On the seventeenth of June, about four or five miles above Bedford, three Indians had made a blind of bushes stuck in the ground as thought they grew naturally where they concealed themselves about fifteen yards from the road. When we were opposite to them they fired upon us at this short distance and killed my fellow traveler, yet their bullets did not touch me. My horse taking a violent start threw me and the Indians immediately ran up and took me prisoner. The one that laid hold on me was a Canasatauga, the other two were Delawares. One of them could speak English and asked me if there were any more white men coming after? I told them there was not any near that I knew of. Two of these Indians stood by me while the other scalped my comrade. They then set off and ran at a smart rate through the woods for about fifteen miles and that night we slept on the Allegheny Mountain without fire.

The next morning they divided the last of their provision which they had brought from Fort DuQuesne and gave me an equal share, which was about two or three ounces of moldy biscuit. This and a young ground hog about as large as a rabbit was roasted and also equally divided was all the provision we had until we came to the Loyal Hannan which was about fifty miles. When we came to the West side of Laurel Hill they gave the scalp halloo which is a long yell for every scalp or prisoner they have in possession. The last of these scalp halloos were followed with quick and sudden shrill shouts of joy and triumph. On their performing this we were answered by the firing of a number of guns on the Loyal Hannan, one after another quicker than one could count by another party of Indians who were encamped there.

When we came to this camp we found they had plenty of turkeys and other meat there. Though I never before ate venison without bread or salt, yet I was hungry and relished it well. There we lay that night, and the next morning, the nineteenth of June, 1755, the whole of us marched on our way for Fort DuQuesne. The night after we joined another camp of Indians with nearly the same ceremony, attended with great noise and joy among all except one. The next morning we continued our march and in the afternoon of the twenty-second of June, 1755, we came in full view of the fort. We then made a halt on the bank of the Allegheny and repeated the scalp halloo, which was answered by the firing of all the fire locks in the hands of both Indians and French who were in and about the fort in the aforesaid manor and also the great guns. This was followed by the continued shouts and yells of the different savage tribes who were then collected there.

As I was at this time unacquainted with this mode of firing and yelling of the savages, I concluded there were thousands of Indians there ready to receive General Braddock. But what added to my surprise, I saw numbers of men, women, and children running towards me, stripped naked excepting breech-clouts. The men were painted in the most hideous manor of various colors. Though the principal was vermillion, or a bright red, yet there was annexed to this black, brown, blue, white, &c. As they approached they formed themselves into two long ranks about two or three rods apart. I was told by an Indian that could speak English that I should run betwixt these ranks and that they would flog me all the way as I ran. If I ran quick it would be so much the better as they would quit when I got to the end of the ranks. Two strong men laid hold of me by my arms and I was stripped quite naked by several women who as they pulled my garments from me held their prize high in the air for all to see and made yells that were answered by the throng. There appeared to be a general rejoicing around me, yet I could find nothing like joy in my breast.

I started the race with all the resolution and vigor I was capable of exerting and found it was as I had been told, for I was flogged the whole way. When I had got near the end of the lines I was struck with something that appeared to me to be a stick or the handle of a tomahawk which caused me to fall to the ground. On my recovering my senses I endeavored to renew my race but as I arose, someone cast sand in my eyes which blinded me so that I could not see where to run. They continued beating me most intolerably until I was at length insensible, but before I lost my senses I remember wishing them to strike the fatal blow for I thought they intended killing me, but apprehended that they were too long about it.

The first thing I remember was my being in the fort amidst the French and Indians, and a French doctor standing by me who had opened a vein in my left arm. After which the interpreter asked me how I did. I told him I felt much pain. The doctor then washed my wounds and the bruised places of my body with French brandy. As I felt faint, and the brandy smelt well, I asked for some inwardly, but the doctor told me by the interpreter that it did not suit my case. I was then sent to the hospital and carefully attended by the doctors, and recovered quicker than what I expected.

Some time after I was there I was visited by the Delaware Indian already mentioned who was at the taking of me. Though he spoke but bad English, yet I found him to be a man of considerable understanding. I asked him if I had done anything that had offended the Indians which caused them to treat me so unmercifully? He said no. It was only an old custom the Indians had and it was like how do you do, and after that I would be well used. He told me that as soon as I was recovered I must go with the Indians to his village in the Ohio country.

Shortly after this, on the ninth of July, 1755, in the morning I heard a great stir in the fort. As I could then walk with a staff in my hand, I went out the door which was just by the wall of the fort and stood upon the wall and viewed the Indians in a huddle before the gate where the barrels of powder, bullets, flints, &c. were and everyone taking what suited. I saw the Indians march off in rank, likewise the French Canadians and some regulars. After viewing the Indians and French in different positions I gathered them to be about four hundred and wondered that they attempted to go out against Braddock with so small a party. I was then with high hopes that I would soon see them fly before the British troops and that General Braddock would take the fort and rescue me. At this time even though I was somewhat free to move about the fort and its parade grounds, I was placed under a strong guard of four regulars to watch my actions and prevent me from aiding Braddock in any way.

I remained anxious to know the event of this day, and in the afternoon I again observed a great noise and commotion in the fort. Though I am unable to understand French, yet I found it was the voice of joy and triumph, and feared that they had received what I call bad news.

I had observed some of the old country soldiers speak Dutch, and as I speak Dutch I went to one of them and asked him what was the news. He told me that a runner had just arrived who said that Braddock would surely be defeated and that the Indians and French had surrounded him. Concealed behind trees and in gullies they kept a constant fire upon the English, and they saw the English falling in heaps. If they did not take to the river and make their escape there would not be one man left alive before sundown. Sometime after this I heard a number of scalp halloo's and saw a company of Indians and French coming in. I observed they had a great many bloody scalps, grenadiers caps, British canteens, bayonets &c. with them. They brought the news that Braddock was defeated. Those that were coming in and those that had arrived kept a constant firing of small arms, and also the great guns in the fort, which were accompanied with the most hideous shouts and yells from all quarters so that it appeared to me as if the infernal regions had broke lose.

About sundown I beheld a small party of Indians coming in with a dozen prisoners stripped naked, with their hands tied behind their backs, and their faces and part of their bodies blackened. These prisoners they burned to death on the bank of the Allegheny River opposite to the fort. I stood on the fort wall and beheld them burn the first of these men. They had him tied to a stake in such a manor that he could freely move around it, then they surrounded him, each armed with fire-brands, irons and such. The Indians kept touching him with fire, burning coals, and red hot iron, and he screaming in a most horrible manor ran this way and that about the stake seeking to escape from one tormentor, only to be met by another most eager to apply his instrument of torture to his flesh. All the Indians, including the women and children, quickly gathered about to watch this shocking scene and joined the men in yelling and laughing like infernal spirits.

For the length of two hours this torture which was so enjoyed by the Indians and French continued until the mans strength at last gave out and he collapsed, seemingly sensitive to only the greatest of pains administered to some yet unburned portion of his flesh. He was then carried to the river by the women and refreshed with cool water. Upon his reviving a little they carried him to a large bed of burning coals and threw him upon it and held him there with poles to writhe violently and to roll about scattering the coals, crying out and groaning for some minutes until he was at last burned to death. Afterward his body was dragged to the river and cast out into it to be taken away by the current.

As soon as the first prisoner had been burned, a second was produced and dragged to the stake. He, having observed the most horrible death of his companion fought mightily to prevent the same fate from befalling him, but being strongly overpowered he was soon tied to the stake in the same manor as described before. He begged the French to save him from being burned but his cries fell upon deaf ears. His struggles and cries for mercy served only to bring the Indians to an even higher level of excitement. My guards desiring to more closely observe the torture and the burning of this man were not content to stand upon the wall, and therefore conducted me to another stake only ten yards from the one holding the unfortunate prisoner and secured me to it by irons upon my wrists. This caused me much anxiety knowing that should the savages decide to burn me along with the hapless prisoner so near at hand, I and possibly the French would be powerless to prevent them.

