Putnam County, Indiana - Chapter 4: Early Settlers and Incidents, 1910

Chapter 4: Early Settlers and Incidents

As late as 1836 the county clerk, by order of the commissioners, was issuing certiticates for two dollars to any one who might kill a wolf over six months old "and half that sum for wolves under six months;" all of which goes to prove that the transition from the blazed trail and greased paper window to the railroad and the daily paper is after all a slow and labored evolution.

The early settlers of Putnam county were as healthy, vigorous and as susceptible to social and moral improvements as any other community of like environment. Comprised mainly of the more progressive and adventurous spiri^ from Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and other older- states, they were easily inured to the privations and lack of comfort which life in a new country invariably necessitates. "The moral character of these early settlers," says one writer, "was generally of a high order. They were honest in their dealings, industrious by habit and charitable toward their neighbors. That they were deeply imbued with the principles of the Christian religion may be inferred from their very early establishment of various church organizations. On the contrar}-. that they were subject to some of the vices incident to the time in which they lived need not be concealed. But. they possessed within themselves the elements of their own correction."

No better history can be written, nothing more vividly reproduced than the recollections by our forefathers of their early days in the isolation and solitude of the wilderness; and from such sources are we made to realize how the pioneers lived; how, in spite of adverse conditions, they developed and how^ much we of this day and generation are indebted to them for the comforts we ourselves enjoy. As a faithful portrayal of primitive conditions in Putnam county, I take the liberty of quoting from a paper read before the Putnam County Historical Society on "Old Landmarks" by Albert Lockridge in May. 1895. "Almost eveiy witness of the earliest days in Putnam county." said Mr. Lockridge, "has gone to his reward and yet. strange to relate, one of these who was here when the county was created and who helped to mould it into one of the political divisions of our great state is still living. I refer to Thomas Jackson, of Marion township. Bom in Bourbon county.

Putnam Couxty, Ixdiaxa. J I.

Kentucky, Alay j8, 1798. he is still well preserved pliysically and nientallv and an interesting specimen of the hardy and adventurous pioneer. The writer recently visited him and gleaned from his reminiscences many items of early history that ought not to be lost. Speaking of his arrival in Putnam countv. he said it was an unbroken wilderness. One of his neighbors was Samuel Chadd and together they planted and cultivated a crop of corn, exchanging work. Mr. Jackson - or Uncle Tommy, as he is generally known - did the plowing and Chadd manipulated the hoe. The harness and plow were of the most primitive type, the former simply a shuck collar with linn tugs, and the plow of the usual mold-board variety. The linn bark, - that is. the inner bark of the linden tree. - from which tug. straps, strings and thongs were made, was first soaked in a neighboring 1)ranch' until it became soft and pliant, when it was doubled antl twisted into various sizes according to the use for which it was intended. It was also used for bed cords, well-sweeps and plow lines. It is also safe to infer that four or five feet of the larger size was occasionally used judiciously and with apparent profit in disciplining an indolent or refractory plow-boy.

"Clearing the timber was a difficult ami laborious operation. Water stood everywhere through the dark woods and the settlers had to wade in it up to their knees, sometimes, as they felled and carried the logs with handpikes to the huge heaps. Mr. Jackson related that after fifteen or twenty successi\ e days of such laborious toil the pioneer, hardy though he was, would be well nigh fagged out. While in his youth in Kentucky Uncle Tommv managed to save a hundred dollars. Returning to that state for it, he had to give fifty of it to get what was called 'land-ofiice money," - that is, silver. He agam set out for Indiana and with his uncle, James Lightall, entered one hundred sixty acres of land in what is a portion of the Terry farm in the eastern part of Putnam county. This was his first entiy. Later he sold his interest for three hundred dollars and entered the land on which he now li\'es.

