CHAPTER XXVI.

Capture, Escape and Death of Tom.

After the death of Muswink, the authorities attempted to arrest Tom, and bring him to trial. Not that they thought him guilty of any serious crime, but that he might be the means of bringing on another Indian War. Most of the people justified the killing of Muswink. First, because he was the murderer of his father; secondly, the provocation given by Muswink at Decker’s Tavern justified Tom in slaying him.

But at last he was arrested, tied and put in a sleigh to be taken to Newton where he was to be tried for murder. But with the assistance of some friends, he made his escape, ran to the river, and plunged in, amid ice and snow, and crossed to the west bank of the river, where he was concealed and fed by his friends for two months, and then made his appearance in public again, and died at the house of Jacobus Rosencrance in 1756.

Tradition says, he died of Smallpox. That the Indians hearing of his death, dug up his remains, and distributed them among several tribes of Indians. The Smallpox became prevalent and several tribes were nearly annihilated. Thus, Samsonlike, “he slew more at his death than he did when living.”

Tom Quick’s death was in keeping with his life. He firmly believed that he was appointed by God to avenge his father’s death. At times he had fears that his father’s spirit would be offended because he had not sent more Indians to the Spirit world.

Tom loved his rifle and called the scalps he had taken “his crowns, his jewels,” his passports to the Spirit world.

A short time before his death, he said to the persons that were around him: I am going to meet my father, and fell back on his pillow. When he awoke, he seemed to be disappointed, and looked around in a bewildered gaze: “Where am I? Is this heaven? No this is earth. But I am in sight of heaven. I see the silver lining behind the cloud. I see the portals open. I hear my father say—Come Tom, come. Where is my old companion? (His gun is handed him). Faithful to the last. Where are my jewels, my crowns? (A string of scalps is handed him.) These are crowns of glory, my passports to the Spirit World. Father, I come.” And dropped back dead.

Thus ended Thomas Quick, Jr. One of the most remarkable characters that ever lived in the Delaware Valley. His ashes now repose on the spot where he was born. (Milford, Pa.) And after nearly one hundred years, a suitable monument has been erected, to perpetuate his memory.

The reader may ask, What excuse is there for his several crimes? A conversation that took place between his mother and Maggie Quick his niece, answers the question: Grandma what makes Uncle Tom act so queer, and stay away from home so much?

Her grandma answered: The murder of his father _turned his head_, and now he is not responsible for anything he _says or does_.

Yes it was the murder of his father that turned his head, and made him the _avenger_ of the Delaware Valley.

Gardner, in his life of Tom Quick, page 17, says: It was this sad event that fired the heart of the bereaved and frantic son. Tom was transformed. He was from that time forward known as the “Indian Slayer,” or as he called himself, “the Avenger of the Delaware.” Rough in his manners, having been accustomed from infancy as much to Indian as to civilized life, he had a heart which beat with the warmest affection toward all his kindred, especially his father.

The spot where his father fell beneath the ball and the scalping knife of the Indians, was a Carthaginian altar to him. Hamlibar, brought his son Hannibal to the altar of the Gods, that he might swear eternal enmity to Rome.

Tom Quick’s consecration to the destruction of the race whose warriors had wrought the death of his father, lacked indeed the forms of religious rites, but possessed the substance, and no more steadily on a wider field did the son of Hamlibar follow out the pledges of his youth, than did Tom Quick press on to the fulfillment of his vow of vengeance, thinking as he did, “that the blood of the whole Indian race was not sufficient to atone for the blood of his father.” His oath was not violated. He lived to see the day when he could traverse the river from one end to the other without encountering a red man.

But as we have said before, Tom Quick was now transformed. He took to himself the title of the “Avenger of the Delaware.” He who had before been a friend to both white and Indian, now carried with him a double spirit, having no sentiment but that of friendship for the settlers and love for his kindred, he had intense hatred and loathing toward the Indians.

Cato, on a broader field, in the presence of the Roman Senate, and with comparatively little provocation, was accustomed to close his speeches with the exclamation: “Delenda est Carthage,” Let Carthage be destroyed! Those who heard him applauded, and his name appears high in history as a Roman patriot. The appeal of Cato was prompted by jealousy of the rising and rival power of Carthage. “Let the Indians be destroyed,” was the sentiment of Tom Quick. Between the two, as regards provocation, Tom Quick stands upon the higher ground.

