122 THE PAXTON MEN. [1763, Dec. 



demanded if he believed in the Bible, and if the 

 Scripture did not command that the heathen should 

 be destroyed. 



They soon after separated, dispersing among the 

 farm-houses, to procure food for themselves and 

 their horses. Several rode to the house of Eobert 

 Barber, a prominent settler in the neighborhood ; 

 who, seeing the strangers stamping their feet and 

 shaking the snow from their blanket coats, invited 

 them to enter, and offered them refreshment. Hav- 

 ing remained for a short time seated before his 

 fire, they remounted and rode off through the snow- 

 storm. A boy of the family, who had gone to 

 look at the horses of the visitors, came in and 

 declared that he had seen a tomahawk, covered 

 with blood, hanging from each man's saddle ; and 

 that a small gun, belonging to one of the Indian 

 children, had been leaning against the fence. ^ 

 Barber at once guessed the truth, and, with several 

 of his neighbors, proceeded to the Indian settle- 

 ment, where they found the solid log cabins still 

 on fire. They buried the remains of the victims, 

 which Barber compared in appearance to half- 

 burnt logs. While they were thus engaged, the 

 sheriff of Lancaster, with a party of men, arrived 

 on the spot ; and the first care of the officer was to 

 send through the neighborhood to collect the In- 

 dians, fourteen in number, who had escaped the 

 massacre. This was soon accomplished. The un- 

 happy survivors, learning the fate of their friends 

 and relatives, were in great terror for their own 



1 Eaz. Pa. Req. IX. 114. 



