sell to the commissary, from whom she
gets a dollar, gold, the sack, for her pro-
duce. Her husband also works for the
company, but at another place. She works
"to help out," she says. They have seven
boys.
"We have to work very hard here," the
woman assured us. They would go back
to Jamaica if they had the money. It
costs her a dollar and a half to go from
here to where her husband has his job of
a dollar a day on the railway. "I married
him twenty years now," she explains.
Idly, then, we remarked the oysters on
the piers. Then we took a peep in the
company store house, run by the trust, to
sell its wares to employees at cost.
Almirante, it seems, was the wholesale
station for thirty or forty commissary sta-
tions. People from thereabout buy openly
for the stores can sell to any one. There
is the position of inspector of commissar-
ies here, and a romantic task it is, travel-
ing from store to store, taking inventory
as frequently as possible. Again, it makes
one think of the inspectors of the Hudson
Bay posts. Usually there is a negro to
run each of these commissaries, and this
at so much the month.
Employees of the posts must depend on
the natives round about for their meat.
Vegetables are brought in from the States
every week, and put into cold storage. All
Out hunting.
418
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
these vegetables, practically, come from
New Orleans. Three of the great com-
pany boats come to this point, making an
average of one a week, and so there is vir-
tually a fresh supply.
If we could spare the time Friend as-
sured we would go out to some of these
stations.
Each was on a plantation, and there,
already now, they were cutting the
bananas for the next boat.
Interesting combinations were made by
buyers on those plantation commissaries.
Rice and beans and cod-fish were sold very
largely. Some of them, it seems, got as
much as three of the hundred-pound boxes
of the fish every two weeks. Even at Al-
mirante there were very few whites about,
and at times it was mighty lonesome,
Friend assured us. Here at Almirante,
even, there were but six or seven. This
is a new terminal. At some few stations
the number rose to fifty.
The company, it seemed, did not buy
fruit from outsiders, running its own
plantations, and at one place they had
18,000 acres in bananas alone. Of course
they could export some of the odd fruits
here, but one must establish a demand for
them, and meanwhile the bananas paid so
much better.
This place had all sprung up in the six
months the company had established it
here, so we could see how much work was
clone.
It was an interesting chat, there on the
dock, at the fruit station. Friend told how
some of the white boys tried hunting, and
how, now and then, a native Nimrod would
bring in a wild turkey, which was gobbled
right up by a buyer. Then he told how
pigs were raised, being fed on the bananas.
And he told of the big house for white
employees, erected on each plantation by
the company, too, and how the trust treats
its employees well indeed.
Here, as at Bocas, the company was to
fill in the sluices, using a sand pump for
that.
In fact, there was so much to tell to
be explained we sat there till late even-
ing.
JUDGMENT IS MINE"
BY AL.OYSIUS COL.X,
"Hast thou a husband?" so He spake
The woman at the well;
He knew that she was wed to Sin
The woman did not tell.
Then, judging not her soul that she
Were Magdalene or wife,
He premised of His own clean heart
The meat and drink of life.
"Hast thou a husband?" and the world
That cannot know nor tell
If she be wed to man or Sin,
Condemns her soul to hell !
THE BULWARKS OF OUR ANCESTORS
A Plea for Their Preservation
BY RUDOLF CRONATJ
WHEX YOU happen to visit
one of the older settlements
of our Far West, you may
perhaps note some gray,
weather-worn structure of heavy logs,
standing in strange contrast to the light
frame houses, which betray their recent
construction by their fresh coats of paint.
Sometimes you find these queer-looking
buildings surrounded by high palisades or
by ditches, and when you inquire as to
their purpose, you are told that in by-
gone days they served as retreats for the
settlers, when they were compelled to fly
from the attacks of the Indians.
Up to the middle of the last century,
such rude fortifications could be found in
many settlements, but after the Indians
had been subjugated or driven away, most
of the structures were torn down to give
place to stores and dwelling houses. To-
day only very few of these places of refuge
remain, and it is for the sake of their pre-
servation that this article is written.
Certainly these little forts are inter-
esting enough, if you only recognize to
what acts of bravery and noble heroism
their gray walls have been witnesses.
Let us take a glance into history. When
our forefathers settled in the wilderness
of America, as the first pioneers of civili-
zation, safety was one of their first wants.
