J. N. Bruce, D. D., in Westminster Presbyterian church. To brighten their already comfortable home on the heights, on Perryville Avenue, three children came: William Edward, Harrold Swindell and Ada Elinor.

ROBERT M. MATEER was born in Pine township, now Boggs township, Armstrong county, on the 5th day of October, 1848, and died at Shelocta, Indiana county, on the 18th day of June, 1900. His father, Samuel Mateer, was one of the well known and well-to-do farmers of Armstrong county, and had preceded him to the spirit world only two months, and was the first to break the large and closely knit family circle. Eliza Mateer, his mother, was a daughter of the late Benjamin Ambrose, and survived the doctor a little more than two years, dying Aug. 7, 1903. The doctor is survived by six brothers: James E. B., Harvey J., Samuel S. and Alex M. Mateer, all of Boggs township, and B. Frank, of Kittanning, all of whom are prosperous farmers, and Ambrose M. Mateer, of Ford City, who carries on a large merchandising business in that place. Also at the time of his death the doctor was survived by three sisters: Annie J. Calhoun, wife of William C. Calhoun, a farmer of Boggs township; Maggie, wife of Findley P. Wolff, an attorney of Kittanning, and Elizabeth, widow of Joseph Banks, of Kittanning. Dr. Mateer's preparatory schooling was received in the public school and in Glade Run Academy, and later he was employed four or five years as teacher in the public schools. He read medicine about two years under the supervision of Dr. J. M. Pedegrew, of Rural Village, and entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in October, 1871, and graduated with the degree of M. D., in the class of 1873. In April of that year he began the practice of medicine in Elderton, where by careful attention to business and fair treatment to all he soon found himself engaged in a large and interesting practice. During his last nine or ten years in Elderton, in company with Harvey Rankin as partner, he was engaged in the drug business. He was also the postmaster. On Jan. 18, 1874, Dr. Mateer was married to Miss Mary J. Donnelly, an accomplished and highly esteemed young lady of Elderton, who, with their two daughters, Mrs. Maude Lowman, wife of Ab. H. Lowman, now of Butler, Pa., and Mattie Mateer, since married to John Whitehead of Vandergrift, Pa., survive the doctor.

He

HAMILTON KELLY BEATTY was the eldest son of William W. Beatty, late of Manorville, who was for many years a prosperous dealer in and manufacturer of lumber, and while working in the lumber mills, the doctor acquired not only a fair knowledge of business and business methods and a valuable acquaintance with machinery, but also a large, robust, healthful frame which gave him a strong, imposing personality and enabled him to go through the trying and embarrassing vicissitudes to be met with in a practice so varied in range and character as was that in which he first began his professional career. He was born in the township of Bethel, Armstrong county, in the month of April, 1847. was the eldest member of a family of five, but all of these had preceded him in death except one brother, William W. Beatty, Jr., of Wilkinsburg, who, with the doctor's wife, formerly Miss Belle Robinson, of Kittanning, are the only near relatives to survive. In July, 1863, when the doctor was just past the age of sixteen, he enlisted for three months' service in the Civil war, in Company "B," Second Battalion, Pennsylvania Infantry. His battalion was employed during the time guarding the bridge across the north branch of the Potomac, near Cumberland, Md., on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; and in January, 1864, their term of service having expired, the boys were discharged and sent home. In July of that year the doctor again enlisted, this time for a period of one year, in Company "G," 193rd Infantry, later transferred to this term of service was given to bridge guardthe Ninety-seventh; and all or nearly all of ing on Gunpowder river, near Baltimore. The doctor, although yet under the age of nineteen, was advanced to the rank of sergeant of the company, and in June, 1865, their services being no longer required, they were again mustered out and sent home,

Immediately after his return from the army Dr. Beatty continued his medical education. After a brief period spent in preparatory studies at Leechburg Academy, he, in company with the late Charles S. Bovard of Manorville, entered upon the college course at Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pa., and in the fall of 1869, having had the advantage of a course of preparatory reading of medicine under the supervision of the late Dr. T. C. McCullough of Kittanning, entered and enrolled as a student in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. In 1871, he opened an office in Kittanning, where he practiced for

nine years, then removing to Allegheny, where he remained until his death in 1913. He was interred in the Kittanning cemetery beside his

son. Dr. Beatty was a prominent member of the Presbyterian church, and one of the board of trustees of Western Theological Seminary.

An explosion heavy enough to be heard distinctly some forty miles away was a thing to marvel at in Western Pennsylvania in the middle of the eighteenth century. That explosion, sounding down the quiet valley of the Allegheny on the ninth September morning of the year 1756, occasioned a great stir at the French Fort Duquesne. The whole garrison probably crowded onto the parade ground to listen for a repetition of this startling sound. But never again did such a portentous note disturb the serenity of the valley. It sounded the knell of the French occupation of Pennsylvania and crushed at one blow the ruinous rule of the Latins and their Indian allies.

The commandant of the fort at once sent a detachment to inquire the cause of this explosion-for he knew that nothing but gunpowder could have caused so great a sound. When these troops reached the site of Kittanning they realized all that their fears had foretold to them. The great stronghold of the Delawares was a smoking ruin, the tepees and cabins a pile of embers, the cornfields laid waste and the savage inhabitants lying in the ruins. Among the dead was their famous ally, Captain Jacobs, the leader of the marauders who had for years terrorized the English settlers of this section of Pennsylvania.

