DARNELL'S LEAP FOR
LIFE.
It will be recollected by students of
history that in the year
1778, during the Revolution, Daniel
Boone, with twenty-seven
others was taken prisoner in Kentucky
and brought to Old
Town, or Old Chillicothe, as the
Shawanese called it. Through
the influence of Hamilton, the British
Governor, Boone with ten
of his party was taken to Detroit, while
the remaining seventeen
prisoners were left with their savage
captors. Among the latter
number was a man whose name is supposed
to have been Darnell.
Brave as a lion and cunning as a fox, he
resolved to try and effect
his escape. One night, how it is not for
us to say, he found
himself in a wood northwest of Clifton.
Beneath the branches
of a monarch of the forest, he paused to
recruit his strength when
daylight suddenly burst upon him. Not
seeming to comprehend
his dangerous situation, he did not
move, but coolly took a piece
of pemmican from his pouch and began to
devour it. He was
not unarmed, for he had stolen his rifle
and hunting accoutre-
ments from his captors.
The pemmican had scarcely been devoured
when the noise
occasioned by the breaking of a twig
assailed his ears. His
backwoods learning at once told him that
a human foot had
broken the twig, and in an instant he
was on his feet. Turning
and looking in the direction of the
noise he saw several Indians
hid behind the trees. He knew they were
Shawanese and there-
fore his bitterest enemies. What should
he do? The redskins
were in his very path and to attempt to
get beyond them was to
court death by their tomahawks or the
terrible stake. Flight
seemed the only alternative - flight in
a direction directly oppo-
site to the course he had marked out.
The savages remained be-
hind the trees intensely watching the
white man's movements.
They could have brought him down with a
bullet, but such was
not their intention. They wanted him to
die by fire in their
village. For a minute he surveyed his
perilous position and then
(425)
426 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
tightened the buckskin belt he wore. I
will run he cried, and if
they catch me they must stir their
stumps well. He was no mean
runner and no sooner had he started
forward than the Indians
sprang from behind the trees and started
in swift pursuit. The
course of the prisoner lay toward the
Miami, and the gorge
through which it flows. Suddenly he
veered to the left and quick-
ened his rapid pace for the savages were
gaining ground. He
had miscalculated their speed and
endurance and now feared that
they would soon overtake him. Presently
he heard the roar of
the falls and he veered still further to
the left. His present course
would take him to the falls, and the
Shawanese sent their best
runners to head him off. But he did not
maintain his present path
far, but veered again and ran straight
forward. An ash tree,
which he had marked with his hatchet
several years before stood
near the edge of the cliff a short
distance below the falls, and it
now lay directly in his path. Suddenly
the hunter looked back
at his pursuers. They numbered six in
all, and were headed
by Shawanese of no mean distinction.
"I believe I can camp
Little Fox," mutters the hunter as
he examined the priming of his
gun. The priming was in proper condition
and he suddenly
paused near a tree which stood on what
is now the road leading
from Clifton to Yellow Springs. He
boldly faced his pursuers
and threw his rifle to his shoulder.
Little Fox saw that the wea-
pon was directed to his breast and tried
to shelter himself behind
a tree. But alas; he was too late, for
the rifle cracked and the
Shawanese had lost a valuable chief. The
prisoner smiled at the
effect of his shot, but did not reload
for with hideous yells the
remaining five had darted forward to
avenge the death of their
leader. Directly before Darnell lay the
gorge and from bank
to bank it was fully thirty feet. Cedars
and bushes grew along
the edge of the cliff, while far below
it rolled the historic Miami,
white with foam from the falls. The
hunter was not ignorant of
all these facts for he had visited the
spot before, and it was photo-
graphed on his mind. He knew the
foolhardiness of an attempt
to leap the gorge, and that almost
certain death awaited him on
the rocky bed of the Miami, but these
thoughts did not arrest his
progress. He had determined to make the
leap and nothing in
the world could have changed his mind.
And then the thought
Darnell's Leap for Life. 427
of a lingering death at the stake urged
him on. Better, he mur-
mured to die on the bed of the Miami,
than at the stake in Old
Chillicothe. In a moment he had passed
the ash tree which stands
to this day a witness of the daring deed
we are relating, and
the next he had actually leaped from the
limestone cliff. He had
not miscalculated the distance, nor
permitted a nerve to remain
inactive, every one had been strained
for the feat. A moment
the brave fellow was in mid-air, and
then he grasped a bush on
the opposite side of the gorge. With
great exertion he drew
himself up on terra firma and sprang
forward again. But he
had no need to exert himself longer for
the pursuit was ended.
The Shawanese had reached the cliff and
were gazing, lost in
amazement upon the scene of the white
man's daring deed and his
form which was disappearing among the
trees. "He is more
than pale face," said one of the
Indians; "he is under the pro-
tection of the great spirit, for pale
face nor Indian could never
jump across the Chekemeameesepe. Let us
no longer pursue
a spirit. We will never look upon his
like again this side of the
dark river and the happy hunting
grounds. Braves, back to your
village." In silence the savages
retraced their steps and told to
their wondering people the story of the
most daring feat ever
recorded. The white pioneers could
scarcely believe it, but they
afterwards heard it from the lips of
Darnell himself.
And now, reader, if it is ever your
pleasure to visit the
mountain gorge referred to in this
narrative, do not forget to
view the scene of the hunter's leap,
which is a few feet to the
right of the ash standing near the
Clifton and Yellow Springs
road, a short distance below the falls.