For this reason they preferred to build
houses of stone. If it was not at hand or
hard to break, the cabins were constructed
of trunks of such trees as could be easily
felled and trimmed. Firs and pines an-
swered this purpose best.
In the erection of a log cabin axes and
augers were often the only tools used, but
usually draw-knives and cross-cut saws
were added. The body of the house was
mostly an oblong square of logs, raised one
above the other. Later on, spaces for the
door and windows were chopped out. The
wooden fireplace and chimney were pro-
tected from the action of the fire by a lin-
ing of clay, and the floor was formed
either from the plain surface of hewn logs
or covered with boards sawed by hand.
The door was made of massive boards,
split from a log and hastily smoothed with
the draw-knife. After they had been
united firmly with wooden pins, the door
was hung upon wooden hinges and fast-
ened with a wooden latch. Hardly a nail
or any particle of metal entered the com-
position of these crude dwellings. But
they gave not only ample shelter, but
safety, as their walls were utterly im-
penetrable for arrows and bullets.
If such huts were intended for short
occupancy, they seldom possessed more
than one story, with one or two rooms.
But if intended for permanent occupation,
another story was added. In such a case,
the lower one had often no other openings
than the door and a number of loop-holes
through which the inhabitants, when be-
sieged, could fire upon the assailants.
The floor of the second story frequently
projected two or three feet over the first,
having openings for firing downward and
throwing boiling water upon the enemies
when they would attempt to force open the
door or set fire to the building. To pre-
vent such approach of hostiles, some back-
woodsmen invented very drastic devices.
They drove long nails or sharp awl-blades
through boards, and then placed these on
the ground, so that the Indians, when
sneaking up to the cabin in the dark,
would step on the nail-points.
Inside the cabin a ladder led through
an opening to the upper story. As this
ladder could be removed and the opening
closed with a trap door, this upper story
was another place of refuge, after the lower
Front view of Fort Nez Perces.
one had been taken by the enemy. To
prevent the firing of the roof by burning
arrows or other combustibles, it was cov-
ered with clay, through which the flames
could not eat their way. Buckets with
water stood distributed over the entire
building, so that a fire could easily be
extinguished. A well was dug in one of
the corners of the cabin or in its immedi-
ate neighborhood so that the indispensable
water might never be lacking during a
long siege. Sometimes closely fitting trap
doors led to secret places of concealment
provided for the women and children.
That such cabins, when defended by'
resolute men. answered their purpose very
well, is known from many incidents.
When, during our war for independ-
ence, the Mohawk Valley became the scene
of many horrible ravages by the Indians
and Tories, Christian Schell, a Palatine,
together with his wife and six sons, oc-
cupied a lonely loghouse four miles north-
east of Fort Dayton, the site of the pres-
ent city of Herkimer, N. Y. It was in
the early hours of August 6, 1781, when
48 Indians and 16 Tories made a sudden
raid upon this family. Schell and his
sons were working in the field, but de-
tected the enemy soon enough to make
their escape to the house. All succeeded
in reaching it, except the two youngest
lads, who were captured by an Indian.
The latter was shot by Schell, but it was
impossible to free the boys, as they were
hurried off by some other of the enemy.
Then the battle commenced and was
kept up until night, Mrs. Schell assisting
her husband and sons in loading the guns.
'Several times the attacks of the enemies
were repelled. But when darkness had set
in, McDonald, the leader of the Tories,
succeeded in reaching the door of the
cabin and attempted to force the entrance
by using a crowbar he had found in front
of the house. But a shot from Schell hit
him in the leg and brought him down. In
the next minute the bold German quick-
ly unbarred the door, grasped the wounded
man and dragged him in a prisoner.
Enraged by the capture of their leader,
the enemy made several furious assaults.
Jumping close to the house, they thrust
their guns through the loop-holes and be-
gan to fire within the building. But Mrs.
Schell seized an axe and by well-directed
blows, ruined every gun by bending the
barrels. As the men opened a terrific fire
from above at the same time, the besiegers
fell back in a hurry.
When morning dawned, Schell used a
ruse causing the enemy to suppose that
a heavy force of Americans was approach-
ing to* aid the settlers. Eunning to the
THE BULWARKS OF OUR ANCESTORS.
