at the table the Indians burst upon
them with a fearful yell. When the neighbors came they found the body of
John Allen a few rods from the house. Apparently he had escaped through
a back door, but had been overtaken and shot down. Nearer the house, but
in the same direction, were the bodies of Mrs. Allen, her sister, and
the youngest child, all tomahawked and scalped. The other two children
were found hidden in a bed, but also tomahawked and scalped. One of the
negroes was found in the doorway, his body gashed and mutilated in a
horrible manner. From the wounds inflicted on his body it was thought he
had made a desperate resistance. The position of the remaining two has
not been distinctly recollected.

George Kilmore, father of Mrs. Allen and owner of the negroes, who lived
three miles distant, becoming anxious on account of the prolonged
absence of his daughter and servants, on the Sunday following, sent a
negro boy on an errand of inquiry. As the boy approached the house, the
keen-scented horse, which he was riding, stopped and refused to go
farther. After much difficulty he was urged forward until his rider got
a view of the awful scene. The news brought by the boy spread rapidly,
and the terror-stricken families fled to various points for protection,
many of whom went to Fort Edward. After Burgoyne had been hemmed in, the
families cautiously returned to their former homes.

From Friday afternoon, July 25th, until Sunday morning following, the
whereabouts of Le Loup and his band cannot be determined. But on that
morning they made their appearance on the brow of the hill north of Fort
Edward, and then and there a shocking tragedy was enacted, which
thoroughly aroused the people, and formed quite an element in the
overthrow and surrender of Burgoyne's army. It was the massacre of Miss
Jane McCrea, a lovely, amiable and intelligent lady. This tragedy at
once drew the attention of all America. She fell under the blow of the
savage Le Loup, and the next instant he flung down his gun, seized her
long, luxuriant hair with one hand, with the other passed the scalping
knife around nearly the whole head, and, with a yell of triumph, tore
the beautiful but ghastly trophy from his victim's head.

It is a work of superogation to say that the Highland settlers of Argyle
were strongly imbued with religious sentiments. That question has
already been fully commented on. The colony early manifested its
disposition to build churche