. He builds up a littlo monopoly
in some necessity of life, that no wise
burglar could break into from the out
side, or would want to break out of, if
ho ever got inside. It's a law-proof,
double-seamed, stcel-chtllod, bull-high,
pig-tight institution, with a careful look
out on the front door, a troop of trained
performing corporation lawyers in tho
back parlor, a confidential of nee boy to
make the dummy loans and attend the di
rectors' meetings; a couplo of City Coun
cils, a State Legislature or so. and a
bunch of Congressmen and Senators fas
tened up in the doghouse, each with Ms
own number and license tag on his col
lar; and a secret passageway leading from
the basement into the stationery store
next door. You can't beat it as a com
bination. "But in the fullness of time he lias to
die and after he's been suitably planted
under his black marble parking-house
over in Greenwood, the property sonic
how or other nearly always seems to
pass into the hands of those regular
millionaires' sons, Son-boy has one of
those brains that never jelled properly.
Any real idea that ever got afloat in
his head- would come under the head of
foreign suspended matter. And this
frail Percival of the pallid eyes and
the discriminating taste in nerkwear
and orchids is entrusted with father's
lifework. And pretty soon a flock of
the discerning ospreys have moved in
on him and taken his pretty marbles
away from him and put a crimp in his
patrimony as deep as the Grand Canyon
of the Colorado. Of course it doesn't
always turn out that way but It turns
out that way often enough to establish
an average and fill my young bosom
with hope, even though I'm living in
a day when so many Federal Judges
are standing guard, to see that no
guilty trust fails to escape. Son-hoy
is the pickers' percentage in the game.
He's Kitty. Claim him in advance
he's the white chip that the chamber
maid finds when she sweeps out in the
morning."
"What's the name of this here sta-
toot of a blind-folded lady that them
big lawyers is always appealin to whon
they're makin' a speech fur a trust'."
mused the House Detective. Iet s see.
now I was heann' It called here Just
the other day over to the Federal
buildin' The statoot of of "
'The Statute of Limitations, said
the Hotel Clerk.
JOSEPH BRANT, THE FRIEND OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
V4 world knows best as Joseph the spiritual welfare of the Indians. VI I i jCiL.
I
BY RICHARD SPII,LAXE.
i IlfcRR Thayendanegea, whom the
world knows best as Joseph
'Frant. was bom, there Is no rec
ord. The Indians have no herald's col
lege or parish register. From what tribe
he came is a mystery. There is reason
to believe that he was a Shawnee, that
he was born in 1742 in Ohio, and that he,
his sister and his mother were captured
by the Iroquois in one of their raids Into
the Ohio Valley.
Whatever they were to begin with they
were Mohawks from the time they ar
rived In the Indian village at what now is
("anajoharie, N. Y., until they died. The
mother married a Mohawk chief named
Carri-hogo, or News Carrier, whose
Christian name was Brant, and the Little
boy. who was destined to become the
greatest Indian In history, was referred
to as Brants Joseph and later, for wan
of & better name, called himself Joseph
Brant. Queer compound of Pagan and
Christian, of savaire and civilized man be
dcvlopcd into. Klenzi. a low-born Ro
man, rose to be ruler of Rome, leader of
bis people, friend of great men such as
Petrarch and Pope Clement VX Rienzl
planned the liberation of an oppressed
people, but sullied his fair name by mur
dering his best friend. Brant, the ob
Bf-ure Indian, rose to a position of power
and prominence such as no other Red
Man ever has gained. lie, too, was lead
er of his people and friend of great men
Mii'h as Charles James Fox and King
;eorge m. He, too. planned the libera
tion of an oppressed people and sullied
hi fame not only by massacreing unpro
tected whites but by slaying his son with
a tomahawk. And like Ri nzi he had
strong r1 He ions bont. Ronzi proclaimed
tiif Republic of Rome "by authority of
the mot merciful Lord Je.-sus Christ
Joseph Brant translated the Gospel of St.
