Murder to Thomas Campbell

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Copied from " History of the Panhandle, being Historical Collections of the
Counties of Ohio, Brooke, Marshall and Hancock, West Virginia".  
Compiled and Written by:
J.H. Newton,  G.G. Nichols, and A.G. Sprankle
Published by:
J.A. Caldwell, 1879, Wheeling, W. VA.

"The Murder of Thomas Campbell and Child By the Indians"

	When the Indians were driven back across the Ohio river by the rapid
emigration of the whites, it made them still more savage toward their pale-
faced foe.  The red man would cross the river, at convenient points along its
meanderings into sparsely settled localities, bent upon the intent of stealing
and scalping the men, women and children that were unprotected.
	In the spring of 1782 a man by the name of Thomas Campbell, who resided in a
log cabin on the bank of King's Creek, near where Ralston's grist mill now
stands, one day, during sugar making season, returned from a small camp he had
over the brow of a hill with a vessel containing the syrup, and, being
considerably fatigued from performing the labor attending saccharine camps,
concluded that he would take charge of the child whilst his wife might go and
bring to the house a remaining vessel of molasses.  She had not gone far from
the cabin, however, merely reaching the top of the hill, when she heard
Indians in the direction of her home.  As she turned to look back an Indian,
noticing her from the foot of the hill, fired a shot at her which, luckily,
unharmed her.  Observing the perilous situation she and her family were in,
she ran with all speed to the nearest neighbors, the farm now owned by James
Gardener, to inform them of the presence of the Indians and the expected
murder of her husband and child.  A posse of men proceeded at once in the
direction of the log cabin, but before they could possibly have reached the
place, the murder and thieving had been committed by the red-skins.  The
neighbors, upon reaching the spot, found the man lying dead within the doorway
and the child, from appearances, had been caught by the heels and it's brains
knocked out against the side of the log cabin.  Mr. Campbell had evidently
reached for his gun, for it lay where he fell.  He and the child were both
scalped.  The Indians were pursued, but not overtaken.  Their foul deed was
perpetrated in this instance without retribution.