"At that time there were several Indian camps in the neighborhood, two on what is now the writer's fann in Marion township, and one on the Nichola.s Cofifman tract on the right bank of Big Walnut creek. Uncle Tommv frequently visited these camps, for the Indians were very friendly. He related that he was at a camp on one occasion when the Indians were preparing a feast by cooking a coon in a kettle. With an Indian's habitual contempt for cleanliness, they were cooking the animal with the customar}- 'trimmings' ; that is with the hair, hide and claws. When this smoking mess was skill fullv harpooned out of the kettle by a greasy squaw, Uncle Tommv was in\ited to dine ; but his appetite for dinner had vanished and with the usual protestation of thanks he felt impelled to decline the invitation. It was at this same camp on Big Walnut that he saw the grave of an Indian only recently buried. The mound was enclosed in a mde pen built of buckeye logs which the red men had cut into proper lengths with their tomahawks. This barrier of logs had been erected to keep wild animals from digging up the body.

"Church services in the early days of Putnam county were held principally at camp-meetings and occasionally in the primitive school houses, there being no meeting houses. At one time a very strong and noted preacher held protracted meeting in the school house. He awakened a deep interest among the settlers, which in some cases has left its imprint to this day. While in attendance at one of the meetings. Uncle Tommy saw a woman run up into the pulpit to receive what was called a 'holy kiss' from the preacher, a ceremony A\hich. if in practice at this day. would speedily result in an overcrowded ministry-.

"The earlv grist-mills were vers- clumsy affairs, being run by water and in some cases horse power. One of these mills stood on the banks of Deer creek a short distance south of where Mr. Carmel church was erected in later years. It was owned and operated by Samuel Hazlett. Sometimes the miller was so overcrowded with grists that he would ha\e to place tallow dips in different parts of the mill so as to run at night. Stores, even of the usual country \arietv. had not yet found a place in the clearing, for on one occasion Uncle Tommv was forced to ride to Bloomington to buy a little coffee for his own use. He often accompanied James Woods, who was a noted hunter, in search of wild honey. On one of these expeditions he underwent an experience, common enough in that day. but one which forever dispels the readilv accepted illusion that tight shoes and the mi.sery thereof fell entirely upon a later generation. He had worn a pair of deer-skin moccasins, but they became so tight from continually wading through the water, which stood in pools even-where, that when he returned home it was necessaiy to cut them off his feet with a knife.

"Moccasins in that dav were frequently made with wooden soles. In the sumn:er season thev were ven- satisfactory, but when the snows of winter fell they were decidedly inconvenient. The snow w ould keep clogging up on the wooden soles, becoming thicker and thicker, and with each step the wearer rose in the air higher and higher until suddenly and without notice the moccasin would lose its burden and the owner drop down sideways or plunge headlong forward.

"The horses of tlie settlers - fences Ijeing ahnost unknown - were hobbled to keep tliem from getting o\'er the logs and straying off into the wilderness. The hoijbling was accomplished by tying the hind feet of the animal together. One day Uncle Tommy's horse strayed off into the forest and he and his neighbor. James Woods, set out in search of him. Before they had gone very far they came uiK)n a hear cub sitting or lying on top of a stump. Woods at once turned about to hasten home for his rifle. Just then there was a terrific scratching in a hollow tree nearby and presently the head of the old hear appeared at the top. As soon as the old animal espied the woodmen she flrew in her head and came tearing down. She reared up on her hind feet and waddled belligerently toward the men. ^Vith the quick sense of prompt action which life on the frontier seems to create. Woods jerked an axe out of the hands of EHck Miller, a man who had meanwhile joined the hunters, and speedily despatched the old bear and three of her cubs.

'"On another occasion Uncle Tommy had gone over to Amos Robertson's house to get a bushel of salt. Robertson had made it his business to haul salt to the new settlement from the Ohio river. Xearing the forks of Eel. his horse shied at something ahead in the pathway, when suddenlv a large animal ran across and disappeared into a thicket. Uncle Tommy took it to be a hog. Xed Rogers coming along. Uncle Tommy told him what he had seen. In a short time Rogers reappeared with his dogs and gun and ere long they came ui)on the animal lying behind a log. Rogers at once fired at him. but his aim was too high and the bear started to mn. At this moment Dr. A. C. Stevenson, who was passing by. heard the noise and rode up. Learning \vhat had occiuTed. the Doctor set out after the bear and presently caught up with him. The dogs were snapping and biting at the big animal, who would endure it for a time and then rear up on his hind feet and fall backwards in the hope that his weight would crush some of the irritating dogs. The battle continued thus with varying success until a man named Owens, \\ ho had joined the party, drew his rifle and despatched the bear."