Mark and the Book of Common Prayer
into Mohawk and preached the gospel to
the braves he led on expeditions of mur
der and rapine.
Perhaps Joseph Brant never would have
ben heard of bad it not been for the
i'tictt relations his sister held with Sir
William Johnson, that remarkable Irish
man who rame to America to look after
cram of land made to his uncle. Ad
rniral Warren, and who gained the great
est Influence over the Indhuis any white
man ever has obtained, and who died the
greatest landed proprietor in the Western
world.
Sir William and Molly.
Tnti! Molly Brant, who was seven years
oMr than her brother, caught the fancy
of Sir William, the boy kd the careless,
im trammeled life of other Indian lads,
but wiion Sir Wi'lunn tok Molly Brant
into his hMiluld he also took Joseph
Brnt undrr his ear. Th position Sir
William hM t5 unique. He practically
was the only Knnl:th-spc;iking person in
whom tliA Indians placed absolute trust
In ihrtHA days bef.-re the Revolution, and
pa-ttrularlv In those days the Kronrh,
ut dr Montcalm, and the Fnglish. under
Amherst, m-re struggling for the prize
of a continent. The Indians held the bal
ance of power. But for Sir William few
Indian trih.jt would have cast their lot
with th British. His mastery over the
Six Nations was scond only to that
which Brant subsequently obtained, lie
had e5t-iblishM in 17"S, his uncle's
HKrnt. at a point on the Mohawk River,
which he called Warrr.shurg, a little
ttlement of Dutch. Scotch and Irish
rol.mis.ts. Hre he built flour mills, made
r-ds and cleared lands. Five years
Istrr. operating on bis own account, he
Kucl.t land and built a home at Mount
Jha.-on. now the city of Amsterdam, X.
Y. Iatr. wbn bis fortune was im
mrn bft built Johnson Hall, at what
rw ts Johnstown. N. Y. It was at that
Um The finest mansion in America,
When h tied in Warrensburg. In
3"an affairs wre in a sorry state. Most
nf The traders were unprincipled scoun
tirrls who r'hbed the red men at every
turn. Johnson tradvi with the Indians,
too. but was scrupulously honest In his
J alinps. He was a man of broad educa
tion. wt tob-rant and truthful. He
studied the Ird'an languages and the Indian--
th-nis Ivcp He loarnrd to speak
Iroquois as fluently as he did Knglish.
As a magistrate, and later as Indian
Commissioner, he was absolutely Just to
thorn. lie did much to stop the sale of
t:n,tor to the Indians and to compel
traders to deal honestly with thern. And.
.Wplrp th faet that previous to taking
Molly Brant mtr his household be lived
with another Indian woman, he organised
Protestant missions and mission schools
ttirvuchout the Six .Nauons. These mis
sions probably were more to counteract
the work of the French Jesuits than for
the spiritual welfare of the Indians.
It required the utmost finesse and pa
tience for a representative of the English
colonists to hold the good wlll of the In
dians in those times. As between France
and England It was natural the Indians
should favor the French. The Knglish
treated the Indians as an inferior people
and. as colonists, were spreading out
further and further, taking more and
more land from the Indians. The French
treated the Indians as equals, and there
was much intermarriage between them.
The French established a few cities, such
as Montreal, Quebec and Louisburg, and
numerous trading posts, but did not es
tablish colonies. On the contrary, they
maintained, the most friendly relations
with the Indians. The English robbed
and debased the Indian and the French
befriended and cultivated him.
Brant'd Boyhood.
Sir William, by unswerving fidelity to
the Indian, won not only the members of
the Six Nations to the British cause, but
his influence was strong in the West and
in the South. Regularly he held councils
at Mount Johnson or at Johnson Hill,
which were attended by chiefs from alt
the tribes in the Confederacy, and once
he held a council at which chiefs from all
the tribes east of the Mississippi were
present, except the Creeks, Cherokees and
Kickapoos, Molly Brant presided at bis
table Just as if she were his wife, and
he was as proud of the eight children she
bore him as he was of the three his law
ful wife gave birth to, and his son. Sir
John, was as proud of his half-breed
brothers and 6i&ttrs as he was of his
white sisters.
