What Indianapolis' first crime was may depend on your definition of crime.

It could have been a murder, a drunken spree, or an Indian pretending he was going to take a scalp.

In the "scalping" incident a Delaware Indian named "Big Bottle" chased Mrs. John McCormick with a tomahawk when she refused to bring a canoe across the river to him.

She barricaded herself in her home until men arrived, and "Big Bottle" said he only wanted to "scare white squaw."

When he was lectured for the incident, he gestured with a knife that he might take her scalp, but nothing ever came of the incident.

The drunken spree occurred on Christmas Day, 1821, when four footloose Kentucky boatmen selected the little settlement of Indianapolis for a binge.

Drunk on corn liquor, they began smashing up Dan Larkin's grog shop and had to be subdued by the local citizenry. Since there was no jail, the men were put in an unlocked building and allowed to escape during the cold night.

One...history lists the "first felony" as a burglary committed by an old man named Redman his son-in-law named Warner.

They burgled the grocery store of Jacob Landis in 1824 and the sheriff, Col. Russell, got a search warrant.

Russell managed to recover most or all of the stolen goods, even though it was said that Warner's wife tried to hide some of the loot under her clothing.

Actually, the first felony probably was the first murder, that of George Pogue, who disappeared in 1821. It is believed Pogue was killed by Indians.

The first confirmed murder occurred when Michael VanBlaricum drowned William McPherson while ferrying him across White River.

Van Blaricum caused the death by "wilfully rocking and upsetting the boat," according to one account.

"His motive appears to have been a sort of contemptuous dislike of his victim, whom he regarded as what in these days is called a "dude," and probably meant no worse than to duck him and spoil his clothes," the account continued.

Van Blaricum was convicted and sentenced to a three-year prison term in 1834. He was pardoned after serving half the term.