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In 1833, the government expended $30,000 on the harbor, and then commenced improvements on the river which have made it one of the curiosities. of the country. It was once but a narrow, shallow stream that rippled over the sand into the lake. Now the largest ships are towed through the city branches by small tugs. It reminds travelers of the Thames in parts of London. The two great laws that aid the growth and fix the size of cities are helping Chicago. The extent of country for which it is a distributing and receiving center and the number of dealers that do this distributing are the workings of these laws. Monopolists only build up themselves. They never make cities. There is a vast region of mostly productive land west of this western metropolis, and trade tides flow eastward.

No imaginary complications of human affairs can now picture Chicago as a Babylon of desert sands. She must, in the ordinary course of progress and civilization, remain the focus of countless centers of trade, travel and intelligence.

There need be no more said of rivalry between Chicago and St. Louis or Cincinnati. These goodly cities are far enough away and near enough to preclude the probability of other great cities growing between them and Chicago.

"Chicago," says Dr. Fowler, "is in the field almost alone, to handle the wealth of one-fourth of the territory of this great Republic. This strip of seacoast divides its margins between Portland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Savannah, or some other great port to be created for the South in the next decade. But Chicago has a dozen empires casting their treasures into her lap. On a bed of coal that can run all the machinery of the world for five hundred centuries, in a garden that can feed the race by the thousand years, at the head of the lakes that give her a temperature as a summer resort equaled by no great city in the land, with a climate that insures the health of her citizens, surrounded by all the great deposits of natural wealth in mines and forests and herds, Chicago is the wonder of to-day, and will be the city of the future."

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MASSACRE AT FORT DEARBORN.

During the war of 1812, Fort Dearborn became the theater of stirring events. The garrison consisted of fifty-four men under command of Captain Nathan Heald, assisted by Lieutenant Helm (son-in-law of Mrs. Kinzie) and Ensign Ronan. Dr. Voorhees was surgeon. The only residents at the post at that time were the wives of Captain Heald and Lieutenant Helm, and a few of the soldiers, Mr. Kinzie and his family, and a few Canadian voyageurs, with their wives and children. The soldiers and Mr. Kinzie were on most friendly terms with the Pottawattomies and Winnebagos, the principal tribes around them, but they could not win them from their attachment to the British.

*The above from Dr. Fowler's oration as seen in Directory of De Kalb Co., published by H. F. Kett & Co., Chicago.

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One evening in April, 1812, Mr. Kinzie sat playing on his violin and his children were dancing to the music, when Mrs. Kinzie came rushing into the house, pale with terror, and exclaiming: "The Indians! the Indians! "What? Where?" eagerly inquired Mr. Kinzie. 'Up at Lee's, killing and scalping," answered the frightened mother, who, when the alarm was given, was attending Mrs. Barnes (just confined), living not far off. Mr. Kinzie and his family crossed the river and took refuge in the fort, to which place Mrs. Barnes and her infant not a day old were safely conveyed. The rest of the inhabitants took shelter in the fort. This alarm was caused by a scalping party of Winnebagoes, who hovered about the fort several days, when they disappeared, and for several weeks the inhabitants were undisturbed.

On the 7th of August, 1812, General Hull, at Detroit, sent orders to Captain Heald to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and to distribute all the United States property to the Indians in the neighborhood-a most insane order. The Pottawattomie chief, who brought the dispatch, had more wisdom than the commanding general. He advised Captain Heald not to make the distribution. Said he: "Leave the fort and stores as they are, and let the Indians make distribution for themselves; and while they are engaged in the business, the white people may escape to Fort Wayne.

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Captain Heald held a council with the Indians on the afternoon of the 12th, in which his officers refused to join, for they had been informed that treachery was designed—that the Indians intended to murder the white people in the council, and then destroy those in the fort. Captain Heald, however, took the precaution to open a port hole displaying a cannon pointing directly upon the council, and by that means saved his life.

Mr. Kinzie, who knew the Indians well, begged Captain Heald not to confide in their promises, nor distribute the arms and munitions among them, for it would only put power into their hands to destroy the whites. Acting upon this

advice, Heald resolved to withhold the munitions of war; and on the night of the 13th, after the distribution of the other property had been made, the powder, ball and liquors were thrown into the river, the muskets broken up and destroyed.

