Murphy, as being the younger and handsomer of the
two, was designed to fill the place of the deceased, not only as
the son of the sachem, but as the spouse of a beautiful squaw, to
whom his predecessor had been betrothed; but in passing through
the different whigwhams or villages of the Miamis, poor Murphy
was so mangled by the women and children, who have the privilege
of torturing all prisoners in their passage, that, by the time
they arrived at the place of the sachem's residence, he was
rendered altogether unfit for the purposes of marriage: it was
determined therefore, in the assembly of the warriors, that
ensign Murphy should be brought to the stake, and that the lady
should be given to lieutenant Lismahago, who had likewise
received his share of torments, though they had not produced
emasculation. -- A joint of one finger had been cut, or rather
sawed off with a rusty knife; one of his great toes was crushed
into a mash betwixt two stones; some of his teeth were drawn, or
dug out with a crooked nail; splintered reeds had been thrust up
his nostrils and other tender parts; and the calves of his legs
had been blown up with mines of gunpowder dug in the flesh with
the sharp point of the tomahawk.
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