Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

®l!iliSfi if! H. C. BILLINGS, Proprietor. JACK COItBIN’S ADVEN TURE. BY OLD COOMES. N. Y. Saturday Journal. Ever}’ evening (luting our journey up the Niobrara liver toward the Black Hills, we drew upon the inex haustible supply of our guide, Jack Corbin, for a story of adventure- Old Jack had been a hunter, scout and guide all his life, and so he had been “through the flint mill,” and had treasured up in memory the recollection of many a wild and dar~ ing adventure. And then, he loved to sit evenings and smoke and teli them, and we liked to iisten to him lor he possessed a peculiar vein of whimsical humor, and threw a droll pathos and fascinating horror into his style of narrative that made him quite enjoyable. The howl of a wolf near camp one evening soon after we bad eaten our supper and taken our places before the nre to talk and smoke away the hours until bedtime,causedone.of the party to make some remark about the animal, when Old Jack removed his pipe from his mouth and said: “I never hear a wolf but what it brings up a strange, startling event in my mind, and causes me toshudf der like a young earthquake. This war some fifteen years ago, I think. I war down in the western part of Nebraska, wkar they war payin’ 8 lammin’ bigj bounty on woll-skulps, which made wolf-huntin’ a purty fair business for some of them. Of course they’d pay nothin’ only on skulps taken in Jthal county, and when a man presented his skulps he had to swear that thej r were tak en in that county. Thar war a cer tain pair of suspicious-lookin’ fel lers that made their appearance at the auditor’s office so regularly with piles of skulps, that s’picion finally riz as to their doin’ a legitimate business—confinin’ their operations strictly to that county. Thar war somo of the authorities b’licved that these men war wolf-herders—that is, made a business of breeding wolves for the bounty on their skelps; and the more the matter was thought over the stronger the folks become in their convictions. Of course, if they were wolf-herders their dens war hid away off in the deep recess es of the distant mountains *whar they might never be found. “ However, the sheriff, Dick Hall, and his deputy and two others con cluded to make a grand hunt for the supposed retreat of the wolf-herders; and they employed me to act as guide, and away we plunged—over the prairie and into the deep recess es of ilie mountains. Of course the three first days out we done little but talk and plan, smoke and drink; but on the fourth day we begun to think ’bout wolves and wolf-herder, and Injins, also; for during the day we were fired upon by someone In ambush, and I war wounded in the shoulder. It war only a slight flesh Wound; and yet I bled like a stuck pig, and suffered some from loss of blood. But the boys bound up uiy shoulder the best they could, and give me brandy as a substitute for blood; aud you may bet it required considerable—cut off the sheriff and his men’s rations like everything. “That night we went into bivouac under aome low scrubby pines earli er than ‘usual, on account of ray condition. We lighted a fire, eat our supper, took a smoke, stationed a guard and tinned in for the night. I war excused from duty that nigut, owing to my hurt and a slight fever; and so I laid down nigh the fire and fell asleep. I hadn’t laid thar long when the crack of rifles and some horrible yells startled me; and the next moment a dozen fierce-looking men charged in upon us, and beat us down. The next minute we war bound hand and foot. “‘Ha! ha! ha!’ laughed the demon that appeared to be the leader of the gang; ‘this is ther luckiest haul we’ve made, bojs. Yon, gents, have become the hunted and we the hun ters, and I don’t think you’ll go kuuting wolf-herders ag’in.’ “This told us that we war in the power of the wolf-herders them* selves; and I shuddered with fear. The sheriff said somethin’ in a defi ant manner, when the leader again shot out his terrible threats: “ ‘We’ll see that you don’t bother us ag’in; you fellers will make jist as good wolf feed as deer or buffalo, seein’ asyer in mighty good flesh; so yer might as well be savin’ j-er prayers, for in less ’an a hour you’ll be in the gullets of n hundred hungry wolves.’ “Heavens, boys!” and Old Jack appeared to shudder at the recollec tion of that awful night; “ you may bet the blood and brandy in ray veins rolled along heavily and cold ly. . I tried to expostulate and ex plain to the demon of the wolf-pens, but I’ll swear my tongue was froze —refused to obey the will-power of my mind. It seemed, howsumever, that they divined my very thoughts and war all the barbarous and inhu man. They put us on some old racks of ponies, and carried us away through dark passes aud deep gorges and finally drew up in a dismal and horrible place. The snappin’ and snarlin’ and yelpin’ of wolves told us that we had arrived at the pens of the wolf-herders. Arter we war taken off our ponies, we received the cheering information that we war to be at once fed to the wolves. “‘Great mercy!’ exclaimed our nervous friend, Lefflcr. “ Yes, and we war act’ly carried alive, and bound band and foot, to a stone fence and thrown over into the pen whar a hundred grim, guant wolves war waitin’ foi us. The an imals rolled to’rds us like a great wave. Still my tongue was stiff with horror and my limbs paralyzed. Several wolves come to me and sniff ed around me, and then pranced off to the other boys. I reckoned they concluded I had too much whiskey in my system for their appetite; but they pitched into the sheriff and his men and began to devour ’em, soul and body. “Oh, heavens! never till my dying day wiil I cease to hear the cries of them poor wretches ns the beasts eat and tore their lives away, piece by piece. The sheiiff lay close to me. He was a powerful big man— a perfect type of manhood. 1 could see liini plainly', for the moon was shinin’ bright. I could see the ani mals tcarin'ofl strips of hot, quiver ing flesh from limb and body. I could see the tendon and neves lay ing bare, quiver and jerk. I could bear the blood gurgling from the awful wounds, and hear the wolves lapping it up. I sae’d the white bones stripped of their flesh, even while cries of agony warissuin’from the poor man’s lips. “Merciful heavens!” cried Down- MADISON, GA., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2,1877. iy shuddering with horror at the recital of death and suffering; “them wolf-herders must have been worse than fiends incarnate.” “I don’t know what you’d call ’em boys; but they seemed to enjoy the carnival, for they stood outside and laughed and haw-hawed at every groan.” “Great God!’’ exclaimed Hamton, smiting the ground with his clench ed fist, while Downly removed the end of his pipe-stem from his mouth that he had bit off in the moment of excitement. “Little by little,” continued Jack in a cool, deliberate way, “I saw my friends devoured. One by one I heard their cries of agony hushed as their lives went out in that awful death. And I kuew my turn’d come Bood, whisky or no whisky in my system. The wolves’d had a taste of human flesh and nothing'd stay ’em. I laid waitin’ for tha ordeal, not carin’ how soon it’d come and an be over with; and presently as a big wolf sauntered up to me and thrust his nose that smelt sickish with the hot blood oi the sheriff, in to my very face. Then he sniffed around a l.ttle, and finally seized my arm in his sharp fangs, aud begun tearing at the limb. But ‘what do you think happened at this moment, boys?” “Someone came to your rescue,” I answered. “No, no; the sting of the wolf’s teeth broke the spell that bound my tongue aud paralyzed my body. In an instant I seemed to become pos* sessed of the strength of an unearth ly being. I snapped my bonds like threads and rose to a sittin’ posture; and then—oh, Jerusalem! I—” “Foughtyour way out and escap ed ! Good! good!” cried Leffler, anx ious to hear the last of the terrible story. “No,” continued Corbin, with a smile; “I rose to a sitting posture and found our camp-fire burning brightly before us, and the sheriff and his men sleeping sweetly around it, and a coal of fire, having popped out of the heap of red flames nigh, was laying on ray arm and burning through my sleeves to the quick. This coal of fire was the wolfs teeth that awoke me. I’d been dream ing.” “Confound you!” exclaimed Leff ler, expressing the surprise and in dignation we all felt at having our credulity preyed upon; “I wish your story’d been true, and it’d been you instead of the sheriff devoured.” “Haw! baw! haw!” roared old Jack; “sing’ler about a story losing its charms when it tern out to be a dream.” And lie resumed his pipe, leaving us to our reflections. wm w In Southwest Georgia large num bers of farmers are refusing to pay their guano bills on the grounds that their crops were injured, and also their lauds, by its use. Mr. W. S, Henderson, of Wash ington county, carried off the pre mium at the State Fair for the lar gest yield of corn per acre—he hav ing made 70 bushels on one acre- Judge Bartlett is holding Court in Richmond county this week and Judge Gibson is presiding at Jasper county Court. The South Georgia Conference will convene in Talbotton on the 12th of December. The Democratic Executive Committee Of Morgan county met pursuant to ad journment at the Court House last Sat urday at 10 o’clock, Maj. J. F. Hanson, Vice President, in the chair, and 11. W. Baldwin acting Secretary. The returns from the diffeient election precincts ol the county, except Ebenezer, of the pri mary election held on the 20th inst., were produced. The point was made before the Com mittee that according to the custom of tlie Democratic party, in its nominations the colored voters were ineligible, and that their votes were involved and should be excluded from the count. It was resolved, upon motion of Carter Shepherd, that the vote be counted and only those votes be thrown out, white or colored, that were not polled by genuine Democrats, the Committee having pre viously to the primary election, declar ed by resolution, introduced by Colonel Be id that all bona-fide Democratic voters were eligible to participate in the pri mary election. The result of the investigation was that five votes were thrown out, of which four were for McHenry, three for George, and two for Anderson. It was resolved, at a meeting of the committee in the afternoon, that the re turns from Ebenezer, which had then come in, should be counted as they stood, no vote having been deemed in valid. The result of the count now stands, according to the finding of the Committee, 332 majority for McHenry, aud 113 majority for Anderson. On motion, the Secretary was ordered to have proceedings of the Committee published in the Madison