Daily stories of Pennsylvania

by Frederic Antes Godcharles

The Doans lived in Plumstead Township, near Doylestown, Bucks County. The father, Israel Doan, was a worthy man, but his six sons as they grew to manhood abandoned all the noble principles of the religious sect with which they had been reared, and retaining only so much of the outward forms as suited their nefarious schemes, they became a gang of most desperate outlaws.

The sons were professedly Tories and pursued for a time a very profitable trade in stealing the horses and cattle of their Whig neighbors, and disposing of them to the British Army, then in Philadelphia.

The brothers lived in the highways and hedges and waged a predatory and retaliatory war upon their persecutors. They were men of fine figures and addresses, elegant horsemen, great runners and excellent at stratagems and escapes.

The Doans were distinguished from their youth for great muscular activity. They could run and jump beyond all competitors, and it is said one of them could jump over a Conestoga wagon.

They delighted to injure public property, but did no injury to the weak, the poor, or the peaceful.

One of the brothers, Joseph, was a school teacher in Plumstead Township. Two of the brothers had joined the British in Philadelphia, and through them the stolen horses were disposed of and the proceeds shared.

The Doans at school were often displaying their pockets full of guineas, which at first were believed to be counterfeit; but subsequent events proved their genuineness, and disclosed the source from which they had procured so considerable an amount of gold.

Suspicion had long fastened upon the family; they were closely watched and eventually, about the year 1782, the stealing of a horse belonging to John Shaw, of Plumstead, was positively traced to them. This brought upon Mr. Shaw and a few others, who were active in their detection, the combined malignity of the whole banditti and it was not long before they obtained their revenge.

The Doans added to their band another villain of kindred spirit by the name of Robert Steele. Under the leadership of Moses Doan and Joseph, the schoolmaster, the seven outlaws fell upon Mr. Shaw in the dead of the night, in his own house, bruised and lacerated him most cruelly, and decamped with all his horses and everything of value they could take from the house.

A son of Mr. Shaw was dispatched to the nearest neighbors for assistance and to raise the hue and cry after the robbers. But these neighbors being Mennonites, conscientiously opposed to bearing arms and having besides an instinctive dread of personal danger, declined interfering in the matter. Such was the timidity and cautiousness manifested in those times between the nearest neighbors, when of different religions and political sentiments.