8
THE OMAJIA SUNDAY BEE: JUNE 3, 1906.
r,.-ih.
1
rJ'
J -
I
1 Onst dimmer In settlement of this coun
ter was br the procurement of Blr Walter
Raleigh In conjun-tlun with torn public eplr
Ited gentleiueu of that a-e, auilar tbe protec
tion of (Jueeu. Eillsauetib, fur watch reason tt
waa then named Virginia. being begun on that
part called Huanoke UlaDd, WUere the rain
f a fort ara to be seen tfcta da?, as well aa
acme old Bnsilah eotna Wales hare been lately
found,' and a brass (tin, a powfar bora aad one
anaall quarter run, made of Iron stavses and
hooped with the mu aietal. A fur
ther confirmation of tbts we have from the
Hatteraa ludlaua, who either oben lived oB
Roanoke liland or much frequented lfr. Tfceae
tell 11s Ihnt several of their ancestors were
white people and eouM talk In a book aa we a;
the truili of wiiies Is connruved by irrajr eyes
beiag lound frequently a niuug these Indiana and
ruanr utlmrs. It la probable that thla
ctt lenient nriwarrled for want of timet? sup
plies from Enrland.or tlwoug-h the treachery
of tlie natlvrea Lawaou's Travela Among Cavro
Ilna InJIii us. 17U0.
An expedition under Sir Richard Oreovllle,
Sir Ralph Lane. Governor, and 108 ettaera,
lamW In Koanoke Island In July. IMS. The
ahla left the colonists In August aud returned
to Kngland. This colony governed by Lane
achieved no permanent location, and after the
maiden of a year returned with Blr KrancU
Irake to England. A few daya after
ahlp despatched by Sir Waller Raleltfb ar
rived loaded with every essential of comfort,
and soon after Blr Richard Grenvllle and thitve
ships aaarched In vain for Lame. Sir Rlohard
left fift com men at Roanoke Island and re
JuSJTto togland.
Wolta, aa Governor and a Jbf
l. d female, who arrived In July U87).
Tns aoloniau left by Orenvllle were not to be
'"wmte returned to Bugland, leaving a colony
of eighty-nine man, aeveuteen women a iri two
ehlMssnT Among these were bla daughter.
Ktaaoor Dare, wife of one of the Matalanta,
wwSTcMld was th. flrat offspring f KW"
mwU In thla western world. On
KTnrtoT. of White, England was at war
with itoaln. a Blr Walter Raleigh, Ores
t2 end Lin. were In the aervlce. It waa
two years before White eouM return, and on
Undine at Roanoke not a single man waa
iZl it bad been agreed on leaving the
otonr that at any accident ahould overcome
STXlonWt. they were to leave the name of
the Sacs where they might be found, and If
In dbtreas to designate It by a croaa. Gov
ernor White found on a tree or post the word
OsoaUn. bnt without the sign of dlatreaa.
Mo trace of these oolonlaU hat ever been dla
eoversd ess lwson. the earlleit blto
tUa of' Carolina, believe that the Bngl!h.
dsapalrtng of all relief from toe long abeence
of their frlende. amalgamated with the In
dlana. In coonrmatlon of which he learned
from the Hatteraa Indiana that aeveral of
fhetr aneeatore wwre white people and could
talk In a book, the truth of which la confirmed
fey gray eyes being among tht-ee Indiana aud no
othera. Wheeler a History of North Oaroiloa.
Had the emigrants perished or escaped with
their Uvea to Oroatan, and through the friend
ship of Manteo become familiar with Indians,
the eonjei-ture baa bcn hsssnli-d that the de
serted colony, nglwtwl by their own country
men, were hospitably adopted Into the tribe
f Hatteraa Indiana and tHaiue amalgamated
with the sons of the forest. This waa the
belief of the natives at a later day. and waa
thought to be contlrmed by the physical chsr
tcter of the tribe, in which the Btiallsh and
Indian rsi e aeeined to have been blended
Bancroft s Hlstcry of the l ulled Stati s, vol. 1.
s
ii ins suinoruv m an uie n...
