Chapter XXII: Section 8: provided minute directions for the distribution of the tracts (10)

This society was given title to three-fifths of the products of all mines and minerals found, free privilege to fish in all waters of the Province, and to establish fairs, markets, etc., and the books of the society were to be exempted from all inspection.

May 29, 1682, the general court prepared and published an address, and mapped out an ambitious program of operations.

The address, which is ingenuous, points to the fact that while it proposes to employ the principles of the association in order to conduct a large business, it is no monopoly, but an absolutely free society in a free country. “It is,” says the prospectus, “an enduring estate, and a lasting as well as certain credit; a portion and inheritance that is clear and growing, free from the mischief of frauds and false securities, supported by the concurrent strength and care of a great and prudent body, a kind of perpetual trustees, the friends of the widow and orphan, for it takes no advantages of minority or simplicity.”

In the society votes were to be on a basis of amount of stock held, up to three votes, which was the limit. No one in England was allowed more than a single vote, and proxies could be voted. The officers were president, deputy, treasurer, secretary and twelve committeemen. Five, with president or deputy a quorum. The officers were to live on the society’s property.

All the society’s servants were bound to secrecy, and the books were kept in the society’s house, under three locks, the keys in charge of the president, treasurer and oldest committeeman, and not to be entrusted to any persons longer than to transcribe any part in daytime and in the house, before seven persons appointed by the committee.

The society was to send 200 servants to Pennsylvania the first year, “to build two or more general factories in Pennsylvania, one upon Chesapeake Bay, and the other upon Delaware River, or where else the committee shall see necessary for the more speedy conveyance of goods in the country and Maryland, but that the government of the whole be in the Capital City of Pennsylvania.”

The society was to aid Indians in building houses, etc., and to hold Negroes for fourteen years’ service, when they were to go free “on giving to the society two-thirds of what they can produce on land allotted to them by the society, with a stock and tools; if they agree not to this, to be servants till they do.”

The leading object of the society at the outset seems to have been an extensive free trade with the Indians, agriculture, establishment of manufactories, for carrying on the lumber trade and whale fishing. An agent in London was to sell the goods.

Nicholas More, president of the society and one of Penn’s Judges, was the first purchaser of land in the province who had a manor granted to him.

The Free Society of Traders obtained land on the river front south of Dock Creek. The society built a sawmill and a glasshouse, both in the same year, 1683. They also established a tannery, which was well supplied with bark and hides. Leather was in general use for articles of clothing, such as are now made of other goods. Penn himself wore leather stockings.

In 1695 the exportation of dressed and undressed deerskins was prohibited in order to promote their utilization at home.

But as the people arrived and settled they probably found they could do better by themselves than in a company and its schemes were not carried out. So the Free Society of Traders, from which much had been expected and which actually yielded so little, came to an end March 2, 1723, when an act of Assembly placed its property into the hands of trustees for sale to pay its debts.

The trustees appointed were Charles Reed, Job Goodson, Evan Owen, George Fitzwater and Joseph Pigeon, merchants of Philadelphia. These soon disposed of the property.

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Davy, the Lame Indian, Surrenders at Fort
Pitt, May 30, 1783

During the morning of May 30, 1783, an Indian was discovered sitting on a porch in Pittsburgh, holding in his hand a light pole.

When a girl of the household responded to his alarm he asked her in broken English for milk. She told members of the family that the Indian was a mere skeleton and they appeared on the porch and found him so thin and emaciated that they could scarcely detect any flesh upon his bones. One of his limbs had been wounded, and the pole had been used as a sort of crutch.

On being questioned, he appeared too weak to give much of an account of himself, but drank of the milk. Word was immediately sent to General William Irvine, commandant of the garrison of Fort Pitt, who sent a guard and had him taken to the fort.

When questioned, he said that he had been trapping along Beaver River, and had a difference with a Mingo Indian who shot him in the leg, because he had said he wished to come to the white people. This story was not believed, especially by some who thought they recognized him as an Indian known as Davy. He was told to tell the truth, he would fare better, and he gave an account of the attack on the Walthour settlement, April 24, in which the following facts were related:

Five or six men were working in Christopher Walthour’s field, about eight miles west of the present Greensburg. Among the workers was a son-in-law, named Willard, whose daughter, sixteen years old, was carrying water to the men.

The workers were surprised by the appearance of a band of Delaware who captured the girl. The men reached their guns, which were a short distance away, and made a running fight as they retired toward the fort. Old man Walthour and Willard were killed, the latter falling not far from the stockade. An Indian rushed out of the bushes to scalp Willard, and was just in the act of twisting his fingers in the white man’s long hair, when a well-directed rifle shot, fired from the fort, struck the savage in the leg, who gave a horrid yell and made off toward the woods, leaving his gun beside his victim.

As soon as a band of frontiersmen could be collected they pursued the Indians, following their trail as far as the Allegheny River.

Almost two months after the attack the badly decomposed body of the Willard girl was found in the woods not far from Negley’s Run. Her head had been crushed in with a tomahawk and her scalp was gone.

