A rigorous investigation took place. Philip and several
of his subjects submitted to be examined, but nothing was proved
against them. The settlers, however, had now gone too far to
retract; they had previously determined that Philip was a
dangerous neighbor; they had publicly evinced their distrust, and
had done enough to insure his hostility; according, therefore, to
the usual mode of reasoning in these cases, his destruction had
become necessary to their security. Sausaman, the treacherous
informer, was shortly afterwards found dead in a pond, having
fallen a victim to the vengeance of his tribe. Three Indians, one
of whom was a friend and counsellor of Philip, were apprehended
and tried, and on the testimony of one very questionable witness
were condemned and executed as murderers.
This treatment of his subjects and ignominious punishment of his
friend outraged the pride and exasperated the passions of Philip.
The bolt which had fallen thus at his very feet awakened him to
the gathering storm, and he determined to trust himself no longer
in the power of the white men. The fate of his insulted and
broken-hearted brother still rankled in his mind; and he had a
further warning in the tragical story of Miantonimo, a great
Sachem of the Narragansetts, who, after manfully facing his
accusers before a tribunal of the colonists, exculpating himself
from a charge of conspiracy and receiving assurances of amity,
had been perfidiously despatched at their instigation.
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