River Detroit. The boats were drawn on the beach, and the party prepared to encamp. A man and a boy went to gather firewood, at a short distance from the spot, when an Indian leaped out of the woods, seized the boy by the hair, and tomahawked him. The man ran into camp with the alarm. Cuyler immediately formed his soldiers into a semi-circle before the boats. He had scarcely done so when the enemy opened, their fire. For an instant, there was a hot blaze of musketry on both sides; then the Indians broke out of the woods in a body, and rushed fiercely upon the center of the line, which gave way in every part, the men flinging down their guns, running in a blind panic to the boats, and struggling, with ill-directed efforts, to shove them into the water. Five were set afloat, and pushed off from the shore, crowded with the terrified soldiers. Cuyler, seeing himself, as he says, deserted by his men, waded up to his neck in the lake, and climbed into one of the retreating boats. The Indians, on their part, pushing two more afloat, went in pursuit of the fugitives, three boat-loads of whom allowed themselves to be re-captured, without resistance; but the remaining two, in one of which was Cuyler himself, made their escape. They rowed all night, and landed in the morning upon a small island. Between thirty and forty men, some of whom were wounded, were crowded in these two boats; the rest, about sixty in number, being killed or taken. Cuyler now made for Sandusky, which, on his arrival, he found burnt to the ground. Immediately leaving the spot, he rowed along the south shore to Presque Isle; from whence he proceeded to Niagara, and reported his loss to Major Wilkins, the commanding officer. The actors in this bold and well executed stroke were the Wyandots, who, for some days, had lain in ambush at the mouth of the river, to intercept trading boats, or parties of troops. Seeing the fright and confusion of Cuyler's men, they had forgotten their usual caution, and rushed upon them in the manner described. The ammunition, provisions, and other articles taken in this attack, formed a valuable prize; but, unfortunately, there was, among the rest, a great quantity of whisky. This the Indians seized, and carried to their respective camps, which, throughout the night, presented a scene of savage revelry and riot. Dormant jealousies were awakened; old, forgotten quarrels kindled afresh; and, had not the squaws taken the precaution of hiding all the weapons they could find, before the debauch began, much blood would, no doubt, have been spilt. As it was, many were wounded, of whom two died in, the morning; and several others had their noses bitten off—a singular mode of revenge, much in vogue upon similar occasions among the Indians of the upper lakes. The English were gainers by this scene of riot ; for, late in the evening, two Indians, in all the valor and vainglory of drunkenness, came running directly towards the fort, boasting their prowess in a loud voice; but, being greeted with two rifle bullets, they leaped into the air, like a pair of wounded bucks, and fell dead on their tracks. It will not be proper to pass over in silence the fate of the unfortunate men taken prisoners in this affair. After night had set in, several Canadians came to the fort, bringing vague and awful reports of the scenes that had been enacted at the Indian camp. A cloud of deep gloom sank down upon the garrison; and none could help reflecting how thin and frail a barrier protected them from a similar fate. On the following day, and for several succeeding days, they beheld frightful confirmation of the rumors they had heard. Naked corpses, gashed with knives and scorched with fire, floated down on the pure waters of the Detroit, whose fish came up to nibble at the clotted blood that clung to their ghastly faces. # CHAPTER XVIII. CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC CONTINUED-FATE OF THE FOREST GARRISON SUCH was the work of death and desolation around the forest garrisons, in 1763—such the scenes enacted on the soil of Michigan one hundred years ago. But we must hasten to close our narrative of Pontiac and his woeful war, as other events of great importance must not be crowded out; and in this we will be guided by the authority of Francis Parkman. Late one afternoon in May, 1763, the garrison were again greeted with the dismal cry of death, and a host of naked warriors was seen issuing from the woods in the rear of the fort. Each savage was painted black, and each bore a scalp, fluttering from the end of a pole. It was now plain that some new disaster delighted the blood-thirsty savages; and, in truth, this was so; for, during the same evening, news reached the fort that Sandusky had been taken, and all its garrison slain, or made prisoners. This post had been attacked by the Wyandots, living in its neighborhood, aided by a detachment from the army of Pontiac. Among the few survivors of the slaughter was the commanding officer, Ensign Paully, who had been conducted to Detroit by the savages, bound hand and foot, and assured on the passage that he would be burnt alive, beside the camp of the great chief. On being taken to the lodge of Pontiac, he was surrounded by a crowd of Indians, who pelted him with stones, and forced him to dance and sing. A worse infliction seemed in store for him, when, happily, an old woman, whose husband had lately, died, chose to adopt him, in place of the deceased warrior. Seeing no alternative but the stake, Paully accepted the proposal; and, having been first plunged in the river, to wash the white blood from his veins, he was conducted to the lodge of the widow, and treated thenceforth with all the consideration due an Ottawa warrior. The gar MARTIN S. SMITH, the senior partner of the firm of Messrs. M. S. Smith & Co., the present leading jewelers of Detroit, was born in Lima, Livingston county, State of New York, in 1834. At an early age he came to Michigan in company with his parents. In 1859, Mr. Smith established himself in the jewelry business in Detroit, and has conducted since that time, or from a period not long after, the leading jewelry establishment in Michigan. In the summer of 1868, he visited Europe, and returned in the following autumn, an importer of jewelry and such other goods as are usually rison at Detroit soon received a letter from him, through a Canadian, giving a full account of the capture of Fort Sandusky, which had taken place on the sixteenth of the same month. A brief account of the surprise of this fort is as follows: Paully, the commandant, was informed that seven Indians were waiting at the gate to see him. As several of the number were well known to him, he ordered them to be admitted. Arriving at his headquarters, two of his treacherous visitors seated themselves on each side of the commandant, while the rest were disposed in various parts of the room. The pipes were lighted, and the conversation began; when an Indian, who stood in the doorway, suddenly made a signal, by raising his head. Upon this, the astonished officer was instantly pounced upon and disarmed; while, at the same moment, a confused noise of shrieks and yells, the firing of guns, and the hurried tramp of feet, sounded from the area of the fort without. This soon ceased, and Paully, led by his captors from the room, saw the parade ground strewn with the corpses of his murdered garrison. During the night, he was conducted to the margin of the lake, where several birch canoes lay in readiness; and, when the party had pushed out from the shore, Paully looked back through the darkness, to see the fort, associated with gold and silver wares. About this time, a new spirit of enterprise seized the people, and the commerce of Detroit was nearly doubled in every important branch. Consequent upon this interchange with the outside world came all the wholesome characteristics of refined society. With this favorable combination of circumstances and events, it is not a difficult matter to account for Mr. Smith's great success in business. In 1860, it may be observed, his sales touched only the modest figures of $17,000, but with a steady increase, year after year, reached the astounding sum of $300,000 in 1872. A natural accompaniment of this commercial prosperity was the exchange of a small store, occupied at the time of purchasing the establishment, for the magnificent house on the corner of Woodward and Jefferson avenues which he now occupies. This building is richly ornamented with a large stock of American and imported jewelry, bronzes, etc., comprising one of the most complete establishments of the kind in the Northwest. Mr. Smith's deportment in business transactions has been such as to |