Show Foret teB by ELMO SCOTT WATSON guardian of the frontier eorge bogers dark captured in 1778 he became with a prosperous fur trader daniel maurice godfrey de I 1 anctot in the illge of nearby de was among the first of the french citizens to swear allegiance to the united states there was no special reason eliy he should have done more than that for he had much to lose and little to gain by joining his fortunes to the little band of invaders before he knew whether or not they would be able to hold the illinois country against the british but de was fired by the daring of dark and his men and he offered his services to the virginian in influencing the various tribes in favor of the amark ins the indians had known him as a fur trad er alio did not cheat them in barter ing for their furs and they had the highest admiration and respect for him during the next two ears he went everywhere in the middle est from st louls on the mississippi to tort patt in the east to ure the tribesmen to give up their allegiance to the british and join the americans because of he value of his services dark appointed him indian agent of the illinois an appointment which was confirmed by the state of clr glela which also appointed him a ma jor after dark a capture of ln cennes he made de I 1 anctot command er of the little fort la pee nt what Is now leorla III and also commas him to enlist as many french men and findlins as he could for an attack on the british at detroit and fort st joseph in this work de I 1 inc tot was entirely successful and hun deeds of indians joined his in fact such was his influence that one indian tribe although it did not join him turned back a british ex lon which was sent to capture la pee the british soon heard of de I 1 inc tots work and made strenuous to capture or kill him but they never succeeded and for two ears he kept them in a perpetual state of alarm and had a great deal to do with foiling their plans for recapturing the illinois country it was this sen ice of his which won for him the title of guardian of the frontier and which entities him to the gratitude of the american nation for without his aid george rogers dark might have been driven out of the illinois country and the old northwest might hive been british territory at the end of the revolution de I 1 Inc tots health broke under his exertions and he died in 1781 almost penniless for he had contributed heavily from hla own private fortune to aid dark A presidents heroic ancestor TAFF was T the biggest man vi ho ever sal in the presidents chair in the alte house but he came by his bulk honestly for his ancestor abner taft Is described as a man of gigantic size and courage nolte on a furlough from the continental tin army in the fall of ab ner taft returned to his usual mccu of a gloucester fisherman one day he and his two companions were captured by captain scott corn mander of the british schooner the tartar the best description of scotts character Is to tell the nick name of his vessel it was called hell afloat despite the protests of taft and bis companions that they were peaceful fishermen the british captain declared that aliey were deserters from the british colors had them logged with the cat 0 alue tallo and threatened to hang them but the tartar was short handed and captain scott decided tint the execution could wait until inter he hid need for them the were set to work closely watched but abner taft soon discovered that a number of the ships crew like him sel biad been shanghaied ed taking into his confidence 15 whom he believed he could trust he began making elins to sele the ship and repay the brutal british captain for hs cruelties cruel ties luck favored him one when the 18 conspirators were on the bame watch and scott and his officers were having a carouse one of the plotters lighted a bundle of oakum tossed it into the hold and raised the cry of airel As a part of the watch sprang below taft and his party sprang upon the others killed hem quickly closed and barricades barricaded barrica ded the hatches and were masters of the deck although a brutal officer scott was no coward and he ordered his men to cut their way out the first two at tempts were unsuccessful but in the third scott and his officers succeeded in reaching the deck where they in mediately chafee chafed the wah swon p he joy of 1 ba ie shining in his ee abner taft cu ass in hand met his enemy and alth one terrible stroke split his bead to the very jaw rhe stripes on hi back were avenged I 1 but he was no done yet he soon convinced the t he was the mss ass and a few days later he triumphant fars alls ot war anto S t mi Ny 9 |