421
upper story of the house, Schell and his
sons shouted in loud voices to an imag-
inary company., welcoming it and giving
directions. "Colonel Small, march your
men on this side of the house !" "Captain
Getman, you better wheel your company
off to the left and come up on that side !"
Deceived by this strategem, the enemy
retreated, having already suffered a loss of
twenty-three.
Still more remarkable was the defense
of a log house that stood upon a prominent
part of the Palisades, just across the
eightieth streets of New York City. It
had been built by the English during the
extremely cold winter of 1779 to 1780, to
serve as a retreat for the numerous wood-
choppers who had been sent across the
river to cut firewood for the freezing army.
As these men were frequently attacked by
the Americans, the two-storied log house
had been placed so close to the brink of
the rocks that an attack from the river-
side was impossible. The other sides were
protected by an entrenchment and a line
of heavy palisades. About one hundred
soldiers served as a garrison.
To drive the English out, General
Wayne started with a force of 1800 men
and four six-pounders. After distributing
the greater part of his army over the hills
north and south, from Fort Lee to Wee-
hawken, to prevent a sudden surprise by
the English army of New York, he at-
tacked the log house with the rest of his
men in the morning of the 21st of July.
Posting his guns only sixty yards away
from the entrenchments, he bombarded
the palisades as well as the log house for
over an hour. It is told that 52 balls went
into the house, dismantling two guns of
the British, killing six soldiers and wound-
ing a number of them. But the six-
pounders proved too inefficient to smash
the heavy stockade. Therefore, when
news came in the afternoon that 3,000
English were crossing the river, General
Wayne ordered the retreat. But his sol-
diers, embittered by the failure of the en-
terprise, decided to make an assault upon
the rude fortress. Carrying the outer
works in a few minutes, they met, how-
ever such a heavy fire in front of the
house that the officers found it necessary
to call them back, after having had 15
killed and 49 wounded. The British, fear-
ing other attacks, burned the house a few
days later, as with the approach of sum-
mer, firewood was no longer in demand.
At places where the danger of hostile at-
tacks was great, the settlers banded to-
gether and ranged their cabins in a square
or parallelogram, so that the front sides
and cabin doors faced the common square,
while the back of the huts, connected by
rows of palisades, presented a continuous
wall. The palisades, firmly planted in the
ground and from twelve to fifteen feet
high, had their tops sharpened as an ad-
ditional protection against savage intrud-
ers. A narrow wooden support or a walk
of earth enabled the inhabitants of the
station to stand within the enclosure and
fire over the top of the palisades. One or
A frontier fort on the Missouri in the beginning of the 19th century.
4:22
OVEBLAND MONTHLY.
two gates, barred by massive doors, led
into the station.
None of these stations became so well
known as Boonesborough, erected in 1775
by Daniel Boone, the famous pioneer of
Kentucky. Collins, in his " Historical
Sketches of Kentucky/' furnishes the fol-
lowing description of it: "Boonesborough
was situated adjacent to the Kentucky
Kiver, with one of the angles resting on its
bank near the water, and extending from it
in the form of a parallelogram. The
length of the fort, allowing twenty feet
for each cabin and opening, was about two
hundred and sixty, and the breadth one
hundred and fifty feet." There exists also
an old print after a drawing by Colonel
Henderson.
Boonesborough resisted several fierce at-
tacks of the Indians, the most obstinate
occurring in 1778, when a party of 500
Indians, under command of the British
Captain Duquesne, appeared before the
station.
Displaying the British flag, Duquesne
demanded an immediate surrender, threat-
ening the massacre of all inhabitants in
case of a refusal. But Boone and his men
resolved to resist, and gave the Indians
such a hot reception that they were soon
glad to withdraw to the cover of the
woods.
A siege of nine days followed. Finding
that they could not take the station by
force, the Indians attempted to set it on
fire by throwing combustibles on the roofs
of the cabins. But the flames were speed-
ily extinguished. Foiled in this effort,
the enemy resorted to another experiment.