Four bright fires burned about the naked prisoner casting their light upon him and providing the firebrands and red hot irons that many men and women now took up in their hands. The savages surged about the prisoner dancing and yelling as before and I immediately heard his horrible screams and through the throng I glimpsed him writhing and dashing wildly about. The Indians having slacked their thirst for the delights of torture with the first prisoner were now desiring more leisurely amusement and were much more patient in the execution of this man. Nearly naked they danced about the prisoner as before, yelling and laughing for above four hours, all the while burning him slowly to prolong his death and relishing his every scream and the sight of him writhing and dashing about the stake.

When his strength at last failed he was refreshed in the river and afterward spent his last minutes of life thrashing about and screaming as the first prisoner had done while being roasted alive upon coals. Even though I was secured near by, during the whole of the torture of this man I was not once threatened with the same fate for which I was greatly relieved. Being now a very late hour the French and Indians retired for the night and I being taken from my stake was conducted to my lodgings and secured there. When I came into my lodgings I saw this book, Russell's Seven Sermons which they had brought from the field of battle, which a Frenchman made a present of to me. I discovered in this book a large number of pages that were void of any printing and determined that I should write all that has happened to me from the time of my capture and the events surrounding and following the defeat of General Braddock. Early on this morning of the tenth of July 1755 I begged of a Frenchman a quill and some ink and have now finished writing down those events unto this time.

About mid-morning a party of Indians descending the river called the Monongahela gave three scalp halloos which was answered from the fort with shouts of joy and the firing of firelocks. I went up on the wall to see the cause of this noise and commotion and saw three canoes in the river. Each of these canoes carried four Indians and one woman they had taken captive. By the time the canoes reached the shore a large number of Indians were gathered to receive them. When the three women were pulled from the canoes and I could see that their dresses were torn and tattered and I was certain by the sight of them that these women who were traveling with Braddock's troops had already suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the Indians. They were immediately surrounded by a number of the Indian women while the rest of the Indians quickly formed into two lines making yells of joy. I expected to see them stripped of their dresses and then flogged and beaten as they ran between the ranks in the same manor that I was received. However, two Indian women took each of them by the arms, one on each side, and conducted them between the ranks in safety. The ranks yelled and threatened the three women prisoners with knives, sticks, and tomahawks, yet no harm came to them. When the last woman had passed between the ranks, the Indian women roughly tied their hands behind them and conducted their three terrified prisoners to a lodge and entered into it with them.

As soon as these women were attended to by the Indian women, the ten remaining prisoners from before were brought to the fort naked and with their hands tied behind their backs. The Indians gathered around them making hideous yells that I perceived to be joy. The prisoners were divided equally with half being delivered to the men and the rest falling into the hands of the women. These prisoners were tortured and burned to death outside the fort wall in a most slow and horrible manor. The men took their prisoners and tied two of them to stakes and for a period of about seven hours danced around them and at great leisure beat them with whips, slashed them with knives and sharp flints, and burned them with firebrands, and red hot irons. At the end of this time the prisoners were near to death and no longer an amusement for their tormentors. One of them begged for water to drink and in time two Indians brought a pot of melted lead. The prisoners heads were held and their mouths forced open with sticks where upon the lead was ladled down their throats and they died on the instant. As soon as these prisoners were dead the three remaining in the hands of the men were bound to stakes, tortured, burned, and lastly put to death in the same way about midnight.

The women took the five prisoners delivered into their hand and tied them in diverse ways. One tied to a stake by his hands only, another hanging by his hands from a limb with his feet off the ground, another stretched to the utmost, his hands and feet lashed to two trees, another placed on his back was tied hand and foot to four stakes set firmly in the ground, and another hanging by his feet between two trees spreading his legs, his hands tied behind his back and head two feet above the ground. The women took great pleasure as they crowded and danced around these men slowly torturing each of them in many ways with the same instruments of torture employed by the men. They kept all these men alive, refreshing them often with water until after the five prisoners in the hands of the men were dead, then they were burned to death with fires built around and under each. These ten prisoners delighted the Indians and the French with their constant writhing in agony, cries for mercy, and many screams most horrible to listen to. When they were dead their bodies were left near to the bank of the river.

Eleventh of July 1755. Throughout the night the dogs and other creatures had feasted on the roasted bodies of the ten prisoners. This morning the Indians disposed of the bodies by casting them out into the river to be taken away by the current. The five who were put to death by the pouring of molten lead down their throats were first butchered by the women to recover the precious metal. They held the pieces in their hands turning them over and over and holding them up, laughing as they examined each and the shapes the metal had hardened into.

In mid mourning all of the Indians assembled outside of the lodge where the three women prisoners were held under close guard by the women. There went up a great yell from the Indians as they were brought out into their midst, their hands still tied behind them with ropes. For the space of half an hour speeches were made and during this time the whole assembly broke out into excited yells of what I thought to be joy. At the close of this time the women took their knives and quickly cut the dresses from the three prisoners trembling bodies leaving them perfectly naked before our eyes. One of the women was carried screaming and fighting in terror to the river and placed in a canoe with five Indians. They departed up the Allegheny with eight other canoes filled with warriors. A second woman had a rope securely tied about her neck and was led off into the forest by about 60 warriors. The remaining woman was surrounded by the women and taken to the river where she was scrubbed clean with handfuls of sand. Upon returning she was made to sit naked on a log where she remained under close guard by the women and was given food and drink and kindly treated and spoken to while her hair was brushed until dry.

I desired to talk to this woman to learn her name and other information as I could from her but was prevented from approaching her by the Indians. I took her to be between nineteen and twenty two years of age, possessed with beauty, and blessed with the forms of a woman so attractive to the eyes of men. I was informed by one of the French soldiers that the Indians were devising a special and most cruel death for this women since she was the last prisoner in their hands taken from the forces of Braddock. Having seen the horrible tortures and slow deaths of the twelve prisoners thus far, I was in great fear of what this woman was to endure, but powerless to change the course of events.

About ten o-clock a series of quick yells went up from the Indian women holding the woman under close guard. All the Indians gathered around her in a wide circle and were joined by the French including my guards, forcing me to be an unwilling witness to the spectacle that was unfolding. The rope tying her hands was loosed and an Indian woman who could speak a little English ordered the woman to dance naked for the gathered throng. The woman refused to do so and sitting down on the ground she covered herself as best she could from their eyes. Two Indian women roughly pulled the woman to her feet and again she was ordered to dance, but she sat upon the ground and covered herself as before. The woman was then roughly handled by the men as she was taken to a limb of a tree near the fort wall with a pulley and rope attached that is used for the butchering of animals for meat. Her hands were tied together by the rope and pulled up even with the top of her head until she stood naked and helpless for all to see. Four women cut slender switches and one by one each in their turn began to whip the woman's legs. With each slash the woman screamed out, writhing and twisting about while kicking her legs wildly. Only when the woman had recovered from the slash of one woman, did another continue the torture with her switch which whistled in the air and cracked on tender flesh.

The woman's screams and writhing caused much delight for the throng who responded with loud yells and laughter. After watching this torture for the space of ten minutes my guard spoke to me saying how the woman was very good at both dancing and singing. Though I did not agree or enjoy this amusement as he greatly did, I could not turn my eyes away from it. I found the sight of an attractive and quite naked woman rapidly twisting and turning to and fro kicking her legs wildly and causing her breasts to shake about most fascinating to watch. It was a sight which drew my eyes and powerfully held them. I would have much more enjoyed this spectacle had it been a French or Indian woman being tortured rather than an English one.

After the woman's legs had been whipped over the whole of them the women applied their switches to the rest of her writhing body, sparing not her breasts or even her womb. This amusement was stopped in about two hours when the woman was in total agony from this torture, exhausted from her struggles and hanging by her hands. Even though her strength was gone, she had not been greatly harmed, only covered with red and swollen welts. When she was untied she fell to the ground and was dragged to a hut where the women tended to her condition until the afternoon.

