68 125
"Oh -- if it is that you're after, there's scratched out a worse enemy of his country scratched out than John Ross ---
"Who's that?
"Who's that -- John Ridge unclear sure --
"Then you're not for killing John Ross ____
"Kill John Ross! _____ Kill fifty John Ridges, before I'd see John Ross killed. Kill John Ross! Huzza! John Ross forever!"
And upon this, one in two of the party repeated to Major Currey that John C. Martin had threatened the life of John unclear Ridge & any of his party, and an order was passed to Lieut: Hooper of the U.S. Troops for the arrest of John C. Martin.
Lieut: Hooper went to the house of Martin. He was not there. But the day following, Martin went to the Agency, to learn what we wanted from him. Lieut: Hooper placed the letter of Major Currey in the hands of Lewis Ross, desiring that it should be read, and the affair still further explained, if necessary, in Cherokee.
After the reading, Lieut: Hooper remarked, "I suppose you can give Mr. Lewis Ross, as one security that you will not several words scratched out kill John Ridge" ___