Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 31, Number 250, 7 October 1906 — Page 10

.-y. s. ass.: .

fy HOSTS there be ghosts of past n achievements who steal from the Ji shadowy depths of nowhere, and. In serried ranks, pass for silent review along the paths of memory. Their bogles ring no cheering melody, thlr drumheads give no sound, their voices have no tones and their footsteps fall with noiseless tread on the misty roads of an Imagination that grows with age. The old constat)! at Fort Erie, dozing In the sunrays of a warm October day, shifted uneasily as the slats on the hickDry bench made ridges In his back, and, with eyes still closed, gently murmured, "Ten rods more and all Is safe." The ghosts were walking for him. He Is himself an old soldier a soldier of the crown, with flowing galoways of a vintage long antedated and a memory that serves him well. Clothed In the uniform of the Canadian militia black, with natty red trimmings be keeps his dally vigil on the site of old Fort Erie and passes his days In peaceful Janltorshlp of , the bloody plot. The Bite of Old Fort Erie the scene of many a sanguinary

conflict has been Inclosed and made a part of the Canadian National Park systern. It is opposite Buffalo, on the Canadian side, at the bead of Niagara River, and stands as a grim specter of the British barracks that guarded the river in the days when there was enmity between America and Great Britain. On the American side of the river is the site of old Fort Porter, now a beautiful barracks where soldiers are sent to rest np after hard service, and 35 miles away, at the mouth of the river, glaring across at each other (In peaceful rivalry now) are Forts George and Niagara, the former In Canada and the latter in the United States. When the day la clear and the glasses are good all this long frontier stretch between may be seen by tourists from the top of Brook's Monument, marking the site of the battle of Queenston Heights. But the old constable at Fort Erie needs no wearisome climb to view the panorama. The historic ground of the Niagara frontier is familiar to him. Slumber does for him what travel does ; for others. The noonday doze not only paints in realistic colors the landscape of the historic Niagara frontier, but summons by companies, by brigades, by armies and perhaps sometimes alone and unattended the almost forgotten heroes . of a bygone day. As he shifts his position and murmurs "Ten rods more and nil Is safe," who can tell what he Is seeing. The ghosts are walking for him. Perhaps they come In overwhelming nnmbers, those stout-hearted, red-coated soldiers, driving the colonists before them and cheering for King George and the dragon. Perhaps It Is a mighty race to see whether the small, detached body of redcoats out on a foraging expedition shall reach the fort before the body of American patriots shall succeed In cutting them off. Perhaps the ghosts are those of the War of 1S12, and the sleeping constable sees the rout that attended the British In the first attack on Buffalo, July 11, 1813. Perhaps his slumber Is lighted by the blaze of the burning of Buffalo when the village was destroyed by redcoats and Indians In a latter and successful attack on December 13 and 14 of the same year, when but one residence was , left In the ruins. Terhaps the scene stands out In strong contrast to any of these. Mayhap It Is a bright June day, with flower-scented air and balmy breezes." There is no sign of war, and all Is still except for the flying footsteps and the heavy breathing of the solitary figure In the constable's dream a young girl with wavy hair and burning cheeks, whose Journey is beset with many difficulties. Now she Is flying along a secluded roadway, now climbing a prickly hedge, anon struggling through swamp and morass, proceeding with undaunted determination towards her destination, passing along by circuitous routes, avoiding here a figure that carries a gun and looks like a soldier without uniform and now hiding until some suspicious traveler has passed. And then all Is changed. Wet and dirty, with the muck of lowlands and barnyards clinging to her skirts, she dashes Into a British camp. There Is the call to arms, the quick and silent preparation, the forced march, the terrible battle, and again a balmy June day. This sweet girl of the old redcoat's dream this Canadian Joan of Arc was named Laura Secord. A monument has been erected to her memory In the old graveyard near the battlefield of Lundys l-ane. on the Canadian side of the Niagara frontier. Not satisfied with perpetuating her bravery, the people of her race, with characteristic Rritish bombast and vanity, have included in the trlbnte to her memory a touching advertisement of how a mere handful of British defeated an American army. Says the Inscription on the Secord monument: "To perpetuate the name and fame of Laura Secord, who walked alone nearly 20 miles by a circuitous, difficult and perilous route, through woods and swamps and miry roads, to warn a British outpost at Pe Cows Falls of an Intended attack, and thereby enabled Lieutenant Fit Gibbon, on the 24th of June, 1S13, with less than 50 men of Iler Majesty's JAOK RABBITS IN Texas the Jack rabbit Is no longer looked on as a means of good sport. He has Increased by the millions until he threatens to not only devour all the vegetation of hundreds of square mi!es In the southwestern section of the state, but here lately, spurred on by desperate hunger, he has begun holding up railway trains by the simple process of getting himself killed by the thousands, and so greasing up the rails and blocking the engine wheels that the most powerful locomotives have been forced to come to a stop while the train bands have gone forth and cleaned up the right of way. Hunger is forcing millions of Jack rabbits to come close to the more thickly setJd sections of Texas, and where the

