Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/357

DELAWARE COUNTY 333 had been finished by a single blow, and was not mutilated. The tears of sympathy flowed from all but Murphy ; he stood silent; with dry and glaring eyes, immovably fixed upon the companion of his youth^ and the pledges of their love. Dark and awful was the storm that gathered in the bosom of Mur- phy. At length he took his murdered infant in his arms^ and with a firm and desperate resolve^ swore to be avenged or die, and sealed that vow by a kiss upon the cold cheek of the life- less infant. How well that vow was kept, the history of his after life tells. A rude grave was then prepared, lined with bark, in place of a coffin, and the mournful duties of sepulchre closed the bloody scene. The children were placed in the arms of the mother, upon that bosom that had so often nour- ished them. They then proceeded to the dwelling of Mr. Harper, and found it empty. His wife was an amiable young lady, only nineteen years of age, with an infant at her breast. She had attempted to escape to the woods, and was overtaken a few rods from the house, where she and her babe had been mur- dered, and their bodies had been subsequently torn to pieces by wolves or some other wild animals. This scene was more heart-rending than the other. The husband wrung his hands in anguish, as his friends deposited the scattered fragments beneath the clods of the valley. Harper also resolved to sub- due the foe ; but his was not that maniac revenge of Murphy. His resolution was equally firm as the other, but his designs more expansive. A block-house was immediately erected, to which the surviving settlers all removed. This done, imme- diate measures were taken to meet the attack which they ex- pected from the Indians, to avenge the death of those Indians who had been killed by Harper and Murphy. Murphy re- turned to Schoharie to obtain assistance from the fort, and Har- per went to Albany and obtained a captain's commission, au- thorizing him to organize a company from the contiguous set-