Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/72

48 HISTORY OF Kittle, Yaple, Brughei'j Slyter, Hinebagh, Grreen, Blanch, and others. Among the friendly Indians were Tunis and Canope, (the sad fate of the latter of whom is narrated in a future chapter.) The disputes and strife which preceded the war of the Re- volution, took early and deep root among the inhabitants of Pakatakan, attributable doubtless, in a greater or less extent, to the influence which the presence of a savage foe, exerted upon the fears and hopes of a frontier settlement, and conse- quently, it does not seem strange that a large portion of the settlers should have espoused the royal cause. There were a few whigs however, and among them, were Yaples, Peter Dumond, and Hinebagh. Hermanns Dumond and Peter Brugher, the former of whom was killed by the Americans, and the latter by the Indians, were said to occupy neutral ground. - ' , - ' The first open rupture, growing out of the political troubles of the times, among the settlers of Pakatakan, is said to have occurred at a school house within the precincts of the settle- ment, i)etween Isaac Dumond, a son of Peter, and a boy by the name of Markle. Markle called Dumond a rebel, whereupon the latter in a fit of resentment, dealt the other a blow. A bout of fist-cufi's ensued, which finally broke up the school. Early in the spring of 1778, or soon after the burning of Kingston, by the detachment of British troops, under Gren. Vaughn, tke hostile Indians, emboldened by the terror which that act produced in the minds of the border revolutionists, advanced to Colchester or Pepacton, as it was then called,-^ where they encamped, and commenced the perpetration of a series of depredations upon the whigs in the vicinity, stealing their cattle, goods, &c., and finally, they formed a plot with the cognizance of some of the tories, to murder or drive them out of Pakatakan. This intended massacre was prevented by a timely notice