At two o'clock in the afternoon the woman was again produced and was now much revived in her strength. Four stakes were driven fast into the ground and the woman tied hand and foot to them with leather cords. The men brought three poles eight feet in length that were tied together at one end and set them up as a tripod over the woman. A length of cotton rope was tied to the top of tripod with the end of it hanging down over her body, the end of which was set on fire and left to smolder. The tripod was adjusted and the rope lowered until the smoldering fire touched the woman's breasts whereupon the Indians sat about to freely enjoy this new amusement and adjust the rope from time to time to keep it up. The woman jerked away from the slow fire but it was positioned such that she could not avoid it completely. Immediately she began trying to knock the fire away with her breasts only to have it swing right back and each time give her a small burn. This fiendish torture forced the woman to keep in constant motion delighting all watching by throwing and shaking her breasts about in all directions and crying out. This continued for an hour until her breasts were red with a great number of small burns and covered with ash from the rope.

The rope was next hung in the area of her womb and the torture continued, burning her on her most private and sensitive of places and the insides of her legs. After a time this torture was continued on other parts of the woman's body and she was also turned over so that her back and the back of her legs could be burned as well. Some men and women tied pieces of rope to long slender poles and setting the rope to smolder as that which hung from the tripod, dropped the coal onto the woman's body where they willed adding both to her torment and their pleasure. After about four hours this torture was stopped, the woman being completely exhausted from her struggles, her wrists and ankles raw and bleeding from the straps that held her, and she was covered with but light burns on the whole of her body from her feet to her head. The women once again treated her kindly tending to her wounds and burns, refreshing and strengthening her so she could endure yet more torture.

After the evening meal the woman was again produced and tied between two small trees by her hands and feet. A wrist and ankle lashed to one tree, and a wrist and ankle lashed to another held her in place totally naked and exposed to the eyes of all. The woman knowing that some new torture was about to be performed upon her struggled with all her strength and begged for mercy and protection from the French. Her cries fell on the ears of none that were willing to save her, for they all had gathered about quite eager to watch and enjoy the new amusement of the Indians. Presently several Indians returned from the fort carrying tongs taken from the blacksmiths forge. These were used to pinch and to pull and twist the woman's flesh until she was shrieking in agony from this simple torment. While the tongs were used on the whole of her body, the tender flesh of her breasts, especially the nipples, her womb and the insides of her legs were favored places of the Indians attention.

As the Indian men and women attempted to take the woman's flesh in the tongs she responded each time in the natural manor directed by a human mind that is consumed by terror. She desperately tried to save herself by shaking and twisting her body to and fro, and struggling wildly within the limits of her bonds in a hopeless effort to escape from the tongs and the Indians torture. In this she succeeded only in making it difficult for the Indians to pinch her where they intended and in doing so she made for her tormentors a game which caused much laughter from the watching throng. When each tormenter finally succeeded in pinching the woman's flesh where they desired her screams of agony and writhing body were answered with yells of approval. This torture continued until almost dusk when the woman was finally freed to again rest and to be refreshed by the women.

After it was fully night the woman was tied by a rope to a stake with her hands bound behind her back in such a manor that she could freely move around the stake in a circle, but could go no more than thee feet from it. Fire was kindled close by in a circle all around her and kept up, brightly illuminating the woman as she franticly ran this way and that about the stake kicking her feet and legs to cool them and screaming in terror that she was being roasted alive. This continued for some time until she at last collapsed on the ground exhausted, rolling and writhing about in the heat of the fire. She was immediately cut free and saved before she was roasted to alive. After being cooled and refreshed in the river she was taken away for the night to be attended to by the women.

Twelfth of July 1755. About nine o'clock the woman was produced by the Indian women and a series of yells assembled all the village about her. One of the women spoke and a yell went up from the men and there was a great excitement among them as they formed into two lines ten feet apart. High moccasins were brought and put on the woman covering her feet and legs up to just below her knees and other than these she was totally naked. The woman was told by one of the French that she was free to go but she must run away as fast as possible if she was to escape with her life. If she was unable to out run her pursuers and was caught she would be used for pleasure until the evening, and after that she would be tortured to death in the village for the amusement for all. She was directed to run between the lines of men which she immediately did with all of her strength, most assuredly driven by the terror of a most horrible and slow death from tortures far worse than the ones she had already endured.

After about five minutes a drum sounded and the men raced off after the woman yelling as they went. As I write this it has been six hours with no sign of either the men or the woman. I must hope that she was able to make good her escape, but one woman running from so many hunters I fear that she has been caught and is even now suffering unspeakable tortures and terror that only a woman in the hands of the savages can know.

Thirteenth of July 1755. The evening before about the time of the evening meal a scalp halloo was made and answered with yells by the savages in the village and the discharge of fire locks. The men entered the village bearing the woman tightly bound to two poles that they carried upon their shoulders. She was still alive and naked of even the moccasins she had worn at the start of the hunt in which she was the prey. Her flesh was bruised, scratched, and torn by thorns and she seemed almost senseless to her surroundings. The women gathered around the men with the same joy that they might have if they had returned with a fine deer or bear taken in the hunt. As they untied the woman she fought weakly and covered her womb with her hands and cried for them to not hurt her. From the marks on her flesh, her exhaustion and state of mind, I knew well that she had suffered greatly from rape and torture by the savages. The woman was given a little brandy which revived her a little before she was taken by the woman and washed in the river. After the evening meal there was a dance about a great fire but I saw no more of the woman.

It has rained hard most of today and few have strayed from their quarters. I saw the woman once as she is being attended to by the women but I was again not permitted to approach her to learn her name. Fourteenth of July 1755. Today has dawned bright and clear and there is much excitement in the Indian village. The French have told me that the woman will die tomorrow in a manor that can only be devised in the minds of these savages. Poles have been brought this morning and a strong scaffold about ten feet high has been fashioned about a tree. A platform about ten feet square fashioned of poles lashed in place with cords is being laid on top of the scaffold with the tree passing through its center. While many of the men work on this construction the children are busy gathering much wood and piling it about. I fear that the woman is to be burned to death as so many before her have been, but the use of this raised platform is a mystery to me.

Fifteenth of July 1755. After the noon meal of the day before the woman was brought out by the women, naked and convulsing with terror for she had been told that she was going to be tortured and slowly burned alive for the amusement of all. Her hopeless struggles and cries served only to raise the French and the Indians excitement to a fever pitch.

The woman was taken to two stakes set firmly in the ground and being laid upon her back was tied to them by her hands only. Smoldering sticks were readied and one by one each tormentor be they man or woman, aged or child, tried to touch their coal to her flesh here or there wherever they desired. The woman tried to prevent this torture by twisting her body this way and that and by kicking her legs trying to knock the smoldering coals away with her feet. This torture was continued for the space of two hours greatly delighting all the French and the Indians with a display of her naked body making wild contortions and rapid gyrations and with each touch of a smoking coal she made shrieks and flailed about wildly bringing the house down with yells and laughter.

After this torture the woman's hands were tied behind her back and her legs spread and ankles tied tightly to a strong pole. A rope passing over a pulley that was outside the fort wall and used for the butchering of cattle was tied to the center of the pole to which the woman's ankles were tightly bound. By this she was pulled up and suspended with her head down and her legs spread apart.

While a pot containing pitch was placed in a fire to heat, the woman was turned around this way and that and tormented with slender whips and the points of arrows and knives. When the pitch was ready it was brought and a stick dipped into it drizzled smoking hot pitch onto the inside of her legs and thighs, her buttocks, back, chest, and the bottom of her breasts. Each drop brought shrieks of agony and caused her to writhe and squirm. A French soldier enjoying the sight of this shocking torture said she looked like a fish pulled from the water on a line. When there was only a little pitch left the Indian women opened her womb with sticks and while several men held her, they poured pitch down into the woman causing her to make screams most horrible to listen to, and to thrash about wildly.

About five o'clock in the afternoon the woman was taken to the platform built about the tree. After climbing a ladder up onto it the woman was tied to the tree by her hands which were bound behind her back with a short leather strap so that she was free to move around it. Fires were kindled from the collected wood and long slender poles laid with their ends in the flame.