. , 1 1 II Ml VnjjPI v )). m-'MXX- II I -.., lit

I , nPi' J S IM-1I1IMJBHMW ll mini . T I fc$&&x&& I

1 wsuf3 -a -

Forty-ninth Regiment, . about 13 militiamen and a small forte of Sis Nation and other Indians, under Capt. William Johnson Kerr and Dominique Ducharme, to surprise and attack the enemy at Beechwoods (or Beaver Dam), and after a short engagement capture Colonel Hoerstler. of the U. S. Army, and hi3 entire force of 042 men, with two fieldpieces." As our little party of tourists approached Fort Erie's sleeping caretaker waked with a start and asked: "What was that noise? Did I hear anybody shootr And then a smile rippled among the wrinkles on his seared old countenance. "I remember now; I was dreaming. I was dreaming of the battle of Lake Erie, when your Commodore Perry you are from across the border, aren't you. Yes, I knew It. There are no other girls as pretty as American girls but as I was saying, I was dreaming of the battle of Lake Erie, when your Commodore, with boats that he had made himself, captured and destroyed our fleet. It was on September 10. 1813, and a relative of mine long since dead served one of the guns on a British ship that went down. He often told me of that battle, and in my dreams I 6aw hlra training his gun and lighting his fuse for one last shot before the water should run Into the nozzle of the gun on the badly careening ship. Just as he fired I woke up, and I thought that the noise of the shot had awakened me. But the battle was fought too long ago and the scene of the engagement was too far away for me to have heard the shot. It must have been something else. I am an old man now and things are not al ways clear to me. This, ladles and gentlemen, is old Fort Erie. nere we see. remains of the old British storehouse or. bullet-proof retreat, and there are the earthen breastworks thrown up at angles that enabled the defenders to meet the attacking force with a terrible fire. Here on the other side you see " And so he wandered on through the Intricate mazes of a lecture long ago learned by heart, while we sometimes listened and sometimes lost ourselves In pleasing (?) conjecture as to what the place might have looked like In the days that he told about in the days when frontier fights, revolutions. International squabbles of all kinds and numerous bands of treacherous Indians made the tenure of life all too uncertain. To properly inspect all the points of Interest all the battlefields, scenes of ambuscade and terrible slaughter along the banks of Niagara River on both sides should take about a week. The Niagara frontier fairly breathes with historic Interest. From the days of the great explorer, La Salle, and the time of Father Hennepin the first white man to see the falls of Niagara, down on through the years that witnessed the war of 1S12 and the burning of Buffalo the shores of the river have continually been trodden by the makers of nations. Blood letting there was. too, and here the British and French have clashed, redtuan has fought and scalped his white brother and j Americans engaged in revolution have I grappled In deadly conflict men of their own flesh and blood. Soldiers of the mother country have engaged the Indians to swoop down upon the settlers along the 6hores of Niagara River and raised no band to stop the savage cruelties upon men whose blood was as red. If their coats were not as scarlet, as the hireSTOP TRAILS. wire fences are used to keep them out they have started burrowing underneath. The bright glare of the locomotive headlight has attracted them along the railroad line at night. This Is proved by the fact that the railroads have had no trouble with their trains from the Jacks except at night. During the day the rabbits attend strictly to making entrance into the farm lands. The Texas legislature has decided to spend over $100,000 nex: year In an endeavor to stem the tide f the Jack rabbit invasion. It is hoped to find some disease germs with which the rabbits can be Inoculated and so most of them be swept away. The United States government will also be asked to assist In the scientific search for some method of killing off the nests.