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Black Partridge, a friendly chief, came to Captain Heald, and said: "Linden birds have been singing in my ears to-day be careful on the march you are going to take." On that dark night, vigilant Indians had crept near the fort and discovered the destruction of their promised booty going on within. The next morning the powder was seen floating on the surface of the river. The savages were exasperated and made loud complaints and threats.

On the following day, when preparations were making to leave the fort, and all the inmates were deeply impressed with a sense of impending danger, Capt. Wells, an uncle of Mrs. Heald, was discovered upon the Indian trail among the sand-hills on the borders of the lake, not far distant, with a band of mounted

Miamis, of whose tribe he was chief, having been adopted by the famous Miami warrior, Little Turtle. When news of Hull's surrender reached Fort Wayne, he had started with this force to assist Heald in defending Fort Dearborn. He was too late. Every means for its defense had been destroyed the night before, and arrangements were made for leaving the fort on the morning of the 15th.

It was a warm, bright morning in the middle of August. Indications were positive that the savages intended to murder the white people; and when they moved out of the southern gate of the fort, the march was like a funeral procession. The band, feeling the solemnity of the occasion, struck up the Dead March in Saul.

Capt. Wells, who had blackened his face with gun powder in token of his fate, took the lead with his band of Miamis, followed by Capt. Heald, with his wife by his side on horseback. Mr. Kinzie hoped by his personal influence to avert the impending blow, and therefore accompanied them, leaving his family in a boat in charge of a friendly Indian, to be taken to his trading station at the site of Niles, Michigan, in the event of his death.

The procession moved slowly along the lake shore till they reached the sandhills between the prairie and the beach, when the Pottawattomie escort, under the leadership of Blackbird, filed to the right, placing those hills between them and the white people. Wells, with his Miamis, had kept in the advance. They suddenly came rushing back, Wells exclaiming, "They are about to attack us; form instantly. These words were quickly followed by a storm of bullets, which came whistling over the little hills which the treacherous savages had made the covert for their murderous attack. The white troops charged upon the Indians, drove them back to the prairie, and then the battle was waged between fifty-four soldiers, twelve civilians and three or four women (the cowardly Miamis having fled at the outset), against five hundred Indian warriors. The white people, hopeless, resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Ensign Ronan wielded his weapon vigorously, even after falling upon his knees weak from the loss of blood. Capt. Wells, who was by the side of his niece, Mrs. Heald, when the conflict began, behaved with the greatest coolness and courage. He said to her, "We have not the slightest chance for life. We must part to meet no more in this world. God bless you.' And then he dashed forward. Seeing a young warrior, painted like a demon, climb into a wagon in which were twelve children, and tomahawk them all, he cried out, unmindful of his personal danger, "If that is your game, butchering women and children, I will kill too." He spurred his horse toward the Indian camp, where they had left their squaws and papooses, hotly pursued by swift-footed young warriors, who sent bullets whistling after him. One of these killed his horse and wounded him severely in the leg. With a yell the young braves rushed to make him their prisoner and reserve him for torture. He resolved not to be made a captive, and by the use of the most provoking epithets tried to induce them to kill him

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instantly. He called a fiery young chief a squaw, when the enraged warrior killed Wells instantly with his tomahawk, jumped upon his body, cut out his heart, and ate a portion of the warm morsel with savage delight!

Mrs. Heald was an

In this fearful combat women bore a conspicuous part. excellent equestrian and an expert in the use of the rifle. She fought the savages bravely, receiving several severe wounds. Though faint from the loss of blood, she managed to keep her saddle. A savage raised his tomahawk to kill her, when she looked him full in the face, and with a sweet smile and in a gentle voice said, in his own language, "Surely you will not kill a squaw!" The arm of the savage fell, and the life of the heroic woman was saved.

