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About Schley County news. (Ellaville, Ga.) 1889-1939 | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1889)
Swallows. Tfce swallows fly high, the swallows fly low, And summer winds come, and summer day3 go; ,Ihey are building nests ’neath the cottage 'Caves; Tfwy dream not of autumn or fading leaves. The soft showers are falling, the west winds blow, The swallows fly high, the swallows fly low. But summer is passing, and golden sheaves Are whispering of winter and withered .leaves; The woodlands are ringing the whole day long; Thb swallows are singing their farewell song; They sing of a land where they long to be, Of endless summers far over the sea. O sunshinel O swallows! Sweet summer time, STe sing to my heart of youth’s golden prime— And distance and death, and long years be tween, Recede with their joys and their sorrows keen; And tender eyes lingeringly rest on me— Xoved eyes, that on earth I shall no more see. For spring brings the swall >ws to last year s nest, Anri world-weary hearts wander home to rest. No home like the old of sunshine and dew; N° faces so dear and no heart so true! WJjaaever, wherever my feet may roam, J4y heart turns with love to my childhood's home. —Chambers' Journal. HUNTING OUTLAWS. Tor the first three years of my con nection with a western detective agency I was known to the employes of the 'agency, when known at all, as “the wutlaw man.” Not that I had over been an outlaw myself, but because I was as signed to the duty of hunting down outlaws and no one else. It is a line of work still in existence with several agencies, but it is one in which few men care to engage, no matter what the •alary. It is all right when you are hunting the outlaw, but vastly different when he turns and hunts you. Had 1 fully understood what would be required of me, I would not have engaged in the work for any salary the agency could, have named, but, once engaged, pride and circumstance kept me bound to the work until imperatively obliged to re Imguish it. For two years previous to my start, a man known as Bill Gibbs had been out lawed iu Arkansas. He was a robber and murderer, had a price set upon his head, and had taken refuge in the Bos ton Mountains, and from his lair defied all authority of law. Ho was a terror to a large district, and the plan to get rid of him was discussed and arranged Eke an ordinary business transaction. “What sum in cash will your agency take to hunt down and kill Bill Gibbs? 1 ’ Was the query. “We will do it for - dollars.” '“All right; go ahead.” When the preliminaries had been ar ranged with the committee, I was called an for orders. “You will proceed to Huntsville, Arkansas, and from thence locate Gibbs. Do not attempt to take him prisoner. The whole state wants him killed. Take your time and make your own plans, twit do not return until you have dis posed of him.” (Inside of five days I was in Hunts ville, but I tramped over the country between that town and the base of the Tange for a week before I secured any definite information regarding Gibbs. Every farmer knew him and almost ev ery one paid him tribute, but such was the fear of his vengeance that only an occasional person dared admit having •cen him. The outlaw was entirely •lone, and he had been left unmolested mo Jong that the advantage would bo on any side. He was described to me as a xnau of 40, very powerful and vindict ive, and of a natural bloodthirsty dispo sition. When he came down out of the mountains he was sure to do some fiend ish thing, although unprovoked, and among people ready to befriend him. I found colored men who liad had an «ar slashed off by him and half a dozen white men who had been shot at or oth erwise intimidated. It was over two weeks belore I got any information of direct value. I then stumbled upon a colored •quitter to the southeast of Huntsville mad near the foothills, who panned out at a lively rate. I encountered him on m trail in the woods, and had him cov ered with my rifle before he knew of tj presence. By threatening and coax log and bribing I induced him to yield •p the information I was after. He •rms then miles from his cabin and on SCHLEY COTTOTT NEWS. his way to Huntsville to procure sup plies for Gibbs. He had a bundle of coon and fox skins, which he was to ex change for coffee, crackers, powder and lead. He had been a compulsory agent for a year, and such was his fear of the outlaw that when I brought the muzzle of my cocked rifle dow r n to within a foot of his breast and threat ened to fire he wailed out: ‘‘You kin dun kill me, mar's white man, but I’zo afraid of Mar’s Gibbs jist de same!” Gibbs was to wait at the colored man ’3 cabin until the owner’s return. I ordered him to go forward and say noth ing to any living soul about meeting me, and when he had disappeared I started for the cabin. I had no idea that the outlaw would remain in the hut or close to it. While he probably trusted the colored man as much as he trusted any human being, his outlaw life would render him suspicious of everybody, and he would take no chances. I reasoned that he w r ould quit the cabin as soon as he had obtained a bite to eat, and that he would go into hiding at some point from which he could com mand a view. Therefore, when within a mile of the spot, I made a circuit to