Hi ' It " STi ill iii

lings In the pay of King George of England. Through years of peace we come to the time when the eagles of war again flapped their wings, and countless slaves, escaping from the South during the Civil War, were rowed across Niagara River by Abolitionists to freedom in Canada. And then when war was declared with Spain during the administration of McKinley, and the Spanish Ambassador, De Lome, was given a polite intimation that his room was more desirable than his company, he made for Niagara and, crossing to Niagara Falls, Canada, attracted the eyes of the diplomatic world in that direction, while the State Department at Washington was demanding of the British government that he be dislodged from his point of vantage. Again, in the city of Buffalo, ou the shores of the mighty river, enterprising citizens reared In the year 1901 the beautiful Pan-American Ex position, where In the month of September President aicKiniey met death by assassination. Niagara River Is virtually a strait, separating the United States from Canada and connecting Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. It Is about a mile wide and 35 miles long. Its entire length is dotted with Islands, which aggregate In all 17,000 acres. One of these called Goat Island is right at the brink of Niagara Falls, and separates the river Into two channels, each one fnlliug over a precipice 100 feet high. Early explorers from the East followed the waterways Inland, going along the St. Lawrence River to I .eke Ontario, in ceaseless efforts to discover the Western country, and then along the banks of Niagara River to Lake Erie and farther west- Thus Niagara River early became the scene of battles between the whites and Indians, and being regarded as the water gateway of the West was the scene of a continual contest between the French and English for control. The French in the early stages were Ice most enterprising, and history shows that as early as 16ST a French oflicer. De Xonvllle, threw up earthworks on the site of what Is bow Fort Niagara, on the Amer-

can side of the river right at its mouth, in fact. This barricade was held and lost with varying fortunes until 1725. when the French, after a tricky deal with the Indians, secured their consent to erect a stone niessbouse on the site. This was the foundation of the permanent fort there. It was captured by the British In 1759 and was used by the English as a post for the maintenance of an open road of trade from the Interior to the settled portion of the land near the coasts. The fort played an Important part in the Revolutionary War and was used as the headquarters from which the bands of Indians that ravaged the colonies during that awful period were sent out. After the War of 177S it came Into American possession. This story perhaps article would be a better word does not pretend to be a complete history of the Niagara frontier. It is rather the faithful chronicle of what a party of tourists saw traveling -up one side of the Niagara River and down the other a trip of about 70 miles. There are many points along the trip equally as Important as that of Fort Niagara. The march of progress the ad

vance of civilization has wiped out mauy of the spots stamped with the mark of history, and It has remained for a most worthy organization the Niagara Frontier Landmarks" Association to rescue them from the spoiling hand of commerce and mark them with appropriate tablets. Some Idea of the high standing of this organization can be gained from the fact that It was organized and Induces In Its membership representatives from the following truly American Institutions: The Sons of the American Revolution, the Sons of the Revolution, the" Buffalo Historical Society, the Society of the War of 1S12, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Children of the American Revolution and the Niagara Frontier Historical Society. Mr. Truman G., Avery Is the president of the Niagara Frontier Landmark' Asso

m4

ciation and Mr. George D. Emerson the secretary. v It was Mr. Emersou who kindly made out the Itinerary for our party of tourists and thus guided them through one of the most historic territories on the continent today. The society la question has only been in existence from November of 1900. but since that time its members have located and appropriately marked several sites noted for events that had an Important bearing on the history or development of the nation. It will be news to many people to know that as early as 1S43 a newspaper In the Indian language was printed In America. Such Is a fact, however, and I saw the house In which it was printed. One of the first places we visited was the Seueca Mission-house, which was erected prior to the year 1831, and Is still standing ou Ruffaru: street, in the : city of Buffalo, our starting point." It Is In good preservation. Its heavy hewn black walnut beams seeming to be good for mauy years to come. In this bouse, from 1831 to 1844. dwelt the Rev. Ashcr Wright, missionary to the Seuecas, who. with especially prepared type, printed parts of ihe Scriptures, hymnals, spelling t;ooKs son a newspaper in the Seueca language. It shall be my aim In the remaining pages of my manuscript to refrain from mentioning fncts and figures that are of Interest only to the particular locality we are now visiting. Of more that passing Interest perhaps is the McKinley Monument, standing In Niagara fxiuare before the heme of President Millard Fillmore, who resided there from the tims- of his retirement from ofiice until his death, in the year of 1874. Daring his administration. If memory serves, the nation gained cheap postage, the enlargement of the national capital and the Perry Treaty, which opened Japan to the world. From here we went lo Fort Porter, and In Its vicinity found many spots where cannons and batteries had been stationed, especially during the wax with Great

