MASSACRE OF JOLLY'S FAMILY.
Among the earlier settlers in the neighborhood of Wheeling,
was Daniel Jolly. His improvement was on the hill, about
three miles from the mouth of the creek. The land is, we
believe, now occupied by Mr. McEnall, and the site of his
cabin is still pointed out not far from the road which crosses
the hill from the old toll-gate to the river. The family of
Jolly consisted of himself, wife and four children, with one
grand-child.
On the 8th day of June, a small party of Indians, who
had secreted themselves behind some gooseberry bushes in
the garden, fired upon the family, killing Mrs. Jolly instantly
and wounding a son, daughter and grand-son. Her eldest
son, John, had just reached the house from the corn-field,
and was in the act of wiping the perspiration from his brow
with the sleeve of his shirt as the ball struck him in the
mouth. He fell, badly wounded, and the next instant the
savages were tomahawking him. Killing and scalping the
other wounded ones, and taking prisoner one son and a
nephew of Mr. Jolly, named Joseph McCune, they pillaged,
then fired the house and made a rapid retreat. Joseph
McCune was killed after proceeding a short distance because
he could not travel fast, as he suffered from phthisic.
Mrs. Jolly was standing in the door at the moment she
was shot, looking in direction of the spring, to which she had
sent one of her children. The boy at the spring, whose name
was James, escaped, also another member of the family in
the field. A daughter, Mary, was absent at her uncle Joseph
McCune, who lived on the ridge road, about five miles from
the forks of Wheeling. Mr. Jolly had gone on a journey to
the Monongahela to receive a payment for some property
which he had sold previous to moving out.
The boy made prisoner remained in captivity seven years,
and was then regained by his brother at Pensacola. He was
discovered trading at Nashville; and on being questioned, the
facts of his captivity were elicited, whereupon a gentleman
wrote to Colonel Zane, who communicated the intelligence to
the boy's father. These particulars we have derived principally
from Mrs. Cruger, Mr. McIntyre, and Mr. Darby.
