255.]; again a white man murdered an unoffending Indian, and was seized by a Federal officer, and thrown into chains, to the great indignation of his brutal companions [Footnote: _Do_., No.

150, vol.
ii., p.

296.]; and yet again another white man murdered an Indian, and escaped to the woods before he could be arrested.

[Footnote: Draper MSS.
Clark, Croghan, and Others to Delawares, August 28, 1785.] Bloodshed Begun.
Under such conditions the peace negotiations were doomed from the outset.

The truce on the border was of the most imperfect description; murders and robberies by the Indians, and acts of vindictive retaliation or aggression by the whites, occurred continually and steadily increased in number.