When the poles were ready they were taken up by the savages and as they danced about they thrust the burning ends at the naked woman. At first many Indians thrust their poles at her only threatening to burn her but in time one or another began to touch her flesh with flame or coal. Though the woman had difficulty in walking and climbing the ladder from the tortures she had already suffered, she was quite active running this way and that about the tree trying to save herself from this new and slow torture by fire. When her strength began to fail they began to burn her more often and in this way the savages kept her dashing about kicking, writhing, and screaming out in agony. In an effort to save herself, she would at times lay on the platform where the savages could not reach her with their burning poles, however, they would then hold their firebrands under the platform so that the flame went up through the cracks and instantly had the woman up and running about once again to their great delight.

About nine o'clock when the woman's strength was gone the savages stopped burning her with their poles and fire was kindled under the platform and about each of the poles supporting it. They continued to dance about and as one pole burned more quickly than another the fires were slacked or stirred up so that the platform collapsed more evenly, slowly lowering the woman toward the fire and coals below. The woman having recovered somewhat became once again quite frantic, running and dancing about in the heat and smoke and screaming for someone to save her and that her feet were being roasted. Collapsing all at once, the platform caught fire beneath the woman's feet slowly burning the woman to death. I shall always carry in my mind the sight of her kicking her legs and thrashing about in the flames, the sound of her horrible screams, and her contorted and blackened body with her eyes and mouth open wide as though she died in mid scream. The woman's body was pulled from the fire and the head cut off. Afterward the body was thrown back into the fire and was burned to ashes.

Sixteenth of July 1755. Since the burning of the woman the fort and village have been quiet. The woman's head has been impaled on a pole and displayed near to the place where she was burned. I have been told that I am to be taken to the Indian village of Kittanny about forty miles to the North and there I expect to be burned if I can not make good my escape.

Nineteenth of July 1755. This morning I asked for and was given my book and quill to record the shocking events of the last two days. In the afternoon of the seventeenth I was bound hand and foot and placed into a canoe loaded with provisions and handled by four Indians, one being the first to lay hold on me the day I was captured. Two more canoes loaded heavy with provisions and spoils were handled by nine Indians set off with us up the river that is called the Allegheny. I was unbound and kept under close guard only when we stopped. When we took our rest for the night I was again bound securely and even with escape impossible one of my companions was a watchful guard at all times.

Late in the mourning of the eighteenth those in one canoe drew our eyes to something floating with the current fifty yards ahead and to the left. My companions paddled to see what it was and I found to my horror and the Indians delight the body of the women captured with General Bradocks troops who had been taken away from Fort DuQuesne by canoe. She had been tortured to death in a most horrible and shocking manner. Her flesh was scorched with fire and coals and slashed with knives, her womb burned and forced into with fire brands, and the skin of her breasts, stomach, back, and legs peeled off. In the afternoon we arrived with much excitement, shouts, and the firing of fire locks at the Delaware village of Kittanny consisting of above two thousand Indians. I was taken to a lodge and kept under close guard fearful of what was to be done to me even though I was treated well and given food and drink.

In the excitement of our arrival four women and two men being kept as slaves slipped away and escaped into the woods. On the discovery of this more than ninety men dashed off in search of them and soon took up the path of their escape. Contrary to my hopes of their safe escape, the men returned with the four women and one man at the setting of the sun. They were all stripped naked and bound together with one end of a cord tied about the waist of one in front and the other end of the cord about the wrists of one coming behind. Carried on the belt of one of the Indians was a bloody scalp freshly taken. From a woman slave that has been in the hands of the Indians several years I learned that once the Indians were in hot pursuit of the six who had tired to run away, one of the men ran to a cliff and threw himself off and was dashed to death on the rocks below. It was his scalp that I saw.

In the center of this village are twelve strong poles set upright and numerous short pegs forming a wide circle. Eight of the poles are set by twos a few feet apart and across the circle from each other. Beside them are four single poles also across the circle from each other. Beside these poles are four short stakes set firmly in the earth forming four squares, a stake for each corner, and across the circle from each other. Having already seen so many tortured and burned alive at the stake, and seeing the poles each burned black with fire at the base and ashes all about, and the stakes set in the ground, I knew on the instant that this was a place of torture and death. Each of the five escaped slaves were taken to the poles and roughly tied to them where they remained until mourning, the women having their arms tied together around the four single poles, and the man tied hand and foot between two of the close spaced poles.

When the sun was well up all of the captives being kept as slaves numbering twenty three women and four young men along with myself were bound and made to sit on the ground in the center of the circle of poles and stakes. There we were forced to witness the cruel death of the five which had tried to escape. Each was bound in a different manor and though they were tortured without mercy, each remained alive until after sundown when at last they were released from their horrible sufferings by death. During their slow torture and death we were watched and should we ever close our eyes or look away from those suffering so horribly for more than a few seconds a whip was applied to us.

One woman was bound hand and foot upon her back with leather straps to four of the stakes holding her helpless but not entirely motionless. A small fire was kindled and kept up near her one foot where it had the desired effect and she began again making screams and writhing in agony. Her foot was slowly roasted like a piece of meat until there was no more feeling in it. The fire was then moved just a little up the outside of her leg where it began roasting a fresh part of her leg. In this manor the fire was slowly moved up her leg to her waist at which time it was started over again at her foot and moved up the inside of the same leg. When her one leg was fully roasted this way the torture was repeated on her other leg with the same slowness, writhing, and horrible screams. The fire was next moved around her arms and finally along her sides. All the while the woman was being burned in this manor burning sticks were touched here and there to her breasts, chest, stomach, and womb. When the whole of the outside of her body had been roasted in this manner fire was kindled on her chest and kept up until the last of her life was gone.

Another woman was bound hand and foot and stretched tightly between two poles leaving her helpless, almost motionless, and entirely naked to any torture devised for her. Parts of her flesh including her back, breasts, stomach, and legs were burned a little at a time with fire and the blistered skin carefully scraped off with knives and sharp flints. When her tormentors finished with this torture a long blade knife was heated in a fire and used to slash and cut off small pieces of her flesh over every part of her body. The hot blade cut and seared her flesh so that there was little loss of blood. This was done with great slowness to preserve her life and cause her to suffer pains beyond my power to describe.

A third woman of near my age was tied first hand and foot between two poles nearly in front of where I was. She was strong and firm of flesh and possessed great feminine beauty that is so attractive to the eyes of men. I hoped that her beauty would spare her life, or at the least save her from the worst of the slow tortures being suffered by the rest and bring her a quick death, but no mercy was shown to her. A large bone needle was forced through her breasts from side to side and used to pull through the tender flesh of each a rough and thin leather thong. Four stones of about a pound each were hung on each end of these two thongs causing her much agony that was greatly multiplied by any movement she made. Her legs and body were first whipped with thin switches causing her to writhe and struggle making the stones swing and bounce on their cords. Though she appeared to try to remain motionless it was impossible for her to do so and with each slash she writhed wildly and tortured herself with the cords and stones.

In time an iron rod was heated in a fire and when it was touched to her womb or forced up into it caused her to shriek and convulse violently. The stones were next removed and heated quite hot before being replaced on the thongs causing the woman to bend over forward to avoid having them touch her body. A fire brand touched to her back caused her to suddenly bend backward and thus she applied the hot stones to her own chest. Being burned on her chest and back at the same time caused this lovely woman to quickly jerk back and forth causing the stones to bounce and swing violently on their thongs. At great length the stones were removed and the cords pulled from the woman's breasts. During the whole of these tortures the wounds of the woman's breasts were treated with a liquid that seemed to stop the free flow of blood.

The woman was next taken to a single pole with a cord tied securely to the top. Her hands were tied together by the cord above her head in such a manor that she could walk around it several times before she had to return the other way. Bound in this way she was fully exposed and could freely respond to the tortures of her tormentors. Smoldering sticks were touched to her here and there and burning coals were cast upon the ground under her feet causing her to run franticly this way and that about the stake screaming and kicking her legs and as she went. All the while the woman did this the stones swung and bounced on their cords through her breasts. When her strength seemed to be almost gone a fire was kindled in a ring about her but back away and kept up to slowly roast her alive. Her strong body endured this last torture for about one hour delighting her tormentors with the slowness of her death and by the manner in which she twisted and writhed and cried out in pain.