Britain hi 1812. Coming dovrn into more recent history, we found an Immense boulder marked with a commemoration of the fighting Thirteenth Regiment that captured San Juan Hill In the Spanish War and later did heroic service In the Philippines. Part of a brigade had been stationed at Fort Porter before the war, and was given a great send off when It wcut to the front. The send off, however, was nothing compared to the reception

It met when the company came back a little handful of tattered and battered heroes. The Thirteenth, It will be remembered, was also one of those regi ments that did such remarkable service preserving order in San Francisco after the recent earthquakes there. Further down the river is the site of an old ferry across Niagara River, at a point where formerly there was a great black rock. This rock was destroyed In the building of the Erie Canal lu Its time the most famous of artificial waterways but the name still clings, and a large part of Buffalo Is known today as Black Rock. The ferry has long since disappeared, but before it ended Its days of usefulness thousands of immigrants to Michigan and the Middle West passed over It to their destination. A little further down we came to. the site of the old Black Rock shipyards, where a portion of Perry's fleet was fitted out, and where. In 1818, was built the Walk-lu-the-water, the - first steamboat on the Lakes. At this point Scajaquada Creek enters Into the river, and It was on the bridge crossing this that In 1814 on August 3 to be exact the second Battle of Black Rock took place. Twelve hundred British attacked 350 Americans and made three assaults; the Americans held the bridge nobly and repulsed the .British, saving their supplies. The first Battle of Black ' Rock was fought nearby, and was also a victory for the Americans. There are few sites, however, of greater Interest or of more historic value than the spot where, in 1C79, La Salle, the noted explorer, built the Griffon, the first vessel other than a birch bark cauoc to ever ail on the Great Lakes of America. Near this spot a little settlemeut bears the name of La Salle, and the Niagara Landmarks Association, to which 1 have frequently referred, has erected a monument on the spot. Midway on the road between the city of Niagara Falls and Lewlston are Bloody Run and Devils Hole. Here the Senecas ambushed a British supply train ou the first return Journey over a newly reconstructed road that ran from Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the Niagara River, to Fort Schlosser, on the banks of Niagara River, a little to the south of the present town of Niagara Falls. Both forts were In the chain of posts used to keep opcu the line of trade along the river. Only three men out of one hundred escaped. A little further north the same Indians ambushed a British relieving force, which harried after them on news of the massacre reaching Lewlston. Only eight escaped from the second slaughter. The Devils Hole Is a natural sort of tunuel through the great rocks, for which Niagara Gorge Is noted, and a spot most admirably suited for an ambuscade.. It Is a sort of a gulch, and through It a tittle stream finds Its way to Niagara River. The Uttle stream ran blood red on the day of the massacre, and : has ever since borne the title of Bloody Run. The ambuscade occurred on the 14th of September. 17G3. j Father Hennepin's name is associated with history. . He was the first white man who ever saw the mighty cataract of Niagara, and the Niagara Frontier Landmarks Association has discovered what It believes to be the site "of Hennepin's lauding and the cabin which he built. It is uear the preacnt village of Levlston. On the height east of Lewiston Is still located a Tuscorpra Indian reservation, and nearby, below the mountain, is the site of General Van Reusselaer's camp, the first military camp on this frontier during the War of 1812. On the hill above the Lewlston Ferry landing Is the site where Gen. (then colonel) Wiufield Scott planted his battery which protected the American troops in the first American Invasion of Canada, on the morning of October 3, 1S12. From Lewlston we hurried to Fort Niagara, which Mr. Emerson told us was the most historic point Id the whole Niagara frontier. On the road between Lewiston and Toungstown, the town nearest to the fort, we passed a place known as Fire-mile Meadows, where, on the night of December 18, 1853. the British lauded for their attack on Fort Niagara. History tells os that tuy won, and then proceeded at their leisure to devastate the whole frontier, their operations Including the burning of Buffalo. Earlier in my article I have referred to the estab

lishment of Fort Niagara. From this j place the French and English held sway over a vast empire from Albany westward, first one and then the other Mug la control. In 17WJ It became an American stronghold. One of the principal features of Fort Niagara Is the magazine built la j 1734. It came Into the public eye la- ..' 1S26. by reason of the Incarceration there of William Morgan, who conducted aa nntl-Masonlc crusade. He disappeared j from the dungeon nobody knows how I and was never seen since. There was dispute as to whether he had been spirited away by Masons and killed, or had beea allowed to escape. Still standing oa the grounds of Fort Niagara now an important United State Army barracksare two old blockhouses, built In 1771 and 1773. They, It will be thus seen, antedate the revolution, and are pronounced by experts to be the most perfect specimens of their kind of architecture on the continent today. Opposite Fort Niagara Is Fort George, built originally as an