... ,v, .11. ,,,.111,11, of air Walter
innv i Ijiw-
nnlelgh's tiiisliig co
at has served
ion. It is a K"s th
ne'hlng
jnt for
if mors
J up to this time, since som
must be hasarded to account
tHM ciiiirii.tu n la i tiftearn nee or mora
th.n nn hnn,lr,l nn' It would sarva
i.L?..hi.r:?h.nlIl
- . 1 1 1 . . . . , ,.
leal conditions were not really against It.
Noborly t?i nn to have taken the trouble,
- w.
to consider all the facts nnd circumstances
of the period very closely ln order to de
termine the most likely fate of the colo
nists. It Is only the purncse of this story to'
tell of "heaps" of white men's bones that reached a certainty ln their own minds
were lying In the cliffs In the country far tnat a slaughter of human beings had
away beyond the Cumberland Mountains, taken place here, and so the creek and Its
lying where white men had been slain !fan got tneir name. The view from
many, many years before the first known above to the falls and the creek bottoms
white explorer had set foot ln that wl. wlld and .urprislng-aurprlslng because
tlemess It might be said that these whlts'lt u 0 unllke .t of the country,
men who had been slain where their bones ,cn well oover.d by th and
were found, proof of which will be sub- nt tlnlb very llttl. rock expoBure
mltted. were a stray party from the col- aboVe the creek, while here these perpen
ony of North Carolina or Virginia any !dlcular cllttM, rising to a height of three
: . . ., V. V u . s""w
tury. It m ght be so. but the evidence Is
to the contrary. It nvght be said with
ri. 11 in n i o .am w in
more
reason that Lawson's assumption
that the Hatteras Indians absorbed the
Roanoke colonists was gratuitous when
based solely on the tradition of the In
diana that they had several white ances
tors and that the tribe had gray eyes.
The Infusion of white bio hI might be ac-
flnnnlal fur In manv . . , l r n . m
country of Roanoke was visited by an of-
...
tic. al party from Virginia eighty years be-':
fore Uweuii waa tture. Commerce to and,
from the mother country and with the
Northern colonies of New York and New
Kngland had been going on for a great
many years. And while the Roanoke coun
try was not occupied until about the mid
dle of the seventeenth century, venturous
voyagers niiKiii uu urt-u wieie any time J - - v-iiii, au siu-1
after the settlement of Jamestown In l0T,mlrDle compartment, rock floor, celling.
ana tnsi was omy seveiiiesm years later I " iia. oiko hi ironi, Elusive suuiement when one considers that
than the colony was lost, It admits plenty of light and air. Pro- the last colony only antedated the settle-
A CrMuioiiK TaU ,tected by opposite cliffs. It has little ex- meat of Virginia by sixteeu or seventeen
, . , . , Var to storms and blasts. Sometimes years, and that Ikfteen or twenty years
. T!J m ' "f,dedm!u It the rock above the opening Juts out. giv- later coast trips Wure not uncommon, tnd
Is hard to te 1 at this time wi,oe bones lng shade and shelter before the entrance, most any time before the advent of Law
they were, but there are a good many c.!r- Such a rock house is this at Bloody Creek, son white parties might have vlMted Koa
cumstanoes that uiake it appear that they where the first white victims of savages oke Island from hlps from abroad or
might have been ti e bones uf the lost co.- west of the Cumberland range were laid, from tha colonies in the East. It was 1700
?ny,K,t Kunuk,e IiU"d' r1u,ld thouaand but not to rest. I when Lawson travelled through that coun-
terrlble miles f roan Boanoke Island, terri- When the present Mr Chll.ier. wj. a try. and when he did aet to KomioU- it was
w . w',U1 ntW' i.v,.