Some allowance should be made in Tom’s favor. The times in which he lived should be taken into consideration. He was born in 1734 and died in 1796, therefore he lived through the tragic times of the French and English, and Revolutionary Wars. He lived at a time when an enemy’s life was cheap; he lived at a time when a reward was paid for Indian scalps. Orders were issued to that effect from the Government: “You are to acquaint the men, that if in their ranging if they meet with or at any time are attacked by the enemy and kill any of them, Forty Dollars will be allowed and paid by the Government for each scalp of an Indian enemy so killed.”

This was in 1756. In 1764 the bounties by Penn were:—“For every male above ten years captured $150, scalped, being killed $134; for every female Indian enemy, and every male under ten years of age, captured $130; for every female above ten years of age, scalped being killed $30.”

But we have no record that Tom received any bounty. The presumption is that he scalped to revenge his father’s death and not for money. But the strongest proof that Tom’s actions were approved by the people, and that he was looked upon by the settlers as a protector of their homes and the guardian of their wives and children, is the fact that he was always welcome to their houses, and a plate placed for him at the table. Not only this, but the fact that they universally screened him from the Government officers. In a word, they were proud to think that one of their number had the courage to face the whole Indian nation of red skins.

Such was the opinion of the early settlers of the character of our hero, and time has not changed that opinion.

His life and character has been published to the world. Historians have eulogized his merits. Dramatists have exemplified his life and character on the stage, and the descendants of the early settlers have raised a monument over his dust in his native town, at the spot where he was born to perpetuate his memory.

His historians have been James Quinlan of Monticello, N. Y., P. H. Smith, of Newburgh, N. Y., Wm. Bross, of Chicago, Ills., and A. S. Gardner, of Milford, Pa.

In 1888, James M. Allerton of Port Jervis, N. Y., published a drama in five acts entitled, “Tom Quick the Avenger, or One Hundred for One,” which was well received by the public.

And then to crown all, his descendants on the 28th of August 1889, unveiled a monument to his memory, in the presence of a thousand persons, amid the roar of cannon and the huzzahs of a thousand voices.

The monument stands in a street sixty feet wide, a street which is destined to be a part of one of the leading pleasure drives of Milford.

From the monument can be seen a range of hills extending all around the village. Also in the distance the Shawangunk mountains in New Jersey. Near by is the Van de Mark, which comes from a distance among the hills towards the northwest, and flows southeastward until it empties at Milford eddy into the Delaware.

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

On the side looking east: Emblem on shaft, a wreath. Inscription on die:

Tom Quick was the first white child born within the limits of the present Borough of Milford. This spot was his birth-place and home till the cruel death of his father by the Indians, 1756.

On the base next to the die:

Tom Quick, the Indian Slayer; or The Avenger of the Delaware.

On side of monument looking south: Emblem on shaft the following grouped together and united by a shield: Tomahawk, canoe paddle, scalping knife, calumet, wampum. Inscription on die:

Maddened by the death of his father in the hands of the Savages, Tom Quick never abated his hostility to them until the day of his death, a period of over forty years.

On base next to the die:

Tom Quick died in 1796, at the house of James Rosecrantz on the banks of the Delaware, five miles northeast of this spot, and was buried on the farm of his friend in what is now the Rose Cemetery, two miles south of Matamoras. His remains were taken up on the 110th anniversary of the battle of the Minisink, July 22d, 1889, and placed beneath this monument.

On north side: Emblem on shaft, plow. Inscription on die:

Thomas Quick, Sr., Father of Tom Quick, his oldest child emigrated from Holland to America, and settled on this spot in 1733. He was the first white settler in this part of the upper Delaware, and his Log Cabin Saw Mill and Grist Mill, built on this bank of the Van De Mark, were the first structures ever erected by white men in the settlement of this region.

On the base next the die:

After a peaceful residence here of twenty years, and of unbroken friendship with the Indians, Thomas Quick, Sr., while crossing the Delaware on the ice, carrying a grist on his shoulder, was shot and scalped by his supposed friends, the Delawares, who were lying in ambush along the bluff on the south side of the mouth of the Van De Mark, and half a mile east of his humble home.

On west side: Emblem on shaft, flag of the United States on standard and partly furled. Inscription on die:

This monument was erected by a descendant of Thomas Quick, of the fourth generation; in youth a resident of Milford, in age, one of the founders of the “Chicago Tribune,” and from 1865 to 1869 Lieutenant Governor of the State of Illinois.

Inscription on base next to die:

Done under the direction of Rev. A. S. Gardiner, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Milford, 1889.

APPENDIX.

