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Page 66
CHAPTER XIII.
THE TRIAL, SENTENCE, AND EXECUTION.
The council-house in question, was a building of good size, of
larger dimensions than its neighbors, stood on a slight elevation, and,
as we before remarked, near the center of the village. Into this the
warriors and head men of the Piqua tribe now speedily gathered, and
proceeded at once to business. An old chief--whose wrinkled features and
slightly-tremulous limbs, denoted extreme age--was allowed, by common
consent, to act as chairman; and taking his position near the center of
the apartment, with a knife and a small stick in his hand, the warriors
and chief men of the nation formed a circle around him.
Among these latter--conspicuous above all for his beautiful and graceful
form, his dignified manner, and look of intelligence, to whom all eyes
turned with seeming deference--was the celebrated Shawanoe chief,
Catahecassa, (Black Hoof) whose name occupies no inferior place on the
historic page of the present day, as being at first the inveterate foe,
and afterward the warm friend of the whites. In stature he was small,
being only about five feet eight inches, lightly made, but strongly put
together, with a countenance marked and manly, and one that would be
pleasing to a friend, but the reverse to an enemy. He was a great
orator, a keen, cunning and sagacious warrior, and one who held the
confidence and love of his tribe. At the period referred to, he was far
past what is usually termed the middle age; though, as subsequent events
have proved, only in his noon of life--for at his death he numbered one
hundred and ten years.
Upon the ground, within the circle, and near the old chief in the
center, were seated Algernon and Younker--the latter having recovered
consciousness--both haggard and bloody from their recent brutal
treatment. They were sad spectacles to behold, truly, and would have
moved to pity any hearts less obdurate than those by which they were
surrounded. Their faces bore those expressions of dejection and wan
despair, which may sometimes be perceived in the look of a criminal,
when, loth to die, he is assured all hope of pardon is past. Not that
either Younker or Reynolds felt criminal, or feared death in its
ordinary way; but there were a thousand things to harass their minds,
besides the dreadful thought of that lingering, horrible torture, which
was enough to make the boldest quail, and which they now had not the
faintest hope of escaping. There is ever something solemn and awful in
the thought of death, let it come in the mildest form possible--for the
individual feels he is hastening to that silent bourne, whence none
have e'er returned to tell its mysteries--yet such is as nothing in
comparison with the death our prisoners were now silently awaiting, away
from friends and all sympathy, in the full vigor of animal life, to be
fairly worn out by the most excruciating pains, amid the hootings and
revilings of a savage foe. It was enough to have made the stoutest heart
faint, trembling and sick; and thus our unfortunate friends felt, as
they slowly gazed around and saw nothing but fierce, angry looks bent
upon them.
Girty was the first to address the assemblage, in the Indian dialect,
in an animated and angry speech of five minutes duration; occasionally
turning his sinister visage upon the prisoners, with an expression of
mortal hatred; gesticulating the while in that vehement manner which
would have left no doubts on their minds as to the nature of his
discourse, had they not previously known him to be their determined foe.
He narrated to the savages, clearly and briefly, the wrongs which had
been done them, as well as himself, by the whites; how, as the ally and
friend of the red-man, he had been cursed, defied and treated with much
contumely, by those here present; how their friends had followed and
slaughtered his braves; how the whites were every day becoming stronger
and more aggressive; how that, unless speedily exterminated, they would
presently drive the red-men from their hunting grounds, burn their
wigwams, and murder their wives and children; referred them, as a proof,
to the sacking and burning of the Chillicothe and Piqua villages, on the
Little Miami and Mad rivers, the year preceding, by General Clark and
his men;[15] and wound up by demanding the death of the prisoners at the
stake, and a speedy and bloody retaliation upon the pioneers of
Kentucky.
As Girty concluded his speech, which was listened to in breathless
silence, there was a great sensation in the house, and an almost
unanimous grunt of approval from the chiefs and braves there assembled.
It needed but this, to arouse their vindictive passions against the
white invader to the extreme; and they bent upon the unfortunate
prisoners, eyes which seemed inflamed with rage and revenge. Girty
perceived, at a glance, that he had succeeded to the full of his heart's
desire; and with a devilish smile of satisfaction on his features, he
drew back among the warriors, to listen to the harangues of the others.
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