Fort Wayne Daily Sentinel
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Friday, November 27, 1874
An Old Indian Killer.
INTERESTING EVENTS IN THE HISTORY
OF AN ANCIENT RIFLE.
[From the Louisville Courier-Journal.]
Mr. Andrew Whitley, of St. Louis, en route to Lexington, visited the Courier-Journal office yesterday with a rare relic of the earliest days of Kentucky.
It was a rifle, made by Jacob Young, of Virginia, in 1741, and owned by Mr. Whitley's grandfather, Wm. Whitley, who was one of the first white men that came to Kentucky, and was a companion of Daniel Boone.
The Gun is as much a curiosity, on account of its great length, as it is a prize on account of its great age, its history, and recent associations. It is the old-time flintlock pattern, about five feet five inches in length, with a silver plate mounting on the stock, bearing the inscription:.... "W. and E. W.," which stands for William and Easter Whitley.
The gun, in the days of its usefulness, was a piece of the family property, and the wife learned as well as the husband to coolly draw the bead on a deer or an Indian, whenever occasion required.
The weapon is of large bore, with perfect rifle, and the stock and ferruled rammer are apparently in perfectly sound condition.
Accompanying the gun is a large powder-horn of beautiful shape, carrying a large supply of powder, and suiting the use of the hunter as well as the ordinary small hunting flask or horn, its shape being as well adapted
to the purpose.
The horn is well known throughout the State, and bears on one side the following verses, carved in the bony substance.
The words composed, by Wm. Whitley himself, and will doubtless be remembered
by many readers of the Courier-Journal familiar with the lives of the early settlers:....
William Whitley, I am your horn;
The truth I love, a lie I scorn.
Fill me with, best of powder,
Ile make your rifle crack the lowder.
See how the dread terrifick ball
Makes Indians bleed and toreys fall.
You with powder Ile supply
For to defend your Liberty.
The belt to which the horn is attached is heavily ornamented with beads made of the quills of porcupines, which are said to have been killed in Kentucky.
After passing through all the scenes of terror enacted on the dark and bloody ground, incident to the settlement of the commonwealth by the whites, the faithful old rifle was associated with events which add great interest to its history.
William Whitley was a soldier in the war of 1812, and directed the bullets of his old-time friend against the British and Indians at the battle of the Thames, Canada.
Here he was killed in the thick of the fight, but the gun was preserved and returned to his people in Kentucky.
Some time before the recent civil war the present owner came to this State, found the gun in the possession of Mrs. Sallie Ann Higgins, near Crab Orchard, and purchased it at a cost of $150. He carried the relic to his home in St. Louis, where he kept it until the breaking out of the war, when he was arrested at Camp Jackson during the demonstration there on the llth. day of May, 1861, and was for some time a prisoner in Federal hands.
A short time previous to this occurrence, while contemplating entering the Confederate army, he placed the gun in the keeping of a man named Bates, the janitor of Wyman's Museum, St. Louis.
A short time afterward the museum changed hands, and Bates went to Canada, taking the gun with him.
At the close of the war Whitley returned home, and immediately afterward commenced looking after Bates and his gun, but all efforts to find the man proved fruitless until about twelve months ago, when Bates returned to St. Louis, and was engaged in the business of stuffing birds and animals for a natural history depot. His name appeared soon after in the public prints, and by this means his where about was revealed to Mr. Whitley. He went immediately to the place, found Mr. Bates, who readily recognized him as the owner of the gun, and in due time delivered to him the valuable family relic, which he had kept in good order for twelve years.
On returning to Kentucky on a visit a few days ago, Mr. Whitley went down to Crab Orchard and obtained from Mrs. Higgins the horn and belt, which were the only acconterments belonging to the highly prized piece.
Mr. Whitley has refused an offer of $500 for the gun, and would be loth to part with it at any price.
Topic: The rifle that killed Tecumseh (Read 143 times)