From the squalor of an Indian village to
this, the finest home in America, went
Joseph Brant. At the time Molly Brant
became Sir William's housekeeper the boy
was about 13 years old. One of the first
things Sir William did for the Indian lad
was to have made for him a warrior's
outfit, with a small musket, a small
tomahawk and a small hunting knife.
When Sir William, at the head of 1000
Iroquois, took part In the battle of Iake
George In 1755, Joseph Brant, then 13
years old, was one of his force. From be
hind a tree the little Indian boy blazed
away with his tiny musket at the French,
and there he got his first lesson In war
fare. In the battle of Fort Niagara, four
years later. Brant, although only 17 years
old, served as lieutenant in the Canajo
harte company of Mohawks, lie was
getting on as a warrior.
Sir William's plan for knitting closer
the bonds between the whites and the In
dians took all sort of forms. To im
prove the breed of cattle in the Mohawk
Valley he brought over from England the
finest of blooded bulls. To improve
the breed of horses he brought over
thoroughbred stallions. Indians wore
charged nothing for the service of the
bulls and the stallions to their cows and
mares. At Mount Johnson he held races
regularly, and the settlers and the abori
gines for scores of miles around flocked
to see the sport. He was a great patron
of boxing, too. snd had contests at inter
vals. There were shooting matches, too.
for prizes given by Sir William, for the
baronet wanted to Improve the marks
manship of hfi wards.
It is a queer fact that today almost
on the same ground that Sir W llliara
Johnson held his horseraces, his boxing
contests and his shooting matches, 150
years ago. Senator Stephen Sanford and
his son. ex-Representative Sanford,
have the great Hurricana stud farm and
hold private rare meetings, to which they
nvite the people for miles around. The
Sanfords are like feudal lords today In ,
he city of Amsterdam, just as the John
sons were in the ISth century times.
And the Sanfords. with fine loyalty to
the historic character of their farm, name
their horses for the Indians and for the
men of pre-revolutionary times or for
the streams named by the Indians. The
queen of the harem in the stud farm to
day is that great race-mare Molly Brant,
and one of the best representatives of the
farm in active training is Sir John John
son. In the Sanfords' home are the mul
titudes of trophies won by the cham
pions of other campaigns. Chuctanunda,
Caughnawanga, Mohawk, etc.
Johnson's Deoxh.
But while Sir William Johnson Im
proved the Indian's livestock and ap
pealed to his love of sport, he did not
neglect his mental and social condition.
To improve the Indian youth he selected
a number of Mohawk boys and sent them
to the Mount Lebanon (Conn.) Academy,
which was under the direction of Dr.
Kleazer Wheelock. afterward president of
Dartmouth College, which the academy
subsequently became. Joseph Brant was
one of the boys sent to the academy by
Sir William, and he never selected abet
ter pupil. The two years that young
Brant spent at the academy were util
ized by him to the fullest degree, and
when he left there he was a pretty good
r.uglish scholar. He married the daugh
ter of an Oneida chief and made his home
in Cananjoharie, but gave a good deal of
his time to Sir William, and practically
later on became the baronet's secretary.
Sir William had the finest library In
America, and had a standing order with
the leading bookseller of London to for
ward everything new that was worth
reading. He read biographical and hilo
sophicaj works, history and romance, but
was particularly interested m the study
of music and religion. He read every
thing he could get relating to music, and
was a fin Biblical scholar.
On July 11, 1774. Sir William Johnson
died. His death was dramatic in the ex
treme. He had been addressing a gather
ing of 600 Indian chiefs who had come to
invoke his influence to prevent the in
vasion of the Indian country on the Ohio
River by the Virginia and Pennsylvania
frontiersmen, and was stricken by apo
plexy. As he was carried' into Johnson
Hall his last words were to Joseph Brant.
They were: "Joseph, control your peo
ple control your people! I am going
away !"
