I still refused to pay, and was not
willing to let the cattle go. After a time of dispute, they returned home,
and I understood the militia was ordered out to enforce the collection of
the tax. I went to Warren, and to avert the impending difficulty, was
obliged to give my note for the tax, the amount of which was forty-three
dollars and seventy-nine cents. It is my desire that the governor will
exempt me from paying taxes for my land to the white people; and also
cause that the money I am now obliged to pay, may be refunded to me, as I
am very poor."
This appeal was brought before the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and an act
was passed by which the chief was exonerated from the tax.
One writer speaks of him as possessing uncommon genius, a strong and
discriminating mind, and as having the power of enduring great mental
application. He anxiously inquired into the evidences in support of the
scripture account of creation, and of the scheme of doctrines which
Christianity unfolded.
President Alden of Alleghany college, speaks with delight of a visit he
made to the old chief. He found him on the banks of the Alleghany, on a
piece of first rate bottom land, a little within the limits of
Pennsylvania. He was the owner of thirteen hundred acres of land, on a
part of which stood his village, whose inhabitants gave signs of industry
and thrift.
He found it pleasant to behold the agricultural habits of the place as
appeared from the numerous enclosures of buckwheat, corn and oats.
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