Capture, Escape and Death of Tom.

After the death of Muswink, the authorities attempted to arrest Tom, and bring him to trial. Not that they thought him guilty of any serious crime, but that he might be the means of bringing on another Indian War. Most of the people justified the killing of Muswink. First, because he was the murderer of his father; secondly, the provocation given by Muswink at Decker’s Tavern justified Tom in slaying him.

But at last he was arrested, tied and put in a sleigh to be taken to Newton where he was to be tried for murder. But with the assistance of some friends, he made his escape, ran to the river, and plunged in, amid ice and snow, and crossed to the west bank of the river, where he was concealed and fed by his friends for two months, and then made his appearance in public again, and died at the house of Jacobus Rosencrance in 1756.

Tradition says, he died of Smallpox. That the Indians hearing of his death, dug up his remains, and distributed them among several tribes of Indians. The Smallpox became prevalent and several tribes were nearly annihilated. Thus, Samsonlike, “he slew more at his death than he did when living.”

Tom Quick’s death was in keeping with his life. He firmly believed that he was appointed by God to avenge his father’s death. At times he had fears that his father’s spirit would be offended because he had not sent more Indians to the Spirit world.

Tom loved his rifle and called the scalps he had taken “his crowns, his jewels,” his passports to the Spirit world.

A short time before his death, he said to the persons that were around him: I am going to meet my father, and fell back on his pillow. When he awoke, he seemed to be disappointed, and looked around in a bewildered gaze: “Where am I? Is this heaven? No this is earth. But I am in sight of heaven. I see the silver lining behind the cloud. I see the portals open. I hear my father say—Come Tom, come. Where is my old companion? (His gun is handed him). Faithful to the last. Where are my jewels, my crowns? (A string of scalps is handed him.) These are crowns of glory, my passports to the Spirit World. Father, I come.” And dropped back dead.

Thus ended Thomas Quick, Jr. One of the most remarkable characters that ever lived in the Delaware Valley. His ashes now repose on the spot where he was born. (Milford, Pa.) And after nearly one hundred years, a suitable monument has been erected, to perpetuate his memory.

The reader may ask, What excuse is there for his several crimes? A conversation that took place between his mother and Maggie Quick his niece, answers the question: Grandma what makes Uncle Tom act so queer, and stay away from home so much?

Her grandma answered: The murder of his father turned his head, and now he is not responsible for anything he says or does.

Yes it was the murder of his father that turned his head, and made him the avenger of the Delaware Valley.

Gardner, in his life of Tom Quick, page 17, says: It was this sad event that fired the heart of the bereaved and frantic son. Tom was transformed. He was from that time forward known as the “Indian Slayer,” or as he called himself, “the Avenger of the Delaware.” Rough in his manners, having been accustomed from infancy as much to Indian as to civilized life, he had a heart which beat with the warmest affection toward all his kindred, especially his father.

The spot where his father fell beneath the ball and the scalping knife of the Indians, was a Carthaginian altar to him. Hamlibar, brought his son Hannibal to the altar of the Gods, that he might swear eternal enmity to Rome.

Tom Quick’s consecration to the destruction of the race whose warriors had wrought the death of his father, lacked indeed the forms of religious rites, but possessed the substance, and no more steadily on a wider field did the son of Hamlibar follow out the pledges of his youth, than did Tom Quick press on to the fulfillment of his vow of vengeance, thinking as he did, “that the blood of the whole Indian race was not sufficient to atone for the blood of his father.” His oath was not violated. He lived to see the day when he could traverse the river from one end to the other without encountering a red man.

But as we have said before, Tom Quick was now transformed. He took to himself the title of the “Avenger of the Delaware.” He who had before been a friend to both white and Indian, now carried with him a double spirit, having no sentiment but that of friendship for the settlers and love for his kindred, he had intense hatred and loathing toward the Indians.

Cato, on a broader field, in the presence of the Roman Senate, and with comparatively little provocation, was accustomed to close his speeches with the exclamation: “Delenda est Carthage,” Let Carthage be destroyed! Those who heard him applauded, and his name appears high in history as a Roman patriot. The appeal of Cato was prompted by jealousy of the rising and rival power of Carthage. “Let the Indians be destroyed,” was the sentiment of Tom Quick. Between the two, as regards provocation, Tom Quick stands upon the higher ground.

