IT was in the borders of that nation they were travelling with a person who they had chosen for a guide to a certain town they proposed to reach that night; which being a very long stage, and it raining very heavy, Jane Fearon growing very fatigued wished to put up before they reached the town if a suitable place could be obtained, which their guide assured them could not, but being ex­ceedingly wet and weary, and coming up to a good looking house enquired of them whether they could obtain a lodging and entertainment till the abatement of the storm, and being an­swered in the affirmative, they determined to tarry there, notwithstanding the persuasions of their director to pursue their journey (he be­ing acquainted with the designs of the people of the house) he finding it was their determin­ation to stop, bid them farewel, telling them they would have no further need of him, but did not like to explain himself in hearing of the people of the house, and left them with regret, [...] [Page 4]—On their alighting they were conducted in­to a large room with a fire in it, which o­pened into the kitchen or common room, where the family kept; their horses were ta­ken care of and their wet things put to dry, & apparently they were likely to be very well accommodated; a posset was made for them, and a cold meat pye brought for their supper; but at their setting down at the table they grear very uneasy, however one not knowing how the other felt (each determined to keep to themselves their feelings) till at length Jane said, that her apprehensions were so great, and her opinion of the family so bad, that she fully believed that the pye which was on the table was made of human flesh, which, however, Dickenson scarcely believed was the case, saying he thought it nourishing at that time.

As they were talking Jane observed three ill-looking men come in, and with a low voice told the landlady that they had good horses; aye, answered she, and good saddle bags too. Jane's uneasiness encreasing, Dickenson's mind became closely engaged to seek for the cause, and for divine counsel how to proceed, and under this exercise was favored to believe that if they kept close to that, and strictly at­tended [Page 5]to its pointings they should be preserv­ed and, way made for their escape, on which he enquired about their lodgings, telling them they had some writing to do and wanted can­dles for that purpose and proposed to retire to their appartment, when they were shewn in­to a chamber on the side of a yard with two beds in it, but without any bolts to the doors, and observing a form or bench in the room, tried therewith to fasten one of the doors and found it would answer the purpose by fix­ing the end of it against one of the beds; af­ter which Jane sat down and manifested their distress by wringing her hands and saying she believed they should never get out of that house alive, on which Dickenson sat down by her, and advised her to be still, telling her that he had been under equal distress of mind from their first setting down in the house, and that under that exercise, seeking for the best help, his mind had been favored by that which never deceived him, to believe that if they care­fully minded its pointings, they should be direct­ed how to escape, on which they sat down in perfect silence for some considerable time, attentively waiting for best direction, when at length Dickenson said the time for them to flee was then, and having observed the door [Page 6]opposite to the one they had already secured let out of the house by a pair of stone stairs into the road, believing that was the way for them to get off, he bid Jane put off her shoes as he did also, and softly opening the door perceiv­ed by a light through a chink in the stairs to their terror, a woman sharpening a large knife and making other preparations for their mur­der, as they supposed, and going softly down the steps, kept on the road till out of hearing of the house, they then quickened their pace, and he taking Jane by the arm, they ran about half a mile, when they discovered a sort of ho­vel or cott, and it still raining excessive hard, they tried to take refuge there, whereby to re­fresh themselves a little and shelter themselves from the turbulence of the weather, there be­ing some straw left there for the cattle, but found by the painful sensation renewed on their minds that they were not sase there, (not­withstanding their excessive weariness, and Jane being ready to faint with discourage­ment) Dickenson urged the necessity of their exerting themselves, under the firm hope that they should be preserved, and they went for­ward as fast as they could till they came to the side of a water, the courses of which fol­lowed to a bridge, over which they attempted [Page 7]to pass, but felt restrained when they got upon it, and James said that was not their way, so turned about and followed the edge of the river about half a mile further, the water encreasing in breadth; they there stopped, and Dickenson said they must cross at that place, which exceedingly alarmed Jane, having giv­en way to so much discouragement that she scarcely could hope that they should not to­tally sink under their present situation, and told Dickenson that she apprehended if they went into that water they should be drowned, but he endeavored to cheer her, reminding her of the evidence he had of their preservation if they kept a steady eye to best direction, which he believed had led them thus far, and that through the water was the only way for their retreat, and that he believed they should get safe to the other side, whereupon with the as­sistance of his arm she ventured and they got safe to the other side, and walking some dist­ance they came to a sand bank, here setting down they congratulated each other that they had so far escaped from these inhuman peo­ple; but James was not yet easy in his mind, he said they were not safe yet, and must go farther, to which Jane replied, "I must go by thy faith, for I know not what to do."

