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Page 69
During this proceeding, the Indians failed not to abuse him in various
ways--some by pinching, and others by pounding him with their fists,
with stones, and with clubs,--all of which he seemed to bear with great
patience and resignation.
As soon as all was ready for the more diabolical tortures, Girty made
the announcement, in a brief speech to the Indians; and then taking up a
rifle, loaded with powder only, discharged it upon the prisoner's naked
body. A loud yell of satisfaction, from the excited mob, followed this
inhuman act; while several savages, rushing forward with rifles loaded
in the same manner, now strove who should be first to imitate the
renegade's example; by which means, no less than fifty discharges were
made, in quick succession, until the flesh of the old man, from the neck
downwards, was completely filled with burnt powder. Younker uttered a
few groans, but bore all with manly fortitude, and made no complaints.
This part of the hellish ceremony over, a fire was kindled of hickory
poles, placed in a circle round the stake, outside of that which his
rope allowed Younker to make, in order that he might feel all the
torments of roasting alive, without being sufficiently near to the flame
to get a speedy relief by death. To add even more torture, if possible,
to this infernal proceeding, the Indians would take up brands, and place
the burning parts against the old man's body; and then, as they saw him
cringe and writhe under the pain thus inflicted, would burst into horrid
laughs, in which they were ever joined by the renegade. The old squaws
too, and even the children, not wishing to be outdone in this refinement
of cruelty, would take slabs, and having loaded them with live coals and
ashes, would throw them upon his head and body, until not only both
became covered, but the ground around him, so that there was no cool
place for his feet; while at every new infliction of pain, the crowd
would break forth in strains of wild, discordant laughter.
Thus passed some three-quarters of an hour of tortures the most
horrible, during which the old man bore up under his sufferings with
a strength and manliness that not only astonished his tormentors, but
excited for himself, even in savage breasts, a feeling of respect.
Girty, it may be, was moved to a similar feeling; for at length,
advancing to his victim, he said, in a tone of more deference than he
had hitherto used:
"You bear up well, old man--well. I have seen many a one die, in a
similar way, who was thought to be courageous--yet none with that
firmness you have thus far displayed."
Younker, who was slowly walking around the stake, with his face bent
toward the earth, suddenly paused, as Girty addressed him, and turning
his eyes mildly upon the renegade, in a feeble voice, replied:
"My firmness is given me from above. I can bear my torments, Simon
Girty, for they're arthly, and will soon be over; but yourn--who'll say
what yourn'll be, when you come to answer afore Almighty God for this
and other crimes! But that arn't for the like o' me to speak of now. I'm
a dying man, and trust soon to be in a better world. Ef I ever did you
wrong, Simon Girty, I don't remember it now; and I'm very sartin I never
did nothing to merit this. You came to my house, and war treated to the
best I had, and here am I in return for't. Howsomever, the reckoning's
got to come yit atween you and your God; and so I leave you--farewell."
"But say," returned Girty, who now seemed greatly moved by the manner
and tone of Younker: "But say, old man, that you forgive me, and I will
own that I did you wrong."
"I don't know's I've any enemies, except these round here," replied the
other, feebly, "and I'd like to die at peace with all the world; but
what you ax, Simon Girty, I can't grant; it's agin my nater and
conscience; I can't say I forgive ye, for what you've done, for I don't.
I may be wrong--it may not be Christian like--but ef it's a sin, it's
one I've got to answer for myself. No, Girty, I can't forgive--pre'aps
God will--you must look to him: I can't. Girty, I can't; and so,
farewell forever! God be merciful to me a sinner," he added, looking
upward devoutly; "and ef I've done wrong, oh! pardon me, for Christ's
sake!"
With these words, the lips of Younker were sealed forever.
Girty stood and gazed upon him in silence, for a few minutes, as one
whose mind is ill at ease, and then walked slowly away, in a mood of
deep abstraction. Younker continued alive some three-quarters of an hour
longer--bearing his tortures with great fortitude--and then sunk down
with a groan and expired. The Indians then proceeded to scalp him; after
which they gradually dispersed, with the apparent satisfaction of wolves
that have gorged their fill on some sheep-fold.
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