Another family named Doolin, suffered in the same year; and
there was one singular circumstance connected with their fate. The
Indians came to the door of the cabin in the early morning; as the man
rose from bed the Indians fired through the door and shot him in the
thigh. They then burst in, and tomahawked him and two children; yet for
reasons unknown they did not harm the woman, nor the child in her arms.
No such mercy was shown by a band of six Indians who attacked the log
houses of two settlers, brothers, named Edward and Thomas Cunningham.
The two cabins stood side by side, the chinks between the logs allowing
those in one to see what was happening in the other. One June evening,
in 1785, both families were at supper. Thomas was away. His wife and
four children were sitting at the table when a huge savage slipped in
through the open door. Edward in the adjoining cabin, saw him enter, and
seized his rifle. The Indian fired at him through a chink in the wall,
but missed him, and, being afraid to retreat through the door, which
would have brought him within range of Edward's rifle, he seized an axe
and began to chop out an opening in the rear wall. Another Indian made a
dash for the door, but was shot down by Edward; however, he managed to
get over the fence and out of range.
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