Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/286

 262 HISTORY OF imagined themselves elevated above the generality of the human species, in the capacity of sporting a huge pair of horns or a horse' s-tail. A calico dress, furnished by the patriotism of the fair sex, and sometimes to the discomfiture and inconvenience of members of the family at home, through the scarcity of that commodity, encircled around the waist by a belt usually orna- mented by a profusion of tassels and other fantastic ornaments, together with the implements of warfare, completes the cabinet of an artificial Indian. During the summer of this year parties were frequently seen in disguise, and several peaceable citizens who had chanced to think differently from themselves, belonging to what was termed the up-rent, or law and order party, had been molested and severely threatened with rewards for their per- verseness. The first open act of hostility was perpetrated on the sixth of July, upon the premises of Mr. John B. Gould, who, regardless of the threats and the timely warning of the association to desist from blowing his horn, had continued to use it as a signal to call his workmen to dinner. Upon the day in question, he had as usual blown his horn at noon, when five Indians, equipped and armed for fight, presented them- selves at his door, and demanded redress for the insult he had given to the authority of the association. A spirited and angry discussion ensued, when they were compelled to retreat from the premises, to the tune of the " old king's arm and shell.'^ Smarting under their unwelcome defeat, a second company was dispatched the following Tuesday to enforce submission, and with instructions to seize the gun and horn, and if neces- sary mete out to Mr. Gould a salutary coat of tar and feathers. The sun had just arrived at the meridian, when a favorable opportunity presenting itself, the signal whoop was given, and the savage horde sprung from their hiding places, and with demonlike yells rushed up and surrounded Mr. Gould, who