[Page 8] They going a little farther, found another sand bank wherein was a cavity where they set down. After they had been here a while, Dickenson said I am now quite easy and be­lieve we are perfectly safe, and feel in my heart a song of Thanksgiving and Praise;— Jane replied I am so far from that, I can­not so much as say Lord have mercy on us.

When they had been here about half an hour they heard some people on the opposite side of the river, upon which James finding Jane was alarmed and fearing they should be discovered, softly told her their lives depended upon their silence. Then attentively harken­ing to what the people said, heard them dis­tinctly speak to their dog, and say, Seek 'em Keeper! and supposed them to be the men they had seen at the house, accompanied with a dog, that the dog refusing to go over the bridge, had followed the scent of their feet along the river side to the place where they crossed, when stopping, the people again re­peated seek 'em Keeper! which they heard; and they saw the people with a lanthorn, they also heard them say they had there crossed the river, to which the other replied that's impos­sible, unless the Devil took them over, for the river was brim full.

[Page 9] After wearying themselves a considerable time in their search, they went away, and they saw them no more.

When day light appeared, they saw a man on a high hill at a distance looking about him every way, they continued quiet in their re­treat till some time after sun rise, when upon taking a view of their situation, they discov­ered that under the first sand bank from whence they removed, they might have been seen from the opposite shore—which they had been insensible of, as they could not make the observation the night before, when they con­sidered what they should do to recover their horses, saddle bags, &c. James said, I incline to return to the house but Jane propo­sed their going to a town in order to get assis­tance to go with them, to which James obser­ved, that the town was ten miles off, and that they were strangers, and had nothing to do with—Jane still hesitating, James said, I still incline to return to the house, fully believing our horses, clothes &c. will be ready for us, without asking a question; and that the peo­ple we saw last night, we shall see no more.— The other said, friend I think I dare not go back again, James said, thou mayest safely, for I have seen it in that, that never faileth me, [Page 10]upon which they returned to the house, and found their horses standing in the stable, sad­dled, and their bags upon them, their clothes dryed and ready to put on, and saw no person but one old woman, in a corner on a rock by the fire-side, whom they did not remember of seeing the night before; they asked her what they had to pay, discharging and pro­ceeding on their journey. Sometime after, Dickenson travelling the same way, in truths service, passed the place where the above house stood, but found it was pulled down and totally destroyed; which coming to the inn at the town, they had thought to have gone too when they put up on account of the heavy rain, as before mentioned, he enquired what was become of the people, and the cause of the house being so in ruin. When he was told, that sometime after he and Jane was there, some travellers who had been observed to go there were missing, and having been long under a very bad name, the people strongly suspecting they were murdered, rose with one general consent, and beset the house, taking up the people, and on searching the house, and its environs, found the bodies of the above, and those of many others, in different states of decay, which had evidently been murdered; [Page 11]and I think some part of the bodies wanting, with a great quantity of clothes supposed to have belonged to them, on which the people were tried, and I believe five of them were ex­ecuted, and the house totally demolished.

Our friend Samuel Smith, brought the a­bove account in manuscript with him on his return from his religious visits, to the friends in Great Britain.

James Dickenson was one of the most emin­ent ministers in our religious society, and visited America three times. In the short journal published of his life and travels, in the year 1694 he mentions his visiting Scotland in company with another Friend, and notes their being delivered from the hands of un­merciful men, but does not give further par­ticulars, for the omission doubtless there was a cause.