Lancaster High School - Mirage Yearbook (Lancaster, OH)

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something of the whereabouts of their lost boy. The mission at Camp Meigs was es- tablished by Finley and the Indians of the vicinity were invited to come and learn of the Great Spirit, the God of the white man. A decade passed. Finley had left the mission in charge of Charles Tracy and had gone farther into the wilderness to spread the gospel. During all these years, there had been no tidings of Dick Tracy but the efforts of his parents to find him had never ceased. The blow that the boy had received upon the head that day when he was taken into captivity had seemingly de- stroyed his memory. The past was like a blur before his eyes; his parents, his age his name, were all a mystery to him. After reaching Upper Sandusky his captors had sold him to a tribe migrat- ing to the north-west. lie had grown to young manhood and was known by the name of Wawatan. Because of his mighty deeds of war and skill in hunting Wawatan was to have for his wife the daughter of a great chieftan. One thing more was required of him to gain this Indian maiden. He was to journey from the Dakotas to the Southland to inquire of the purple martin if the Great Spirit smiled upon his love. Acordingly Wawatan, accompanied by two Indian braves, made his way in the direction of the Great Lakes. The two Indians stopped at Upper Sandus- ky and Wawatan continued his journey alone. When he reached the land of flowers and sunshine the birds delivered to him the message of the Great Spirit, which was this; “Wawatan will never marry the chicftan’s daughter. With- in a few weeks he will meet the braves at the trading post of the north.” Disappointed, Wawatan turned his face northward and at the end of two weeks had reached the banks of the IIock-Hocking, about five miles from the village of Cranetown. It was just at sunset, and the heavens were portent- ous. Vivid flashes of lightining and loud peals of thunder announced a rapidly approaching storm. Nearer grew the rumbling and deeper the twilight. Darkness settled down upon the earth. The voices of the wilderness cried out to Wawatan and warned him to seek shelter. A brilliant flash and a long low peal enforced the warning and when darkness and silence succeeded, Wawa- tan found himself at entrance of the cave. There he sought refuge and taking a flint from his pocket he kindled a fire of twigs and dry branches that someone had left in the cave. Yes, some one had had been there before him; but how lonely he was now. A sense of yearning for lost companionship seemed to steal upon him. Suddenly the blaze grew brighter and as the walls of the cabin became illuminated he beheld a ledge of rock which formed a shelf upon which he saw distinctly a number of pine cones a piece of looking glass, and a bit of broken plate. Gradually the power of association began to take possession of the mind of Wawatan. He arose from the ground where he had been sitting and took the piece of porcelain from the shelf. As he brought it nearer to the firelight he saw that it was ornamented with tiny blue flowers. Steadily he looked at these flowers and as he gazed a child’s face appeared in the midst of them. Suddenly the flood gates of mem- ory were opened. It was his sister’s face, and he was Dick Tracy. Then came the recollection of home, father and mother. Seizing a brand from the fire he rush- ed out. into the night. Yes, yonder were

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Four years passed away and the cave with it’s crude ornaments, remained in- tact. The pine-cones, the shells, the acorns and the blue flowers were all there. The merry laughter of the child- ren was still echoed by every nook and crevice, and was silenced only bv oc- casional rumors of hostile Indians which caused the grave faced men of Cranctown to form themselves into bands and to scour the surrounding country, ostensibly for game. Mr. Tracy, having lived unmolested and in perfect freedom for three years still indulged himself the idea that no real danger existed, and many a time he hunted in the forest with no compan- ion except his dog. On one such occasion he had left home early in the morning, Mrs Tracy busied herself with her household duties as usual while Dick and Kate hustled about bringing in a supply of wood. Suddenly the mother was startled by the shrill barking of the dogs. Rushing to the window she beheld a band of In- dians galloping toward the cabin. Par- alyzed with fear she stood motionless while they quickly dismounted but when the thought, of her children flashed into her mind the terrified woman ut- tered a despairing shriek. In an instant the savages were howl- ing about, the cabin. They half drag- ged her to one of the horses placing her on the back of the animal. With her hands bound behind her and her eyes blurred with tears she was forced to witness the firing of the cabin and outbuildings, but her thoughts were with her children only. Where could they be and what would be their fate? While all this was happening, Dick and Kate were shuddering in the cave to which they had fled, horrified, un- noticed by the savages who rode trium- phantly away from the scene of devas- tation. Thinking that their enemies had gone the children crept cautiously from their hiding place and beheld in dismay and grief, the disheartening scene which greeted them. Bursting into loud wail- lings they attracted the attention of a brawny savage who lingered behind his fellows and lurked in ambush less than a hundreds yards away. In a few sec- onds all was silent again. Little Kate lay dead on the ground, and Dick limp and unconscious from a blow on the head, was strapped to a horse that had been tethered to a tree in a nearby thicket. Then the wily Indian mount- ed behind the boy and gal lopped away to join his comrades enroute to Upper Sandusky to which place the old Crane chief had preceded them. I shall not go into detail in relating the events of the journey northward but for the purpose of the story I must tell you that Mrs. Tracy stunned and ex- hausted, was believed by her captors to be dead and was left, by the roadside a mile and a half from the site of her home. Here she was found by her hus- band when he returned at sundown from his hunting trip. Several months passed. Mrs Tracy had recovered from the ill-treatment which she had received at the hands of the Indians. She and her husband had found shelter with some of the nearest settlers and the Tracy cabin had not been rebuilt. The attack upon the Tracy home had taken place in July and upon the eighth of October Mr. and Mrs Tracy joined a band of missionaries, led by James Finley, en route to Camp Meigs, about one mile from the trading post of Up- per Sandusky. The broken hearted parents hoped that they might learn

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the ruins of the cabin and sheds. As the wind and rain extinguished the light which he carried, a voice seemed to whisper to him, “Your father and mother yet live!” Dropping the brand, he fell to his knees and entreated the Great Spirit to help him find them. Within a month from the time he left his companions from the land of the Dakotas he was with them again at Up- per Sandusky, just as the purple martin had predicted. A few days after his ar- rival he made his way to (’amp Meigs; and Tracy hearing of the presence of a stranger in camp, sent a messenger to him, inviting him to attend the mission. That night, at the close of the service, the devoted missionary told the story of his lost boy. Wawatan lifting himself to his full height of six feet, walked down the aisle and as he knelt, he laid in Tracy’s hand a bit of porcelain and said, “I am Dick Tracy and the blue flowers of my childhood have been the means of bringing me home, not only to my earthly parents, but to the Great Spirit, the Father of the white man.