Tied near to me was the mother of this poor woman who was beside herself from the sight of her daughter stripped naked and hearing her screams of agony as she was being tortured in such cruel ways. She begged the Indians to spare her daughter and to kill her in her place. But the Indians refused and threatened to torture her along with her daughter. I feel that the woman was placed where she would see the horrible death of her daughter and in doing so the savages tortured her mind with such grief that the woman cried and writhed on the ground as though she herself was being burned with fire.

A small dead tree about two inches in diameter was quickly dug around and pulled out of the ground with some of the roots that formed a large rough end. A hole was dug between two poles and this tree was placed into it. The loosened earth was replaced and rammed hard around the tree holding it firmly in place. A woman was brought to this tree and after was cut off at about her waist, the bark stripped off, the end rounded and then coated with fat. The woman's hands were tired to the poles over her head and when she was lifted up and impaled on the tree and as it went some way into her she screamed horribly. Bound in this way the woman was standing on the ground but she could not lift herself off of the tree, neither could she drop herself onto it to speed her death. Any movement of her body only added greatly to her agony. Smoldering sticks were applied to first the back and then the front of her legs forcing the woman to quickly bend them this way and that. In doing so the woman caused her herself to move up and down on the tree and cause herself unspeakable agony. In time burning coals were touched here and there over the whole of her body and cast under her feet causing the woman to twist and writhe on the tree. When her strength was almost gone a low fire was built around and under her and fire brands were held to her flesh making her squirm on the pole until she was dead.

While the women were welcomed and took great pleasure in helping the men torture the four women, the man was theirs to amuse themselves with tortures of their own design. The man was first tied hand and foot between two poles. A young woman kneeled before him and used a bone needle to pull thin rough leather cords through each of his testicles. The man seemingly not wanting to give the women any pleasure for her efforts held his tongue though he strained on his bonds as the needle was forced through the first of his testicles. As the woman pulled the rough cord through this most tender of flesh, the mans resolve broke and he resorted to screaming and writhing wildly to the delight of all, especially the women now torturing him. The woman pulled the second cord through his other testicle with the same deliberation and lack of mercy than if she were slowly stitching a hide. She then began to slowly pull first one cord and then the other back and forth through the mans testicles making him scream and writhe at her will. One after another the women knelt and tortured the man in this way, each slowly pulling the cords back and forth until a new torture was employed.

The ends of the cords were next tied together forming loops and stones were hung from them in the same manner as the woman before mentioned. These stones were picked up and dropped over and over causing the man terrible agony. When the women grew tired of this and desired a new sport, the man was taken to a pole and tied to it with a short cord by his hands which were bound together behind his back. Bound in this way the man could move around the stake several times one way before he had to return in the other. The women began to whip and burn him, and he running about to save himself from this torment, tortured himself with the weighted cords. This was continued until both of the cords had pulled out of his testicles. During these first tortures the women at times would apply the preparation that stopped much of the bleeding. After the cords had pulled out of the mans flesh he was tied to the pole with his hands bound together and his arms around it. The women took up smoldering poles and surrounding him began poking at his fore flesh trying to burn it as he moved freely around the pole twisting and jerking as he struggled to save himself. This torture was continued until his entire fore flesh was completely burned away.

The women made a frame of four poles lashed together to form a rectangle to which the man was stretched and bound hand and foot to the corners. The women took up the frame and carried the man to a fire of coals over which they placed him. Being turned often the man was slowly broiled alive on both his front and back, first his legs and then his body until the last of his strength was gone. He was then lain on the coals on his back where he burned to death. The women with their skill in torture amused themselves with the man and kept him alive almost as long as the young woman who was roasted alive before me. When this horrible scene of torture, screams, and naked writhing bodies came to a close we were left with the sight of roasted and mutilated bodies and the smell of burning flesh. Before we were taken from this circle we were made to understand that if we were to try to escape from the hands of our captors we would be tortured to death just as these had been. The slow and shocking deaths we had been forced to witness no doubt had a powerful effect on all of us.

I am under close guard at all times and I have been made to understand that I will be taken into the Ohio country with the Indian that has claimed me as his own. There I fully expect to be tortured to death. I have told the Indians that it is important for me write in my book and it has been given to me. The savages look at the words I write with wonder but none can read them and I have been told that some believe the book has great power.

Eleventh of August 1755. I have remained at Kittanny about three weeks and in this time have been well treated. The Delaware that took me has told me that I am to accompany him and a party into the Ohio country. Preparations have been made and we will cross the Allegheny River on the morrow. I know not what will become of me there but pray that it will not be such a death as I have been forced to witness so many to suffer.

Fourteenth of August 1755. I have been traveling with twenty Indians, fourteen being men, three women, two young boys and a young girl. All of our party bear packs such as we can carry loaded with dried meat and corn, supplies, and spoils. We have traveled seventy miles through wilderness passing through numerous villages where we were warmly greeted asked of news of the war and the advance General Braddock. Great joy is always expressed at the news of General Braddock's defeat, the killing of many soldiers, the taking of many scalps and much spoil, and the torture of captives.

One of the women in our party who can speak a little English has made it known to me that in every town they are asked to stay and burn me there so that they can take pleasure in my torture and death. I take a little comfort in the fact that my captors have so far refused and are saving me alive.

Today we have stopped about three o-clock and set up shelters of poles and canvas due to a constant heavy rain and for rest. Thus far I have been treated quite tolerably being given an equal share of dried meat, parched corn and bread to eat, yet I am always either bound or under close guard when we are not traveling. The men set about cleaning and oiling their firelocks and the women kindled fire and made a pot of stew, the first hot meal we have had on this journey. The three children went out with bows and a leather bag to hunt and returned with a ground hog they had caught and was still very much alive. The creature delighted the children for above two hours with its squeals and writhing as they slowly tortured it in various ways with fire and coals and pointed sticks. When it was dead it was skinned and roasted with fire and the meat added to the stew.

Seventeenth of August 1755. About an hour after sunset of the fourteenth I began to hear on regular occasion what I hoped to be the far off cries of some wild animal, but the sound was much like that of the dreadful screams I have now heard so often made when captives are being tortured by the Indians. My companions also heard the sounds and it excited them greatly. On nights before they had been quiet, but this night there was talking and laughter among them after each cry.

The next morning we shortly entered a town and where told that the Indians there had taken four captives alive. A hunting party was fired on by a white woman wounding one Indian badly in the leg. The hunting party returned a volley killing one man, wounding another, and the rest, one man and three women were taken captive. The Indians tortured the wounded man by taking arrows in their hands and piercing his flesh where ever they desired. After this he was then flayed alive with knives until he was dead.

The man they had brought back to the village had been tortured and burned alive in the town the night before and it was his screams that I had heard long into the night. The Indian woman with us that can speak a little English was delighted to tell me of these things and also the manor of his death. He was first stripped of his clothes and bound with his back to a tree, then his legs spread and his feet tied to stakes driven into the ground. The women of the village kneeling before him took small stones and used them to pinch and grind the skin of his fore flesh causing him great agony. This they continued until the skin of his sack was so bruised and cut that the women were able to squeeze out his testicles leaving them hanging by their cords. The women brought a flat piece of iron smoking hot from the fire and raising it up under the mans exposed testicles, fried them.

His hands were then bound above his head with leather straps and his flesh was burned slowly with fire and coals over the whole of his body. A fire was kindled beneath him and about his feet and kept up until his feet and legs were well roasted and afterward his stomach was cut open and his entrails pulled out and thrown into the fire below him. His body with the remains of the entrails hanging down was still hanging over the smoking ashes of the fire was a frightful sight to me.

I was also told that the young woman that had wounded the Indian was to be kept alive and be used as a slave and tortured daily until the winter when she shall be put to death in a most horrible way. The young men have stripped her naked and have taken her out of the town where she will remain alone among them for some days. They will pleasure themselves by raping and torturing her with care and slowness, and by having sport with her until such a time that they have broken her mind. I was told that she will then do anything asked of her without hesitation.