Brant In England.
Sir William's death created a profound
impression upon the Indians throughout
the land. The Iroquois Confederacy, em
bracing the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga,
Onondaga, Oneida and Tuscarora cations,
had been without a supreme chief for 20
years, but accepting the baronet's dying
words as a command, Joseph Brant was
chosen chief. From that time forwarl
events crowded fast. Tho Boston tea
party had stirred Jiie colonists, prepara- i
tious were being made all the way.
from Massachusetts to the Carolinas to
resist the odious taxes imposed by an ob
stinate Parliament and a foolish and
periodically insane monarch, and Lexing
ton was near at hand. Joseph Brant,
raised suddenly to the rulership of a peo
ple, had to decide which side he would
take in the coming . struggle. There is
some doubt how Sir William would have
acted. He was a very loyal officer of the
crown, but judging by his letters, there
Is a likelihood he would have cast his lot
In with the Continentals.
In war, as in a horse race, the Indian
wajits to. look the candidates over before
picking the winner. Joseph Brant knew
America, but he didn't know England, so
he went to London early in 1776. His visit
created a sensation. Jie was the most
cultured Indian the English had seen. He
was presented at court, and George III
took a great fancy to him. The King
made him a Colonel, showered presents
on him, and never seemed to tire of hear
ing the chief talk. Charles James Fox,
one of the most brilliant and dissipated
statesmen of the time, became the In
dian's closest friend in England. Bos-
well, then at the height of his fame, went
into raptures over him, and Romney,
who, next to Sir Joshua Reynolds, was
the greatest painter in England, painted
the Indian's portrait.
But the honors and the favors that had
been showered upon him in England did
not turn Brant's head. Great and power
ful as he knew England to be, he also
knew much of the spirit and endurance
of the colonists.
He and Sir William had discussed the
situation many times in the days Just be
fore Sir William's death, and Sir Will
iam's Judgment had been that if it ever
came to a point where the colonists re
volted England never would be able to
conquer them. So Brant pondered. He
knew it was the crisis in his life. His
people were restless and eager for ac
tion. The British were pressing and in
sistent upon obtaining pledges of his as
sistance. Th colonists were suspicious
and threatening.
But Brant remained undecided. He still .
was looking the horses over. lie had not
picked the winner. It was not until the
break actually came when the Congress
at Philadelphia declared the states free
and independent, and when so much blood
had been shod that there was no chance
of the differences between England and
the colonies being adjusted that Brant
declared himself. Then he announced
that he "would cast his lot in with the
British purely on account of his fore
fathers' engagements with the English
King. There were covenants between
the Indian nations and the British na
tion, he said, that should be sacredly ob
served." As he was not any too sure as
to who was his father or his grandfather
Brant's reference to his forefathers' en
gagements with the English King were
figurative rather than literal.
Once he had decided as to the course
he was to follow In the war. Brant be
came active. It is to the shame of Eng
land that it did everything to stir the
worst passions of the Indians, to corrupt
Brandt and to promote savagery. The
agreement entered into between Brant
and the Indian Commissioners was that
in return for the aid the Six Nations gave
in Fubduing the colonists the British were
to give to each Indian a gun. a suit of
clothes, a brass kettle, a tomahawk, a
scalping knife and a piece of eold. And
in addition, there was promise of
bounty for every scalp brought in. The
British kept its compact as to scalps only
wo wen.
Brant in tho Revolution.
It was not until 1777 that Brant really
was turned loose. Then Burgoyne was
coming down from Canada and Brant was
the master spirit of the motley forces of
Indians and Tories operating in the Mo
hawk Valley to divert attention and lessen
the force opposing the British General's
advance. Brant soon proved himself
crafty, dauntless and brave to the point
of rashness. He combined with his native
hardihood and sagacity the advantages of
education and the study of warfare. He
was a far better commander and tactician
than many of the British officers he
served with, and he brought his Iroquois
braves up to a state of efficiency such as
they never before had attained. He was a
natural orator, too, and could rouse his
people to the best effort of which they
were capable. He and his Indians bore
the brunt of the battle of Oriskany, and
it was no fault of his that St. Leger was
defeated.