The Spirit Of The Pioneers

Looking back, it is hard for us to belie\-e that our forefathers could be induced to lea\e conifortai)le homes in Kentucky, Tennessee. North Carolina and el-e\\hei"e. knowing the pri\ations that awaited them in the une.xplored regions of central Indiana. But there is and always has been in the heart of man a restless desire to penetrate the new countries and no danger, no hardship, has ever been found formidable enough to deter the voung.

hardy and venturesome emigrant who sets out for the land of promise. That same spirit prompted the early navigators to cross the seas and scale the mountains and it will incite future generations to further deeds of daring and conquest till every part of the habitable globe shall have been peopled.

"I left Tennessee with my wife and two children," relates an old Putnam county settler, "with all my worldly goods in a cart drawn by one horse. On the wav my money gave out and I was forced to sell the cart and pack the goods on the horse, my wife riding with one child in her lap and the other behind her; I walked and led the horse. In this way I reached Indiana in 1 82 1. I stopped for a time in Washington county to earn a little money before coming to Putnam county. At first I had a hard time uf it, frequently walking several miles a day to work at fifty cents a day to procure corn for bread and seed. In a few years I was able to raise a crop and gradually acquire more land.

"There was a kind of freemasonry among the old settlers. They formed themselves into clubs, the workings of which were known only to themselves. They had their regular officers and their law was extreme against all intruders on their claims. Sometimes innocent persons were injured by these clubs, but they had their choice - to join the club and become acquainted with the wav of working or give up their land. Here are some of the by-laws of these claim-clubs which e.xisted in Putnam county and which many old pioneers will recognize :

" 'Whereas, self-protection and the peaceable possession of property are essential to the happiness and prosperity of the people, and whereas reckless claim-jumpers and invidious wolves in human form are prowling through the country for the purpose of robbing the settlers of their claims and of the means of support, therefore be it resolved.

i) That we pledge ourselves to protect every member of this club in his rights of claim as against the presumption of adverse parties, without fear of the world, the flesh or the devil.

That no person shall be allowed to pre-empt or to purchase from the government any claim of a member of this club without the unequivocal consent of the member.

"'(3) That the filing of any intention to pre-empt in contravention of the right of any member hereof shall be regarded as an attempt to deprive one member of his rights under the eternal fitness of things and we pledge

" '(4) That a committee of three be chosen whose duty shall be to hear and adjust any disputes, evasions or disagreements that may arise with members of this club or any case where claims of members are in dispute with outside adverse claimants of any character whatever.

" '(5) That we pledge ourseh'es to sustain and uphold our committees in the performance of their several duties and to enforce their decisions and adjudications to the very letter with force and arms if necessary.

" '(6) That a cordial invitation is hereby extended to every citizen of the county to sign these by-laws and assist in their faithful execution and enforcement." "

The enforced exclusion from the outside world did not sadden the hearts of the early settlers or imbue them with melancholy reflections. Their spirits never drooped. They were happy rather than hopeless, co-operating with each other in every undertaking. This harmony of purpose and unity of action drew theiu together in a bond so strong and unyielding that the very foundations of society are now built upon it. They realized that, as they sowed, posterity would reap.

Social Conditions

"Their long isolation from outside society," writes one who was himself an early settler, " frequently not seeing any one outside of their own families for months, had caused a sort of bash fulness in the presence of strangers, which in some cases was never fully recovered from. But amongst themselves, the feeling of jovially and sociability fairly boiled over and their many social meetings frequently became enthusiastic and genial in the highest degree.