The two other woman that have been taken were tortured to death one that day and one the next and for this our party joyfully stayed to take part in the frolic.

About noon on the fifteenth the first woman was brought quite naked from a lodge and was dragged convulsing with fear to the center of the town. She was tall, had a pretty face, and long light brown hair that hung down in slight curls to the middle of her back. She was bound between two poles by her hands and feet. Pitch from the pine tree was prepared and boiled, and pieces of rope made from cotton were cut about three inches in length. A small amount of the boiling pitch was applied to the woman with a stick and piece of rope immediately pressed onto it with only the end left free. The woman screamed and writhed in agony as the pitch was applied to her body. After the pitch had cooled the rope was stuck fast to her flesh and even a smart pull would not dislodge it. This was done here and there over her body, legs and breasts until more than twenty pieces of rope had been used.

When the last of the ropes had been applied the woman was freed from the poles and then had her hands tied together with one end of a rope. This was thrown over a strong limb of a tree and the woman was pulled up into the air by her hands. One of the ropes on the inside of her thigh was selected and the end of it set on fire and left to smolder. Hanging in the air the woman put on a fine display for the Indians by kicking her leg wildly and screaming in the instant the slow fire reached her flesh where it continued to burn for some ten to fifteen minutes. When this rope had burned out the woman was lowered to the ground and refreshed with water, then the woman was again pulled up and the torture was continued.

The next rope to be selected and set to smolder was on her breast. After many hours when the last rope had burned out, the woman was lowered to the ground and a fire kindled quite hot before her. The rope tying her hands being pulled up again drew the woman to the fire where she began pulling on the rope trying to escape from the heat. Soon she became frantic greatly delighting the Indians as she dashed about the fire screaming that she was roasting alive. After a time the rope was pulled quickly yanking the woman up into the air where she hung over the fire. She was then lowered toward the flames until she was kicking her legs and feet and screaming in agony whereupon she was pulled up again. She was raised and lowered countless times into the night. When her strength failed she was slowly lowered into the fire where she at last was burned to death.

On the sixteenth of August the second woman was produced from a lodge quite naked and dragged in terror to the center of the town. She had dark brown hair that hung straight and below her shoulders and was also a very pretty woman to look upon. When she saw the pot of hot pitch and pieces of rope being prepared she fell on her knees and begged the Indians not to torture her, for she had seen how her companion had been burned to death the previous day. Her cries fell on ears deaf to her pleas, but not to her screams as she was tortured in the same way as the woman before. As the ropes were set on fire one at a time, the woman's naked body and screams provided another feast of pleasure for the Indians eyes and ears.

When this torture ended the Indians picked up smoldering sticks from fires and began to dance about the woman as she hung by her hands. While the Indians tried to burn her womb the woman tried to prevent them from doing this by struggling and kicking her legs trying to knock the glowing coals away with her feet. After several hours of this torture the woman's womb, stomach, hips, and upper legs were burned and blistered until raw flesh was showing. She was then burned with coals and fire with slowness over the whole of her body where ever the Indians thought they could cause her the most agony yet prolonging her death long into the night. When her strength was gone she was lowered into the fire where she burned to death. Before we departed on the seventeenth the third woman was brought into the town by the young men. She was naked and lead by a rope around her neck and her hands were tied behind her back. She was about seventeen to twenty years of age and a little younger than the two woman who had already been burned alive. She had dark curly hair down below her shoulders which framed one of the most lovely of faces I believe I have ever seen. Her young and strong body possessed excellent feminine beauty and she was most delightful to look at.

From her manner I knew that the Indians had succeeded fully in breaking her mind for she looked only at the ground and did not seen to be aware of things around her. The ropes were taken off of her and when ordered she knelt on the ground. She covered her womb with her hands and when one took hold of her arm she cried out with pleas begging of them to not hurt her. Her wrists and ankles bore marks of the cords that had bound them and her flesh had scratches, bruises, burns, and marks from whips and other tortures, but the skin was not badly broken and appeared to have received treatment with medicine. I have been made to understand that this beautiful young woman will suffer a most horrible fate. Each day she will be made to work as a slave while each night her body will provide the pleasures of rape and delight all with the amusement of slow torture. It would be a far more merciful thing if she would be put to death now by torture than to suffer so horribly for several months as she shall. At the end of these sufferings she will be put to death in a most horrible and slow way that can be devised.

Twenty fifth of July 1755. This afternoon we entered the town of Coshocton on the Muskingum River. The women of this town have made an excellent feast for us of roast venison, stew, bread, and other foods of which we ate our fill. The Indians of this town had heard of General Braddock's defeat and expressed great joy in my being taken captive. The woman with us that could speak a little English made it known to me that the people of this town also desired my companions to stay that they might take part in torturing and burning me to death. I was somewhat relieved to learn that my companions had refused this offer and replied that they must take me to their village for they have a special use for me there. Hearing this my heart is fallen from fear that I shall be put to death in some special manor unless I can make my escape. Twenty eighth of July 1755. We stayed at Coshocton until the morning of the twenty seventh and then took our leave.

From the time of my capture until this time I have been under constant close guard but when we departed this town a slender limb six feet long was placed on my shoulders and my hands tied fast to it. A leather strap was tied about my neck and in this manner I am lead toward my coming fate. I begged of my captors when we stopped for the night to free my hands so that I may continue to write in this journal. They have watched me closely each time and since no harm has come of it, they have allowed me this freedom. I have been made to understand that that the town to which I am being taken is called Tullihas and is but a few hours away and three of our party have gone ahead to prepare the town for our arrival. I greatly fear that I am tortured to death and will long be an amusement to the village.

Thirty-first of July 1755. On the morning of the twenty ninth our party entered Tullihas after which there was a great feast and dance during which I was tied to a stake by a leather strap around my middle and kept under close guard. I was given a portion of roasted venison and a bowl of stew and treated well. The day after my arrival a number of Indians collected about me and one of them began to pull the hair out of my head. He had some ashes on a piece of bark into which he dipped his fingers to in order to take a firmer hold. He went on as if he had been plucking a turkey until he had all the hair out of my head except a small spot on my crown. After this they ordered me to take off my clothes and put on a breech-clout which I did. They then painted my head, face, and body in various colors. They put a large belt of wampum on my neck, and silver on my hands and right arm. An old chief led me out in the street and gave the alarm several times and all that were in the town came running and stood round us. I made no doubt that they were about putting me to death in some cruel manner.

The old chief made a long speech and when he had finished he handed me over to three young women who led me down the bank into the river until the water was up to our middle. The women then made signs to me to plunge myself into the water, but I did not understand them. I thought that the result of the council was that I should be drowned, and that these young women were to be the executioners. They all three laid violent hold of me and I for some time opposed them with all my might which caused much loud laughter by the multitude that were on the bank of the river. At length one of the women made out to speak a little English and said "No hurt you" and on this I gave myself up to them who were as good as their word. For though they plunged me under water and washed me severely, I could not say they hurt me much. These young women then led me up to the council house where some of the tribe were ready with new clothes for me, a shirt, leggins, and moccasins. They again painted my head and face in various colors and tied a bunch of red feathers to the lock of hair they had left on the crown of my head. Thus clothed and when I was seated on a bear skin the Indians came in dressed and painted in their grandest manner. At length one of their chiefs made a speech which was delivered to me by an interpreter.

"My son, you are now flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. By the ceremony which was performed this day every drop of white blood was washed out of your veins. You are taken into the Caughnewago nation, and initiated into a warlike tribe and are adopted into a great family. After what has passed this day you are one of us by an old and strong law and custom. You have now nothing to fear. We are now under the same obligations to love, support and defend you that we have to love and defend one another. You are to consider yourself as one of our people."

After this ceremony was over I was introduced to my new kin and was told that I was to attend a feast that evening which I did. After the feast it was discovered that a white woman slave that was in their hands for several years had run away and escaped during the ceremony in the river. Many men went out quickly and soon a halloo directed their attention to the trail that she had taken. This day about three o-clock the men have returned with the woman dashing my hopes that she was able to make her escape. She was stripped quite naked except for moccasins upon her feet and when she was tied securely to a stake in the center of the town these too were taken from her. It has been made known to me that when the sun has risen in the morning she shall be slowly tortured to death with fire for running away.

