Portrait of Mass Murder. Welby Thomas Cox, Jr.
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an' dat if our indians are not de descendants av de lost tribes av israel, they show by their tradishuns an' customs a knowledge av de ancient religion, such as callin' de deadly spirit yo-he-wah, de jehovah av de scriptures, an' in many festivals correspondin' ter de mosaic law."
De country ter whaich de cock an' 'en tribes, in a journey av a year an' a 'alf, wud arrive, from de river euphrates, east, wud be somewhere adjoinin' tartary, an' intercourse between de two races wud easily lead ter de adopshun av de religious ideas an' customs av de wan by de other.”
Translation:
(“Elias Boudinot, many years ago, a minister in Vermont, published books to show that the American Indians were a portion of the lost tribes, from resemblances between their religious customs and those of the Israelites. Later still, a converted Jew named Simon, undertook to identify the ancient South American races, Mexicans, Peruvians, etc., as descendants of ancient Israel, from similarity of language and of civil and religious customs. These authors have taken as their starting-point the resolution which, Esdras informs us (in the Apocrypha), the ten tribes took after being first placed in the cities of the Medes, viz., that they would leave the multitude of the heathen and go into a land wherein never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep the ten commandments given to Abraham by God; and they suppose that, in pursuance of this resolution, the tribes continued in a northeasterly direction until they came to Behring Straits, which they crossed, and set foot on this continent, spreading over it from north to south, until, at the discovery of it by Columbus, they had peopled every part.
It must be admitted that this theory is very plausible, and that if our Indians are not the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, they show by their traditions and customs a knowledge of the ancient religion, such as calling the Great Spirit Yo-he-wah, the Jehovah of the Scriptures, and in many festivals corresponding to the Mosaic law."
The country to which the ten tribes, in a journey of a year and a half, would arrive, from the river Euphrates, east, would be somewhere adjoining Tartary, and intercourse between the two races would easily lead to the adoption of the religious ideas and customs of the one by the other.”
“I know,” interjected the writer, “That the gypsy tribes came from Tartary, and in my discussions with these wandering people, I found they had a custom somewhat like our Indians' practice, in moving from place to place. For instance, the gypsies, when they leave a part of their company to follow them, fix leaves in such wise as to direct their friends to follow in their course. This is called "_patteran_" in Romany or gypsy language. And the Indian cuts a notch in a tree as he passes through a forest, or places stones in the plains in such a way as to show in what direction he has gone. An officer saw a large stone, upon which an Indian had drawn the figure of a soldier on horseback, to indicate to others which way the soldiers had gone.”
Grannie B.:
“an' de likeness ter de bable is quite similar ter de origin av evil. de indians 'av a tradishun 'anded down in whaich de deadly spirit said they might ayte av al' [the fruit] except de apple or thus vis-a-vie [the animals] yer man 'ad made, except de beaver. but sum brutal indians went an' killed a beaver, (an' eve ate de apple) an' de deadly spirit wus cheesed aff an' said they must al' die. but after a while yer man became willin' dat indians shud kill an' ayte dem, so de beaver is 'unted for 'is buff, an' 'is meat is eaten as often as yer man suffers 'imself ter be caught.”
Translation:
(“And the likeness to the bible is quite similar to the Origin of Evil. The Indians have a tradition handed down in which the Great Spirit said they might eat of all [the fruit] except the apple or thus vis-a-vie [the animals] he had made, except the beaver. But some bad Indians went and killed a beaver, (and Eve ate the apple) and the Great Spirit was angry and said they must all die. But after a while he became willing that Indians should kill and eat them, so the beaver is hunted for his skin, and his meat is eaten as often as he suffers himself to be caught.”)
DESPOILING THE GRAVE OF AN OLD ONONDAGA CHIEF.
The Author:
“There is a legend about a great man named On-on-da-ga, an Indian chief, who died about the year 1830, near Elbridge, a town lying north of Auburn, in the State of New York. This Indian belonged to the Onondagas, one of the tribes called "the Six Nations of the IROQUOIS" (E-ro-kwa), a confederacy consisting of the MOHAWKS, ONEIDAS, SENECAS, CAYUGAS, ONONDAGAS, and TUSCARORAS or CHIPPEWAS. I was a lad at the time of this chief's death, having my home in Auburn, New York, where my father was the physician and surgeon to the State prison. My father had a cousin, who was also a doctor and surgeon, a man of stalwart frame, raised in Vermont, named Cogswell. He was proud of his skill in surgery, and devoted to the science. He had learned of the death of the Onondaga chief, and conceived the idea of getting the body out of the grave for the purpose of dissecting the old fellow,--that is, of cutting him up and preserving his bones to hang upon the walls of his office; of course, there was only one way of doing it, and that was by stealing the body under cover of night, as the Indians are very superstitious and careful about the graves of their dead. You know they place all the trappings of the dead--his bow and arrows, tomahawk and wampum--in the grave, as they think he will need them to hunt and supply his needs on his journey to the happy hunting-grounds. They place food and tobacco, with other things, at the burial site which is above ground and easily accessible..
Dr. Cogswell took two men one night, with a wagon, and as the distance was only twelve miles, they performed the journey and got back safely before daylight, depositing the body of the Indian in a barn belonging to a Mr. Hopkins, in the north part of the town. It was soon noised about town what they had done, and there lived a man there who threatened to go and inform the tribe of the despoiling of the chief's grave, unless he was paid thirty dollars to keep silence. The doctor, being a bold, courageous man, refused to comply with a request he had no right to make, because it was an attempt to "levy black mail," as it is called.
Sure enough, he kept his word, and told the Onondagas, who were living between Elbridge and Syracuse. They were very much exasperated when they heard what had been done, and threatened vengeance on the town where the dead chief lay.
The tribe was soon called together, and a march was planned to go up to Auburn by the way of Skaneateles Lake,--a beautiful sheet of water lying six miles east of Auburn. They encamped in the pine woods,--a range called the "pine ridge,"--half-way between the two villages, and sent a few of the tribe into Auburn for the purpose of trading off the baskets they had made for powder and shot; but the real purpose they had in view was to find out just where the body was (deposited in the barn of Mr. Josiah Hopkins), intending to set fire to the barn and burn the town, rescuing the dead chief at the same time.
For several days the town was greatly excited, and every fireside at night was surrounded with anxious faces; the children listening with greedy ears to narratives of Indian cruelties perpetrated during the war with the English about Canada, in 1812; and I remember how it was told of a cruel Indian named Philip, that he would seize little babes from their mothers' arms and dash out their brains against the wall! No wonder we dreamed horrid dreams of the dusky faces every night.
At that time the military did not amount to much. There was a company of citizen soldiers there, called the "AUBURN GUARDS," numbering about forty men, with a captain whose name I forget, but who became suddenly seized with the idea of his unfitness to defend the town against the threatened Indian invasion, and did the wisest thing he could, and resigned his commission on a plea of "_sudden indisposition_." The doctor walked the street as bold as a lion, but acting also with the shrewd cunning of the fox. And now, my young friends, instead of weaving a bloody romance in the style of the "Dime Novels," depicting the terrible massacre, which might have happened, with so great a wrong to provoke the hostility of the poor Indians, I am about to tell you how the town was saved, and how the doctor outwitted them. If you pause here, and guess, I think you will be far from the mark in reaching the shrewdness of the surgeon, who had not been bred among the hills of old Vermont for nothing.
As I said, at Auburn there is a State prison, and when the convicts die, their bodies, unless claimed by relatives or friends within twenty-four hours