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Show ft"""""""" 3 : TALES OF j THE OLD I : FRONTIER I Br ELMO SCOTT WATSON ', .... ii (. 1111, WnttrD Nawapapar Union.) THAT TERRIBLE "LONG KNIFE SQUAW" AMONG the pioneers who crossed the Appalachians to seek new homes In the West at the close of the Revolution Revolu-tion was a man named John Merrill, who settled In what is now Nelson county, Kentucky. That country was still as much a "Dark and Bloody Ground" as It had been when Daniel Boone first visited It and the fear of an Indian attack ever hovered over the isolated cabins of the settlers and their stockaded forts. But Nelson was the type of man not easily daunted and he was fortunate in having for his mate a woman of remarkable strength and courage. One evening in 1787 Merrill was aroused by the barking of his dog and when he opened the door to see what was the trouble be fell with his arm and leg broken by the bullets of a band of seven Indians. As he dropped to the floor he cried to his wife to close the door. Then the savages attacked the planks with their tomahawks and soon made a hole large enough for one of their number to crawl through. Mrs. Merrill Immediately seised an as and with this weapon she killed the first Intruder. He had scarcely rolled to one side when another entered to meet the same fate, as did a third. A fourth, unwarned by the fate of his fellows, was the next victim and by this time the Indians realized the futility of further attempts. The three survivors then climbed to the roof of the cabin with the Intention Inten-tion of gaining entrance by dropping down through the huge chimney. But Mrs. Merrill was as resourceful as tain Outing lu ttmtv.Mvu, a auixeas ful Indian fighter and a man who, under un-der the nickname of "Nullchucky Jack." was one of the greatest heroes of the old Southwest Although the new state had a complete com-plete machinery of government It lacked one vital thing currency, the llfeblood of a commonwealth. Lacking Lack-ing both the material and means for producing metal coinage, Sevier snd his sdvlsers decided to make uao of the commonest medium of exchange st .hand, the skins of wild animals The scale of values which they established es-tablished was coon skins and fox skins, one shilling and threepence, and beaver skins and otter skins, six shillings. shill-ings. Other articles, such as bacon, tallow, beeswax, whisky and brandy, were also recognized as legal temler, but coonsklns were the commonest and virtually the basic medium of the system. Sevier's salury as governor was set at 1,000 dt-er skins a year. After a brief but stormy existence, North Carolina finally regained control con-trol over Franklin by armed force and held It until 1700, when the territory was again returned to the federal government gov-ernment In 1790 the state of Tennessee Tennes-see came Into the Union and the commonwealth com-monwealth of Franklin soon bscsms only a memory. |