The result at Oriskany was a fearful
blow to Brant's pride. After that he
stopped at nothing to visit revenge upon
the Continentals. He joined forces with
Colonel John Butler, the notorious Tory,
and with Butler's son Walter, and his
name became a terror In the land. His
raids upon the unprotected whites along
the border were so rapid and secret that
he seemed to have the power of ubiquity.
The years 1777 and 1778 were dark and
bloody ones for Joseph Brant. The Wyo
ming (Pa.), Springfield, Cobleskill and
Cherry Valley massacres are changed to
him. Although Brant was with the But
lers on the Wyoming expedition, he does
not appear to have been present at the
surrender or to have participated in the
slaughter of the men, women and chil
dren, Thomas Campbell's poem, "Ger
trude of Woymlngr," to the contrary not
withstanding. But while he did not ac
tually take part in the Wyoming horror,
there is no doubt he displayed all the in
stincts of the savage at Springfield and at
Cherry Valley. At Cobleskill, however,
he stopped the scalping of women and
children and expressed the greatest sor
row over the conduct of Butler's white
troops.
All the while Brant was ravaging the
border settlements, scalping and mur
dering, or making raids on unprotected
towns further in, he carried on a volumin
ous correspondence with his sister Molly,
and with Sir John Johnson and Guy
Johnson. From the tone of these letters
you would think the writer was an
earnest. Christian gentleman who was
battling in a great cause, but whose
heart bled when he thought of the ter
rible consequences of war.
For two years Brant had been the mas
ter of the Mohawk country. He had over
run that rich and fertile vellay and had
spread terror throughout Northern and
Western New York. But a day of reckon
ing was coming. The Continentals sent a
strong force under command of General
Sullivan, and at the battle of Newton
(Rlmira), where Brant commanded the
Indians and Colonel Butler the regular
troops and the Tory Rangers, Brant and
Butler's combined forces were routed and
driven in disorder from the field.
The battle was a long and bloody one.
Brant was everywhere in the thick of the
fight. He was thus described, about this
time, by an American prisoner:
"He was a likely fellow of fierce aspect,
tall and rather spare; well-epoken and ap
parently about 40 years of age. He wore
moccasins elegantly trimmed with bead;.
leggins and a breechclout, a .superfine blue
shirt, a queer coat with two silver epau
lets, and a small laced round hat. By his
side hung an elegant silver-mounted cut
lass, and his blanket of blue cloth, pur
posely dropped on the chair on which he
sat to display his epaulets, was gorgeous
ly decorated with a border of red."
The battle of Elrmra broke the power of
the Six Nations and put an end to Brant's
activity for the remainder of the Revolu
tionary War. Sullivan, to teacn tsrant
lesson, ravaged the Mohawk land and
turned that fertile district into a desert.
Brant was so hard pressed by the patriot
army that he and the remnant of his band
had to flee to Canada, where he remained
until the close of hostilities.
A Leader of His People.
The treaty of peace, which was signed
in November, 17S2, made no stipulation re
garding the Indian allies of the British.
Their lands were in possession of the
Americans. The thousands of Onondagas,
Cayugas, Senecae, Mohawks, Tuscaroras
and Oneidas were practically wanderers
and outcasts. The English did not want
them they had served their purpose. The
Americans regarded them with hostility
and distrust. No greater evidence of
Brant's ability as a leader is afforded
than at this time when he had brought
disaster on a rich, powerful and contented
people. But in disaster he was able to
hold them together just as strongly as in
the days when he held them by the power
of the sword.
His first step was to try to get justice
from the British and a fulfillment of the
lavish promises they had made him when
they begged him for his support. After
much effort he obtained from the Crown
a formal grant of land 100 miles long and
13 miles wide in Canada, on the Grand
River, near Lake Brie, for the Six Na
tions. In extent this was but a tithe of
the territory they once had held undis
puted sway over. While he was getting
thie he was secretly fomenting war among
the Indians west of the Alleghanies and
sounding the temper of the tribes that
roamed the forests and prairies clear to
ttM banks of the Mississippi.