Second of August 1755. About one hour after the sun had risen on the first of August all in the village enjoyed a morning feast. Afterward there was great excitement as all surrounded the unfortunate woman and cutting off her bonds, carried her fighting and screaming in terror to a tree with a strong limb some fifteen feet above the ground. Up until this time the woman had been kept under close guard but treated well and given food and water and a blanket during the night for warmth. Her hands were tied roughly with a strong cord which was thrown over the limb then pulled until her hands were just above her head and tied securely holding them there. Thus tied the woman was displayed totally naked to the eyes of all and open to any torture devised for her.

One of the chiefs made a speech that was interpreted to me explaining that this woman had proved herself to be a swift and strong runner and that all in the village was to take much pleasure in putting her to death. The chief ordered that her legs were to be tortured first and because of their strength they would certainly provide many hours of amusement. At the end of his speech there went up a great shout followed by a minute of yelling until a decision was made on how to proceed and then when all were satisfied the torture began.

Pieces of bark were brought heaped with burning coals which were scattered about beneath the feet of the woman. Instantly the woman was dashing about, screaming and kicking her legs to the delight of the village. As she ran about upon the coals they became scattered providing places on the ground where she could stand. The Indians allowed her to take rest for no more than a minute before a burning stick was touched to her legs and instantly she was again running and dancing about on the coals to the delight of all. After about an hour of this torture the woman was exhausted and the soles of her feet badly burned and bleeding.

After the coals were swept up many of the village took up thin switches and whipped her legs which once again had the woman screaming and turning this way and that and kicking her legs wildly. This continued until the woman's legs were covered with hundreds of bloody welts which were treated with a coating of salt causing her to suffer even more agony.

The woman was then tied laying on her back with her arms and legs spread apart and each hand and foot tied by a wet leather strap to a stake set firmly in the ground. A pile of coals was placed around her feet and in seconds it had it's intended effect. Young boys sat near by and kept the leather straps wet with water so that they did not burn from the heat. When the woman's feet were roasted until they were no longer sensitive, piles of coals were spread along both sides of her legs but back away from them so that they were roasted with great slowness, causing the woman to kick and twist her legs in their bonds for hours and to keep up a constant song of cries, groans, screams, and pleas for mercy. The women tending to the fires showed great skill in this torture by the adding of coals or pulling them away in order to keep the woman in agony without scorching her flesh. While doing this they showed no more mercy than if they were roasting freshly killed pieces of meat rather than the legs of a woman who was still alive and screaming and thrashing about wildly. All the while the women were roasting her legs, the men were busy playing at touching a small burning stick to the woman here and there where ever they desired with her nipples, breasts and womb favored somewhat over the rest of her body.

In the evening when the woman's legs were well roasted I was shocked to see pieces of them cut off and eaten before her eyes while she was still alive. When I asked why this was done I was told that those who partook of her roasted legs while she yet lived would have the strength and speed of her legs enter into them and thus become a stronger runner. I was offered a piece to eat but declined it saying I felt that I was already a swift enough runner. After this the woman was slowly tortured by many methods yet care was taken and she was kept alive until after it was fully dark when a fire was kindled about her and coals heaped upon her. In this way she was shown some little mercy and burned to death and released her from her suffering.

Ninth of September 1755. On the morning of the fifth a runner from the Indian town of Coshocton arrived with news that four English men and two women were fired upon and two of the men were killed. Two men and the two women were taken alive and were now in their hands. The chief of that town desired for me to come to be an interpreter when they were questioned because there was no one there that could speak in the English tongue. Now being somewhat conversant in the Indian language I was ordered to go and thirty men were sent with me.

I and my companions arrived that afternoon to find the four captives bound together with cords and sitting in the center of the town under close guard. On seeing a white man approaching, even though he was dressed as an Indian lifted their spirits and they begged of me to save them. I told them that I was called to be an interpreter for them but that I would do what I could. Immediately upon our arrival we were given a bowl of stew and roasted meat and after we had eaten the questioning began.

One man was taken to the edge of the town where he was stripped naked and staked out upon the ground with his arms and legs stretched to the utmost. His head was held fast by forked stakes driven into the ground on both sides of it and a leather band tied between them across his eyes. Once this was done the stakes were driven deeper into the ground to tighten the band. Bound in this way he was almost totally motionless and blind to what was being done to him.

For half an hour the women of the town carefully tortured the man with knives, pointed sticks, sharp flints, whips, stones, thorns, and fire in all its forms. I was told that this method of binding for torture was found to have a powerful effect on loosening the tongue and drawing the truth out of one who is being questioned. This I believe to be entirely true for it allowed the women to torture the man without the hindrance of his writhing and permitted them to make the methods they used as painful and slow as possible. During the time of this torture the man screamed horribly and begged for the women to stop. Even though they were causing him great pain, they were doing him no great harm that threatened to end his life. I did not know if the women understood the mans words but I feel certain they knew they were pleas for mercy. During their tortures they laughed at his screams and cries and took great pleasure in them.

When I was brought to the man I was told to tell him that if he answered all questions in truth the torture would be stopped and he would be saved alive. After each question that I was instructed to ask the man, he responded instantly and I interpreted his words without error to the chief and men gathered around. As soon as I had finished speaking the women again tortured the man for a minute and after they had stopped I was told to ask the question a second time. This was repeated five or six times until the chief was satisfied that each question that was asked was being answered truthfully. The mans tongue was indeed loosed for each time he urgently gave the same answers to my questions without varying.

After two hours the questioning of this man ended and the second man was brought and questioned in the same way. Under this slow method of torture and questioning this man gave up the same information as the first which made the Indians believe that the two men were indeed telling the truth. During the whole of this questioning I did not hide any of the information the men gave because I feared that there might be one there that also knew English and this was a test to see if I was truly trustworthy.

The Indians learned from the men that they were on their way to a trading post some miles to the south on the Muskingum River but had lost their way and arrived at Coshocton unawares. The two women were a mother of about thirty six years and the wife of the owner of the trading post, and her daughter of about seventeen years. They were on their way from Philadelphia to the trading post where the daughters hand had been promised in marriage. The owner of the trading post had in the past treated the Indians very unjustly in cheating them and had recently fired on them wounding one man badly. In this matter the Indians were hot for revenge and quickly formed a plan to lure the men out.

The following morning most of the men of the village along with the thirty from mine and I went out with the two women to the trading post. Just past noon the Indians surrounded the block house and on seeing us the men fled inside and closed and bolted the door. For half an hour there was general fire kept up with no harm on either side. The firing was stopped and the women were brought up where they immediately began screaming to the men inside to save them. The women were taken to a place fifty yards from the post where there was large rocks. Safely protected from fire behind these rocks, the Indians stripped the women naked and tied them hand and foot to stakes driven firmly into the earth. All the while this was being done the women cried out for the men to save them. As soon as the women were secured the Indians alternately raped and tortured them with the points of knives, fire, and switches, bringing from their lips a constant stream of cries and screams of terror and agony and pleas for the men to save them. After three hours the door of the post opened and a white flag of surrender extended followed by five men including the owner and the man that was to marry the young woman. They were taken alive and bound together with the two women while the post was plundered.

That evening we returned with the seven captives and much plunder. I found three firelocks and seven knives concealed under the boards of the floor which I claimed and carried on our return. Before reaching Choshocton all of our prisoners were stripped quite naked in in that state they were led into the town. On our arrival seven scalp halloos were made and answered with much yelling and the firing of firelocks. That evening the town had a feast and the older woman was given to the men of my town as a gift for our help with the questioning and for going on the war path with them. After all had eaten the young woman was brought out and tied between two small trees by her arms only. The Indians danced about her and in turn took up smoldering fire brands and touched the glowing ends to her flesh.

