Fire Along the Sky
Page 92
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Item the third. Our marriage was never consummated. I have never, at any time, lain with my legal wife or had intimate congress with her. The child she carries is not mine. Who may be the father, I do not know with any certainty, for I have never asked and have no wish to know.
Item the fourth. Though the child is not mine, I have no wish to cause it harm, and I am content to know it will bear my name and live its life out as my legal issue, for there will be no other and I am the last of my line. While it will fall hard on her, I require that my mother acquiesce to my wishes in this matter.
May the Lord have mercy on my soul. I, Isaiah Simple Kuick, sound of mind and diminished body, do hereby swear by the Almighty God and all that is Holy that what I have put down on these pages is true. Witness to my signature: Rebecca Kaes, of Paradise on this 24 day of April 1802.
Light hath no tongue, but is all eye;
If it could speak as well as spy,
This were the worst, that it could say,
That being well, I fain would stay,
And that I loved my heart and honour so,
That I would not from him, that had them, go.
Supplemental Statement of Mrs. Margaret Parker,
Widow & Unemployed Housekeeper
And didn't I say so all along? Didn't I? You put it down there on paper, Ethan Middleton, for everybody to see plain as day. Missy Parker said from the beginning that there was evil doings up at the millhouse, and she was right.
Statement Submitted into Evidence
Signed by Hannah Bonner, Physician
Witnessed by Mrs. Elizabeth Bonner
and Ethan Middleton, Esq.
On the 20 day of November I examined the body of Mrs. Dolly Wilde in the presence of Mrs. Bonner and Mrs. Freeman of this village, as Dr. Todd was too ill to leave his bed. The subject was a woman of thirty years, of medium height, with dark hair gone mostly white, and of pale complexion. In her life she was well nourished and her person cared for. I found no wounds as might have been made by a bullet or knife or any weapon. The few scars on her person are in keeping with the life of a farmer's wife, with the exception of a healed bite mark on her right hand. In addition, her hands and arms were heavily scratched and torn from having pushed through bush for some time.
From the evidence available to me, and without performing an autopsy, it is my opinion that the subject died of a severe infection, most probably of the brain but possibly also of the lungs. I saw no evidence of violence done to her.
This statement dictated to and taken down by Ethan Middleton and signed by my own hand and sworn to be true to the best of my knowledge and ability. Hannah Bonner, also known as Walks-Ahead by the Kahnyen'kehàka of the Wolf Longhouse at Good Pasture and as Walking-Woman by her husband's people, the Seneca, this first day of January, 1813.
Statement Submitted into Evidence
Signed by Hannah Bonner, Physician
Witnessed by Mrs. Elizabeth Bonner
and Ethan Middleton, Esq.
On the 26 day of December I examined the remains of Mrs. Cookie Fiddler in the presence of Mrs. Bonner and Mrs. Freeman of this village, as Dr. Todd is recently deceased and there is no other with the training to perform this last service.
The subject was a Mulatto Negro woman of about sixty years, very small and slight of stature but well nourished and without obvious external signs of illness. Both her ears were pierced. The body bore numerous scars, primarily of whippings to the back and legs. The right fibula was once broken and set crookedly.
First observations indicated that the subject died by drowning when the water was at or very near freezing, for her remains were well preserved. On autopsy it was determined that her lungs were in fact filled with water, which indicates that she was alive when she fell into the lake. All other internal organs appeared unremarkable for a healthy woman of her years.
The only wound on her person was on the back of her head, an indentation about a half-inch deep, three fingers wide, and a half foot long, regular in shape, as might have been made by a blow with a wood stave or by falling and striking the head on a wood structure such as the handrail or edge of a bridge. The blow was severe enough to slice the scalp to the skull, cleave the skull itself, and render the subject insensible. There were no other signs of struggle, that is, no broken fingernails or wounds as might have been received in a struggle for her life. In addition, there were a few grains of sand clutched in her hand and found in the folds of her clothing. Thus is it my opinion that Cookie Fiddler's death may have been an accident or a murder, but it is not in my power to declare which on the basis of the evidence I had before me. I surmise that she received a blow to the head and fell unconscious into the lake, where she drowned.
This statement dictated to and taken down by Ethan Middleton and signed by my own hand and sworn to be true to the best of my knowledge and ability. Hannah Bonner, also known as Walks-Ahead by the Kahnyen'kehàka of the Wolf Longhouse at Good Pasture and as Walking-Woman by her husband's people, the Seneca, this first day of January, 1813.
Interview of Levi Fiddler, Man of All Work,
Freed Negro
By Judge Baldwin O'Brien, Esq.
Q: State your name and occupation for the record.
A: Levi Fiddler. Mostly I hire out as a farmhand, but now and then folks fetch me to play the fiddle for a party. Since the new year I been working for Mr. Middleton, there, who's writing all the words down.
Q: And before that?