auxiliary to Fort Niagara at a tlma when all that territory was British. Farther up the river, about opposite Lewiston, we come to the site of the battle of Queenston Height. As Niagara Is the most historic, no Queenston Is the most Impressive spot on all the Niagara frontier. A grassy knoll, resembling In some respects the land side of Quebec, Is crowned with the Brock monument, a tall and graceful shaft which marks the site of the battle of Queenston Heights, on October 13, 1S12, when an American force of 2,500 militia and a regiment of regulars attacked the British under the command of Gen. Isaac Brock. The Americans were defeated, and their commander. Col. Wlnfleld Scott, was captured. Every other commissioned officer was either killed or wounded. On the British side General Brock lost his life, and many a British soldier found his last' resting place. The view from Brock's monument is superb, the tourist being enabled to see as far as eye can reach, almost to the head of the Niagara River on the south, and seven miles along Niagara River to Its broadening mouth and Lake Ontario on the north. The foot of the monument s surrounded with cannon, and a stalr way on the Inside enables those who d sire to reach the top of It. It Is 185 feet blgh and was erected In 1853. From lta base a generat descent takes the tourist to the cenotaph, which was erected in 1SG0 by the present King of Englandthen Prince of Wales who Tlslted this country In 1SG0. The cenotaph marks the exact spot where General Brock fell during the battle. On the heights near the monument may still be traced the outHues of Fort Drummond, and on the very edge of the cliff the redan battery of their period. General Brock was first burled In a bastion of old Fort George, previously referred to, the ruins of whlca are still In a remarkable state of preservation. It was built In 1706, enlarged later, and played a most important part In the War of 1812. In the Canadian town of Niagara are many points of Interest- Among the old buildings are Navy Hall (built In 1723), where was. held the first session of tha Parliament of Upper Canada, and the old barracks used by Butter's Rangers during the Revolutionary War as a base for their raids Into American territory when they, with the aid of Indians, made the lives of frontier residents for miles around a constant source of worrlment. We also find Fort Misslssaraugua, built by the British in 1814. Coming along the river from Brock's monument south or, to be more strictly speaking, up stream, we having gona down stream on the American side we come to the battlefield of Lundys Lane, which Is marked by a monument, a pic ture VI u U1I.U upptraia vu i'Uc This monument was erected in 1803, i and commemorates simply the "Victory of the Brltlsh-Canadlau forces on the ! 25th day of July, 1814." and Is In "Grate- j ful remembrance of the brave men who ; died on that day fighting for the unity j of the empire." The monument was j erected by the Canadian Parliament, j Passing up the river still, we . come to, ! the site of Fort Chippewa, built in 170, and the battlefield of Chippewa. J Then on to old Fort Erie. Here we disturbed the slumbers of the old British : soldier and listened to an Interesting de- f scrlptlon of the historic site. Fort Erl j was built by Montressor In 1764, built again in 1773. rebuilt In 1790, again In E 1791, and a fourth time in 1807, though : none of the latter time on the exact ; former location. Near the fort are the i sites of three British siege works, a line . of earthworks, protected by abatis, ex- ; tending inland for nearly half a mile, , and still further strengthened by block houses of the 1812 period. Nearby is the scene of the famopj battle of Kldgway, the really closing tncldent of the ridiculous Fenian raid, when a handful of III advised fanatics, after gathering on an Island In Niagara River, landed on Canadian soil, prepared to take the country as a protest to Great Britain for the way In which the empire j treated Ireland. The engagement soon became a disgraceful rout- This was la ' I860. A short distance away Niagara Elver J broadens out, and the widening of the ; stream's expanse Into the bosom of Laka Erie marks the termination of the bistortc Niagara frontier and the end of f our story. SAMUEL WILLIAMS IIIFPLER. A Cave Fall Of Bones. In the Isle of Egg. one of the Hebrides there Is a cave Into which one c hardly creep on bands and kn?e. Insl It widens enormously and runs down tsj the terrific depth of over 250 feet. T this day the bottom is strewn thick witA human bone, the relics of the whoM clan of Macdonalds, over 200 in nnmbel who were miserably suffocated or tl Macleods from the Isles of Sk?e. Ta tragedy is supposed to have occurred A tha thirteenth renturv. .

U