"I remember once of visiting a family in Putnam county that had seven daughters. On visiting the same family some years later and seeing none of the girls, I inquired what had become of them. The father informed me that he had married them off on the 'buckwheat straw principle." That is, when he wished the cattle to eat his straw, if he saw them anywhere about he would set the dogs on and drive them off. He said it wouldn't be long I^efore they would slip around and eat it all up. He had applied the same principle in marrying off his daughters. When a young man came to see them who was bright and he thought would make a good husband he would 'go for" him and tell him he couldn't come to see his girls. It wouldn't be long l)efore they would get up a correspondence, meet in the neighborhood

Life on the frontier, however, had its redeeming features. The men were universally vigorous and gifted with fine constitutions. There were none of the diseases that now afflict us and which are due to our superheated houses, lack of ventilation and over-indulgence in rich food. Their amusements, though not so varied as the recreation we enjoy today, were none the less refreshing and appropriate. Their music was the hum of the spinning wheel and the loom and they were lulled to sleep by the hoot of the owl and the sighing of the wind through the forest.

"When newcomers arri\'ed," relates an old settler, "they generally stopped with relations or former friends until they could select claims and build their own cabins. I remember one instance in which a cabin was occupied by four families at the same time and in addition was the stopping place for travelers and land-hunters. So it will be seen that the house was crowded to its utmost capacity. When bed time arrived the first family would take the back part of the cabin and so filling up by families until the limit was reached. The young men slept in the wagons outside. In the morning those nearest the door arose first and went outside to dress. Meals were served on the hind end of a wagon and consisted of corn bread, buttermilk, fat pork and occasionally hot coffee to take away the morning chill. On Sunday they had a change, bread made out of wheat, trod by horses on the ground, cleaned with a sheet and ground with the com cracker by hand. This was the best the most particular could obtain and this only one day in seven. In giving this bill-of-fare I should have added meat, of which they had plenty. Deers could be seen daily trooping through the woods and wild turkeys without number. Bears were not uncommon.

"Doctors were rather scarce and as a general rule the people did their own doctoring, or some handy, accommodating person in the neighborhood who had learned from wider experience a little more of the common ailments of the human system, as also the most natural relief for them, stood always ready to give the benefit of their superior knowledge and timely advice without cost to all the afflicted ones who called for their aid.

"On account of the condition of the roads, traveling was done principally on horseback. The value of a family horse was estimated according to the number he could carry. When the family increased beyond the capacity of his back there were always some by that time who could walk.

by the farmers without tear of robbers. It is related by Anhur McGaughey that after he was elected clerk of the county he was in the habit of putting all the money he received in one of his wife's blue stockings and keeping it under the bed. When remonstrated with by a neighbor for his carelessness with the funds intrusted to his care, he answered : 'Tut. tut, man ; there is no vault in America as safe as my wife's stocking.' "

An Interesting Reminiscence

Though not conforming to chronological sequence or otherwise adhering to any particular order of presentation, yet as a faithful and vivid reproduction of frontier life nothing can be more illuminative or impressive than the reflections of an early settler in Putnam county. J. D. Carter, who subsequently moved to the west. His reminiscences, printed in one of our county papers, are of such real historic value the liberty is taken of reproducing portions of the same here.

"All the experience of the early pioneers of Putnam county." he relates, "goes far to confirm the theory that happiness is pretty evenly balanced in this world. They had their own privations and hardships, but thev also had their own peculiar joys. .A. common interest and a common sympathv bound them together with the strongest ties. Neighbors didn't wait for an invitation to help each other. If there was a house-raising or a log-rolling, they came with as much alacrity as if they were all members of the same familv, bound together by the ties of blood. The nature of their environments taught these earl}' settlers to dwell together in this manner; it was their only protection. They had come far aw ay from the well established reign of law and entered a new countr}-. Each man's protection was in the good will of those about him and the thing any man might well dread w as the ill-w ill of the communitv. It was more terrible than the law.

