Dover High School - Swirl Yearbook (Dover, OH)

Page 14 text:

CRIf9SOD GRGY 1 33 IE '•''A 3 ft ft H It 1 Page ten In Memoriam . . A. McGONNIGAL Engineer DOI 6R 1926

Page 13 text:

CRimOn-CRGY by all men; the many timely warnings they had given by which the Americans had averted much suffering; and finally that they were believers in the same faith and followers of the same Savior as were their white brethren. It was all in vain. Although every word of their plea was true it was all rejected—but not by all. When the time came for a verdict to be reached, Williamson said, “Shall the Moravian Indians be taken prisoners to Pittsburg or put to death? All those in favor of sparing their lives advance one step and form a second rank.” Eighteen men took one step, but the majority decided to mash their heads and take their scalps and have something to show for their trouble. The wailing woe of women, the shrinking shriek of girls, the piercing cry of children, the shivering sobs of boyhood and the gulping groan of men formed a chorus that will haunt the scene as long as the North Wind shall search the groves of Gnadenhutten. But soon they remem-oered they were children of the Father who had chosen this way to call them home, and their composure returned. They protested an innocence of which no intelligence worthy of respect now dares to presume a doubt. They asked for time to array their souls for Heaven, and the killing was set for the early morning. The night was passed away in tears. But those were such as washed their lives of sin and made them white as snow. No messages were sent to distant friends—there was no one to carry a farewell. No disposition was made of earthly possessions—everything was engulfed in overwhelming ruin. All night long, six faithful preachers restricted to the prison, prayed with their brethren who comforted each other with songs of praise that grew into hymns of triumph as the dawn drew near. The hours that made what some would call their night of gloom afford one of the brightest examples of faith that time has given. Those brown people of the forest prepared for death as the famous martyrs did. To deny their sincerity is to dispute the power of Christ’s religion. And thus passed the evening and morning of the last day, of which the light broke on a prayer that was interrupted by the questtion if they were ready. On answering that their peace was made, two places were designated as the “Slaughter Houses.” Zeisberger and Heckewelder wrote accounts of the massacre that differ in detail but agree in conclusions. From Heckewelder it would appear that the executioners entered the prisons and struck the victims on the head with a cooper’s mallet—the first one killing fourteen in this way before he stopped to say he had done pretty well but his arm was giving out. Zeisberger tells that they were lead out one at a time. But from a comparison of various accounts it seems that the men women and children were led out, bound in couples with ropes, into the slaughter houses where they were murdered and scalped. The slaughter of these Christian Moravian Indians of more than a hundred souls, of whom much the larger numbers were women and children, whose only crime was unspotted innocence, whose greatest earthly misfortune was the adoption of a worship that taught charity to all and malice toward none and whose greatest mistake was confidence in their own selves as a defense against greed, stands out as one of the bloodiest massacres in the annals of history. EUGENE SCHOTT. Page nine Doi eR. m6

Page 15 text:

CRimon-GRGY DEDICATION To Wayne J. Fisher, in recognition of his untiring and unceasing efforts for a higher standard in Commercial Work and School Spirit, which have gained for Dover High School her high standing among the high schools of Ohio, the Class of 1926, respectfully, dedicate this eleventh volume of The Crimson and Grey. Page eleven DOl CR 1946