The lame Indian after relating many horrid details told that he lay three days without moving from the first place he threw himself in the bushes fearing pursuit; then he crawled on hands and one foot until he found the pole in a marsh, which he used to assist him, and in the meantime lived on berries and roots. He lay all day on a hill overlooking a garrison of militiamen, thinking of giving himself up, but as they were not regulars he did not venture. Driven to desperation by hunger, he decided to make his way to Fort Pitt, and give himself up to regular soldiers.

Davy was confined in the guard house in the fort, but the news of his capture and his identity reached the settlement of Brush Creek and caused considerable excitement there.

Kindred and friends of the victims were hot for revenge and the chance presented itself. Mrs. Mary Willard, the widow of the man Davy killed and mother of the girl killed and scalped by his companions, accompanied by a deputation of her neighbors, arrived at Fort Pitt and asked General Irvine to deliver up the prisoner.

At first the request was refused, but when the body of the Willard girl was afterward found, a mass-meeting was held and a committee chosen to go to Fort Pitt and renew negotiations with General Irvine for the surrender of Davy.

After much deliberation, General Irvine yielded to the pleadings of the committee and surrendered the prisoner. The order of General Irvine to the frontiersmen was as follows: “You are hereby enjoined and required to take the Indian delivered into your charge by my order and carry him safe into the settlement of Brush Creek. You will afterward warn two justices of the peace and request their attendance at such times as they shall think proper to appoint, with several other reputable inhabitants. Until this is done and their advise and direction had in the matter you are, at your peril, not to hurt him, nor suffer any person to do it. Given under my hand at Fort Pitt, July 21, 1782.

“WILLIAM IRVINE.”

The general also sent a note to Mrs. Willard, in which he urged her to do nothing rash in retaliating her vengeance on the prisoner, and not to permit him to be put to death until after “some form of trial.”

The intention of the frontiersmen was to summon a jury of their neighbors and try him, at least to comply with the General’s orders. But the fact he was an Indian would be sufficient evidence to condemn him, even if the wounded leg was not added evidence. In event of conviction he was to suffer death in regular Indian fashion, by torture and burning.

On arrival at Walthour’s, Davy was confined in a log blockhouse for two days and three nights, while the neighbors and magistrates could assemble for the trial and execution.

While a few were guarding the prisoner, some were in quest of the neighbors and others collected wood and materials for the burning, which it was already determined should be at the identical spot where he had received his wound while in the act of scalping Willard.

On the night preceding the great day the guard was somewhat careless and, realizing their prisoner was a bad cripple, they joined rather enthusiastically in the preparations for the execution.

On arising in the morning the blockhouse was empty. The guards were aroused and an investigation revealed the guardhouse door securely locked. No human being could get through the loopholes. It was found the only possible way of escape was through the narrow space between the overjutting roof and the top of the wall, and through this he must have escaped.

Bitter was their disappointment, when they learned their prey had escaped. In every direction eager searching parties ranged the country, but no trace of the wounded Delaware. The hunt continued for two days, but Davy had made good his escape and saved himself from the warm reception which awaited him later in the day.

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Thousands of Lives Lost in Johnstown
Flood, May 31, 1889

When an avalanche of water swept down the Conemaugh Valley destroying everything in its descent, including the thriving city of Johnstown, containing thirty thousand souls, many great industrial establishments were nearly wiped from the earth, many thousands were drowned or burned to death, and property worth many millions was destroyed. This disaster was so far beyond all experience that it is difficult for the mind to grasp it.

Johnstown was a community of seven or eight towns with a combined population of quite thirty thousand souls. It is situated in a deep valley where the Little Conemaugh River and Stony Creek unite to form the Conemaugh River.

Early on Friday, May 31, 1889, a freshet in Stony Creek broke away the boom above the town and swept down the mass of logs against the inundated houses.

This was followed in the afternoon by a far worse disaster, when the dam of the South Fork Lake broke and the mass of water swept down the valley, carrying everything before it. The logs and wreckage piled against the bridge, forming a partial dam, that raised the water level still higher, and in a short time the whole town was submerged.

Hundreds were drowned in their houses, others were swept along by the torrent and perished either by water or by fire among the debris. Nothing in the history of the United States in time of peace ever approached this appalling catastrophe.

Conemaugh Lake was a body of water about three and a half miles long, one and a quarter miles in width, and in some places one hundred feet in depth. It was located on the mountain some three or four hundred feet above the level of Johnstown and was, of course, a menace to that city. It was believed to hold more water than any reservoir in America. This lake was the property of some wealthy sportsmen of Pittsburgh and elsewhere, members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club.

Every known precaution had been taken to insure the safety of the reservoir. An inspection was made monthly by competent engineers, and it was believed nothing less than some extraordinary freak of nature could destroy the barrier that held this large body of water in check. These waters were held in bounds by a dam nearly one thousand feet wide, more than one hundred feet high and ninety feet in thickness at the base.

The streams were already unusually swollen, when a heavy downpour of rain fell steadily for forty-eight hours which increased the volume of water in all the mountain streams. In fact, the entire State suffered from floods. The regions along the West Branch of the Susquehanna, the Lehigh, the Juniata and the Conemaugh Rivers were the principal scenes of desolation.

The water in the South Fork Lake rose slowly until it poured over the top of the big dam, and then some of the old leakages became larger, then the breast broke, and sixteen million tons of water rushed forth like a demon.

