the authority of the Company's Director at Manhattan. Grants free from dependence upon the Patroon were subsequently given by the powers at Amsterdam. William Leete Stone, editor at one time of the New York Commercial Advertiser, wrote regarding the settle- nient of Catskill, that 'its Dutch founders, with characteristic prudence, placed it en- tirely out, of sight from the river, probably to render themselves secure froiii bombardment by a foreign fleet and from invasion from the armies of the Yankees, which formerly much annoyed our primitive "^settlements. The Indians fi-om whom the lands of the early set- tlers were purchased, disappeared entirely from the scene. Their sachem, Wlahak-Neminaw, seems to have been a poor sort of a chief, drunken and beggarly. He had a share in the earlier transactions for the transfer of his tribe's patrimony, but when the final sale, which left his people without a habitation on earth, was made, he was not present, and his fellow-tribesmen stip^ ulated that when he appeared he was to receive, as his share of the price, two pieces of duffels and six cans of Digitized by Microsoft® The Catskill Region 491 rum. Where these earher inhabitants, whose wigwams occupied the terrace that became the site of old Cats- kiU, betook themselves, is not recorded. The sub- sequent Indian troubles, which this place shared with other river towns, were due to conflict with other tribes. The most tragic stories of Indian atrocities are of Revolutionary date. The fierce Mohawks, acting as alhes with the British, and aided by Tories who were scattered throughout the country, swooped down upon solitary farmhouses and captured the inmates, taking them by arduous forest ways to Canada, where a re- ward was paid for each prisoner. It seems almost in- credible that a party of twenty or more redskins, with possibly several white men, would undertake a toil- some journey of hundreds of miles, on foot, through a wilderness, where hunger often assailed them, for the sake of one or two miserable farmer captives, usually boys or old men. Yet such was the fact. One of the best known of local stories is that of the captivity of the ilbeels — David Abeel and Anthony his son. These people lived in a house about three miles back of Catskill. The father, who was old, had been an Indian trader and understood the Mohawk tongue. When seated at their noonday meal one Sunday, the family was surprised by the sudden entrance of a num- ber of Indians, led by a white man, painted and dis- guised, but recognised by the sharp eyes of the old Indian trader, who thoughtlessly called him by name. Digitized by Microsoft® 492 The Hudson River " Since you know who I am," said this man, who was a Tory neighbour of the Abeels, "you will have to come too." It was not at first the intention of the marauders to take the old man, who was thought too feeble to sustain the fatigue of the long march. In honour of the holy day both David and Anthony had on their best clothes and finery, and it grieved the thrifty soul of a daughter, who was present, that the silver shoe- and knee-buckles that were the pride of the family should fall into the hands of the enemy, so while the palaver was going on she hid under the table, and, detaching these valuable trinkets, sHpped them into her bosom. Torn from his family, David Abeel made heroic efforts to keep up with his captors, knowing that should he fail to do so he would be put out of the way without hesitation. When the savages learned that he could converse with them in their own language, and had been among their people as a trader, they treated him with consideration. The son was compelled to run the gauntlet, that is, to make what speed he could between two armed files of Indians, whose blows he might escape by dodging. His father warned him that the young men would try to get in his way and impede him. Remembering this caution, he struck the first one who interfered so hard a blow that the Indian fell sprawling among his companions and in the confusion Anthony completed his run without -injury. About the same time Captain Jeremiah Snyder and Digitized by Microsoft® The Catskill Region 493 his son EHas, of Saugerties, were taken by Tories and Indians while ploughing in a field. They attempted to escape by running, but were captured, and Captain Snyder wounded by a blow from a tomahawk. These captives were conducted by the same general route as that generally taken by marauding bands from Canada —by way of the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Genesee rivers. They were closely guarded by day, and