The fort stood sixty yards from the steep
river bank, which concealed the Indians
from view. Under the directions of the
English officers, the redskins now began
to dig a mine from the river bank into
the fort. But one morning the sharp eyes
of the backwoodsmen detected the dis-
coloration of the river from the fresh
earth thrown into it, and instantly took
steps to defeat the project. This was
done by cutting a deep trench under the
palisades and then in front of the fort so
as to intersect the approaching mine.
Boone also constructed a wooden cannon
to be loaded with nails and stones. It was
his intention to place this cannon into the
tunnel and fire it the instant the Indians
would appear. But the British, noticing
that their plans had been discovered, aban-
doned the siege, having had 37 killed and
many more wounded. The loss of the he-
roes of Boonesborough amounted to only
two men, while but four were wounded.
After the retreat of the enemy, the in-
habitants of the station picked one hun-
dred and twenty-five pounds of the en-
emy's bullets out of the logs of their huts.
When the construction of such stations
was in the hands of persons commanding
some strategic knowledge, then they be-
came more elaborate affairs genuine
forts. Careful consideration was given to
the situation as well as to all other means
of defense. In front of the palisades deep
ditches were dug, over which a draw-
bridge led toward the entrance. The an-
gles of the fort became strengthened by
heavy towers or "flankers," the upper
stories of which generally projected a few
feet beyond the stockade, and were pro-
vided with numerous loop-holes, so that
it was impossible for any enemy to make
a lodgment under the walls after he might
have succeeded in reaching the foot of the
palisades. As these flankers had but one
entrance, mostly in the upper story and
accessible only by a ladder, these strong-
holds quite often baffled the most des-
perate efforts of the besiegers.
Very frequently a similar log house,
but of quite larger dimensions, stood in
the center of the fort, to serve as a last
retreat in case all other buildings had
fallen into the hands of the enemies. In
the times of peace, it served as quarters
for the officers, and underneath this was
the magazine. Small pieces of artillery,
generally brass four or six-pounders,
stood at" the most important parts of the
stockade or upon wooden platforms erected
especially for this purpose.
Upon the treeless plains the construc-
tion of forts was of course much more
difficult. In many places it became nec-
essary to rely on aidobe, sunburnt bricks of
clay, as used in New Mexico and Arizona.
A good example of such adobe forts was
Laramie, one of the many posts estab-
lished by the American Fur Company for
the protection of its trade. It had an ob-
long shape. The walls were fifteen feet
high and surmounted by palisades. The
roofs of the apartments within, which were
THE BULWARKS OF OUR ANCESTORS.
423
built close to the walls, served as a ban-
quette upon which the men stood when
firing. At two of the corners were heavy
flankers.
According' to Parkman, the fort was
divided within by a partition; on one side
was the square area, surrounded by the
store rooms, offices and apartments of the
inmates, on the other was the corral, where
at night, or in the presence of dangerous
Indians, the horses and mules of the fort
were crowded for safe-keeping. The main
entrance had two gates, with an arched
passage intervening. A little square win-
dow high above the ground opened later-
ally from an adjoining chamber into this
passage, so that when the inner gate was
closed and barred a person outside might
still communicate with those within. This
obviated the necessity for admitting sus-
picious Indians into the fort for trading;
for when danger was apprehended, the in-
ner gate was shut tightly, and all traffic
was carried on by means of the window.
So Fort Laramie stood upon an emi-
nence on the left side of the Platte river,
while behind stretched a line of arid and
desolate ridges, and behind these again,
towering seven thousand feet aloft, rose
the grim Black Hills.
The many dangers which the settlers
must face at all times caused them to in-
stitute signals of alarm, by which neigh-
bors might be warned or called for assist-
ance. Reliable men, well posted on the
numerous tricks of Indian warfare, pa-
trolled the so-called frontier, watching all
movements of the Indian tribes. When
sure of some hostile intentions, these
"Rangters" hurried to the next station
or fort and gave the alarm. Among the
Palatines of the Mohawk and Shoharie,
one boom of a cannon was a notification
to the settlers to fly to the fort. Two shots
following in quick succession indicated
that the people on their way to the fort
might encounter danger. But three shots
gave the warning that the fort was sur-
rounded by enemies, and therefore the set-
tlers must conceal themselves in the for-
est.