John Baker, the Paul Revere of the occasion, rode a race with it for a while and saved many people, but the death-dealing torrent laden with trees, houses, wreckage and human beings, defied even steam whistles and telegraph instruments.

The water plowed through South Fork, Mineral Point, Franklin, East Conemaugh, Woodvale, Conemaugh, Johnstown, Kernville, Millville and Cambria.

It was late in the afternoon and the night that followed was one of unutterable agony. Darkness added to the terror of the situation.

The wreckage could not pass through the big stone bridge. That caused the water to back up and flood the city, but soon a channel was made which cut through the heart of Johnstown. This caused the terrible destruction of life and property that was incurred at Cambria Iron Works.

Then came the flames to make the calamity more appalling. Hundreds of houses had been piled up against the stone bridge, the inmates of but a few being able to escape; these took fire and many hundreds of souls perished in them. Men, women and children, held down by timbers, watched with indescribable agony the flames creep surely toward them, and they were slowly roasted to death.

There were many instances of personal heroism and self-sacrifice in which many persons were saved from drowning or being burned to death. There were many cases of most remarkable escapes, and not a few instances of heroic rescue, which a moment later were rendered useless by another catastrophe in which both hero and victim lost their lives. Edward C. Will is credited with saving twenty-two lives.

Governor Beaver issued a proclamation, calling upon the people for their benefactions. Adjutant General Hastings was promptly on the scene and personally directed the patrol, composed of the Fourteenth Regiment and one company of the Fifth Regiment of the National Guard.

Governor Beaver appointed a Flood Relief Commission to distribute a fund which had been raised from every section of the State and all over the country. The fund exceeded $3,000,000.

The State Board of Health was early on the ground to enforce the sanitary laws. The debris was removed as promptly as possible, and healthful conditions were soon restored.

To pay the State’s expenses, generous men of means advanced the money till the Legislature would reimburse them. There never was a more beautiful example of public and private charity in all history.

The loss of lives was 2,235, or more, and the property loss exceeded $10,000,000 in value.

The people of Johnstown, although prostrated by their misfortune, soon recovered, rebuilt their city and re-established their industrial plants, making it a more beautiful and more modern place than ever before.

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General John Bull, Officer of Province and
the Continental Army, Born
June 1, 1731

General John Bull was one of the distinguished patriots of the Province and State and a veteran of the French and Indian War, a trusted agent of the Proprietaries to the Indians, an early adherent of the colonists, a member of the first Constitutional Convention, an officer of troops and builder of forts, a member of the Board of War and of the General Assembly, a prominent citizen in every particular, yet one of whose life little is known.

John Bull was born in Providence Township, now Montgomery County, June 1, 1731, and spent his early life in that immediate neighborhood.

His active military life began May 12, 1758, when he was commissioned captain in the Provincial service, and with his command was on duty at Fort Allen, now Weissport, Carbon County.

Later in that year he commanded a company in the expedition led by General John Forbes, for the reduction of Fort DuQuesne, and during this tour of duty he rendered most conspicuous service in negotiations with the Indians.

This treaty was attended by Governor Bernard of New Jersey, who had come principally to demand of the Munsee that they keep a treaty promise by which they were to deliver captives taken from his province.

The treaty ended at Easton, October 24, when mutual releases were executed; Pisquitomen and Thomas Hickman, an Ohio Indian, were sent back to the Ohio to bear assurance of pardon, and invitations to those western Indians to come to Philadelphia. Captain John Bull and William Hayes and Isaac Still, the interpreter, and two Indians of the Six Nations, one of whom was John Shikellamy, accompanied them. The mission was wholly successful.

In 1771 Captain Bull owned the Norris plantation and mill, and resided there on the site of the present Norristown, then called Norriton.

He was a delegate to the Provincial Conference of January 23, 1775, and of June 18, 1775.

On July 8, 1776, the day of the reading of the Declaration of Independence, an election was held at the State House for members of the Convention to form a Constitution for the State. Those elected from Philadelphia County were Frederic Antes, Henry Hill, Robert Loller, Joseph Blewer, John Bull, Thomas Potts, Edward Bartholomew, and William Coats.

Captain Bull was elected a member of the Board of War, March 14, 1777.

Congress asked in October, 1775, that a battalion from Pennsylvania be raised to take part in the expedition against Canada. John Bull was appointed its colonel, but resigned January 20, 1776, owing to a threat of about half the officers to do so if he continued in command, so John Philip DeHaas, of Lebanon, was appointed.

Colonel Bull was one of the commissioners at the Indian Treaty held at Easton January 30, 1777.

At the election held February 14, 1777, Colonel Bull was one of four elected to the Assembly.

After the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, Colonel Bull was sent to Mud Island, with workmen and laborers, to repair the banks and sluices and complete barracks sufficient for the garrison.

On May 2, 1777, he was appointed colonel of the First State Regiment of Foot, and on July 16 was commissioned Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania.

In October of this year his barns, barracks, grain, and hay were burned by the British, and his wagons, horses, cattle, sheep and Negroes carried off, although General Howe had given his word to Mrs. Bull that they would not be disturbed.

In December, when General James Irvine was captured, General Bull succeeded to the command of the Second Brigade of Pennsylvania militia, under General John Armstrong.