When he had wrung from his former
allies, the English, the little strip of
ground in Canada, and when all along
the frontier the Indian nations were ripe
for revolt, he went to England to seek full
settlement of the claims of his people
against the British Crown. He did not go
as a suppliant. Fully formed in every
detail he carried in his crafty, political
brain a vast scheme a plan for winning
back the empire that Britain had lost.
Ha proposed to King Georges Prime Min
ister, and then in private audience to the
King himself, the plan of forming a great
confederacy of all the Indians east of the
Mississippi, to make war on the colonies
all along the frontier, while Great Brit
ain, availing herself of some plausible ex
cuse, should attack the seaboard cities,
close the harbors and land troops wher
ever opportunity offered. The colonies
were prostrate after their long struggle
for independence. There were approxi
mately 250.000 Indians between the West
ern boundary and the great river, and
perhaps 40,000 or 50.000 braves could tako
the field if Great Britain would supply tho
arms, ammunition and general equipment.
Had it not been that England had fo
much to engage her attention across tho
channel, Brant's scheme might have been
taken up. But England and all Europe
were trembling in dread of tho Corsican,
and England's armies were needed more
at home. So Brant's great plans came to
naught. Undoubtedly he felt that even
if it did not fail it would create a gTatv
leverage in securing his demands for his
people. At any rate, the Crown concedod
some of the things ho asked, and hitf
year's stay in London was not altogether
fruitless.
But the Western Indians had no idea of
diplomacy and plotting. They cared little
that Brant's scheme had failed. They
continued to wage desultory war on the
frontiersmen who were beginning to settle
west of the Alleghanies. and it was not
until 17W, when Mad Anthony Wayne wa.?
sent against them and administered a
crushing defeat at tho battle of Falling
Timbers, on the Maumee, that their pow
er was broken.
Brant had no part !n this uprising. Ho.
openly exerted himself to the utmost to
bring about and preserve peace between
the Indians and their white neighhors In
the Ohio country. He realized that with
out the support of the British tho cau?e
of tho Indians was hopeless. Brant thn
turned himself to the arts of ppar Ho
translated the Book of Common Prave.r
and the Gospel of St. Mark into the Mo
hawk tongue, and instilled into his people
by precept and example the virtues of
temperance and religion.
All through his life he had been an ab
stainer from liquor the curse of the rd
men. But in his own family his tfachins
availed the least. One of his own sons
became a drunkard, vicious and depraved.
One day in a drunken rage this son men
aced the lives of his father and his fam
ily, and his father slew him with a stroke
of his tomahawk.
Mourning over his son. mourning over
his blasted hoped, mourning over his peo
ple, Joseph Brant, the greatest red man
the world has ever known, died on th
24th of November, ISO", on alien soil, near
Lake Ontario, in Canada.
(Copyright. 190ft. by Richard Spillane.)
Helene, a Mirage.
TV. J. "Lampion, in Lipplncotfa.
Far out upon a desert vast.
Sand-stained, .wind-swept.
Where hoe had died and fear had passed
" And clouds had never wept,
Athirst I stood and gapped for breath.
Heart-sore and weary unto dtath.
Across the waste to cruel skies,
Sun-dried and lean,
I strained my hot and heavy eyes
To see the green.
When clearly in some strange, new light
A glorious rose blushed on my sight.
Like water to the crackling tongue.
Its fragrance frean
Came to the spirit overstrung,
And to the flesh.
Ah, wonderful the power to Mess, v
Of rose-bloom In -the wilderness!
I stretched my hands to take it there,
So good and bright.
The breath of life upon the air.
The morning light.
"Helenc.' I cried; "Hrlcne, Hlene!
I laughed and ran across thu plain - 1
To fold it to my heart, and th?a '
The desert was the same again.
V