To show of what material the boys were made, in the great heroic age of
the west, we give the following, which we find in a recent communication
from Major Nye, of Ohio. The scene of adventure was within the present
limits of Wood county, Virginia.
I have heard from Mr. Guthrie and others, that at Bellville a man had a
son, quite a youth, say twelve or fourteen years of age, who had been used
to firing his father's gun, as most boys did in those days. He heard, he
supposed, turkeys on or near the bank of the Ohio, opposite that place,
and asked his father to let him take his gun and kill one. His father
knowing that the Indians often decoyed people by such noises, refused,
saying it was probably an Indian. When he had gone to work, the boy took
the gun and paddled his canoe over the river, but had the precaution to
land some distance from where he had heard the turkey all the morning,
probably from fear of scaring the game, and perhaps a little afraid of
Indians. The banks were steep, and the boy cautiously advanced to where he
could see without being seen. Watching awhile for his game, he happened to
see an Indian cautiously looking over a log, to notice where the boy had
landed. The lad fixed his gun at rest, watching the place where he had
seen the Indian's head, and when it appeared again, fired, and the Indian
disappeared. The boy dropped the gun and ran for his canoe, which he
paddled over the river as soon as possible. When he reached home, he said,
"Mother, I have killed an Indian!" and the mother replied, "No, you have
not." "Yes, I have," said the boy. The father coming in, he made the same
report to him, and received the same reply; but he constantly affirmed it
was even so; and, as the gun was left, a party took the boy over the river
to find it, and show the place where he shot the Indian, and behold, his
words were found verified. The ball had entered the head, where the boy
had affirmed he shot, between the eye and ear.