While the British were in possession of Philadelphia a brigade of Continental troops under Colonel John Bull on the evening of December 24, 1777, made an excursion into Fourth Street in Philadelphia, with two thousand militia, and three pieces of cannon, and alarmed the city by firing off the heavy guns, whereby some of the balls fell about old Christ Church. Colonel Bull then made a good retreat back to his station, without the loss of a man.

During 1778 and 1779 he was engaged in erecting defenses for Philadelphia and in latter year he put down the chevaux de frize in the Delaware to obstruct the approach of British ships. In 1780 he served as Commissary of Purchase at Philadelphia, and appears to have been one of the busiest and most indefatigable of workers.

In the year 1785 he removed to Northumberland, being attracted there by the location of the town and the belief that it would become a large place.

In 1802 he was a candidate for the Legislature but was defeated by Simon Snyder, afterwards Governor of the State. In 1805 General Bull was elected to the General Assembly, but in 1808 he was defeated for Congress when he ran as the Federalist candidate.

Mrs. Mary Bull, his wife, died February 23, 1811, aged eighty years. The Northumberland Argus says, “She was buried in the Quaker graveyard, and General Bull, though much reduced by sickness and old age, previous to the grave being closed, addressed the people as follows: 'The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord; may we who are soon to follow be as well prepared as she was.'”

General Bull died August 9, 1824, in the 94th year of his age.

This distinguished patriot and citizen lies buried beside his wife in the Riverside Cemetery, Northumberland, where a monument should be erected in memory of this distinguished, yet eccentric, officer of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars.

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Liberty Bell Hung in Old State House on
June 2, 1753

Though not the largest nor yet the oldest, but to all Americans by far the most celebrated bell is the grand old “Liberty Bell,” whose tones on July 4, 1776, proclaimed the birthday of our Nation.

This historic bell was originally cast in London, in 1752, for the State House in Philadelphia. There it hung in the belfry of Independence Hall until July 8, 1835, when it cracked while tolling the news of the death of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States.

In the Centennial year, 1876, a new bell, modeled after the original Liberty Bell, was made by an American bell founder for the tower of the old State House, or Independence Hall.

It weighs 13,000 pounds to represent the thirteen original States, and carries in addition to the decoration of the old Liberty Bell, a border of stars and the additional inscription: “Glory to God and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The story of the original bell begins in the year 1749, when the tower was erected on the south side of the main building of the State House. The superintendents were ordered to proceed as soon as they conveniently might, and the tower was to contain “the staircase with a suitable place therein for hanging a bell.”

A year later the House adopted a resolution directing “that the superintendents provide a bell of such weight and dimensions as they shall think suitable.” Isaac Norris, Thomas Leech and Edward Warner accordingly prepared a letter, which is interesting as it is the commencement of proceedings which resulted in the casting of what was afterward known as the “Liberty Bell.” The letter follows:

“To Robert Charles, of London, Nov. 1, 1751. Respected Friend.—The Assembly having ordered us (the superintendents of the State House) to procure a bell from England, to be purchased for their use, we take the liberty to apply ourselves to thee to get us a good bell of about two thousand weight, the cost of which we presume may amount to about one hundred pounds sterling, or perhaps more with the charges, etc.

“We hope and rely on thy care and assistance in this affair, and that thou will procure and forward it by the first opportunity, as our workmen inform us it will be less trouble to hang the bell before their scaffolds are struck from the building where we intend to place it, which will not be done until the end of next summer or beginning of the fall. Let the bell be cast by the best workmen, and examine it carefully before it is shipped with the following words, well shaped, in long letters around it, viz.:

“‘By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House in the city of Philadelphia, 1752.’

“and underneath.—'Proclaim Liberty through all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.—Levit. xxv. 10.'”

The bell was brought over in the ship Matilda, Captain Budden, and was unloaded on the wharf in Philadelphia about the end of August, 1752.

It was hung in position and when given its trial for sound “it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper, without any other violence.” Needless to state, the superintendents were disappointed and they determined to ship the bell back to England to be recast. But Captain Budden had already too heavy a cargo to carry the bell.

In this emergency two Philadelphians, Pass and Stow, undertook to recast it, using the material in the original bell. The mold was opened March 10, 1753. The work had been well done, even the letters being better than those on the first bell.

Pass and Stow first cast several small bells to test the quality of the material, and its sound, and found that there was too much copper in the mixture. It was their third mixture which was finally used.

A newspaper of June 7, 1753, carried this notice: “Last week was raised and fixed in the State House steeple the new great bell cast here by Pass and Stow, weighing 2080 pounds with this motto: ‘Proclaim Liberty to all the land and all the inhabitants thereof.’.” It was tested June 2 and proved satisfactory.

On July 8, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read in the State House yard. At the same time the King’s Arms were taken from the court room and publicly burned, while merry chimes from the church steeples and peals from the State House bell “proclaimed liberty throughout the land.”

This was an event which made the inscription on the bell prophetic. John Adams, in writing to Samuel Chase on July 9, said, “The bells rang all day and almost all night.”