Home Jour nal. J. F. Hanson, Ch’m. H. W. Baldwin, Bee. Mr. Editor:— ln the Madison Home Journal, ol the 28th ult.. I find a poem entitled, “The Stream of Death,” pur porting to be written by a “young girl” of this county. The poem is published at the request of Dr. W. B. Crawford, of this city, who, in a letter published in the same issue ot your paper, indulges in this lofty strain: “As for her ideas I should say they are her own—Heayen given and not instilled by any teacher, ordinary or extraordinary. Centuries ago it was written poeta nascitur. The maxim is us true to-day as it ever was.” Let us examine the title to the author ship of those “heaven given ideas” claim ed for the ‘young girl,’ and defended by the Doctor, in an old edition oi San der’s Third Reader, (and published long before any ‘young girl’ ol this county was born), we find, on page 128, tiie identical poem, ‘The Stream of Death,’ as published in your paper as before stated. There is some slight alteration in one or two places, made perchance by the Doctor to improve the grammar ol the young genius he champions into public print. It seems this poem and another enti tled “Only” had previously appeared lu the Index and Baptist, and at the request of the Doctor, and claimed to be written by the same ‘young girl.’ But ‘Justicia’ aseusible correspondent of your paper had too much reason about him or her as the case may be, certainly not creduli ty enough to gulp so tiiin a story, ami in a letter to your pa|ier pertinently inquir ed, among other things, ‘h it reasonable to suppose such ideas and such language could be used by an uneducated girl?’ Upon principle and reason “Justicia’’ exposed the utter weakness of the young girl’s title, yet the Doctor in the face of all this, persisted in championing the young authoress, declaring o( her ideas, ‘I should say they are her own, heaven given, &c. When I first saw the poem in your paper, I thought it was written by I’lic be Cary. lam still of this opinion, but have no volume of her poems to ascer tain from the,n whether lam right. It is mathematically certain though, or at least we have recorded evidence to show that the ‘young girl’ is not the author. “Ordinary Schoolmaster." Madison, Ua., Oet. 30,1877. lucendiaries are burning rail fen ces in Washington county. YOL. VII. NO. 44. WORK. BY JOHN T. POU. People talk of hard times; there are no hard times ; they are only different or changed from what they used to be. The philosophy of hard times is the philosophy of small things. They are only so by comparison. We are fools enough to keep dreaming of that ante-bellum paradise whose gates seem forever shut against us ; of the time when we had to but rub the lamp of our wishes and there appeared a thousand ministerings ; ready slaves stood by for our bid dings; princely carriages were or dered to convey us from place to place ; downy beds supported our reposing limbs ,* costly tables groaned for us with the luxuries of the gods; nectar drinks sparkl ed to quench our rising thirsts; and our cornu-copia was forever full. The gates are shut, yet can be opened; but only by work; which is as magical as the Tear of the Peri. It was work that reared the wondrous Pyramids of Egypt and converted her morasses into gardens: it was work that made Ciesar demi-god and Rome the mistress of the world ; it was work that formed the grand move ments of the immortal Nepoleon unsurpassed since the Spirit of God moved upon the deep and excited acclamations unheard since the sons of heaven shouted over the grandeurs of a newly made world ; it was work that expelled the furious savage and made American wilds “bloom aud blos som like the rose;” it was work that broke the rod of English tyr anny and achieved our glorious liberties ; it was work that fed the poor, helped the needy, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, rais ed the dead and redeemed the world. And can there be a man that is ashamed to work ? Fool! he shan’t eat, shall die on a dung hill and be buried in a ditch. Messrs. B. R. Riordan and F. W. Dawson have purchased the interest of Mr. Benjamin Wood, of New York, in the Charleston Nexen and Courier, and will here after publish the paper under the firm title of Riordan & Dawson.— We congratulate these gentlemen on the prosperity which has ena bled them to secure this property, and wish thorn much success m the future. A movement of very considera ble force is reported on foot to force the President to put Schurz out of the Cabinet. This step is one of the remedies proposed by some of those who met at Secreta ry Sherman’s house to consult over pending troubles, and the means of ending them. Outside of these gentlemen, the movement is said to be gathering much strength. At a fashionable wedding break last in London, recently, an ora tor of the most lugubrious type, who was beginning to weep copi ously, took out, as he thought, his pocket handkerchief, and was greeted with shouts of unrestrain ed laughter. He had in his hand one of his wife’s silk stockings, which she had asked him to match, aud which he had forgotten to do. Gen. Harlan is said to be the third lawyer who has risen from the bar directly to tho Supreme Beach. Bradley and Davis were the other two. Senator Gordon has written an article for the North American Review on civil service reform. Corn is selling in somo counties in Kentucky for $1 per barrel.