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Show mt igcim m-f v. i.'va-.'.'-'i- -.,!cvCaJ By ELMO SCOTT WATSON . l 1 L , Vif X W V I VpBaY to picture o simple , -if A 4ir I W 2filiS J 7 ILba mtl "ttle frame house stand- fVI4 iA J( T7 ""'"'1 ing on the wooded shores ls f? " S Vi P fiM ji" of a lazily-flowing stream IKSw"4' f" tW tfm '0 M M only a few miles from a yHVArVt fTW S3 ' . greut c'ty where the ssS ai'C f roar an5 clatter of traffic "-fll CfflZF 'JZ&QfXEgR t&PVxS& V - jfjO never ceases day or RGBHftSOTf WK-lrV- 7A? J night But out here these 'Y,?r1llU V. AJftf sounds are muffled and lost iu the rip- -Jar "'-og-7-ao- v f pling of the stream and the murmur sT!Zr' -2ssa. rV'0 I ) v'jfcm of the wind In the branches of the VS !f ' i 5C. elms and maples around the house, !u the meantime Capt. William y (f VV T?j f There sits a gray-haired woman, eyes Wells, a famous frontiersman who had rfjrj;' XT'jf.J dimmed and head bowed by the weight scouted for Wayne, hastened to Dear- 'vi - ixr of nearly a hundred years, dreaming bom from Fort Wayne with 15 friend- pr,A40 perhaps of the long ago when her fa- 'y Miami Indians to escort Heald's rr"pvLi-N llv ther's people ruled a wilderness Into command to the post in Indiana, Vct?U which but few white men had dared Wells' favorite niece, Rebekah Wells. X It ?XZ?Z3 to venture. wns Heald's wife, nnd Wells, knowing , LTjSjFi-VO That was the picture which you we" the ten,Per ot the Indians around UXLc' & mtirht have Reen until recentlv In the Fort Dearborn, was willing to risk his J I By ELMO SCOTT WATSON. rZjvJSEjrtY to picture o simple ( i-. r-3j little frame house stand-!wwa stand-!wwa ing on the wooded shores of a lazily-flowing stream ga only a few miles from a 1 Sfeat city where the "nSftr roar an clatter of traffic 7 never ceases day or night But out here these sounds are muffled and lost iu the rippling rip-pling of the stream and the murmur of the wind In the branches of the elms and maples around the house. There sits a gray-haired woman, eyes dimmed and head bowed by the weight of nearly a hundred years, dreaming perhaps of the long ago when her father's fa-ther's people ruled a wilderness Into which but few white men hud dared to venture. That was the picture which you might have seen until recently In the Cook county forest preserve near Chicago Chi-cago where Mrs. Mary Robinson Rager, daughter of Alexander Robinson Robin-son or Chee-Chu-PIn-Quay, chief of the Pottawatomies, Chlppewas and Ot-tawas, Ot-tawas, made her home for more than three-quarters of a century. The other day she slipped quietly into endless end-less sleep and her death snapped the last link between the modern metropolis, metrop-olis, Chicago, and the little stockaded Fort Dearborn from which It sprang. It was the last echo, too, of the Fort Dearborn massacre, a frontier tragedy trag-edy which In the history of the Middle West is curiously anaiagous to the Fort William Henry massacre in the East, which forms the climax In Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans." For her father, Alexander Robinson, was one of the friendly I'ottawatomle chiefs whose friendship for the whites saved that bloody affair from being one of utter horror. Robinson himself was a half-breed, the son of a Scotch trader and an Ottawa Indian woman, who was born at Mackinac, Mich., In 1789. He made his home with his mother's people and saw the Ottawas and other confederated tribes crushed by "Mad Anthony" Wayne nt the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Although Al-though he was only five years old at the time Robinson retained a vivid recollection of what he saw on that memorable occasion and In his later years often told his thrilling story to his white friends.' Later he married a Pottawatomie woman and became a chief of that tribe. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 Robinson was living near Fort Dearborn, Dear-born, which had been built on the present pres-ent site of Chicago in 1803. He had formed a fast friendship with John Kinzle, often called "the father of Chicago," a trader and silversmith who settled near Fort Dearborn In 1S0-4, and It was this friendship which probably Influenced him to play the role which he did on the fateful day, of August 15, 1S12. For some time previous to the massacre mas-sacre the little garrison commanded by Capt. Nathan Ileald had been alarmed by various hostile acts of the Indians who were hanging around the post, but affairs did not become threatening until the middle of the summer. Then on August 9 Ileald received re-ceived orders from General Hull at Detroit to evacuate the post, destroy the arms and ammunition, distribute the stores from the government factory fac-tory among the friendly Indians and proceed to Fort Wayne, Ind. Although Heald realized fully how perilous the execution of this order would be, he had no other choice but to obey. So the evacuation of the fort was planned for August 15. Iu the meantime Capt. William Wells, a famous frontiersman who had scouted for Wayne, hastened to Dearborn Dear-born from Fort Wayne with 15 friendly friend-ly Miami Indians to escort Heald's command to the post in Indiana. Wells' favorite niece, Rebekah Wells, was Heald's wife, nnd Wells, knowing