The British success on the Brandywine caused great consternation in Philadelphia. On September 15, 1777, the Supreme Executive Council ordered “the bells of Christ Church and St. Peter’s as well as the State House to be taken down and removed to a place of safety.” The church bells were sunk in the river or carried away, but the Liberty Bell, with ten others, was loaded on wagons and hauled via Bethlehem to Allentown. In Bethlehem the wagon bearing the State House bell broke down, and it had to be reloaded and, when Allentown was reached, the bell was hidden under the floor of Zion Reformed Church.

After the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British Army these bells were brought back, and the State House bell was placed in its old position in the latter part of 1778.

The “Liberty Bell” became a venerated object, and it was tacitly determined that it should only be rung on special occasions of rejoicing, or to commemorate some event of public importance. It was tolled in 1828 upon the news of the emancipation of the Catholics by act of the British Parliament. It celebrated the centennial anniversary of the birthday of Washington, February 22, 1832.

But an end was put to its usefulness for sound early in the morning of July 8, 1835. The break was at first only about eight inches in length, but when rung February 22, 1843, it was increased so much that it henceforth became a silent memento of the historic past.

The Liberty Bell has made several trips to great national expositions, notably the World’s Fair at Chicago, and the great San Francisco exposition, where it always was the most popular historic relic and viewed by millions of our citizens, but the danger incident to such exposure caused public disapproval of the bell again leaving the State House, and it will rest in this historic spot and continue to be the most popular relic in Pennsylvania.

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Transit of Venus Observed in Yard of
State House June 3, 1769

The year 1769 was memorable in the annals of astronomy, owing to the transit of Venus over the sun’s disc, which occurred June 3. Astronomers throughout the entire world were anxious to make an observation of this celestial phenomenon, which would not occur again until 1874.

The great interest centered in this observation arose from the fact that by means of it the distance between the heavenly bodies could be more accurately calculated. It was the belief that the transits of Venus afforded the best method of measuring the distance of the sun from the earth.

This was a period of intense interest, and many expeditions were fitted out to observe the transit at different places in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

Mason and Dixon, the English astronomers, who gained undying fame as the surveyors of the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, started on a ship of war for their station on the southern hemisphere, but they were attacked by a French frigate and were compelled to return to port after a severe battle. Other expeditions became celebrated through the adventures to which they gave rise.

The transit of 1769 was visible in the Atlantic States and observations upon it were made under the auspices of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. The most celebrated of all these observers was David Rittenhouse.

Benjamin Franklin had organized the society and in 1769 became the society’s first president. He was annually elected to that position for twenty-two years, being succeeded in 1791 by another Pennsylvanian, David Rittenhouse.

In 1768 the American Philosophical Society petitioned the Assembly of Pennsylvania for assistance to observe the transit of Venus, and the proposition was treated with liberality.

One hundred pounds was granted to enable the society to procure a reflecting telescope of two and a half or three feet focus and a micrometer of Dolland’s make, which had to be procured from England. They were purchased there by Dr. Franklin.

The society erected a wooden building as an observatory in the State House yard. This was of circular shape, and about twenty feet high, twelve to fifteen feet square and placed about sixty feet south of the State House.

On the morning of June 3 the sky was cloudless. The transit was observed from this building in the State House yard by Dr. John Ewing, Joseph Shippen, Dr. Hugh Williamson, Thomas Prior, Charles Thomson and James Pearson.

While they were thus engaged, David Rittenhouse, Dr. William Smith, John Sellers and John Lukens noticed the phenomena at Norriton, the home of the celebrated astronomer. Owen Biddle made an observation at Henlopen lighthouse.

Rittenhouse was already a member of the American Philosophical Society and made his observations for that society. He used a telescope and other instruments made by his own hands.

When he observed the contact, and the planet had fairly entered the sun’s disk, his emotions so overpowered him that he sank fainting to the ground, unable to bear the intense feelings of delight which attended the consummation of the long hoped for event. Rising from his exhaustion, he proceeded to measure the distance between the centers of the two bodies at stated intervals during the transit.

The observations of Rittenhouse were received with interest by scientific men everywhere. Subsequently they were found to be nearly accurate and his computations placed him among the greatest of astronomers. The royal astronomer of England bore testimony to their value and another high authority said:

“The first approximately accurate results in the measurements of the spheres were given to the world, not by schooled and salaried astronomers who watched from the magnificent royal observatories of Europe, but by unpaid amateurs and devotees to science in the youthful province of Pennsylvania.”

On November 9 of the same year David Rittenhouse made an observation of the transit of Mercury, which was the fourth ever witnessed. About this time he also determined the difference of the meridians of Norriton and Philadelphia.

David Rittenhouse was without doubt the first inventor of a practical planetarium, erroneously called the “orrery,” an instrument so constructed as to exhibit the movements of the planets around the sun. In theory the idea was not new. Such an instrument had been made for the Earl of Orrery in 1715, but this was a mere toy and gave the movements of only two heavenly bodies.

Rittenhouse determined that he would make an elaborate instrument, based on scientific principles and on the astronomical calculations which he had prepared. After three years of labor, in 1779, the “Rittenhouse orrery” was completed.

This orrery was purchased by Princeton University for £300. The trustees of the College of Philadelphia were offended, but Rittenhouse immediately set to work and constructed a duplicate, which was purchased for the college by the proceeds of a series of lectures on astronomy by Dr. William Smith, provost of the college.

