Page:Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison Vol. 1.djvu/64

26 them for the purpose of possessing themselves of about fifty dollars worth of property and the trifling equipage belonging to the hunting Camp of a Savage. They thought it too dangerous to attack them openly as one of the Indians well known to the white people by the name of Jim Galloway or Gilloway—was remarkable for his strength and bravery. They approached the camp as friends & as I am toled they have since confessed asked leave to stay at the Indians Camp and hunt for a few days. Their request was granted & they remained until a favorite opportunity offered to carry their design into effect—& the then Indians were murdered. Altho they were missed by their friends it was a long time before their fate was ascertained. The murderers thinking themselves safe from the length of time which has elapsed, now begin to talk of the affair, and one of them is said to have declared that he was very nearly over-powered by the Indian after he had wounded him—that he had closed in with him and the Indian was on the point of getting the better of him when his brother to whom the murder of the other Indian had been committed came to his assistance. Altho I am convinced that the facts above stated are all true—yet so difficult is it to get testimony in a case of this kind, that I have not as yet been able to get the necessary depositions on which to ground an application to the Executive of Kentucky for the delivery of these people to Justice. Whenever I have ascertained that the Indian boundary line has been encroached on by the white people I have caused the Intruders to withdraw. But as the boundary line seperating the Indian land from that to which the title has been extinguished has not been run—nor the manner in which it is to run precisely ascertained either at this place or in the country on the Mississippi called the Illinois—it is impossible to tell when encroachments are made on the Indians at those two places. As this is an object of considerable importance to the Citizens of the Territory I must beg you Sir to obtain the directions of the President to have it done as soon as possible. The people have been about petitioning Congress on this subject—Untill it was observed that the President was authorized by law to cause all the boundaries between the lands of the U.N. States & the Indian tribes to be ascertained and marked—Untill their boundaries are established it is almost impossible to punish in this quarter the persons who make a practice of Hunting on the lands