Tom Quick, The Indian Slayer
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     Finding they were not pursued, Tom and his brother crept back to the river bank to see what was going on.  They heard the scalping-whoop, and witnessed the rejoicings of the Indians over the remains of their father.  It was at this juncture that Tom, rendered frantic by their fiendish conduct, made a solemn vow that he would never cease from a war of extermination as long as an Indian remained on the banks of the Delaware.  This oath of vengeance Tom fulfilled to the letter. It is known that he slew at least twenty of the hated race, while some writers have placed the number of his victims at a hundred.
     With Tom the killing of Indians became a kind of religious duty, in which he undertook to redress the great wrong of his father's murder.  He pursued his bloody work with all the fervor of a fanatic.  In after years he would relate his exploits, and give the harrowing details with no more show of feeling than if they related to the most trivial affairs; and without any apparent misgiving that his work involved a grave moral question.
     According to his own statement, Tom destroyed an indefinite number of the hated race while hunting.  On hearing the report of a gun in the woods, he would creep cautiously to the point whence the sound proceeded, and was generally rewarded by finding an Indian skinning a bear or a deer.  It was then an easy matter to send a bullet on its fatal errand; and when in after years a hunter came upon the bones of an Indian and a deer bleaching together in the woods, he would ejaculate- “Another victim of Tom Quick's vengeance.''
      The sight of an Indian seemed to suggest but one thought to Tom, and that was how the savage could be dispatched with the greatest facility.  He was many times involved in serious personal danger in the execution of his vow, and seems to have had little regard for his own safety whenever an opportunity was offered him of killing an Indian.
     At last old age came upon Tom Quick, the Indian slayer, and his increasing infirmities compelled him to relinquish his former habits.  At this time he lived with  James Rosecrans, about three miles below Carpenter's point.  Here he was kindly treated, and furnished with every comfort he could desire.  He was regarded by those who knew his history with a kind of deferential awe; and was spoken of with as much enthusiasm by his admirers as was ever accorded to any hero of modern times.
     He is described as being six feet in height; gaunt and angular; with high cheek bones; bright and restless gray eyes; and his hair, before it was silvered with age, was of a dark brown.  He was quiet in his demeanor; his features were grave and dignified, seldom relaxing into a smile.  So long as he was able, he visited each summer the scenes of his adventures.  At such times he stopped temporarily at the house of a friend at Mongaup island, or in a hut near Hagan pond.
     Tom carried his favorite rifle on his shoulder until the stock was worn through. Outlawed and alone he waged war against a race that had incurred his hatred, until the Indians were driven from the territory, leaving him in possession of their hunting-grounds.  Tom died at the house of Rosecrans about the year 1795, regretting to the last that he had not shot more Indians.
     If tradition is to be believed, it is true of Tom Quick, as was said of Samson of old, that “he slew more of his enemies at his death than he destroyed during his whole life.”  By a strange fatality, Tom was brought down by that dreadful malady-small-pox. The Indians, having learned the place of his sepulchre, dug up the body of their deceased enemy, and distributed the portions among the clans throughout the vicinity.  Great powwows were held, every man, woman and child of the several clans were assembled, and the sections of Tom Quick's body were burned with great ceremony.  No more effective plan could have been devised to spread the disease, and its ravages were not checked until the tribe had been nearly exterminated.
     If the death of any man was ever avenged, the death of Tom Quick's father certainly was.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
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