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158 307 younger Lay lifting his axe, prevented the companion Indian from assassinating the Swimmer; the Swimmer, however, flung down the negro who was rushing upon him; but during the struggle, the elder Lay rushed upon the Swimmer and gashed him severely on the forehead with his axe. The Swimmer disengaging himself from the black, plunged into the river and escaped. The other took the alarm and so they got off, but the Swimmer was severely wounded. Again they were driven to the wood, but they were again more hotly hunted than before. It is said that while I was myself at Cassville, during the session of the Court and the presence of the Georgia Guard, there was a petition by John Ridge, Stand Watie, Main Ridge, and others got up and sent to this band of exemplary heroes, desiring them to have the Swimmer shot wherever he might be seen in the woods without trial or further ceremony. About two weeks after the rising of the court at Cassville (Sept. 1835) there were rumors spread that the Swimmer and the Duck were lurking near the Oo-ith-kelloh-koh Creek, four or five miles below New Echota on the Oosten