The border wars of New England, commonly called King William's and Queen Anne's wars . ERFIELD 179 l-^f- lie was not at home. Mrs. Sbeldou was startled from asound sleep by the din of blows, raining down againsther door. The poor woman could only sit up in bedand listen in an agony of terror and suspense. Thedoor, being baiTed, re- —_sisted every effort made f •to force it. Failing inthis, the assailants then set to work Sheldons house chopping a pniaged. hole with their axes,and when they had suc-ceeded in doing so, asavage put his eye to itand peered in. Someonewas seen stirring in thedim li
The border wars of New England, commonly called King William's and Queen Anne's wars . ERFIELD 179 l-^f- lie was not at home. Mrs. Sbeldou was startled from asound sleep by the din of blows, raining down againsther door. The poor woman could only sit up in bedand listen in an agony of terror and suspense. Thedoor, being baiTed, re- —_sisted every effort made f •to force it. Failing inthis, the assailants then set to work Sheldons house chopping a pniaged. hole with their axes,and when they had suc-ceeded in doing so, asavage put his eye to itand peered in. Someonewas seen stirring in thedim light within. In-stantly a musket wasthrust in and fired.^ Thefatal bullet struck poorMi-s. Sheldon, as sheAvas in the act of ris-ing from her bed, andshe fell back upon it acorpse. Meantime, her son John and his wife Hannah, whoslept upstairs, and were also awakened by the tumult,sought to escape by jumping out of the window. Thesnow broke the force of the fall somewhat. YoungSheldon quickly scrambled to his feet unhurt, and madefor the woods, which he fortunately gained, and by. [?f::: V.;ilil ...^1 DOOR OV SHELDOjr HOUSE, ^VITH MARKS OFAXES. > The house was torn down in 184S, but the door is Rtill preserved in the museum atDecrfield. 180 THK nOUDHR WARS OF NHW ENGLAND [1704 keeping well under cover succeeded in reaching tlio vil-lage below, spreading the alarm as he went. His wife,less fortunate, sprained her ankle in the fall, and beingthus disabled, the marauders soon laid hands upon her. This house Avas one of two left standing inside thestockade, besides the meeting-house. All the restwere set on tire, to burn along with the ghastly evi-dences of the mornings work. Death, in its most ter-rible form, thus overtook many who, to escape thetomahawk, had hid themselves in their cellars, only tobe stifled beneath the ruins of their burning all was over, forty-seven of the unresisting in-habitants lay dead in or around their own homes. Ahundred and twelve mo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1910
