Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison/Harrison to Secretary of War Murder of an Indian by a white man
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Harrison to Secretary of War
October, 1802
Dawson, Harrison, 45
The white man and the Indian were drinking together at a tavern, a quarrel ensued, and the Indian was taken off by another white man to a distant house till he would become sober. The man with whom the Indian disputed, after providing himself with a cudgel, proceeded to the house where the Indian was, and forced open the door of the room in which he lay, and beat him to death with the cudgel. He was apprehended, but there were strong doubts that a jury could not be procured that would convict him, although the evidence was indisputable; such was the delusion under which the white inhabitants labored with respect to the crime of murdering an Indian. (Extract)