I was urged to join the dance and seeing many eyes upon me took my place in line whereupon I received many nods of approval. Soon a smoldering stick was placed in my hand and was told to take pleasure with the woman. I abhorred the thought of burning this young woman, but knew that she was going to be tortured to death this night even if I did not raise my hand against her, and should I withhold my hand I might raise suspicions against me. Though she begged me not to burn her but to save her instead, I touched the smoldering coal lightly to the inside of her thigh. Instantly she began kicking her leg wildly about and screamed in pain. As she did this I felt a strong sense of excitement and pleasure in watched her responding so well and violently to my torture. After that, each time my turn came to apply my coal to her flesh I did so eagerly seeking out a new and sensitive place to burn her and took delight in seeing how her body writhed and in the hearing of her screams. This dance continued long into the night until at last the woman was covered with burns and growing weak and at this time a fire was built around her and she was burned to death.

On the morning of the seventh we left Coshocton with the woman given to us. As we prepared to take our leave the women of that village began preparing the men that were taken alive for their death by torture. Upon our arrival we presented our gift to the village buy tying her quite naked to a stake in the center of the village. The chief then made a speech saying that the time of harvest and hunting for meat to store for the winter grew near and that this woman may be the last with which they might take their amusement. He urged us to kill her slowly so that all might take the greatest of pleasures in her death. That evening and all of the next day the woman was tormented with whips and switches, stones, sharp pointed sticks, and heated pieces of metal and any other device of slow torture the Indians imagined. Whether bound tightly and unable to move, or free to struggle or run about trying to save herself, this woman greatly amused all with her hopeless fighting and wild kicking and writhing in agony and her screams of fear and pain.

This morning the woman's hands were tied roughly behind her back to the stake by a length of cord. We all gathered around and danced about her casting coals upon the ground under her feet. Like all who suffered this torture before her, she dashed about the stake this way and that while screaming and kicking her feet as she went. As she twisted about she presented to us every part of her naked flesh in which we took great pleasure in both viewing and in touching with the burning coals of slender poles we had prepared by placing their ends in a fire. This continued for some time with the woman being given times of rest and water to drink that she might be strengthened for the next hour of torture.

By the middle of the afternoon the woman was covered with burns in a shocking manor with no part of her flesh spared. The women was taken to two poles set in the ground and tied between them by her hands and feet. The women then gathered about and took their pleasure by slowly skinning this woman with a knife which they repeatedly heated quite hot in a fire. For above two hours this woman amused us by shaking her body and throwing her head back and making screams as the blade cut away small pieces of her skin and seared the flesh.

When the woman had grown weak we took up flaming firebrands and held them to her taking care to burn her to death in a slow and deliberate manor. In this way we enjoyed the last of her groans and squirms we could force her to make before death ended her suffering. In the killing of the woman I did not hold back my hand in any way and in doing so took great delight in performing all of the tortures and found her reaction to them very exciting and pleasurable to me. Having fully tasted this form of savage entertainment I look forward to the time when I can once again enjoy these pleasures.

Thirteenth of October 1755. A number of days with pleasant weather were spent by the men in the hunting of game. The sound of an ax drew our attention and going to see we found a newly made cabin with man cutting wood near by and a woman stacking the wood by the door. Some of the men went around and approached the cabin from behind unseen. On the signal these men rushed out cutting off the man and woman from reaching the door and safety within.

The woman was quickly overpowered and taken and the man taking up his firelock but it missed fire. Throwing it down the man ran into the wilderness where he was pursued for a short time before he was taken alive. The man and woman's hands were bound together around a small tree and kept under close guard as the cabin was plundered of much dried meat, corn, flour, and other foods and spoils then the cabin was burned.

The day being well gone we traveled about five miles before stopping and making camp for the night in a dense thicket of hemlocks. Stakes were driven into the ground and our prisoners stripped naked and tied to them hand and foot where for several hours the man was tortured, and the woman raped and tortured for amusement. As their tender flesh was pinched between stones, jabbed and scraped with the points of arrows, and lightly burned with an iron warmed in the fire, they did not fail in delighting us though they were not harmed much.

Arriving at our village two halloos were given and answered with yelling and much excitement over our spoils and prisoners. A council was called and a decision was made on what was be done with the woman, whether to keep her alive and use her for a slave, or put her to death along with the man. Most called for her to be put to death feeling that the six slaves we now had in hand were enough and any more would only lessen the supply of food through the winter. The chief announced that the woman should be killed filling the village with excitement that there would be both a man and a woman to torture for pleasure.

That night the prisoners were tied each to a stake and as the men and women danced around them they were threatened with knifes, tomahawks, spears, and fire but they were not harmed. After the dance they were untied and treated well being given food and drink but kept always under close guard.

The following morning the woman, whose name was Martha Trigg, spoke to me begging of me to know what was to be done with her and her husband. I explained that both she and her husband whose name was Charles Trigg were to be put to death. She was instantly downcast at this news but begged me to save her and her husband alive. I told her that though I was adopted into this village and were equal with the Indians, these matters were decided by all of the people and the chief and decisions such as this were entirely out of my hands but that I would do what I could. On hearing this Martha begged me should I be unsuccessful in saving her and her husband alive to grant them a quick death by a blow from a tomahawk and not by slow torture. Though I told her I would do what I could I saw the excitement of the village and the preparations being made for tortures.

About noon a feast was made ready and the man and woman were brought to the center of the town where the chief made a speech which I was told to interpret it for the prisoners. The chief thanked the man and woman for coming to their village to take part in the feast and for providing their naked bodies for the village to have amusement from torture. The man and woman were asked to fight hard and scream loud for this is what the village desired from them. As soon as the speech ended the feasting and dancing began. The man and woman were stripped naked and each taken and tied in place for torture.

The woman was hung by her feet between two poles and her hands tied to a stake driven into the ground below her head. The men began whipping her legs with switches and leather straps and jabbing them with their knives and pointed sticks. After this small smoldering sticks were touched to her womb and quenched within it. Boiling water was brought and slowly poured on her legs and the blistered skin scraped off with sharp flints. Slender pointed sticks coated with fat were one at a time forced into her legs and the ends set on fire burning down to her flesh. Her breasts and body were cut with sharp flints and heated knives, then burned with coals and fire. When she was near death and no longer sensitive to any more pain her body was hacked and flayed with tomahawks and knives.

The women took the man to a pole where they bound him tightly sitting on the ground with his legs spread wide and stretched, his feet tied to stakes set in the ground. A small fire was kindled near to his fore flesh and kept up for some time slowly roasting and burning this most tender of organs and the insides of his thighs. His eyes were put out with smoldering sticks and then he was set free to move about as he could. The women surrounded him and tortured him with whips and switches, arrows and knives, coals and fire and any other device they imagined. The man delighted the women by running about the village and crawling and rolling about on the ground fighting to save himself and writhing in pain while desperately trying to escape his tormentors.

When he gave up trying to save himself and laid down begging for death the women tied him hand and foot to four stakes set in the ground and kneeling about him began using their knives to skin him. When he was near death a fire was kindled on his stomach and kept up until his life was extinguished. During the whole of this frolic the tortures were done in a slow and deliberate manor so as to preserve the man and woman's life and to prolong their suffering into the night. These two sufferers greatly delighted all for they did as the chief had asked of them in fighting and writhing with all their strength and screaming loudly with each new touch of some torture until their strength and voices were gone.

Moon of the new leaves. April 1756. I have taken a Indian wife during the winter who is named Wiwasteka. I gave the three firelocks and seven knives I had taken previously along with several skins for her. She is both young and most beautiful to the eyes and takes delight from cooking and the mending and making clothing and tanning of skins. Her greatest joy however comes from the giving of her body to me to use as I wish, and in the giving of many pleasures to me.

Fifty men of which I am one are preparing to go on the warpath to a settlement of five cabins with about two hundred Shawnee to avenge the death of three of their warriors. Their spies have reported that there are forty-two men women and children there. Wiwasteka has instructed me to return safely with spoils and with captives for torture. Having not enjoyed this amusement since last year I greatly desire it and look forward this pleasure with my wife at my side.