OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 395 



returned from the public services of tlie Sabbath to their scattered jilaiitation. In 17:,«, 

 the meetiiig-house was surrounded ^Yith Indians, while Mr. Elder was proacliiiij,'; but 

 the spies having noticed the large nundwr of rifles that the hearershad bn.uglit for their 

 defence, the party silently withdrew from their and)ush, without makiiij; an attack. In 

 1757, an attack was actually made, as the people were leaving the churcli, and two or 

 three were killed. During the summer, they had some security by means of the visits 

 of friendly Indians; but, at other seasons of the year, nuirders freciucntly occumHl, and 

 they foiuid it impossible to discover the criminals. Mr. Elder himself supcriHtendcd tlio 

 military discipline of his people, and became Captain of the mounted nuMi, widely 

 known as the " Paxton boys." He aftenvards held a Colonel's commission in the pro- 

 vincial service, and had the command of the block-houses and stockades fronj the Suh- 

 quehanna to Easton. His apology for this extraordinary course, lies in the exti-aonli- 

 nary state of things which led to it. It is not easy to overestimate the susix'nse and 

 terror in which the inhabitants of that frontier region lived from 17.14 to 17G:}. Elder 

 besought the Governor to remove the Conestoga Indians, because they harbored mur- 

 derers; and he engaged, if this were done, to secure the frontier without exjiense totho 

 Province. This being refused, a party of his Rangers detennined to destroy the triljc; 

 and they called on Elder to take the lead in the enterprise. He was then in his fifty- 

 seventh year. Mounting his horse, he commanded them to desist, and reminded tliem 

 that the execution of their purpose would inevitably involve the destruction of the inno- 

 cent with the guilty; but their prompt reply was — "Can they be innocent who harbor 

 murderers?" — at the same time, pointing indignantly to instances in which their wives 

 and mothers had been massacred, and the crimin.Tls traced to the homes of the Conesto 

 gas. He still earnestly opposed the measure, and at last placed himself in the rf»ad, that 

 they might see that they could advance only by cutting him down. AVhcn lie saw that 

 they were preparing to kill his horse, and that all his entreaties were entirely unavail- 

 ing, he withdrew and left them to take their OAvn course. The persons engaged in tliis 

 desperate enterprise, were chiefly Presbyterians, who resided in that neighborhotKl, and 

 not a few of them were men far advanced in life. They perfonued their work thor- 

 oughly and mercilessly, destroying in Lancaster and Conestoga, every Indian they could 

 find. On the 27th of January, 1764, Elder wrote to Governor Penn, as follows: 



" The storm which had been so long gathering, has, at length, exphnled. Had Gov- 

 ernment removed the Indians, which had been frequently, but without effect, urged, 

 this painful catastrophe might have been avoided. What could I do with men heated 

 to madness? All that I could do was done. I expostulated; but life and reason were 

 set at deflance. Yet the men in private life are virtuous and respectable; not cniel, 

 but mild and merciful. The time will arrive when each palliating circumstance will Iks 

 weighed. This deed, magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered as one 

 of those ebullitions of wrath, caused by momentary excitement, to which human in- 

 firmity is subjected." 



The Indians were at length removed by the Governor, from every exposed place, to 

 Philadelphia; and many apprehended that the "Paxton boys," in the overtlowing of 

 their wrath, Mould pursue them thither. The Governor issued a proclamation, setting 

 a reward on the head of one Stewart, supposed to be the ringleader, and some of his 

 associates. Elder wrote to the Governor in their deicnce, stating the true .lianu-ter 

 of the men, and the palliating, if not justifying, circmnstancestmder which they acted. 

 Several pamphlets were pubHshed, commenting on the case with great severity, and 

 some of them representing the Irish Presbyterians as ignorant bigots or lawless ma- 

 rauders. But, amidst all the violent attacks and retorts, Elder is never .stigmatized as 

 abetting or conniving at the massacre; nor is his aiithority pleaded by ti.e actors in 



their defence. , ,, 



The union of the Synods bn.ught >[r. Elder ami the other members of Donega 1 rcs- 

 bytery into the same body with the leading members of the " >cw Side 1 resbjtcry 



