OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Gen. Simon Perkins [4]
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
June 13, 1999
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Historical Collections of Ohio
The Kelley Family Collections
Newspaper article, Plains Dealer
compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925
And Then They Went West
by Darlene E. Kelley  1998
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Fourth in Series--

    July, 1800, only a few days after the Reserve was established as
Trumbul County, Joseph McMahon went to the Salt Springs to make salt.
     The salt works was a two or three acre piece of ground containing a
plank vat, 7 or 8 feet square and about 3 feet deep, which was full of
water and kettles for making salt.  Around the works were the remains of
cabins and stone furnaces, said to have been built by Parsons in 1788.
Pieces of broken kettles, decayed timber, and rotten tree stumps also
lay scattered about the works.
     By this time, only a few Indians were still on the Reserve.  The
Eries had long since disappeared from the shores of the lake which bore
the tribe's name.  And the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Mohicans, and
Shawnees had almost all journeyed furthur west.  Across from Cleveland,
on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River, there was a small village of
Ottawas, and a few straggling Tuscarawas and Seneca Indians still moved
peacefully about , among the settlers.
     Not once in his many months on the Reserve had Simon Perkins
complained of any difficulty between the Indians and the white settlers.
In fact, it was not unusual for Indians to come to the Salt Springs,
where they would boil water alongside the white settlers to eke out a
precious bit of salt that was needed to preserve their meat. That July,
a party of Indians had camped about 60 rods up the Salt Spring run
Ravine, at an old camping ground.  But this time, the Indians had got a
hold of some whiskey and had a drunken revel in which McMahon and some
other whites joined.  The whiskey of the Indians having been exhausted,
the whites were not satisfied, but sent to Quimby's at Warren and
obtained a small furthur supply.  The Indians suspected this, but the
whites denied it and would not let the Indians have any.
     A few days later, McMahon went to take care of Richard Storer's
corn.  The Indians came to McMahons house and began to tease McMahon's
wife, to serve as a squaw, and finally threatened to kill her and the
children. McMahon returned. talked to the Indians, and got their promise
to leave his wife alone. But when he went again to Storer's farm, the
Indians once more threatened Mrs. McMahon and one Indian, struck one of
the children with the handle of his tomahawk.
     On Saturday afternoon, July 19, Mrs. McMahon
started with the children to Storer's farm.  On her way, she met her
husband in front of Case's house; and after talking things over they
decided to go to Storer's to dicuss the problem.
      On Sunday morning, after spending the night at Storer's, McMahon
went among the settlers along the Mahoning and asked them to go with him
and make a permanent settlement of the matter. He got about thirteen men
and two boys to go with him.  Among them were Ephraim Quinby, Richard
Storer, and two brothers named Filles who later recounted their view of
the affair to Leonard Case.  Except for the two boys, all the members of
the party had guns; and it was about ten o'clock that Sunday morning
that the party passed by Case's house on its way to the Indian
encampment at the Salt Springs.
     When the party reached the run below the Indian camp, Mr. Quimby,
who in those times was generally looked up to as a kind of leader,
called a halt.  It was agreed that he should go up to the camp and see
what the difficulty was and return and let the party know----.  He
passed on to the camp. There the Indians lay lolling about.  Among them
were Captain George, a Tuscarawa who spoke English, and John Winslow, a
Seneca called Spotted John, because he was part white.
     Quimby asked Captain George what the difficulty was between him and
McMahon and his family.  The Indian answered, "Jo dam fool. The Indians
dont want to hurt him or his family. The whites drank up all the Indians
whiskey and then wouldn't let the Indians have any of theirs. The
Indians were a little mad, but don.t care any more about it.
Mrs.McMahon and family may come back and live as long as they like; the
Indians wont hurt them!"
     When Quimby went back, his party had sauntered up the path in the
ravine along the run and he met them coming up the bank. All, except
McMahon and the two boys, stopped. Quimby said ," Stop, Jo," but McMahon
and the boys went on to camp
     After this point, McMahon's justification for the murder is debted
in the accounts of the period.  But Case, basing his account on the
Filles brother's observations and their comment that Captain George said
he had already killed nineteen white men and wanted to make it twenty,
felt McMahon acted in self defense.
     McMahon stood in front of Captain George, according to Case's
story,and said, " Are you for peace or war? Yesterday you had your men,
now I have got mine."
     There was a tomahwk sticking in the body of the tree, immediately
above the head of George.  He spang to his feet, seized the tomahawk and
was in the act of swinging it as if to sink it into Jo's head, when Jo,
being too near to shoot, jumped backward, brought his rifle to bear and
instantly shot George in the breast----. The  blood spurted nearly to
McMahon.  McMahon cried out, "Shoot! Shoot" to the men standing in open
view without any thing to screen them.
     At the same time the Indians jumped up, caught their rifles, treed
and aimed at the whites.  Of course the whites brought their rifles to
bear, Storer among the rest.  Several of their guns were snapped, but---
the morning had been drzzling with rain and the guns were damp and
misfired. Storer saw John Winslow aiming, as he supposed , at him, and
without furthur reflection threw his rifle into position and fired.
     At the same moment Winslow's squaw was endeavoring to screen
herself and papooses behind the same tree with Winslow and was directly
behind him. Winslow's hips were all of him that was exposed.  Storer's
ball passed through them and, passing on, broke a boy's arm, passed
under the cords of the neck of Winslow's girl. and grazed the throat of
his squaw.  At the camp, after the shooting. all was confusion among the
whites as well as the Indians.
     The settlers wet back to Warren, and passed Case's farm at rather a
fast pace.  The Indians, they dug slight holes, covered their dead with
dirt and leaves and except for the wounded squaw and her children, had
fled for the woods expecting the whites would be after and murder them.  
     The wounded squaw took her children to James Hillman's place near
Youngstown.  This was a distance of nine miles, but it was said she
arrived there with her children in her arms an hour and a half after the
killing.  
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to be con't in part 5