The second orrery was much larger than the original, but was constructed on the same model. This was sold for £400.

David Rittenhouse was elected one of the secretaries of the American Philosophical Society in 1771. He delivered a most elaborate address before the society February 23, 1775, entitled “An Oration on Astronomy.” This address was inscribed and dedicated to the delegates assembled in the Continental Congress. In 1790 he became one of its vice presidents.

On the death of Dr. Franklin he succeeded to the office of president, January, 1791, which office he held until his death, when he was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson.

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Indians Succeed in Destroying Presqu' Isle,
June 4, 1763

In 1763 Pontiac’s grand scheme of destroying all the English forts was completed, and it was determined the attack should be made simultaneously on June 4. Henry L. Harvey, in the Erie Observer, gives the following account of the attack on Fort Presqu' Isle.

“The troops had retired to their quarters to procure their morning repast; some had already finished, and were sauntering about the fortress or the shores of the lake. All were joyous, in holiday attire and dreaming of nought but the pleasures of the occasion. A knocking was heard at the gate, and three Indians were announced, in hunting garb, desiring an interview with the commander. Their tale was soon told; they said they belonged to a hunting party which had started to Niagara with a lot of furs; that their canoes were bad, and they would prefer disposing of them here, if they could do so to advantage, and return rather than go farther; that their party was encamped by a small stream west of the fort, about a mile, where they had landed the previous night, and where they wished the commander to go and examine their peltries, as it was difficult to bring them as they wished to embark from where they were if they did not trade.

“The commander, accompanied by a clerk, left the fort with the Indians, charging his lieutenant that none should leave the fort, and none but its inmates be admitted until his return. Well would it probably have been had this order been obeyed. After the lapse of sufficient time for the captain to have visited the encampment of the Indians and return, a party of the latter—variously estimated, but probably about one hundred and fifty—advanced toward the fort, bearing upon their backs what appeared to be large packs of furs, which they informed the lieutenant the captain had purchased and ordered deposited in the fort.

“The stratagem succeeded, and when the party were all within the fort, the work of an instant threw off the packs and the short cloaks which covered their weapons—the whole being fastened by one loop and button at the neck. Resistance at this time was useless or ineffectual, and the work of death was as rapid as savage strength and weapons could make it. The shortened rifles, which had been sawed off for the purpose of concealing them under their cloaks and in the packs of furs, were once discharged, and of what remained the tomahawk and knife were made to do the execution.

“The history of savage war presents not a scene of more heartless or blood-thirsty vengeance than was exhibited on this occasion, and few its equal in horror. The few who were taken prisoners in the fort were doomed to the various tortures devised by savage ingenuity, until, save two individuals, all who awoke to celebrate that day at the fort had passed away to the eternal world.

“Of these two, one was a soldier who had gone into the woods near the fort, and on his return, observing a body of Indians dragging away some prisoners, he escaped and immediately proceeded to Niagara. The other was a female who had taken shelter in a small building below the hill, near the mouth of the creek. Here she remained undiscovered until near night of the fatal day, when she was drawn forth, but her life, for some reason, was spared, and she was made prisoner, and ultimately ransomed and restored to civilized life. She was subsequently married and settled in Canada. From her statement, and the information she obtained during her captivity, corroborated by other sources, this account of the massacre is gathered.

“Others have varied it so far as relates to the result, particularly Thatcher, who, in his Life of Pontiac, says: ‘The officer who commanded at Presqu’ Isle defended himself two days during which time the savages are said to have fired his blockhouse about fifty times, but the soldiers extinguished the flames as often. It was then undermined, and a train laid for an explosion, when a capitulation was proposed and agreed upon, under which a part of the garrison was carried captive to the Northwest. The officer was afterward given up at Detroit.' He does not, however, give any authority for his statements, while most writers concur that all were destroyed.

“The number who escaped from Le Boeuf is variously estimated from three to seven. Their escape was effected through a secret or underground passage, having its outlet in the direction of the swamp adjoining Le Boeuf Lake. Tradition, however, says that of these only one survived to reach a civilized settlement.”

So adroitly was the whole campaign managed that nine of the garrisons received no notice of the design in time to guard against it, and fell an easy conquest to the assailants.

Niagara, Pittsburgh, Ligonier and Bedford were strongly invested, but withstood the attacks until relief arrived from the Eastern settlements. The scattered settlers in their vicinity were generally murdered or forced to flee to the fort. Depredations were committed as far east as Carlisle and Reading, and the whole country was alarmed.

Colonel Bradstreet and Colonel Bouquet attacked the savages everywhere. General Gage directed the movements against the Indians. Bradstreet failed to comprehend the Indian character, but Bouquet conquered the savages everywhere on his route, and so completely defeated them that he was able to dictate terms of peace, and received a large number of persons who had been carried into captivity from Pennsylvania and Virginia. He was hailed as a deliverer by the people and received the thanks of the Governments of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

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James Pollock Nominated by Know Nothing
Party, June 5, 1854

Governor William Bigler’s administration was universally acceptable to his party, and even his most earnest political opponents found little ground for criticism, but when he came up for re-election two entirely new and unexpected factors confronted him and doomed him to defeat on issues which had no relation to the administration of State affairs. First of these was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and second, the advent of the secret American, or Know Nothing Party.

