The Indians withdrew exasperated, but none the less determined to seek vengeance. With elastic step, and in single file they pressed forward, and an hour later came to another clearing, in the midst of which stood a dwelling, occupied by the family of John Allen, consisting of five persons, viz., himself and wife and three children. Temporarily with them at the time were Mrs. Allen's sister, two negroes and a negress. John Allen was notoriously in sympathy with the purposes of the British king. When the Indians stealthily crept to the edge of the clearing they observed the white men busily engaged reaping the wheat harvest. They decided to wait until the reapers retired for dinner. Their white prisoner begged to be spared from witnessing the scene about to be enacted. This request was finally granted, and one of the Indians remained with him as a guard, while the others went forward to execute their purpose.
When the family had become seated at the table the Indians burst upon them with a fearful yell. When the neighbors came they found the body of John Allen a few rods from the house. Apparently he had escaped through a back door, but had been overtaken and shot down. Nearer the house, but in the same direction, were the bodies of Mrs. Allen, her sister, and the youngest child, all tomahawked and scalped. The other two children were found hidden in a bed, but also tomahawked and scalped. One of the negroes was found in the doorway, his body gashed and mutilated in a horrible manner. From the wounds inflicted on his body it was thought he had made a desperate resistance. The position of the remaining two has not been distinctly recollected.
George Kilmore, father of Mrs. Allen and owner of the negroes, who lived three miles distant, becoming anxious on account of the prolonged absence of his daughter and servants, on the Sunday following, sent a negro boy on an errand of inquiry. As the boy approached the house, the keen-scented horse, which he was riding, stopped and refused to go farther. After much difficulty he was urged forward until his rider got a view of the awful scene. The news brought by the boy spread rapidly, and the terror-stricken families fled to various points for protection, many of whom went to Fort Edward. After Burgoyne had been hemmed in, the families cautiously returned to their former homes.
From Friday afternoon, July 25th, until Sunday morning following, the whereabouts of Le Loup and his band cannot be determined. But on that morning they made their appearance on the brow of the hill north of Fort Edward, and then and there a shocking tragedy was enacted, which thoroughly aroused the people, and formed quite an element in the overthrow and surrender of Burgoyne's army. It was the massacre of Miss Jane McCrea, a lovely, amiable and intelligent lady. This tragedy at once drew the attention of all America. She fell under the blow of the savage Le Loup, and the next instant he flung down his gun, seized her long, luxuriant hair with one hand, with the other passed the scalping knife around nearly the whole head, and, with a yell of triumph, tore the beautiful but ghastly trophy from his victim's head.
It is a work of superogation to say that the Highland settlers of Argyle were strongly imbued with religious sentiments. That question has already been fully commented on. The colony early manifested its disposition to build churches where they might worship. The first of these houses were humble in their pretensions, but fully in keeping with a pioneer settlement in the wilderness. Their faith was the same as that promulgated by the Scotch-Irish in the adjoining neighborhood, and were visited by the pastor of the older settlement. They do not appear to have sustained a regular pastor until after the Peace of 1783.
FOOTNOTES:
[94] "Documentary and Colonial History of New York," Vol. VII, p.630. Should 1763 be read for 1764?
[95] Ibid, p.72.
[96] Ibid, Vol. VI, p.145.
[97] On record in library at Albany in "Patents," Vol. IV, pp. 8-17.