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time lost its wonted vivacity and life. Its narrow streets were gloomy and silent. Here and there strolled a Canadian, in red. cap and gaudy sash; the weary sentinel walked to and fro before the quarters of the commandant; an officer, perhaps, passed

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HON. JAMES BIRNEY.

JAMES BIRNEY is a native of Danville, Kentucky, and the eldest son of the late James G. Birney. His collegiate education was obtained at Centre College, Kentucky, and at Miami University, Ohio. At the latter institution he graduated in 1836. During the two succeeding years he was employed in the University as professor of the Greek and Latin languages.

During the next two years he attended the law lectures of Judge Stom and Professor Hitchcock, of the law school of Yale College, at New Haven, Connecticut.

along, with rapid step and anxious face; or an Indian girl, the mate of some soldier or trader, moved silently by, in her finery of beads and vermilion. Such an aspect as this the town must have presented on the morning of the thirtieth of May, when, at about nine o'clock, the voice of the sentinel sounded from the southeast bastion, and loud exclamations in the direction of the river, roused Detroit from its lethargy. Instantly, the place was astir. Soldiers, traders and inhabitants, hurrying through the watergate, thronged the canoe wharf and the narrow strand without. The half-wild coureurs des bois, the tall and sinewy provincials, and the stately British soldiers, stood crowded together, their uniforms soiled and worn, and their faces haggard with unremitting watching. Yet, all alike wore an animated and joyous look. The long-expected convoy was full in sight. On the farther side. of the river, at some distance below the fort, a line of boats was rounding the woody projection, then called Montreal Point, their oars flashing in the sun, and the red flag of England flying from the stern of the foremost. The toils and dangers of the garrison were drawing to an end. With one accord they broke into three hearty cheers, again and again repeated; while a cannon, glancing from the bastion, sent its loud voice of defiance to the enemy, and welcome to approaching friends. But, suddenly, every cheek grew pale with horror. Dark, naked figures were seen rising, with

Subsequently Mr. Birney removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and entered upon the practice of the law. He devoted himself to this business for eleven years, and acquired a desirable position in the profession.

Mr. Birney, while in New Haven, married Miss Moulton, step-daughter of Nathaniel Bacon, Esq., of that city. Of this marriage there were five children, the eldest of whom distinguished himself in the army as Captain in the 7th Regiment of Michigan Volunteers, and died while an officer of the U. S. regular army.

In 1858, Mr. Birney was elected a member of the State Senate for the Saginaw district; was chairman of the committee on public instruction, and a member of the judiciary committee of that body.

In 1860, he was nominated by the State Republican Convention to the office of lieutenant-governor and elected by a majority of over 20,000. By virtue of this office he became president of the State Senate, and as a presiding officer received great favor.

wild gestures, in the boats, while, in place of the, answering salute, the distant yell of the war-whoop fell faintly on their ears. The convoy was in the hands of the enemy. The boats had all been taken, and the troops of the detachment slain, or made captive. Officers and men stood gazing, in mournful silence, when an incident occured which caused them to forget the general calamity in the absorbing interest of the moment.

Leaving the disappointed garrison, we will pass over to the principal victims of this deplorable misfortune. In each of the boats, of which there were eighteen, two or more of the captured soldiers, deprived of their weapons, were compelled to act as rowers, guarded by several armed savages, while many other Indians, for the sake of further security, followed the boats along the shore. In the foremost, as it happened, there were four soldiers, and only three Indians. The larger of the two vessels still lay anchored in the stream, about a bow-shot from the fort, while her companion, as we have seen, had gone down to Niagara, to hasten up this very reinforcement. As the boat came opposite this vessel, the soldier who acted as steersman conceived a daring plan of escape. The principal Indian sat immediately in front of another of the soldiers. The steersman called, in English, to his comrade to seize the savage and throw him overboard. The man answered

While he was lieutenant-governor, a vacancy occurred in the office of circuit judge for the district of which he was a resident. The governor tendered the appointment to him, and it was accepted. He presided as circuit judge during the next four years. He was unanimously renominated by the Republican Judicial Convention, but the district having a Democratic majority he has not elected.

After serving as judge, Mr. Birney returned to the practice of the law. In 1871, he established the Bay City Chronicle as a weekly Republican paper. In June, 1873, he commenced the publication of the Morning Chronicle.

In 1872, Governor Baldwin nominated Mr. Birney to President Grant as Centennial Commissioner for Michigan to celebrate the Hundredth Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1876.

Mr. Birney is now residing at Bay City, and is devoting himself to the care of his estate and the editorial duties of the daily and weekly Chronicle, His son Arthur M. Birney is associated with him in business.

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that he was not strong enough; on which the steersman directed him to change places with him, as if fatigued with rowing-a movement which would excite no suspicion on the part of their guard. As the bold soldier stepped forward, as if to take his companion's oar, he suddenly seized the Indian by the hair, and, griping with the other hand the girdle at his waist, lifted him by main force, and flung him into the river. The boat rocked till the water surged over her gunwale. The Indian held fast to his enemy's clothes, and, drawing himself upward, as he trailed alongside, stabbed him again and again with his knife, and then dragged him overboard. Both went down the swift current, rising and sinking; and, as some relate, perished, grappled in each other's arms. The two remaining Indians leaped out of the boat. The prisoners turned, and pulled for the distant vessel, shouting aloud for aid. The Indians on shore opened a heavy fire upon them, and many canoes paddled swiftly in pursuit. The men strained with desperate strength. A fate inexpressibly horrible was the alternative. The bullets hissed thickly around their heads; one of them was soon wounded, and the light, birch canoes gained on them with fearful rapidity. Escape seemed hopeless, when the report of a cannon burst from the side of the vessel. The ball flew close past the boat, beating the water in a line of foam, and narrowly missing the foremost canoe. At this, the pursuers drew back in dismay; and the Indians on shore, being further saluted by a second shot, ceased firing, and scattered among the bushes. The prisoners soon reached the vessel, where they were greeted as men snatched from the jaws of fate; "a living monument," writes an officer of the garrison, "that fortune favors the brave." They related many particulars of the catastrophe which had befallen them and their companions. Lieutenant Cuyler had left Fort Niagara as early as the thirteenth of May, and embarked from Fort Schlosser, just above the Falls, with ninety-six men, and a plentiful supply of provisions and ammunition. Day after day he had coasted the northern shore of Lake Erie, and seen neither friend nor foe amid those lonely forests and waters, until, on the twenty-eighth of the month, he landed at Point Pelée, not far from the mouth of the

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