=Page 6.—High Point.= Is situated in Sussex Co., 5½ miles southeast of Port Jervis, and is the most elevated land in the State of New Jersey, being 1804 feet above the level of the sea and 1395 feet above the Delaware Valley at Tri-States Rock. From its peak twenty-seven cities and villages can be seen. The scenery is grand and sublime. Extending north to the Catskills, south to the Water Gap, east to the Highlands and west across the Delaware, Neversink and Mamakating Valleys; while the pure air from the pine forests of Sullivan County drives the malaria and mosquitoes toward the Atlantic. It is crowned by a beautiful lake, supplied by pure crystal spring water, and a first-class hotel, where the wants of the inner man can be supplied.

=Page 9.—Peenpack Ford.= Was the usual place of crossing the Neversink River in early times, and was located south-east of the present residence of Peter D. Swartwout. It is now crossed by an iron bridge.

=Page 15.—Steneykill.= A small stream of water that rises near the “Old Jersey claim line,” in lot 36 of the first division of the Minisink Patent, at the outlet of Long Swamp, which was originally a Beaver Dam, and runs through lot 40 of the 7th division of the Minisink Patent, and empties into the Shinglekill on lot 41; on the farm formerly owned by John Van Etten and now owned by F. H. Maguire.

=Page 19.—Shinglekill.= A stream of water flowing out of Big Pond about two miles west of Peenpack (Huguenot,) and flows through lots 41 and 42 of the 7th division of the Minisink Patent, and empties into the Delaware River at Bolton Basin. Shinglekill Island where Drake landed the raft is just west of the mouth of the Shinglekill Brook, and the Beneykill is the water that flows between the Island and the west shore.

=Page 23.—Charles Webb.= In 1704, Her Late Majesty Queen Ann granted to Matthew Ling and others, the land now included within the Minisink Patent. John Thomas and Stephen Crane were appointed Commissioners, and Charles Webb, surveyor. Between 1704 and 1763, Charles Webb surveyed the several divisions and filed the map in the office of the Secretary of State on the 14th day of February 1763. The only remaining copy of that map is in the possession of the author, and it was while Charles Webb was making this survey that he found Walter Wallace, one of the heroes of our tale.

=Page 34.—Bottle Rock.= A large rock in the Neversink River in the shape of a bottle, on land formerly owned by Abraham J. Cuddeback.

=Page 35.—Sand Hill.= This was the Indian Cemetery and is situated on the west side of the Neversink River, about three miles northeast of the “Tri-States Rock,” on the farm now (1892) owned by Levi Van Etten. The river has washed the most of it away, and frequently skeletons of Indians that were buried hundreds of years ago are exposed to view.

=Page 36.—Handy Hill.= Is a ridge of land extending northeasterly from Big Pond to Hartwood. A noted hunter by the name of Handy formerly lived there. The Handy Town road was the first road laid out in the town of Deerpark leading from the Neversink Valley to Sullivan County.

=Page 38.—The Grave= of Mary Powers was on the bank of the Delaware River, about forty rods northwest of the Shinglekill. The stone wall around it was visible in 1840, since that the bank has slid down into the canal.

=Page 60.—Flat Boat.= This was a craft about thirty feet long and twelve feet wide, and was used in early times by the Indian traders to transport their goods to the head waters of the Delaware, where they exchanged their goods with the Indians for furs. They towed or poled the boat up the River, and floated down with the current.

=Page 86.—Hollicot Glen.= This was a narrow gulch on the old Mill Dam Brook, about one mile west of Peenpack.

=Page 87.—Spring Brook.= In the early history of the Valley a Spring Brook run from about where the Erie Railroad Round House in Port Jervis is, to the Delaware River.

=Page 89.—Battle of the Neversink.= Tradition says, that the bodies of those that perished in the Battle of the Neversink, were buried in three pits near the bank of the Delaware River. In the year 1847, the New York and Erie Railroad was built through the Village of Port Jervis. In excavating and removing the earth near the bank of the river southwest of Front Street, and about two hundred feet from the south side of the street, on or near the land formerly owned by J. H. Dimmick, and used by him as a lumber yard, three places were opened containing human bones. They were remarkably preserved. The author saw several skulls in which their teeth retained their whiteness. Joseph Van Inwegen was foreman of the work, and Thomas Goble was one of the teamsters. They are both dead now. A few days before the death of Goble, the author requested Dr. W. L. Cuddeback to call on Goble and inquire of him in relation to the finding of human bones at the time they were building the railroad through Port Jervis. The Doctor called on Goble, who related the fact of finding the bones substantially as stated by the author. The place of these pits was pointed out to the author by Jacob C. Wilson.

