THE DOOLIN MURDER.
Edward Doolin was one of the earliest settlers near the
mouth of Fishing creek. He improved the farm now partly
owned by Samuel McEldowney, about one mile above New
Martinsville, Virginia.[38]
Most of the settlers on Fishing creek
had, on the opening of spring, moved into Tomlinson's fort;
but Doolin, not apprehending danger, refused to go. The
circumstances of this murder are thus given by General Butler,
who was one of the Commissioners appointed to hold
treaties with the northern and western Indians. His Journal,
from which we extract, was kept during his visit to the
Miami, in 1785:
"I saw one Irvine, who had come from Cumberland river
in a boat; he arrived at Fort McIntosh just the evening before
I set out. He says he met General Clark below Sciota
a small distance, the 13th inst., on his way to the falls of the
Ohio. He says he met with the wife of one Doolin, whose
husband and two children were murdered by the Indians on
Fish creek, on the 20th instant. Their conduct was very
extraordinary. They came to the door and knocked, very
early in the morning; the man rose out of bed and was shot
through the door, which broke his thigh; on his falling, the
door was broke in by the Indians, who tomahawked him and
two children; the woman in fright lay still. They told her
not to be uneasy, that they would not hurt her or the child
she had in her arms, and desired she would not leave the
house, as they would soon be back again, but did not intend
to injure her; that they were Cherokees, and would never
make peace. She asked why they troubled her, that the
Indians had made peace with General Clark last fall; they
said, not they; that if they could meet General Clark they
would kill him also. He says he does not think the Indians
mean to do any mischief generally, that it is a few banditti,
who are a collection of Cherokees, Shawanese, etc."
Mrs. Doolin afterwards married Edmund Martin, and
moved with her husband to Kentucky.