the right and came out a mile or more to the south of the little clearing. I found that a ravine led down from the mountain in the direction of tfie cabin, and after an hour’s search up and down I discovered evidences that some one had traversed it but recently, Weeds were broken down, stones displaced, and at a certain moist spot I found plain footprints. The outlaw had come down from his lair by this gloomy trail, and he would doubtless return by it. I met the colored man about 9 o’clock in the morning. He would have time to do his trading and return by 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Gibbs might go off on an expedition after receiving his sup plies, but the chance? were that he would at once return to his lair, Ifol lowed the ravine back to a point where it narrowed to a width of six or eight feet, and where the path was in semi darkness even at high noon, and there I prepared my trap. Had I met him face to face I could have shot him, but I could not lie in ambush and do it, out law though he was. It was too much like murder. Inside of an hour I had my rifle set as a spring gun, to be dis charged as the man’s legs pressed a small cord running across the path, and then I retired to a thick clump of pines about forty rods away, and went into camp to await results, If my action seems cold-blooded let the reader con demn. I had in my pocket a list of five men whom Gibbs had killed in cold blood, and the names of a dozen whom he had slashed and maimed out of pure malignity. While I was arranging the gun, two land-lookers were approaching the cab in. They were strangers to the neigh borhood and unarmed. Gibbs was just leaving the cabin to go into hiding, and although the men neither displayed weapons, nor called upon him to halt, he fired upon them with a revolver, wounding one in the shoulder and the other in the side. He then started up the ravine and I had not been ten min utes in hiding before I heard the spring gun discharged. I waited a few min utes and then carefully approached the spot, and it was to find Gibbs dead across the string. He had been instant ly killed by the bullet. When we came to get the body out to have it identified we found the facial expression to be as savage as that of an enraged tiger, lie had been living the life of a wild beast until he resembled one. My second adventure with an outlaw lasted much longer. A half breed Choctaw named John Flint, who was a resident of Doaksville, Indian Territory, and who had killed several men in the year after the close of the war, was run out of the neighborhood by a vigilance committee, and he to ok up his lair in the mountain spur to the south, and swore that he would never be taken alive nor make friends with a human being. He was represented as a quick shot, a fighter to the death, and a man of such a vigilance that he could not be surprised. lie was outlawed and a price set upon his head, but it was hoped he might be taken alive and hanged. Our agency was offered $1,000 more to capture him alive than to fur nish proofs of his death, but it was at the same time admitted that over a dozen men had spent weeks in vain in trying to either kill or capture him. Three of the number had been killed while pursuing the enterprise. The out- look for me was therefore very dubious, but I determined to see what could be done. As is the case with every outlaw, Flint had his friends and admirers in the country aboat him. I reached Doaksville to learn that he was around with a Winchester and two revolvers, and that people for twenty miles around were intimidated by him. He levied toll on the farmers with a high hand, obliging one to furnish meat, another flour, a third cartridges, and such was the tewor his presence inspired that no one dared betray him,though all yearned to hear of his death or capture. He was put on his guard against me on my ar rival, and he sent me word that if I did not at once leave the country he would have my life. When I finally got ready to begin my hunt for him he was hunt ing me as well. When I had secured such particulars as I desired, I bundled up what necessity | demanded and cut loose from civilization. That is, I headed for the mountain, determined to pursue the man day and night until I had run him down. It was no use to plan to catch him about any of the farm houses, as he knew that I was after him, and he would, as a measure of prudence, forsake his old haunts for the time be ing. It seemed to me the best way to hunt for his lair and have it out with him on his own ground. For the first three days I got neither track nor trace of Flint. It was like hunting for a needle in a haystack, as the mountain was thickly covered with verdure, and split up with many ravines and gulches. Nobody had ever found Ins hiding place,' but from some remarks dropped once when he had liquor in him it was supposed to be a cave in the rocks, and to be approached only with the greatest difficulty. If 1 met him abroad it would be entirely by accident, so I carefully avoided crossing any bar places where he might espy me from his lookout. About mid-forenoon on the forth day I came across a snare set for rabbits by some human hands. An in vestigation proved that it had been in use for some time, and had held several victim*, although empty at this time. This must be the work of the