sum of money sufficient to bear her expenses to some place where she might find a home. The delicacy and forbearance thus observed, affected her sensibly. 'How thankful'-she has often said, 'was I to that great and good man, who so kindly spared my feelings! He saw me ready to sink with shame; one word from him at that moment, would have crushed me to the earth. But he spoke no word—and I blessed him.'

"After the war, she married Benjamin Gannett of Sharon.It is but a few years since, she passed from the stage of human life. Her career to which her patriotism urged her, cannot be commended as an example: but her exemplary conduct after the first step, will go f to plead her excuse."*

JOSEPH BETTYS.

JOSEPH, or "Joe Bettys," was a remarkable character, who figured in the border wars of the revolution. He was a renegade from the American army, and for a long while was the scourge of the New York frontier; his deeds were marked by an equal boldness and cruelty, that made him the terror of all who had the misfortune to be ranked as his enemies. His principal employment, was the abduction of citizens to be conveyed into Canada, for each of whom he received a bounty; and in his expeditions for this purpose, he was always accompanied by small bodies of Indians. His hour for executing his projects, was at night, and it frequently happened that his conduct was not confined to the

*Mrs. Ellett.

securing of prisoners, but he often revelled in the destruction of property and the infliction of cruelty, and his victims were often tormented by every means his savage ingenuity could devise. Cold blooded murder, and reckless barbarities of every kind, continually stained his soul. The section of country which suffered from his marauding expiditions, to this day is rife with stories of his daring and ferocity.

In the year 1776, he entered as sergeant in the New York forces, in which capacity he served his country faithfully, until being exasperated at the treatment, which he received from one of his superior officers, and retorting with threats and menances, he was reduced to the position of a common sentinel. This was more than he could bear, and he would have deserted, had not Lieutenant Ball, who had before befriended him, anticipating such a step, applied and procured for him, appointment as sergeant on board on one of the vessels on Lake Champlain, commanded by Arnold, which he accepted. In an action that ensued, Bettys displayed a wonderful daring and gallantry, which receiving no other notice than the thanks of his General, he conceived himself slighted, and determined to retaliate. In the spring of 1777, he deserted, and went over to the British forces, where he was soon elevated to the position of a spy, in which character he carried on

the depredations we have spoken of.

Among the prisoners that he secretly seized and carried off in the early part of his career, waş Samuel Patchim, afterwards a captain in the army. The account of his captivity and subsequent hardships, as here given, is as it was related by himself :

"I was captured by Bettys, taken into Canada, and confined in Chamblee prison, in irons. I was the only prisoner whom he had on this occasion brought into Canada. There were six or

seven more of my neighbors, when we started, to whom he gave the oath of allegiance, and sent them back. As for myself, he said I had served Congress long enough, and that I should now serve the king. He wished me to enlist in his company, but soon found that this was not agreeable to my feelings. He then swore, that if I would not serve the king, I should remain in irons. I was confined in Chamblee prison four months; then I was removed to Montreal, and thence to an island, forty-five miles up the St. Lawrence, opposite Cadalake Fort. There I remained about one year. There were five prisoners in all, and we were guarded by sixty soldiers! seven sentinels at night.

"They had left no boats on the island by which we might make our escape, yet we all crawled out of the barracks at night, and went to the river side, there we made a raft by means of two or three logs and our suspenders, on which we sailed down the river five miles, when we landed on the Canada shore. There we appropriated to our own use, a boat belonging to the British, and crossed over to the American shore. While going down the rapids, we had lost our little stock of provisions, and for eight days out of twelve which we spent in the woods, we had nothing to eat save frogs, and rattlesnakes, and not half enough of them. We were chased eight days by the Indians, and slept every night on the boughs of some hemlock trees. At length we arrived at Northwest Bay, on Lake Champlain, when my companions, unable longer to travel, utterly gave out. I then constructed a raft on which to cross the lake, and having stripped my companions of their clothing, in order to make myself comfortable, left them to die of hunger and fatigue, and committed myself to the wintry When in about the centre of the lake, I was taken by the crew of a British ship, and conveyed to St. John's, from thence

waves.

to Quebec, and finally to Boston, where I was exchanged and sent home."

Bettys seemed to have a particular delight in taking prisoners among his own townsmen, and especially those against whom he held any grudge. On one occasion, having taken one whom he supposed to be the object he sought, and his prisoner managing to escape, he deliberately shot him dead, and then discovered that he had made a fatal mistake, and killed one of his best friends.

But his bloody career was destined to find a retributive end. One day, in the winter of 1781-2, a suspicious looking person was seen to pass oyer the farm of one John Fulmer, situated near Ballston Lake, in Albany county. A son of the farmer, Jacob, immediately obtained the aid of three of his neighbors, James and John Cory, and Francis Perkins, and started in pursuit of the suspicious stranger. There was a light fall of snow on the ground, by which means his course was easily tracked. But we will give an account of the enterprise in the words, of Jacob Fulmer, one of the party :

"The morning had been foggy, and it appeared by the track, that the man had made a circuitous route, as if lost or bewildered. After making several turns, we came at length in sight of a log house, where one Hawkins, a noted tory, lived, toward which it appeared, he had laid a regular line. We followed the track, and found that it went into the house. We approached undiscovered, for the snow was soft, and our footsteps were not heard. We went up to the door, and found it was unfastened, but heard people talking within.

"John Cory, who was the strongest of the party, now went förward, we following closely behind, and burst open the door. The

man, who was the object of our suspicions and search, sat at the table eating his breakfast, with the muzzle of his gun leaning upon his shoulder, and the breech upon the floor between his legs. He grasped his musket and presented it to fire at us, but was hindered for a moment to remove the deer skin covering from the lock, and that moment lost his life. We seized him, took possession of his gun, and also two pistols, which he had in his coat pockets, and a common jack-knife. We then bound his arms behind him, with a pocket handkerchief, and conveyed him to my father's house. As yet, we knew not the name of our prisoner, but having asked him, he said. 'my name is Smith.'

"My mother knew him, and said, 'It is Joe Bettys.' He hung his head, and said, 'No, my name is Smith.' My sister Polly then came to the door and said, 'This is Joe Bettys-I know him well.' She had known him before he went to Canada, as he had boarded at Lawrence Van Epps, in Schenectady Patent, while she lived in the same house.

"We then conveyed him to John Cory's house, about a quarter of a mile distant, where we pinioned him more firmly. He sat down in a chair by the fire, and asked permission to smoke which was granted, and he then took out his tobacco box, and seemed to be engaged in filling his pipe, but as he stooped down, under pretence of lighting it, he threw something toward the fire which bounded from the forestick and fell upon the hearth. He then seized it, and threw it into the fire, before any one could prevent. John Cory then snatched it from the fire, with a handful of live coals. It was not injured. It was a piece of lead about three inches long, and one and a quarter inches wide, pressed together, and contained within it, a small piece of paper, on which were twenty-six figures, which none of our company