Mrs. Helm, the step-daughter of Mr. Kinzie, had an encounter with a stout Indian, who attempted to tomahawk her. Springing to one side, she received the glancing blow on her shoulder, and at the same instant seized the savage round the neck with her arms and endeavored to get hold of his scalping knife, which hung in a sheath at his breast. While she was thus struggling, she was dragged from her antagonist by another powerful Indian, who bore her, in spite of her struggles, to the margin of the lake and plunged her in. To her astonishment she was held by him so that she would not drown, and she soon perceived that she was in the hands of the friendly Black Partridge, who had saved her life.

The wife of Sergeant Holt, a large and powerful woman, behaved as bravely as an Amazon. She rode a fine, high-spirited horse, which the Indians coveted, and several of them attacked her with the butts of their guns, for the purpose of dismounting her; but she used the sword which she had snatched from her disabled husband so skillfully that she foiled them; and, suddenly wheeling her horse, she dashed over the prairie, followed by the savages shouting, "The brave woman! the brave woman! Don't hurt her!" They finally overtook her, and while she was fighting them in front, a powerful savage came up behind her, seized her by the neck and dragged her to the ground. Horse and woman. were made captives. Mrs. Holt was a long time a captive among the Indians, but was afterward ransomed.

In this sharp conflict two-thirds of the white people were slain and wounded, and all their horses, baggage and provisions were lost. Only twenty-eight straggling men now remained to fight five hundred Indians rendered furious by the sight of blood. They succeeded in breaking through the ranks of the murderers and gaining a slight eminence on the prairie near the oak woods. The Indians did not pursue, but gathered on their flanks, while the chiefs held a consultation on the sand-hills, and showed signs of willingness to parley. It would have been madness on the part of the whites to renew the fight; and so Capt. Heald went forward and met Blackbird on the open prairie, where terms of surrender were soon agreed upon. It was arranged that the white people should give up their arms to Blackbird, and that the survivors should become

prisoners of war, to be exchanged for ransoms as soon as practicable. With this understanding, captives and captors started for the Indian camp near the fort, to which Mrs. Helm had been taken bleeding and suffering by Black Partridge, and had met her step-father and learned that her husband was safe.

A new scene of horror was now opened at the Indian camp. The wounded, not being included in the terms of surrender, as it was interpreted by the Indians, and the British General, Proctor, having offered a liberal bounty for American scalps, delivered at Malden, nearly all of the wounded men were killed and scalped, and the price of the trophies was afterward paid by the British Government.

ABSTRACT OF ILLINOIS STATE LAWS.

BILLS OF EXCHANGE AND PROMISSORY NOTES.

No promissory note, check, draft, bill of exchange, order, or note, negotiable instrument payable at sight, or on demand, or on presentment, shall be entitled to days of grace. All other bills of exchange, drafts or notes are entitled to three days of grace. All the above mentioned paper falling due on SUNDAY, NEW YEAR'S DAY, THE FOURTH OF JULY, CHRISTMAS, or any day appointed or recommended by the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES or the GOVERNOR OF THE STATE as a day of FAST OR THANKSGIVING, shall be deemed as due on the day previous, and should two or more of these days come together, then such instrument shall be treated as due on the day previous to the FIRST OF SAID DAYS. NO DEFENSE can be made against a negotiable instrument (ASSIGNED BEFORE DUE) in the hands of the assignee without notice, except FRAUD was used in obtaining the same. To hold an INDORSER, due diligence must be used BY SUIT, in collecting of the maker, unless suit would have been UNAVAILING. Notes payable to person named or to order, in order to absolutely TRANSFER TITLE, must be indorsed by the PAYEE. Notes payable to BEARER may be transferred by DELIVERY, and when so payable, every indorser thereon is held as a GUARANTOR OF PAYMENT unless otherwise expressed.

In computing interest or discount on negotiable instruments, a MONTH shall be considered a CALENDAR MONTH or TWELFTH of a year, and for less than a month, a day shall be figured a THIRTIETH part of a month. Notes only bear interest when so expressed, but after due they draw the legal interest, even if not stated.

INTEREST.

The legal rate of interest is six per cent. Parties may agree in WRITING on a rate not exceeding TEN per cent. If a rate of interest greater than ten per cent. is contracted for, it works a forfeiture of the whole of said interest, and only the principal can be recovered.

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