A: I worked for Mr. Wilde. In his apple orchards, ever since I got my manumission papers. Before that I was a slave at the millhouse, belonged to the Kuicks from the day I was born.
Item the fourth. Though the child is not mine, I have no wish to cause it harm, and I am content to know it will bear my name and live its life out as my legal issue, for there will be no other and I am the last of my line. While it will fall hard on her, I require that my mother acquiesce to my wishes in this matter.
May the Lord have mercy on my soul. I, Isaiah Simple Kuick, sound of mind and diminished body, do hereby swear by the Almighty God and all that is Holy that what I have put down on these pages is true. Witness to my signature: Rebecca Kaes, of Paradise on this 24 day of April 1802.
Light hath no tongue, but is all eye;
If it could speak as well as spy,
This were the worst, that it could say,
That being well, I fain would stay,
And that I loved my heart and honour so,
That I would not from him, that had them, go.
Supplemental Statement of Mrs. Margaret Parker,
Widow & Unemployed Housekeeper
And didn't I say so all along? Didn't I? You put it down there on paper, Ethan Middleton, for everybody to see plain as day. Missy Parker said from the beginning that there was evil doings up at the millhouse, and she was right.
Statement Submitted into Evidence
Signed by Hannah Bonner, Physician
Witnessed by Mrs. Elizabeth Bonner
and Ethan Middleton, Esq.
On the 20 day of November I examined the body of Mrs. Dolly Wilde in the presence of Mrs. Bonner and Mrs. Freeman of this village, as Dr. Todd was too ill to leave his bed. The subject was a woman of thirty years, of medium height, with dark hair gone mostly white, and of pale complexion. In her life she was well nourished and her person cared for. I found no wounds as might have been made by a bullet or knife or any weapon. The few scars on her person are in keeping with the life of a farmer's wife, with the exception of a healed bite mark on her right hand. In addition, her hands and arms were heavily scratched and torn from having pushed through bush for some time.
From the evidence available to me, and without performing an autopsy, it is my opinion that the subject died of a severe infection, most probably of the brain but possibly also of the lungs. I saw no evidence of violence done to her.
This statement dictated to and taken down by Ethan Middleton and signed by my own hand and sworn to be true to the best of my knowledge and ability. Hannah Bonner, also known as Walks-Ahead by the Kahnyen'kehàka of the Wolf Longhouse at Good Pasture and as Walking-Woman by her husband's people, the Seneca, this first day of January, 1813.
Statement Submitted into Evidence
Signed by Hannah Bonner, Physician
Witnessed by Mrs. Elizabeth Bonner
and Ethan Middleton, Esq.
On the 26 day of December I examined the remains of Mrs. Cookie Fiddler in the presence of Mrs. Bonner and Mrs. Freeman of this village, as Dr. Todd is recently deceased and there is no other with the training to perform this last service.
The subject was a Mulatto Negro woman of about sixty years, very small and slight of stature but well nourished and without obvious external signs of illness. Both her ears were pierced. The body bore numerous scars, primarily of whippings to the back and legs. The right fibula was once broken and set crookedly.
First observations indicated that the subject died by drowning when the water was at or very near freezing, for her remains were well preserved. On autopsy it was determined that her lungs were in fact filled with water, which indicates that she was alive when she fell into the lake. All other internal organs appeared unremarkable for a healthy woman of her years.
The only wound on her person was on the back of her head, an indentation about a half-inch deep, three fingers wide, and a half foot long, regular in shape, as might have been made by a blow with a wood stave or by falling and striking the head on a wood structure such as the handrail or edge of a bridge. The blow was severe enough to slice the scalp to the skull, cleave the skull itself, and render the subject insensible. There were no other signs of struggle, that is, no broken fingernails or wounds as might have been received in a struggle for her life. In addition, there were a few grains of sand clutched in her hand and found in the folds of her clothing. Thus is it my opinion that Cookie Fiddler's death may have been an accident or a murder, but it is not in my power to declare which on the basis of the evidence I had before me. I surmise that she received a blow to the head and fell unconscious into the lake, where she drowned.
This statement dictated to and taken down by Ethan Middleton and signed by my own hand and sworn to be true to the best of my knowledge and ability. Hannah Bonner, also known as Walks-Ahead by the Kahnyen'kehàka of the Wolf Longhouse at Good Pasture and as Walking-Woman by her husband's people, the Seneca, this first day of January, 1813.
Interview of Levi Fiddler, Man of All Work,
Freed Negro
By Judge Baldwin O'Brien, Esq.
Q: State your name and occupation for the record.
A: Levi Fiddler. Mostly I hire out as a farmhand, but now and then folks fetch me to play the fiddle for a party. Since the new year I been working for Mr. Middleton, there, who's writing all the words down.
Q: And before that?
A: I worked for Mr. Wilde. In his apple orchards, ever since I got my manumission papers. Before that I was a slave at the millhouse, belonged to the Kuicks from the day I was born.