The American, or Know Nothing, organization that became such an important political power in 1854, was the culmination of various spasmodic native American organizations beginning in New York, as early as 1835, and extending to Philadelphia and Boston. The original Native American organization of New York was directed wholly against foreigners who held positions on the police force and in other city departments. It came into its greatest power in 1844, when it controlled the entire city government.

The Native Americans carried the fall elections in Philadelphia, in 1844, with material aid from the Whigs, and remained an important element in both City and State politics in Pennsylvania for a number of years.

The name Know Nothing was applied to this organization because the members were ordered to reply to any question in regard to the party or its purposes, “I don’t know.” In the same way “Sam” was nicknamed for that party. This was applied frequently to persons suspected of being members of which it was said they had “seen Sam.”

Chief Justice Black said of the Know Nothings: “They’re like the bee, biggest when it’s born; it will perish as quickly as it rose to power.” Truly a prophecy.

In 1854 the Whig candidate for the office of Mayor, Robert T. Conrad, was supported by the Know Nothings and defeated Richard Vaux by more than 8000 votes. After this the Know Nothing Party declined in strength, and finally what was left of it and the remnant of the Whig organization were absorbed in the Republican Party. After 1856 the Know Nothing party practically disappeared as a general political factor.

The Whigs and Democrats held their regular State conventions early in the year of 1854. Governor Bigler was renominated by the Democrats, and James Pollock was nominated by the Whigs.

Pollock indicated Andrew G. Curtin as the man to take charge of his campaign, and Curtin was made chairman of the Whig State Committee. He entered upon his new duties with the ardor that was always manifested in his public efforts, and everything seemed to be going along smoothly, until he learned that there was a secret organization in the State that embraced a clear majority of the Whig voters and not a few of the Democratic voters.

There were three men of low cunning who had managed to obtain possession of the machinery of the Know Nothing organization and they availed themselves of the peculiar facilities offered by a secret organization to assume autocratic authority.

These three leaders sought out Curtin, and, proving to him that they had it in their power to compute the returns of the Know Nothing lodges and declare for or against any candidate for office, declared their purpose to defeat the Whig candidate for Governor if their wishes were not acceded to. Each of the three men required of Curtin a pledge that three of the most lucrative offices in the gift of the Governor, the inspectorships of Philadelphia, should be given them.

They did not conceal the fact that it made no difference how the Know Nothing lodges voted, they would declare the nomination in favor of or against Pollock, depending upon Curtin’s agreement to their proposition. Curtin deliberated long and had several conferences before he finally acceded to their demands to the extent that he would recommend the appointments they demanded, but that he would not give an unqualified pledge as to the action of the Governor, and that Pollock was to have no knowledge nor was he to be advised of it during the contest.

The entire program was then arranged that the State Council on June 5 should announce as the nominees of the Know Nothing Party James Pollock, Whig, for Governor; Henry S. Mott, Democrat, for Canal Commissioner, and Thomas Bair, Know Nothing Party, for Supreme Judge.

Neither Pollock nor Mott were members of the Know Nothing Party, and both were placed in nomination without their personal knowledge of being candidates of that organization.

Pollock was elected by 37,007 over Bigler; Mott was elected over Darsie by 190,743; and Jeremiah S. Black was elected by 45,535 over Bair, Know Nothing, and Smyser, Whig.

As soon as the election was over and Mott realized that he had been given this large majority by the Know Nothing vote, he openly denounced the organization as deliberately guilty of a fraud in making him its candidate, and from that day was the most vindictive opponent of Know Nothingism the State could furnish.

The alleged nomination of Pollock and Mott by the Know Nothing organization was a deliberate fraud upon the Know Nothing people, as was evidenced by the fact that their names were submitted to the various lodges by the State Council as candidates and as members of the order, when, in fact, neither of them was a member, but it mattered little whether the lodges voted for or against Pollock and Mott, there was no power to revise the returns, and they were accepted as candidates without a question and their election assured.

Few knew of the Know Nothing organization. Even Curtin had no conception of its strength and never dreamed of the political revolution that it was about to work out.

The three Know Nothing traders decided that they would accept the position of flour inspector, leather inspector and bark inspector. Curtin literally fulfilled his pledge, stating to the Governor all that had transpired and left the Governor to solve the problem.

The Governor was first determined to appoint none of them, but reconsidered and gave one of them a minor inspectorship of the city. The disappointed Know Nothing leaders had to accept defeat as they had no other way of visiting vengeance upon any one, and their party went to pieces within a year.

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John Penn Found First Wife Dying After
Second Marriage, June 6, 1766

A sad incident in the life of John Penn has been told in the story of Tulliallan.[2] While Richard and Thomas Penn, sons of the founder, were selecting plate they intended to present to the English battleship Admiral Penn, John, the seventeen-year-old son of Richard, accompanied them to the establishment of James Cox, the silversmith.

Footnote 2:

The first of a delightful collection of folk lore and legends
collected and published as “Allegheny Episodes,” by Colonel Henry W.
Shoemaker, 1922.