. -ou iu vurn-5w oia ivsi unver. and so did the Tanl- Tor more than fifty years, and it had been
beiiand Mountains Is still like a dark space, bees. Also the mountain boy, for m. les pi ospectei by an exploring party seventy
behiud a wall to all people outside of Its sroun 1, becaua; even mountain mil-s are eight years before, ln ltU2. W heeler's hls
contlnes. it is u hilly country, one hllf "oth ng to mountain boys. They io.m tory of North Carolina says: "July 1W3
following another with uarrow creek 6ot-over their whole country, whole county ' Hodtrer Greene's colony from Virginia set
toms lying between land adjoining counties, so that thry krow tied on the banks of the Koanoke. Be
lt is beyond both those mountain chsins "VtfT creek ani every hill and everything fre thla North Carolina had Leen the
that these white men s bones used to lie. ! peculiar or unusual about eiiher. as a city refuge of Quakers fleeing from religious
The place Is Wolfe county, Ky.. west of the man knows land marks In the streets of ueraecutioin
k'.hi'iAkv HIV,-- a .nil- Tk. - . ,1 -Itv V hen C hllderj ). t h
rockhouae in the clllts of Bloody t'ree-k heops" or bones in th s roik houne a: d
lust below the Kails of Bloodv Cr.w Th ' on the na" Pth about It. When "Walk
creek was naned by tlie tirst settle. OUv,r wx ,y C! 5U djwrl th
.v.. i... . v.. .T.... aeuiers ...I)e anU Mt bone. Thera ua
and was named beoau.e of th
1 the evidences
All these, observations . !t,
are susceptible of
analysis.
,welaTedrr,hel'r..rl,11UU,,'lnJ
I I V In the scale, against doubt
to
and dlsbchef,
.1,. . . iv,. nv. .j it!..a . , -
vi.-r -j. me ill i wn a al-
faVh.p rrf -Walk" (jliv-r 11 lha
SSAner Or V SI UllVWr. WHO Btll llvua
intr.o a.u '"""rl nu Kindly face
will be seen ln an aiceompanylag portrait,
bout a uU treat him J. U. ChUdara, wte
n' i"'t u"o iiuiiiivu years
s
it : "i'
s
Hi
i'SSrV
-4?
J ?
14.
4 t.
V
: nam I
X.1
tV-rs Pootof tbi CltPC.
1 rum a moving sawmill In the) county, haa
I his homestead farm. Buth of these men
'dwell In the same kind of modest caljlns
oa those their fathers lived in the beat part
of a century ago. They have not changed
'their manners or mode of living.
I It Is a good and kindly manner these
honest old veople Ivave. It la well to ibear
'that In mind, for what they say they mean,;
land they never say anything they do not:
! mean nor anything they do not believe.
Another one of the oldest residents here Is
,. . . t,,,, tw.-. r.r three
n11 north over the mountain or round the
""" . " V .
bottoms on Devil's Cree-k. His family wi
,aid t0 be tne oldt,!t ln tnl particular neck
of tn wood- NuW- Wr- Oliver, Mr. (.'nil-.
d"r "" Mr- Taulbte a11 hav about
... . . . ,
a . . ... ruA.i Unt ah nf tha UHPIM 1 IT HUir
' " .r wrre iimiia mere. lie answerer
.? hdh"od that cam. to them'.irnp that al, he remen.ber was
rAm tha i falkasa Ku 1 : fit I II laT I MM fxiiiiiisaa
-- - --aw
which took place long before their fatner
time. .
It was from physical svidence ot
tragedy that these nri settlers, men 01
the wilderness before they came here, hav-lna-
an eve aulck to detect unusual mark-
'lna-a ln rock or earth or Umber, had
hundred feet on eaoh side of the falls and
creek burat .a.y upon the eye of the
. .,., iii,w t. th rivt.r
,,un, .in,, ,h hll.w. t the rlvtr
,rk. ... 1 . a,i ,
there are no roads In the mountains, runs
up to the edge of the cliff, and by Its very
edge small dogwood and scrub oaks and
even the gentle myrtle are growing, as 1f
to deceive. Expecting that the land might
continue on from the roadway through this
thickness of shrubbery one might easily I
tiUsi this aln That svt 1 W hu hi laitt fus a I
-
. fAiu faokl r A. W vs. , -J I as vKa art ao e f 'l II t trio
," '" ." - ,
east clllT. Twenty-five feet below the must
deceptive spot edging the roadway the Jut
ting cliff forms what the natives of the
country call a rock house. While not com
prehensive to others, It Is well named, for
It is neither cave, cavern nor grotto. Indians who declared they had white anctal
la a cavity In the face of the cliff, an ad-tors and because he found gray eyesamom.
r0' usuJ to 1lay t this roc-k house,
:a)
ud
to be sauus inere. too. jne or the menianu uiuiuer iy me wnne.
who veJ up the creeW neVil's Creek. Bancroft's history shows that the flrat
kept one of these skulls, and he has moved
ind TnoTdVsVu'rb the
bones. Nelthtr did they think much about
away. None of these early settlers were
y think much about
.k...