=Page 96.—Skull Rock.= This rock is situated in the Town of Lumberland, Sullivan County, N. Y. About one and a half miles east of Pond Eddy, and one fourth of a mile west of Fish Cabin Brook. The projecting rock shown in the engraving at page 96 was blasted off during the building of the Delaware and Hudson Canal.

=Page 105.—Bushkill Falls.= These Falls are on the Bushkill Brook which rises at the Sand Springs on the Texas property, and about a half a mile west of Rio Post Office, and three fourths of a mile east of the Mongaup River. The Rattle Snake den has been blasted out to get quarry stone. Formerly trout were numerous in this stream, which is located in lot No. 38 of the 7th Division, of the Minisink Patent in the Town of Deerpark.

=Page 175.—Yah House, or Hunting House.= Was situated at or near Wurtsboro, Sullivan Co., N. Y. It was at this house that Charles Webb commenced the survey of the Minisink Patent.

=Page 210.—Fort Dewitt, now Port Clinton.= Is situated on the south side of the Neversink River, one mile south of Cuddebackville, and about one eighth of a mile east of the aqueduct over the Delaware and Hudson Canal. Governor Dewitt Clinton was born in this house. His parents resided in the Town of Montgomery, and his mother was on a visit to the Dewitt family at the time of his birth, where she had been detained for several days by a long northeast snow storm.

=Page 210.—Cahoonshee Trail.= The road running from Huguenot to Mongaup bridge is nearly on this trail and strikes the Mongaup River opposite Grassy Brook. The trail continued northwest to Cochecton in Sullivan Co. This was the trail taken by Brandt after his raid in the Neversink Valley in July 1779, in which he was followed by Colonel Hawthorn and Tusten, and ended in the Battle of Minisink, in the Town of Highland, Sullivan Co., on the 22nd day of July 1779.

=Page 212.—Grave of Cahoonshee.= Cahoonshee was buried on Sub. Div. Lot No. 7 of the 17th Div. of the Minisink Patent, about one hundred feet east of the Plank Road, and directly in the rear of the Baptist Church on the farm formerly owned by the author, later by John L. Chase and now owned by Jacob Bauer. In 1839 the grave of Cahoonshee was pointed out to the author by an old resident of the Town of Deerpark by the name of Jacob C. Wilson. He was a man of limited education, but of an enquiring mind and retentive memory. He was well read in history, both ancient and modern, especially English, French, Holland, Roman and Egyptian. He had American History at his tongue’s end, and especially that part that related to the North American Indians. He was conversant with the traditional history of the Delaware, Neversink and Mamakating Valleys, and to him more than any other one the author is indebted for the facts contained in this book. The pits containing the remains of those that fell in the battle of the Neversink, and the grave of Mary Powers he pointed out to me when I was a boy. Soon after he showed me the grave of Cahoonshee. At that time I trimmed up a small pine tree, that was then about 4 inches in diameter, which stood about eight feet north of Cahoonshee’s grave. This tree grew to be about three feet in diameter. In 1885 it was struck by lightening, and is now (1892) dead, and only a dead white stump about twelve feet high marks the resting place of the Indian Warrior Cahoonshee. I deem it proper to say that when Jacob C. Wilson died, he was buried but a few feet from Cahoonshee in this secluded cemetery. But a few years later his remains were removed to Quarry Hill Cemetery. I am indebted to several other persons for the traditions upon which the “Hawk’s Nest” is founded among which are Boltos Nearpass, David Canfield and Jonathan Corey.

=Page 213.—Johannes Casparus Freyenmout.= Was the first Minister of the Gospel that preached in the Delaware Valley. His church was built of logs, and was situated within the present limits of the Village of Port Jervis, on land now (1892) owned by Eli Van Inwegen, on the northeast corner of New Jersey Avenue, and Main Street, opposite the old burying ground, and was destroyed by Brandt in 1779.

=Page 220.—Farming.= It is the opinion of the author that at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, there was more land under cultivation than there is at the present time. Their farming implements consisted of a wooden mould board plough, grain sickle, grass scythe and hoe. With these simple tools they harvested more grain, cut more grass and made more money than the farmers of the present day.

=Page 223.—Tom Quick’s Gun.= Is in the possession of the author. It has been cut off and now measures five feet ten inches, and weighs seventeen and a half pounds.