Some allowance should be made in Tom’s favor. The times in which he lived should be taken into consideration. He was born in 1734 and died in 1796, therefore he lived through the tragic times of the French and English, and Revolutionary Wars. He lived at a time when an enemy’s life was cheap; he lived at a time when a reward was paid for Indian scalps. Orders were issued to that effect from the Government: “You are to acquaint the men, that if in their ranging if they meet with or at any time are attacked by the enemy and kill any of them, Forty Dollars will be allowed and paid by the Government for each scalp of an Indian enemy so killed.”

This was in 1756. In 1764 the bounties by Penn were:—“For every male above ten years captured $150, scalped, being killed $134; for every female Indian enemy, and every male under ten years of age, captured $130; for every female above ten years of age, scalped being killed $30.”

But we have no record that Tom received any bounty. The presumption is that he scalped to revenge his father’s death and not for money. But the strongest proof that Tom’s actions were approved by the people, and that he was looked upon by the settlers as a protector of their homes and the guardian of their wives and children, is the fact that he was always welcome to their houses, and a plate placed for him at the table. Not only this, but the fact that they universally screened him from the Government officers. In a word, they were proud to think that one of their number had the courage to face the whole Indian nation of red skins.

Such was the opinion of the early settlers of the character of our hero, and time has not changed that opinion.

His life and character has been published to the world. Historians have eulogized his merits. Dramatists have exemplified his life and character on the stage, and the descendants of the early settlers have raised a monument over his dust in his native town, at the spot where he was born to perpetuate his memory.

His historians have been James Quinlan of Monticello, N. Y., P. H. Smith, of Newburgh, N. Y., Wm. Bross, of Chicago, Ills., and A. S. Gardner, of Milford, Pa.

In 1888, James M. Allerton of Port Jervis, N. Y., published a drama in five acts entitled, “Tom Quick the Avenger, or One Hundred for One,” which was well received by the public.

And then to crown all, his descendants on the 28th of August 1889, unveiled a monument to his memory, in the presence of a thousand persons, amid the roar of cannon and the huzzahs of a thousand voices.

The monument stands in a street sixty feet wide, a street which is destined to be a part of one of the leading pleasure drives of Milford.

From the monument can be seen a range of hills extending all around the village. Also in the distance the Shawangunk mountains in New Jersey. Near by is the Van de Mark, which comes from a distance among the hills towards the northwest, and flows southeastward until it empties at Milford eddy into the Delaware.

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

On the side looking east: Emblem on shaft, a wreath. Inscription on die:

Tom Quick was the first white child born within the limits
of the present Borough of Milford. This spot was
his birth-place and home till the cruel death of
his father by the Indians, 1756.

On the base next to the die:

Tom Quick, the Indian Slayer;
or
The Avenger of the Delaware.

On side of monument looking south: Emblem on shaft the following grouped together and united by a shield: Tomahawk, canoe paddle, scalping knife, calumet, wampum. Inscription on die:

Maddened by the death of his father in the hands of the
Savages, Tom Quick never abated his hostility to
them until the day of his death, a period of
over forty years.

On base next to the die:

Tom Quick died in 1796, at the house of James Rosecrantz
on the banks of the Delaware, five miles northeast of this
spot, and was buried on the farm of his friend in
what is now the Rose Cemetery, two miles south
of Matamoras. His remains were taken up
on the 110th anniversary of the battle of
the Minisink, July 22d, 1889, and
placed beneath this
monument.

On north side: Emblem on shaft, plow. Inscription on die:

Thomas Quick, Sr., Father of Tom Quick, his oldest child
emigrated from Holland to America, and settled on
this spot in 1733. He was the first white settler in
this part of the upper Delaware, and his Log
Cabin Saw Mill and Grist Mill, built on
this bank of the Van De Mark, were
the first structures ever erected
by white men
in the settlement of this region.

On the base next the die:

After a peaceful residence here of twenty years, and of
unbroken friendship with the Indians, Thomas Quick,
Sr., while crossing the Delaware on the ice, carrying
a grist on his shoulder, was shot and
scalped by his supposed friends, the
Delawares, who were lying in ambush
along the bluff on the south
side of the mouth of the Van
De Mark, and half a mile
east of his humble
home.

On west side: Emblem on shaft, flag of the United States on standard and partly furled. Inscription on die:

This monument was erected by a descendant of Thomas
Quick, of the fourth generation; in youth a resident
of Milford, in age, one of the founders of the
“Chicago Tribune,” and from 1865 to 1869
Lieutenant Governor of the State
of Illinois.

Inscription on base next to die:

Done under the direction of Rev. A. S. Gardiner, Pastor
of the First Presbyterian Church of Milford, 1889.