Tl.u. wrA 1,,.. tinuj thu.t. -.'I
"" J--- -
Akd t0 " ,nor ' by telling about!
U . n. n. u .k Mritn. Iknmrhi uaru
In and about the rock house during Ms
childhood, or la his father's lime, Mr
Chulders aaiawered with tbat wooderf ol
.1 1
o3irLe
ei
,13
IK
.f- t
t
5
it-
1V
IS.
7e
T r- j a.
brevity- and reservation of al! Kentucky
mounti n men-"l don't know." Un wtm.
a mountain imin does not know you mlRli,
aa will givi up trying to commit him. 11-
will not venture an opinion and will omy
entile tolerantly at any att nip: to make
h torm one. He ot not know. Tm.t
ettlt U- U not fuf to deal U,
-
Too Mdny Murders.
Mr. Oliver wati asked how many men he
thought were killed there. He said he
couiri mt tell- h nnlit nut rpmtmtr ever
having heard. 1 asked him If he could not
strain his memory a little to the time that
, was very young and remember some of;
the things that his father told him ubout
the killings on Bloody Creek and the bones I
- - -
h., J . . . . . . ,
..saa,. ssasv iumcr IU IVs 11(111 tlltTl 3 tt iUl
of ne, ther8 and tnat a ,ot of pe0,,l8
U a. kl aa.L. a . i . . . . .
had boon killed there some time bv In-
!clian.
One of the teachers once employed ln this
rougih country, a man of some parts, called j
Professor Gough, made some Investiga
tional regarding the Bloody Creek tragedy, j
but did not report them. It is many years;
since he lived in the country and he la j
now a travelling salesman ln Die Black 1
Hills. He tr.ld me it had been proved by
the usual science of the anatomist that the!
skulls taken from Bloody Creek were white
men's skulls. He also said that he had'
got trace of skulls that had been tarried'
away, some of which were covered with
light hair. That there were many com-j
plote skeletons there not long ago he did
not doubt. He said that in the earliest1
days of the white settlers there was some
light hair picked up at the scene. Thee:
bones, almost to the last of them, had been
carried away by strangers passing through1
and hearing snatches of the story. Relic'
hunters and representatives of museums!
have also been there and gut the spoils, so1
that whatever number of ptople died there
n r tt Vki-ki it lh asao. i . . I fc. a.
rled to the four winds. Professor Oough
anna U ,. a i l i
vl.wv wicii (Junes naive ieen car
time in tne county th'
. . . I v . v 1 1
- " on me ciins about the rock hour
uoe n ana oeiow It, gave unmistakable i
evidence of a massacre
Mr. Lawson concludes that Sir Walterl
Kaleigh's lost colony was assimilated i.v!
the Indiana Im-iim hum ri. t. ti.. ..
i-ors anu oecause ne round gray eyesainonij
I Hatteras Indians. It Is not a very con-
quite thickly peopled and had been settled'
iii.ic iiiuiij' icnuiii wiijr me iui-
.ony shoulJ not appeal for succor to the
inoians. 1 ne trust ana anection or me
Indians had been alienated by treachery
; expedition of Kalelgh took back to Kng-jbeen
'land two natives of the wilderness. Man -
too aim inn", i' raycu.i.oi
bad been entertained at Kounoae by the
llra,.i'ulii,iiH.i fullii.r .if A" i .. i .. ..
"'" ' .... . . ...........
the King, "with the refinements of Area-j
K...l.ulltw" A ri. om , . r t I,-- ..
it Is learned that Uovernor 1-ane. who
managed the colony brought out by Sir
Richard Orsoavliie, tuuxdared Uaa kingly
rioiTiixofi a!
of Sir IfaJt
jJfts1WVr
ft
s A
SaS
vC
, r.: jjt- vw . - ivsthjkikjr .
f o
Opposite toe ocKJooUt3j
4 -
"I
tvr Walter Rlev
son and his people ln a treacherous man
ner. Bays Bancroft:
"Ueaiiing an audience of WinRina, the
inoBt active among the native chiefs, luie
und his utlemlanls were quickly admitted
to his presence. No hostile Intentions were
displayed by the Indians; their reception
of the Knglish was proof of their confi
dence. Immediately a preconceived watch
word was given und the Christiana full
Ing upon the unhappy King ami his fol
lowers, put him without mercy to death."
