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Lewis Wetzel companion Joseph Worley 1769-1871 dies at 102.
The Wheeling Daily Register
Wheeling, West Virginia •
Wed, May 31, 1871 p3
CLIPPED BY
wetzupdoc • 01 February 2025
• Wheeling Register.
[GATHERED HOME.
Death of Noted Indian Hunter at the Age of 102 Years - A Compatriot of Lewis Wetzel - Thrilling Adventure and escape from the Savages.
Correspondence of Pittsburgh Commercial.]
Steubenville, 0., May 25, 1871
A few weeks ago a most extraordinary character and venerable pioneer died at Bridgeport, a few miles below this city, and immediately opposite the city of Wheeling.I refer to Joseph Worley, whose early history and subsequent career have been so intimately connected with the frontier annals of this section of country, that it is a wonder that his death has been unnoticed by the local press.
Joseph Worley was born in 1769, just one hundred aud two years ago. His relatives say that his birthplace was at West Liberty, in Ohio county, now West Virginia, but it is certainly true that whether born there or not, his early childhood was spent in that locality, which is not more than twelve miles distant from the spot where he died. At the time of his birth this part of the West was an unbroken wilderness. It was yet thirteen years before the first white man had fixed his abode west of the Ohio river; a few hunters held Kentucky against the Indians north of the river, and sustained with that region the primitive relations of horse stealing and scalping; in Virginia the frail and lonely settlements (of which West Liberty was one) creeping westward, made friends with the desert and produced a population nearly as wild as its elder children, and unite as fierce and truculent.
Into such a heritage was young Worley born; and from his earliest childhood he discovered an aptitude for frontier life. He was particularly skilled in the use of his rifle, and all his early thoughts and plannings had reference to the savage foes that surrounded him. The numerous expeditions for which he was chosen showed the confidence his fellow-pioneers had in him. Simon Girty, the notorious white renegade, was at this time with the Indians on the Sandusky plains, and frequently headed their marauding raids upon the settlements. It was the aim of the settlers to vanquish this most formidable foe, and Mr. Worley, with others, undertook the task of capturing him. In this work, Mr. Girty, at the head of the Ottawa warriors, was pursued across the Ohio at Meigs Island, up the waters of Cross creek, and far into the interior of what is now the State of Ohio, his pursuers enduring unparallelled privation and encountering perilous difficulties, but always unsuccessful in his capture.
Some time early in life Worley and his brother Jacob, who seems to be as heroic as the other, drilled toward Fort Henry, occupying the point where Wheeling now stands, and here they became acquainted with the famous Lewis Wetzel, one of the most noted Indian hunters of American pioneer history. Worley, who was several years Wetzel's junior, was his very intimate friend, and his almost constant companion in the woods. On one occasion, having discovered fresh evidences of the presence of lndians in the neighborhood of the settlements, Wetzel and Worley undertook to ascertain their whereabouts. They followed their tracks for several miles, and became so intent upon their prey as to scarcely become aware of the distance they had wandered from the settlements, until they had gone eleven or twelve miles south, and nearly opposite to the point where the Baltimore and Ohio railroad now strikes the Ohio river. Here they came upon a camp of Indians, who discovered the hunters about the same time they were themselves discovered. Both parties took to the trees, after the custom of Indian fighting, but the Indians greatly outnumbered the others. Six or seven stalwart and trained Indian warriors of the Huron tribe were now pitted against two determined hunters; and, as if to add to the danger of their position, Wetzel was recognized bv the Indians as their implacable and life long enemy. Now began a duel a running fight a life-anil death contest. No reinforcements could reach the hunters until thev had traveled at least ten miles, and long before that their wily foes would overpower them in all probability. Yet they determined to sell their lives dearly. Wetzel took command, and Worley obeyed him implicitly. In recounting it oftentimes afterward Mr. Worley grew animated, and nobly attributed to Wetzel the salvation of his life.
A tall Huron warrior was the first to ?all.
He rushed out from his covet with a demoniac yell, thinking that they were unprepared for a sudden attack, or would readily yield to the force of superior numbers. But in this he was mistaken, and his life paid the penalty. For a moment of so afterward the other Indians were silent and apparently awe struck, but in that interval Wetzel had again loaded his gun. Several shots were fired at him, but lie was securely shielded by a tree. And so from tree to tree for four exciting miles, the hunters dodged ami crept.
Another warrior, in seeking steathily to cut off their retreat, was killed, and the others became more cautious. Once Wetzel put his cap on the ramrod, as though he was peering round the tree, and when the Indian shot a bullet through it he let it drop to the ground. The Indians all rushed out, when two others fell. The movements were now carried on, on both sides, with the utmost caution. The hunters worked their way gradually towaul the fort, the three remaining I ndiaus becoming every moment more anxious One of their number, perhaps while carefully climbing a tree on the opposite side from the hunters, with a view of startling them from jtlieir lurking place, unconsciously exposed himself, and was wounded by one of the hunters ; whereupon, the other Indians, having trusted so long to the superiority of their numbers, and havj ing a peculiar dread of Wetzel, stole i away into the depths of the woods, j having the hunters to recount what was i even then, regarded as a marvelously heroic feat This circumstance was related to your correspondent many years ago, when Joseph Worlev was even then called an old man.
For many years after civilization had claimed and metamphorised these stern wilds, the Worley brothers lived not far from Bellaire, on the Ohio river. A numerous progeny grew up arouad them, and their interest never abated in the march of progress and 1 in uie surrounding improvements. Until a lew weeks previous to his death, this interest in current events continued very livelv and his memory and strength were" remarkable. His death took place at the house ot William H. Robinson, with whom he had lived several years previously.
Belmont.
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1769 - 1871 (102 years)
