INCIDENTS OF PIONEER TIMES

Abraham BAUGHMAN, pioneer of the Blackfork valley, bought a calf of an Indian, paying the price the savage asked. A year later an additional sum of money was demanded by the Indian because the calf had grown larger, which amount was paid to avoid trouble. The next year another supplemental sum was demanded and was paid under protest. To prevent the heifer from still getting bigger, it was slaughtered for beef, as the owner did not want to pay for its growth every year.

One evening when this same pioneer and his wife were at a neighbors, two Indians called at the cabin and finding the boys -- Jacob and George -- in bed, ordered them to get up and give them something to eat. After they had partaken of a luncheon, the Indians ordered Jacob, the older boy, to go to the "still house" and get them whisky, holding George as a hostage, threatening to scalp him if Jacob delayed or gave the alarm. For want of a more suitable vessel, Jacob took his mother's tea pot to carry the whisky in, and made the trip to the still house as expeditiously as possible. Upon Jacob's return, the Indians cautiously smelled the whisky, and detecting a peculiar order -- the odor of tea -- supicioned that the whisky was poisoned. Acting upon this suspicion the Indians became enraged and flourished their tomahawks and scalping knives about the boys heads in a lively manner. Then the made the boys drink the whisky and waited to see the poision take effect. But as no bad symptoms were noticed, the Indians accepted the tea explanation and proceeded to drink the whisky themselves, and were howling drunk when BAUGHMAN and his wife returned.