This event marks the beginning of recorded history of the now thriving city which is the seat of Armstrong county and was the culmination of the plan of retaliation made by the English for innumerable atrocities perpetrated by the French and Indians among the settlements west of the Susquehanna. These raids had culminated in the capture of Fort Granville in 1756, the prisoners from that place having been marched to the then great Indian village of Kittanning. Immediately after the

CHURCHES-IRON INDUSTRIESKITTANNING WICK BORO-GLASS

news of the fall of that fort reached the English commander at Fort Shirley he notified the governor and council at Carlisle, who at once sent Col. John Armstrong, with Captains Hamilton, Mercer, Ward and Potter and eight hundred men, to destroy the Indian village. They left Fort Shirley on Sept. 3, 1756, marched up the Juniata, over the mountains and westward over the well defined Indian trail that led to Kittanning.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIAN FORT

The troops reached the town before daylight, being guided to the spot by the whooping of the braves and the sound of their war drums. Creeping down the cliff just behind the present courthouse they hid in a field of corn until the dawn appeared. At one time they feared that they had been discovered by hearing a strange low whistle from one of the savages, but it proved to be only a brave calling to his son.

As the sun rose over the steep hillside and rendered all objects distinct the attack was suddenly begun. At the first firing Captain Jacobs, like the great leader he was, sent the women to the woods and marshaled his braves and fortified themselves in the log dwellings near the center of the village. When he heard the cries of the English he said: "The whites are come at last. Now we shall have scalps enough."

For a time, in the shelter of their cabins, the Indians held the besiegers at bay, but finally certain bold spirits among the attacking force ran forward and fired the roofs of the houses that sheltered the savages, and soon the defenders, though fighting bravely, were compelled to surrender. John Ferguson was

the hero of the day. Braving the constant fire of the natives who were sheltered in the largest of the houses, he stood beneath the walls and held a piece of burning bark against the side until it was in flames. This was the storehouse of a quantity of gunpowder which the Indians were saving to use in a general campaign to destroy the whites. In a few moments it blew up, sending the fragments of the defenders into the air and causing the tremendous sound whose echoes resounded even to Fort Duquesne.

Captain Jacobs refused to surrender and probably perished in this explosion. His scalp was afterward shown to Colonel Armstrong. The power of the Delawares was broken, the French alliance severed and the future of the colonists secured. Burdened with their wounded, the surviving members of the expedition returned to Fort Littleton in triumph.

Sad to say, several of the soldiers had deserted when the action was at its height and these were met the afternoon of the fight by Armstrong near where he had the night before left Lieutenant Hogg to protect his rear with twelve men. They reported that the few Indians that had then been discovered near a campfire had developed into a large war party, and after attacking them Lieutenant Hogg was mortally wounded and his force deserted him. From the number of the blankets afterwards found here the spot has since been called "Blanket Hill."

In addition to the loss of the lieutenant, Armstrong suffered the curtailing of his horses, which were frightened away, thus greatly delaying him in the retreat.

Colonel Armstrong reported to Governor Denny the results of his expedition in a document that is interesting and graphic, but as it has been printed in several histories in the past and is quite lengthy, we will only mention it and depend on the facts here stated to enlighten our readers.

Colonel Armstrong, in his report, said that he had reason to believe that Captain Mercer, being wounded, was induced by Ensign John Scott and others to leave the main body and try a nearer way, and thereby became separated from them and lost. Thinking thus, he had sent a detachment back to seek him, but they returning reported that he was seen with a small party to take a different road. In this they were wrong, for Mercer had fallen in with the Indians who had attacked Lieutenant Hogg. Seeing them approaching he seized a horse and, notwithstanding a broken arm, es

caped. For many days, during which he lost the horse, he subsisted on roots and berries, and finally, after a long series of hardships, succeeded in reaching Fort Littleton.

The list furnished by Armstrong of the killed, wounded and missing is as follows: In Lieut. Col. John Armstrong's company— Thomas Power and John McCormick, killed; Lieut. Col. Armstrong, James Carruthers, James Strickland and Thomas Foster, wounded. Capt. Hamilton's company-John Kelly, killed. Captain Mercer's company-John Baker, John McCartney, Patrick Mullen, Cornelius McGinnes, Theophilus Thompson, Dennis Kilpatrick and Bryan Carrigan, killed; Capt. Hugh Mercer and Richard Fitzgibbons, wounded; Ensign John Scott, Emanuel Minshey, John Taylor, John —, Francis Phillips, Robert Morrow, Thomas Burk and Philip Pendergrass, missing. Captain Armstrong's company-Lieut. James Hogg, James Anderson, Holdcraft Stinger, Edward O'Brians, James Higgins, John Lasson, killed; William Lindley, Robert Robinson, John Ferrall, Thomas Camplin, Charles O'Neal, wounded; John Lewis, William Hunter, William Baker, George Appleby, Anthony Grissy, Thomas Swan, missing. Capt: Ward's company-William Welsh, killed; Ephraim Bratton, wounded; Patrick Myers, Lawrence Donnahow, Samuel Chambers, missing. Captain Potter's company-Ensign James Potter and Andrew Douglass, wounded. Rev. Capt. Steele's company-Terrence Cannaberry, missing.

The English prisoners recaptured from the Indians at Kittanning were Ann McCord, wife of John McCord, and Martha Thorn, about seven years old, captured at Fort McCord; Barbara Hicks, captured at Conolloway's; Catherine Smith, a German child, captured near Shamokin; Margaret Hood, captured near the mouth of Conogocheague, Md.; Thomas Girty, captured at Fort Granville; Sarah Kelly, captured near Winchester, Va.; and one woman, a boy, and two little girls, who were with Capt. Mercer and Ensign Scott when they separated from the main body, and who had not reached Fort Littleton when Colonel Armstrong made his report.

The original of the following voucher and signatures is in the family of the late Judge Buffington, who obtained it from a kinsman of Captain Potter:

"We, the Subscribers, Acknowledge that we have Received our full pay from the time Capt. came into Colonel John ArmJames Potter strong's Company to the first day of August, 1759.