How necessary it was to be always on
the alert is shown by the ill fate of Fort
Michilimackinac, which stood on the site
of the city of Mackinac, Michigan. When
in 1763 the war with Pontiac broke out,'
this fort had a garrison of thirty-five
British soldiers under command of Cap-
tain Etherington. Warning that the In-
dians were plotting an assault had reached
the fort, but the captain paid no attention
to it.
The sudden surprise came in the morn-
ing of June 4th, when the Indians, camp-
ing on the plain in front of the fort, ap-
parently enjoyed a game of ball. Hun-
dreds of young warriors could . be seen
running, jumping and exerting all kinds
of tricks to catch the ball and foil the ad-
versary. Sometimes the ball rose high in
the air or went in graceful curves to far
distances, followed by the players, who
bounded after it. Without suspecting
treachery, the soldiers of the fort, mostly
without their weapons, stood in groups
near the open gate, watching the fortunes
of the game. Large numbers of Indian
squaws apparently also interested in the
game, had collected in the shade of the
palisades.
Suddenly the ball, as though driven by-
a chance stroke, described a wide curve and
fell near the gate, the Indians jumping
after it. But in the moment that they
reached the spot, they raised their terri-
ble warwhoop and brandished the knives
which they had hidden under their breech
cloths. At the same instant the squaws
threw open their blankets, quickly hand-
ing tomahawks and loaded guns to the
men, who fell upon the defenseless sol-
diers like a thunder storm, slaughtering
them mercilessly. Rushing through the
open gate, the Indians then captured all
the other soldiers and butchered them in
a frightful manner.
From the day of the landing of the
first pioneers, the women were not only
the efficient comrades of the men, but also
their allies in the hours of danger. The
chronicles relating the incidents of border
warfare abound with stories of heroines
who played a conspicuous part in the de-
fense of single log houses, as well as of
stations and forts. Moulding the bullets
and loading the guns, they handed them
to the men, who could consequently fire
three times where they otherwise could
have done so once. If there happened to
be a lull during the fight, the women car-
ried water or food to the smoke-blackened
men, tended to the wounded, baked bread
424
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
or nourished the infants. In cases of
emergency,, many women stood at the loop-
holes, firing the rifles with all the skill
and precision of the men.
An example of the noble spirit that
swelled the bosoms of such heroines is the
instance of Elizabeth Zane, a young girl
of seventeen years, living near Fort Henry
in West Virginia. When in November,
1782, the fort was besieged and the little
garrison of fifty men had been reduced to
only twelve, the situation became extreme-
ly desperate, as the stock of powder gave
out.
There was a keg of powder stored in the
cabin of the Zanes', but this hut stood
some sixty yards from the gate of the fort
and could be reached only by passing the
whole distance under fire of the Indians,
a feat which seemed altogether hopeless.
But the perilous attempt had to be made.
When the commandant of the fort called
for volunteers, several responded, among
them, to the general surprise, Elizabeth
Zane. She argued that the garrison of the
fort was already too weak for the life of
one of the soldiers to be risked. As her
own life was of no importance, she claimed
the privilege to perform the dangerous
task. Defeating all objections, Miss Zane
asked to have the gate opened. Passing
out, she strolled leisurely to her home, in
full view of the Indians, who, wondering
what it meant, made no attempt to molest
the girl.
Entering the cabin, she found the keg
of powder, and a few minutes later re-ap-
peared with the keg concealed under a
tablecloth. Xot before the girl had gone
some distance did the Indians grasp the
situation and send a volley after her. But
miraculously she was not struck. Beaching
the fort in safety, she was greeted by the-
shouts of its defenders, who, inspired by
the brave deed, fought with such tenacity
that the Indians despaired of capturing
the fort and finally retreated.
Similar heroism was shown by the
young women of Bryant Station, Ken-
tucky, when this settlement was attacked
in 1782 by the notorious renegade Simon
Girty, with five hundred of his Indian fol-
lowers. The attack found the inhabitants
of the station utterly unprepared. The
The last retreat.
Outposts in wintertime.
greatest peril in case of a siege was the
scarcity of water, as the spring on which
the settlers depended was some distance
outside of the station. Everybody knew
that the enemy, after their first repulse,
was lying in ambush in the neighboring
woods. But as the need of water became
more and more urgent, steps had to be
taken to get it at any price. So the wo-
men seized their buckets and started for