outlaw, since his presence on the mountain had driven all hunters away. Two hours later and a mile away I discovered a snare from which a partridge had lately been taken. I felt then that I was in the neighborhood of the outlaw’s den, but I had to move slowly and exercise the greatest vigilance. I built my fires in ravines and with the least possible smoke, and whenever night came down I crept under the pines and rolled my self in a blanket. Ou the fifth and sixth days I did not cover over two miles of ground, and most of that dis tance was covered on hands and knees. On the evening of the sixth day I had to descend the mountain to renew my provisions at a farm house, and what was my chagrin to learn from a colored man that Flint had visited the place for the same purpose only the night before. He gave me the directions taken by the outlaw, but when I reached the foot of the mountain I could go no further in the darkness and had to camp down. I was astir at daylight and at once made my way to the crest of the big hill, be lieving that Flint, having supplied him self with provisions, would bo quiet for two or three days. Whether he did or not I hunted for him another week with out finding further trace than a third snare he had set for game. On the thir teenth day my hunt came to an end in a singular manner. I was following up a dry ravine, so full of bushes and loose rocks that I had to creep most of ihe time, and I was resting under some very thick bushes when I heard a movement on the bank above. It might have been caused by a deer or bear, but I felt pretty cer tain that it was a man. He was on the bank of the ravine directly over my head, and after a minute or two I heard the squeal of a rabbit. It was Flint, then, and he was taking the game from a snare. We could not sec each other, but he had the advantage of being above me. The bank was too steep to climb, and I was just turning to creep back to a spot where I could ascend when there was a sort of crash above me, a sup pressed shout of alarm, and next in stant earth, rocks and bushes were falling all about me. I sprang up, and as I did so the spread eagle form of a man struck the bushes nt my right and broke through them with a great crash. I made a leap to get out of the way, but the body had scarcely come to a stop before I wa» at hand, It was the outlaw, as I raw at a glance. The fall had stunned him. While he still clutched the rabbit in his right hand his left arm was broken, i lost no time in securing and disarming him, and when h» roused up, five min utes later, he had no show. He took it out in cursing, however, and of ail the blood-curdling oaths I ever heard a man use he capped the climax. I got him about noon, and before night I had him down the mountain and delivered up to legal authority. He resisted me vigor ously for the first hour, declaring that he would die before he would ac company me, but after I had used a stout switch on him several times and given him to understand that he would be dragged if he refused to walk, he was more tractable, He was turned over to the United States authorities, arraigned on six or seven charges of murder, but convicted and hung on the first. I was not present when he was swung off, but in his speech from the scaffold he cursed me high and low and left it as his dying request that liis friends would not rest until they had taken my life. The Roman Circus. Such curious and beautiful creatures were brought before our eyes as I had scarce known even in my reading. And, as if their natural beauty were not enough, art had been ealled in to in crease their attraction. There were ostriches—’tis a bird, if you will be lieve me, of full six cubits in height—, dyed with vermillion; and lions whose manes had been gilded, and antelopes and gazelles, which were curiously adorned with light-colored scarfs and gold tinsel. I should weary you were j to enumerate the strange creatures which I saw. Besides the more common kinds, there were river-horses (’tis a clumsy beast, and as little like to a horse as can be conceived, except, they say, as to the head when the upper half is protruded from the water), and rhinoceroses, and zebras (beasts curiously striped and not unlike to a very strong and swift ass); and above all, elephants. Though I liked not the artificial adorning of some of these creatures — which, indeed, I thought proof of a certain vulgarity in these Romans—I could not but admire the skill with which all these animals had been taught to keep in subjection their natural tempers and to imitate the ways of men. This was especially man ifest in the elephants. One of these huge beasts, balancing himself most carefully, walked on a rope tightly drawn. Other four, on the same most difficult path, carried between them a litter in which was a fifth, who repre sented a sick person. And even more wonderful than these were the lions and other beasts of a similar kind, It has always been a favorite marvel of the poets, how Bacchus was drawn in a chariot by leopards which he had trained to be as docile as horses. But here I saw Bac chus outdone. Lions and tigers, pan thers and bears appeared patiently draw ing carriage?, lions being yoked to ti gers and panthers to bears. Wild bulls permitted boys and girls to dance upon their backs, and actually, at the word of command, stood upon their hind feet. Still more wonderful again than this was the spectacle bf Hons hunting hares, catching them and carrying the prey in their mouths, unhurt, to their masters. The emperor summoned the lion tamer who had trained the beasts in this wonderful fashion and praised him highly for his skill. The man an swered with as pretty a compliment as ever I heard. “It is no skill of mine, my lord,” says he; “the beasts are gen tle because they know whom they serve.”