Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/402

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392
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.

went and laid hold of the murderer by the arm and intimated to him that he was his prisoner. He then ordered his young men to tie his arms. The order was immediately obeyed, and accomplished without the least resistance from the prisoner or his brother, who was thunderstruck at the cool and determined manner of the chief.

Shortly after, two more of the murderers were taken, and Mons-o-bo-douh delivered them into the hands of the trader. The leader of the party, who lived on the shores of Lake Superior, was secured by Mr. William Holliday, trader at Ance Bay. The four captives were sent to Mackinac, and confined in jail. While orders were pending from Washington respecting the manner of their trial, they succeeded in making their escape by cutting an aperture through the logs which formed their place of confinement.

The ensuing year (1826), the Hon. Lewis Cass was commissioned by the United States, to proceed to Lake Superior, and convene the Ojibways in council, to treat with them for the copper and other mineral, which was now found to abound in their country. This important convention was held at Fond du Lac, which was then considered as about the centre of the Ojibway country. Boat loads of provisions were taken from Mackinaw and collected at this point, to feed the assembly of Indians, who were notified through messengers to collect. The Ojibways had not collected in such large numbers for a long time. Delegations arrived from their most remote villages towards the north. Shin-ga-ba-ossin, chief of the Crane family, from Sault Ste. Marie, was also present, and took a most prominent part in the proceedings, in behalf of his tribe. He is said to have made a speech to his fellows, wherein he urged them to discover to the whites their knowledge of the minerals which abounded in their country. This, however, was meant more to tickle the ears of the