well the temper of the Indians around Fort Dearborn, was willing to risk his life. If need be. The day before the evacuation the goods were distributed among the Indians In-dians who had begun to swarm around the post as soon as the news that It was to be abandoned had spread, but all of the extra ammunition and a large store of whisky were destroyed. Although It Is virtually certain that Heald's command would have been attacked at-tacked anyway, this destruction so Infuriated In-furiated the Indians that the garrison's garri-son's doom was sealed then and there. That evening Black Partridge, a friendly Pottawatomie chief, came to Heald and warned him that his young warriors were bent on mischief and that he probably could not restrain them from attack on the morrow. But it was too late then to turn back. The next morning there Issued forth from the fort "the saddest procession Michigan avenue has ever known" the garrison of Fort Dearborn marching march-ing to what they realized was their death. At the head of the column rode Captain Wells, his face painted j black In anticipation of his fate. Next i came the regular soldiers und in the rear, In wagons, rode the women and children, guarded by the citizens who lived near the fort and who had been enrolled by Heald as militia. A mile and a half south of the fort the Indians, In-dians, hidden among the sand hills, attacked. The struggle was brief, but in the short time it lasted there were deeds of heroism which would fill volumes. When the battle was over, 25 regular reg-ular soldiers, 12 militia, 2 women and 12 children were dead and the remainder re-mainder were In the hands of the Indians as prisoners. Captain Heald had surrendered to Black Bird, the principal Pottawatomie chief, when he saw that further resistance was useless use-less and would mean the death of all after they were overcome. Both he and his wife were badly wounded. Some of the prisoners were tortured to death that night and others saved for ransom. Among the latter were Captain and Mrs. Heald, because the Indians realized that they could demand de-mand a large sum of money for the commander, and they were turned over to Alexander Robinson. The next day their enptors set out for the St. Joseph river In Michigan where the Healds were left in the custody cus-tody of a few Indians while the other Indians sped away to take part in an attack on Fort Wayne. In their nb-sence, nb-sence, u chance to escape presented Itself. Alexander Robinson was prevailed upon to conduct them to Mackinac in bis blrchbark canoe, for which service serv-ice Heald was to pay him a hundred dollars. Disregarding the danger to himself when his tribesmen returned and found that their prisoners had escaped, es-caped, Robinson, accompanied by his w-ife, set out on the 300-mile Journey. They paddled the entire length of Lake Michigan and after 10 days arrived ar-rived at Mackinac where the llealds were turned over to the British commander, com-mander, Captain Roberts. They were treated kindly and eventually paroled and allowed to return to their home Iu Louisville, Ky. The Indians had burned Fort Dearborn Dear-born after the massacre, but It was rebuilt in 1816. Robinson again made his home near the fort and became known as a steadfast friend of the whites. At the outbreak of the Winnebago Winne-bago war In 1827 It was due to his efforts and to those of two other Pottawatomie Pot-tawatomie chiefs, Shabbona and Saug-anash Saug-anash (Billy Caldwell), that the Pottawatomies Pot-tawatomies did not join the Wlune-bagoes Wlune-bagoes and attack Fort Dearborn. Again In 1S32 Robinson held his tribesmen In check when they would have joined Black Hawk, the Sac leader, In his war against the whites. Instead of turning hostile, Robinson and some of his warriors served as scouts for the armies of General Atkinson At-kinson and General Henry which finally final-ly subdued Black Hawk. Robinson served as Interpreter for Gen. Lewis Cass at the treaty with the Chlppewas In 1820 and his name appears on the two treaties of Prairie du Chlen of 1829 and 1834. By these treaties the sura of $5,000 was .granted to Robinson for his services serv-ices to the whites and each of his children, chil-dren, a son and two daughters, was given $400. In addition be was given a large tract of land on the Desplaines river near Chicago and there he II ted until his death in 1872. His wife and son died the next year and the land came into the possession of his daughter, daugh-ter, Mary Robinson, who had married Francis Rager, a trader, . Later the principal part of the land was purchased by Cook county to bu used as a forest preserve, but ten acres, including the plot where her father, mother and brother are bin led, were reserved for her during her lifetime. life-time. There she had lived for the last 75 years on the border of civilization but utterly apart from It During all her lifetime she never rode In a street car or automobile and during the last 30 years of It she never visited vis-ited the city of Chicago. There la the tiny fragment of the wilderness that had once been, she lived In the forgotten past until her death on January 8, 1927, closed forever the last chapter of Indian history In tha old Northwest |
