University of Virginia Library

MURDER OF CAPTAIN THOMAS AND FAMILY.

On the night of the 5th of March, a party of Indians came
to the house of Capt. John Thomas, on Booth's creek, one of
the branches of the Monongahela. Capt. Thomas was a man
of much piety, and what was perhaps unusual in the early
days of our Republic, had regular family devotion. It was
whilst thus engaged, surrounded by his wife and seven children,
that the Indians approached his cabin. The settlement
had felt no apprehension as yet of Indian depredation, as the
season had not sufficiently advanced to cause alarm. Anticipating
no attack, Capt. Thomas was therefore not prepared,
and his house not so well secured as was his custom. He had
just repeated the line of the hymn,

as the Indians approached and fired. The christian father
fell dead at the moment, and a band of savages forcing the
door, entered and commenced the work of death. Mrs. Thomas
implored their mercy for herself and children; but, alas! the
savage knows no mercy for feeble woman or helpless infancy.
The tomahawk did its work, until the mother and six children
lay weltering in blood, by the side of the slaughtered father.
They then proceeded to scalp the fallen, and plunder the
house, and then departed, taking with them one little boy, a
prisoner.

"Elizabeth Juggins, (daughter of John Juggins, who had
been murdered in that neighborhood, the preceding year) was
at the house of Capt. Thomas, when the Indians came, but as

soon as she heard the report of the gun and saw Capt. Thomas
fall, she threw herself under the bed, and escaped observation
of the savages. After they had completed the work
of blood and left the house, fearing that they might be lingering
near, she remained in that situation until the house
was found on fire. When she crawled forth from her asylum,
Mrs. Thomas was still alive, though unable to move; and
casting a pitying glance towards her murdered infant, asked
that it might be handed to her. Upon seeing Miss Juggins
about to leave the house, she exclaimed, "Oh, Betsey, do not
leave us!" Still anxious for her own safety, the girl rushed
out, and taking refuge for the night between two logs, in the
morning early, spread the alarm.

"When the scene of these enormities was visited, Mrs.
Thomas was found in the yard, much managled by the tomahawk
and considerably torn by hogs—she had, perhaps in
the struggle of death, thrown herself out at the door. The
house, together with Captain Thomas and the children, was a
heap of ashes."

The fate of this pious family is but one in the long catalogue
of bloody doings which mark the pages of our western
history. It required a christian's heart, and the christian's
hope, to live amid such scenes unmoved and unawed. Who
can contemplate the fate of that unfortunate family without
emotions of poignant sorrow. How happy was the morning
which dawned upon them, but, alas, how terrible the evening!

In April of this year, three brothers, Mathias, Simon and
Michael Schoolcraft, left Buchanan's Fort, and went to the
head of Stone-coal creek, for the purpose of hunting. On
their way back, a party of Indians fired upon them, killing
the first-named brother, and taking the others prisoners.
These, with other members of the family previously taken
never returned. A singular fatality seemed to attend this
family. The three brothers whose names we have just given,

constituted the last of fifteen, who either fell before the rifle
or tomahawk, or suffered, perhaps, a more dreadful fate in
the hands of their captors.

The founder of this Virginia branch of the Schoolcraft
family, was one of the earliest settlers on the upper Monongahela.
He emigrated from central New York, mainly
induced by the prospect of acquiring for a large family,
suitable landed properties. Unfortunately, his family early
fell a prey to the relentless and ever vigilant savage. The
founder of the Virginia family was, we believe, distantly
connected with the distinguished author, Henry R. School-craft,
whose magnificent work just issued[20] (1851) is alike
creditable to himself, the government (by whose munificence
it has been published,) and the cause of American literature.
It seems not a little remarkable, that while one member of the
family branch should have been devoting almost his whole
life to studying means for bettering and promoting the condition
of the Indians, members of another branch, and they
constituting a numerous family, should have been totally
exterminated by the same savage hands.