Nor was this all the pertldy toward the
Indians which caused them to hate their
white brothers. Manteo w.ls a friend of
the whites because he had been pampered I
by them aud had been baptized a Chris
tian and mad . I.r.l of H',nki. hv the
B i aie 01 ssir Soulier, rie iiukiii nave om-ii
satisfied with the pale faces, but his people j." . "''T, " tu"' ,lr 7, ,
may no, have had so much ground I, ip-, f'r JrllV
preciatlon. for after Weh ninlne; the K,k- ui1,, anJ returned to Kngland. Now comes
llfh to the island of C roatan, the Knglish. the colony that subsouueiitly disappeared
discovering a company of natives. "Ml ai it ,n earn, had sal,owcl it. n '-
upon ll.eiii by niKl,t us fhe luuml.-ss men wuli Uovernor Wi.lu. and had for Its
were silting by their llres and a havoc j trod n il,m to the Ind ana and soli. iJ a t or.
was begun before It was perceived that 'of friendly regaidall the a.'ts of d. spolia
these were friendly Indians." Again, "utltion and Infamy luat had been loin.nii t -d
one of the Indian towns a silver cup hud uainst the Indians by previous expedi-
BtoUn
WtM ,a,y trUelty Uieliville on -r.l
its restoration was deluved:
the'
village burned and the standing corn d-
.,,lVl.,i
. - .
urenv e left I.5ne In eharira nf tha
col,jny ut Roanoke and re'orn.d with :,i -
I . ...... , . . .
R. ani.Ue with hla next exiiedition l.;m..
and his people were not there. They had,finiong mem nis own uaug-nei. r-ieaia.r
set Bail tor home a few da.ja before la the j Dare, aud hi grandoUUd, Vlrg.m Jjare.
tn.e
03T
' Soro
first
jr -
.BsawVaSa e 4 v
" ytw?, "
la.-
- - -.-.j
4rK
' .
f sV-v i
' ,'-""
'ft
-f'
r.as,l s
If:
is
ssbj-.- m
of the. fle
"bloocav Creels. .
of Sir Francis traite. who h U'p -neu
Pass that way. By tnat t:me n s.deu
j jtj
tlons.
"The expedition under Wh'te se-re!ie I
for the men loft by (Jrenvllle as a garrison.
'Tin. furl waa in ruins. The ni.nerable nu-n
' . ... ..... t- , i . , j .....
whom urenvuie nao ien n in ueen mar-
'der, - d by lndlans'-lUnerof t.
,.- i... 1.., 1, i . .1 u'ul. .. i
men. seventeen women ami '.wo vhildien.
1
1 . ;J
12ocihc7lJe. where "Mtrpcerk?cC
,'''wwi,i
f , 1 ! ' .
1
Hi
0'-
- -
3i
a:
i
of
! nrt onspriinf 01 Anglian paje."
III
-Vi.iei.a, on Koinoko Island, and went
back to England himsulf with his ships.
in ii he fc-ot :hei- l.ugl ind was at war
witn Spain, Hlr W'ulter ltaleigli and Sir
K'ciiaid Orenvllle were both in tnu sr-
:'e, ani it was mon than two years be-
' ,re While wis aMe, to return to the
It was as the succ. ssois t a t..ur.l..r.i 1
garrison tnat the last colony :,t Koanoke
arrived. And it was, aceorl.ni; to the i.iu '
lortalis.
' sled by
"no,,.,, ui-in-voieniiy assinul
the Indians that they dipait'd
I, ii
W hat seems more reasonable la that the
colonists left Koanoke Island In terror of
the Indians, and with only on.- i I, l.i th, j,
min is, an I th it to n as far awav fron.
Iio-in u possible. All the Indians thev h id
known had lived on the coast. All the
oourury they knew had been the coaa
e wniie wis a.' ie to return to thej "" r, ,, ,
colony on Roanoke Island. When he- finally ,ghin!ng with Boone mvar
reach. .J there the lolony was gone. I the country of the ( umbel
country itself. It would be wise to Infer
that if they pot to the interior, back of the
mountains, the shadows of which they may
have seen, they would be safe, and having
once started there would be no going back,
because (ruing back would be going to cer
tain death. There would be nothing to do
but pitch onward, forever on, because no
matter how far they might go they might
still encounter Indians. It would be rea
sonable for them to expect that somewhere
they would) reach the end of the Indian
country.