— St. Nicholas. Florida’s Annual Cornucopia. Florida annually produces $30,000 worth of honey, $40,000 worth of strawberries, $50,000 worth of hogs, $30,000 worth of sheep, $350,000 worth of beef, $750,000 worth of sponges, $350,000 of fish and oysters, $3,500,000 worth of oranges, lemons, limes and pineapples, $05,000 worth of sugar and molasses, $200,000 worth of rice, $500, 000 worth of cedar, $20,000,000 of other lumber and $4,00,000 worth of cotton—a total of nearly $30,000,000. Contagious. Old Gentleman: “You aro quite a genius, my lad.” Sharp Youth: “Well, I dunno; p’raps so. My brother was a genius, an’ mabbe it’s kctchin’. I used ter sleep with him,”— Epoch. HERB STORES. Q ne 0 f the Curious Industries Of the Metropolis. Selling Vegetable Remedies in Their Natural State. Down in quaint old Varick street and over on East Broadway, on the very first blocks on Sixth and Third avenues, are the herb stores of the city. “Botanic depots” is what the directory says. Few, indeed, nowadays are the believers in the old country women’s remedies of bottling and brewing. The city man or woman of today rushes off to a doctor at the first ache or pain. His prescrip tion, it is quite likely, is some herbal extract, for doctors do not always give mineral remedies. But he uses those herbal extracts prepared by the large drug firms, and prescribes them under their long Latin names—so people won’t know. If questioned very closely he is likely to acknowledge this, but he will add: “Not in their raw state. They are first chemically prepared, refined and purified.” But the old-fashioned woman will shake her head, declare that nature is good enough for her, she’d rather trust it anyway than the princi ples on commercial preparation, and that “there’s an herb for every pain.” But the doctor sugar coats his pills nicely, and the herb remedies are often of very nasty taste. And then a few drops of an extract will suffice, while of decoctions and infusions of the herbs themselves quantities and cupfuls must be taken. Still there are enough herb people in the town to keep four shops running, and the customers are mostly of the bet ter class. Poor people are the readiest to turn doctorward. The little shop of the herbist looks for all the world like that of an ordina ry apothecary, but that the glass bottles of the windows and shelves are replaced by tin and wooden boxes and drawers, and the classical titles of the drugs by very rural-sounding names. The col ored window lights are also absent. “The herbs,” remarke a herbist, “daily called for are principally these: Hoar hound, sarsaparilla, catnip, camomile flowers, yellow dock, burdock, sassafras, mandrake, cherry bark, stillinga and wintergreen. All in all, there are about two hundred and fifty varieties which I must keep in stock.” “Do you gather them yourself?” ‘‘No. It doesn’t jiay for the trouble. The wholesale druggists of the city keep them in this raw state, and I can buy them very cheaply in quantities. With in a few years, however, I have gathered several varieties on Mauhatten Island and others at Greenville, down on the upper bay. A lot of the herbs now in use are imported. Most of the others come from the Carolinas. Herbs are prepared for the dosing in two ways : by decoction—that is, boiling —this applying only to roots and herbs, and by infusion, which consists in the pouring on of hot water and letting the stuff stand and steep, Of the latter class are plants and leaves, There is also another method—that of soaking in cold water—such as goose grass, of a hay-like appearance and smell, a dropsy remedy, and quassia, the inner bark of a West Indian tree, chipped into bits so that it looks for all the world like pine shavings. This is used as a tonic. Ihe bugle-weed, a low growing plant, the whole of which is made use of, is highly esteemed among herbists as a consumptive remedy. Taken in an in fusion it is spoken of as excellent to pre vent bleeding at the lungs. Red clover is most effectual for relieving the pain of cancer, but the wise old country women, sagely nodding their heads in the chimney corner, never found any remedy for (hat disease, any more than the most expert M. D. Wormwood is the arnica of the herbalist, Moistened "with hot water, mixed with salt, and laid on flannel for a poultice, the her bists say it will take down swelling quicker than any arnica can. Lobelia is the all-powerful emetic, Coltsfoot i3 the well-known cough and cold remedy, and an infusion of hemlock leaves—the non-poisonous variety—a remedy for rheumatism. Catnip, the cat’s natural remedy, is rather aptly termed the cat’s “opium, ” so stimulating is its effect. Sumac berries are used as a gargle for sore throat and also as a tonic. The other 240 odd varieties of herbs are used singly and in combination for the euro of almost every known disease.— New Hork dlail and