During this errand John Penn met for the first time Marie Cox, the silversmith’s only daughter, and they fell desperately in love with each other. Many visits were made to the fine Quaker home of James Cox, which annoyed the elder Penn, and remonstrate as he did it proved of no avail. A trip to Gretna Green was made, and John Penn, aged nineteen, and Marie Cox, aged seventeen, were duly made husband and wife.

When Richard Penn, the father, and his brother Thomas were apprised by young John of what he had done, he was locked in his room, and after dark he was taken to the waterfront and placed aboard a ship sailing for the coast of France. He was carried to Paris, and there carefully watched, but supplied with all the money he required.

Temporarily John Penn forgot about his wife, Marie, as he plunged into the gayeties of the French capital. The pace was rapid and he soon became seriously ill, but he grew better and was taken to Geneva to convalesce. There he was followed by agents of his creditors, who threatened him with imprisonment for debt. John wrote his father in London, who turned a deaf ear to the prodigal; not so Uncle Thomas.

Thomas Penn wrote to his nephew that he would save him from a debtor’s cell provided he would divorce his wife and go to Pennsylvania for an indefinite period. John was in an attitude to promise anything, and soon his bills were settled. While awaiting his ship to take him to Philadelphia, the young man went to London for a day to say good-by to his relations.

The ship was delayed several days by a severe storm and as John was strolling up the streets in Cheapside, to his surprise he met his bride, the deserted Marie Cox Penn. He was much in love with her and she was ready to forgive. They spent the balance of that day together and during dinner in a restaurant it was arranged that Marie should follow her husband to America; meanwhile he would provide a home for her under an assumed name, until he became of age, when he would defy his family to again tear them apart.

John Penn arrived in Philadelphia in November, 1752. He evinced but little interest in provincial affairs, except to make a trip into the interior. He was accompanied by a bodyguard, among whom was Peter Allen. Penn took a fancy to the sturdy frontiersman, “a poor relation” of Chief Justice William Allen.

Allen had built a stone house twelve miles west of Harris’ Ferry, which he called “Tulliallan.” This was the outpost of civilization. John Penn selected this place for his bride, and as Peter Allen had three young daughters, Penn soon arranged that Marie should be their teacher.

John Penn dispatched his valet to London to escort Marie to America. She arrived and her husband took her to Peter Allen’s, where she became a great favorite and found the new life agreeable. She assumed the name Maria Warren. That was in 1754.

All went well until the Penns in London learned that Marie Cox Penn had gone to America, and they traced her to “Tulliallan.”

Maria Warren mysteriously disappeared. At the same time went two friendly Indians from that neighborhood.

Early the following summer, John Penn set out for Peter Allen’s, and when he arrived he learned that his wife was gone a fortnight, they knew not how or where.

Accompanied by servants and settlers, Penn hunted the mountains, far and wide, and inquired of all with whom he came in contact, red or white, but no trace of his wife could be found. He never gave up the search until he suffered a nervous collapse, and was sent to his home in England.

In 1763, he returned as Lieutenant Governor, and arrived in Philadelphia October 30. On June 6, 1766, he married Anne, daughter of William Allen, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.

A few years later he took a trip through the interior. He stopped at Peter Allen’s and there learned that the Indians had carried his beloved Marie a captive to Canada. It was not long after returning that he again started on another expedition up the Susquehanna River.

A stop was made at Fisher’s Stone House, at what is now known as Fisher’s Ferry, below Sunbury. He was given a noisy welcome and he enjoyed these plain frontier people. While seated by the fireplace he heard coughing in an inner room, and inquired of Peter Fisher who it was who was ill.

“It’s an English woman, your Honor,” replied Fisher. “Tell me about her,” said the Governor. Then Fisher related the strange story, telling Penn that it is said he once loved this woman, that she was kidnapped and carried to Canada, that the Indians were paid for keeping her, that she made her escape and walked all the way back, but became ill and could not reach Peter Allen’s, and was now on her deathbed.

Penn insisted on seeing her, and he went into the room. There lay his wife. They were soon in fond embrace and others left them alone in the room. Ten minutes later Penn ran to the door and called, “Come quick, I fear she is going.” The household assembled but in a few minutes Marie Cox Penn was dead. It is said she lies buried there on a hill which overlooks the Susquehanna.

John Penn returned to Philadelphia and took no more trips through the interior of Pennsylvania. He died childless, February 9, 1795. His wife, nee Allen, survived him until 1813.

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Colonel William Clapham Began Erection
of Fort Halifax, June 7, 1756

Early in the year of 1756 Governor Morris commissioned Lieutenant Colonel William Clapham to recruit the “Augusta Regiment” and build Fort Augusta, at Shamokin, now Sunbury. Clapham rendezvoused his troops at Hunter’s Mills, also known as Fort Hunter and then started his march up the river toward Shamokin.

The first camp was established at Armstrong’s, where on June 7 the commander wrote to Governor Morris saying this was the “most convenient place on the river between Harris’ and Shamokin for a magazine on account of its good natural situation above the Juniata Falls, the vast plenty of pine timber at hand, its nearness to Shamokin and a saw within a quarter of a mile.”

The saw was at Armstrong’s place, at the mouth of Armstrong’s Creek. The soldiers cut and squared two hundred logs, each thirty feet in length, and erected the fortification.