NO. 15 ROLL CALL OF IROQUOIS CHIEFS — FENTON 1$ 



Such anecdotes serve to illustrate that the man had an inventive turn 

 of mind and some mechanical aptitude. Nevertheless, v^e do not think 

 that he made the cane. Before taking up this matter, however, another 

 anecdote relates to his threshing machine, and his prowess as a 

 runner, which was remarkable even among the nation that produced 

 Tom Longboat, famed Canadian marathoner. One rainy spring after- 

 noon in 1945 the conversation in the village store at Ohsweken turned 

 to track and field sports, a perennial interest among the Six Nations. 

 Without my making any suggestion of an interest in the man, one 

 of the villagers, a stalwart farmer who had been rained in from 

 drilling grain, related the following tale about Andrew Spragg : 



The Lower Cayugas had a great runner before Tom Longboat's time. He 

 was a fellow named Andrew Spragg who lived down at Sandy's Corner, the 

 first one this side of Willow Grove. He used to run a steam thresher, and 

 one day they were threshing out oats down at Monture's when the separator 

 broke down. The crew thought they were through for the day, but Andrew 

 said to stand by while he ran to Caledonia (not less than 5 miles) for a part. 

 When he reached the implement dealer's in Caledonia he was told that the 

 part was not in stock and that one could not be had this side of Hamilton. 

 Andrew asked them to call the dealer in Hamilton, the part was there, and 

 the dealer was informed that Andrew would come after it afoot. There was 

 no transportation then from Caledonia to the city. To the Massey Harris agent's 

 amazement, in scarcely more than an hour an Indian who said he was Andrew 

 Spragg presented himself at the counter, the broken part in his hand. "How 

 did you get here so fast?" said the agent. "On the road," was all that the Cayuga 

 volunteered. "Why, it's at least 12 miles from Caledonia to the rim of the 

 Mountain!" (the high escarpment behind Hamilton which lies at the level of 

 Lake Ontario). They collected a bet of 10 dollars in the store, to say that he 

 could not run back to Caledonia in an hour. He was to telephone when he 

 reached Caledonia. They had lost a lot of time threshing, Andrew thought, and 

 he would have to pay for the men, as well as the part. Andrew needed that 10 

 dollars. He passed through the village of Caledonia in less than the allotted 

 time. They were watching for him in Caledonia because Hamilton had tele- 

 phoned. The Caledonia dealer called the Hamilton agent who agreed to 

 forward the money. Andrew kept on running until he arrived back where they 

 fixed the thresher and went back to work, having lost less than 3 hours. 



That's a world's record in any man's country! 



It is when one considers that lo miles per hour is excellent time 

 on the road, and the great Nurmi ran 11.94 miles in an hour. 



Because the above seemed wholly incredible, and in hopes of 

 learning how the tale might be elaborated in a second telling, I wrote 

 to Mrs. Sadie Jamieson in whose Ohsweken store the liar's bench 

 flourishes as a going institution. Sadie put the question to several 

 customers, and finally wrote on April 10, 1947, that she had a second 

 version from Jerome Duncan, who had told it to my first informant. 