In Mdny Bittles.
Unhappily thore was no end, for the an
cestors of the Cherokees were ell over the
Carolina country; six nations were south to
the Oulf, the mountain Cherukees claimed
the country as theirs beyond the Cumber
land Mountains, and the place that is now
Kentucky was a hunting ground at all the
Southern Indians and of the Northwest
tribes about the Oldo River
As doubt is here expressed that Tjawson'g
discovery of white blood in the Hatteraa
Indians was the white blood of the Roan
oke colony rather than the white blood
of the adventurers of the beginning of the
seventeenth century, so by reflection tha
suggestion may be discarded that the vio
tinis of the massacre of Bloody Creek,
Wolfe county, Ky., may have been the
colony from Roanoke Island In favor of
the suggestion that the unfortunate people
were a party of much later date from the
Colonies of North Carolina or Virginia.
Utile fragments of history aid the de
cision. In 1707 "the country beyond tha
Cuinberlnnds was to the people of Vir
ginia as doubtful and obscure as America
Itself to the people of Europe before the
voyage of Columbus. a a Whether In
habited by men or beasts or both or neither
they knew not. If Inhabited by men they
were supposed to be Indians, for such al
ways Inflated the frontiers, and this had
been a powerful reason for nbt exploring
the legions west of the great mountains
which concealed Kentucky from her aide.
The country was known only on
the English maps as filling ip certain de
grees of latitude and longitude." Mar
shall, History of Kentucky.
John Flnlay and a few wandering white
men, It Is learned, entered this country
from the British colony of North Carolina
in the year 17iii. Long before this time,
according to the physical ovldenoe and tra
dition of Bloody Creek, the "heapa" of
white men's bones were there.
Kinlay's account of what he had seen
raised no enthusiasm for Immediate ad
ventures, for the pathless wilderness and
dark forests and mountains overshadow
ing the promised lands."
It was two years later that Daniel Boone
entered the country and began the mak
ing of his thrilling personal history, which
Is also the history of the early settlements
of Kentucky, but not of its mountain
fastnesses. It took leaders of men to
organize and load parties Into the wilder
ness In those days, and took the best
woodsman of th day. It Is impossible to
believe that any party of men tra,V t h
there from the colonies of Virginia nd
North Carolina, or that any party of men
could havo departed for that suprnieedly
aoyssmai country, without note h'"1
been taken of their departure and I heir
failure to return. The fact Is that Hu e
papers and local historians have made
close' tabs on these expeditions. Their go
tnss and comings, successes and failures
.,.wj i,f record.
until mo tnat me
"rumor
ftt the recently uwiuioreu icai"" -tur-kv
reached Virginia. Then a party of
frty "stout hunters" led by Colonel James
i- r.t irn-
Knox reai.'nea rveumeny, ..... ...
them entering the unknown land, the
others having been killed by the way or
having turned back before they entered
the country, overcome by fatigue or over
whelmed by the Increasing dangers. The
records of this party were kept. The par
ty that full on Bloody Creek had turned
to whitened bones by tills time.
The first surveying parties of the country
of the Ohio, sent In to survey the boun
dary lines ot the British ground, did not
ge-t In there until 1773 ln 1775. varloua
small parties were passing Into Kentucky
and returning home to Virginia, kiight or
ten years later It was not a very uncom
mon tiling for an Intrepid traveller to make
his way back to Virginia by way of the
wilderness, which meant by way of the
mountains and their black forests.
All the parties and all the travellers, he-
lovarlahly enlerea
rland through
Cumberland rtap. which ;s nearly luu nnles
south of Bloody Creek. It was the nutiirul
course from the east where the txinotns
or tne nui i""" n. aw-. ,i w."- .
crossing and recrosslng of the heights
which a Uaring to the north would have
ini.-oscd.
Colonists frori Roanoke Island would
have made directly as poss'ble for the
mountain elevations and bell to them in
the ho'ie of Ion rig the ivugcs sad tfieat-
1 selves In the land beyond. a
J