"Brazil Pursell was one of the men who reached Putnam countv before I did. He was there on a prospecting and hunting excursion before Greencastle had been selected as the county seat. He and John Leroy on one occasion treed and finally captured a half-grown black bear. After a protracted struggle, in which Leroy's hands and face were more or less lacerated the latter succeeded in binding his captive and taking him in triumph into camp. Subsequently he passed through Greencastle with his pet on his wav to the far West, but that place was a mere hamlet, there being but a few log cabins about the court house s([uare. Leroy was fond of telling the reason why breakfast was late one morning during his stay in Greencastle. The landlord had for some time realized that his larder was growing empty, but was in hourly expectation of supplies. The evening before the pantry had become bankrupt, but the host was in hopes his team would come with provisions before morning. But hope deferred maketh the heart sick. At early dawn the landlord looked wistfully in the direction he expected his wagon, but in vain. Finallv he mounted a horse and rode to a house down the road where he secured some meal and a half side of bacon and immediately returned home. The half-dozen hungry boarders sat in front of the log buildino- pining for the flesh pots of civilization and soon their spirits arose and their mouths began to water. Far away to the northwest came the landlord riding like a jehu holding aloft the half-side of bacon as a sign of relief.

"Mr. Pursell attended one of the first weddings in the county. The father of the bride spent several days riding about among the settlers in order to obtain flour enough to make the wedding-cake. He was unsuccessful and returned home much disappointed ; but the bride and her brother were equal to the emergency. They pounded com in a mortar dug out in the top of a stump, the pounding being done with an iron wedge attached to a pole which in turn was fastened to a sweep. Of the com pounded in this way the finest was taken for the wedding cake which, when sweetened with maple sugar and properly baked, was highly relished by the guests.

"It is strange with what pride the pioneers speak of their old log cabins. I doubt if there was ever a happier people than those sheltered by them. With equal pride they speak of the one-legged bedstead, a piece of furniture long since obsolete. It was made of poles fastened into holes of the required size bored into the logs of the cabin. If set up in one corner of the room, as was often done, but one leg was required. Upon these poles clap-boards were laid or linn bark interwoven from pole to pole. Upon this primitive structure the bed lav. The convenience of a cook stove was not to be thought of; but instead the cooking was done by the faithful wife in pots, kettles and skillets in and about the big fireplace and very frequently over and around the distended pedal extremities of the lord of the household while he was indulging in the luxury of a cob-pipe and discussing the probable result of a contemplated deer hunt up Big Walnut.

"The mention of hunting reminds me of an incident which happened during one of my excursions into the wilds in quest of game. I was accompanied by Samuel McNary- and when we were several miles southeast of Bainbridge we noticed a queer looking heap in the woods not far from our path. On approaching, we found to our dismay that beneath the mound of leaves and bark with his head and face only visible lay the form of a little boy. Remox'iiig the covering, we found him entirely nude save for a few rags around his neck and waist. Life being not extinct, we proceeded to divest ourselves of what wraps we could spare, for it was a cold, chilly day, and then took turns in carrying him to Bainbridge, where I secreted him in my harness shop until I borrowed some clothing from Aunt Milly Damall. Meanwhile I reported to the overseers of the poor, who were James O'Hair and John Cooper. They bound the boy over to me till he was twenty-one years of age. He was so emaciated that the bones in some places protruded through the skin and the wonder is that he survived. I raised and educated him and he became a useful man. Later investigation proved that he ^vas descended from a good family on his mother's side. She being dead, his father, through dissipation and lost to every feeling of humanity, suffered the woman with whom he was living to drive the children from home. Subsequently two others were found and bound out.

"Raising a crop the first year was an absolute necessity for the early settler. The failure of a crop meant more to him then than at anv time afterward. I have seen a man cut down elm and linn trees so that the cattle might feed on the buds in order to get them through the long winter. In that case the man had arrived late in the fall and had been unable to secure feed, hence the necessity of turning the stock out to browse. In this way many of the settlers who came in late succeeded in bringing their stock through the winter. But they could not ha\e endured the siege much longer, as thev found in the spring that there was not much more vitality than was necessarv' on the part of the dumb brutes to enable them to get around and graze upon the new grass sufficiently to recruit their ^\-asted bodies.

"Money was so scarce that but few of the newly-arrived immigrants had more than enough to secure their lands. They devoted their time and energies to clearing land and assisting each other in building cabins and rolling logs in the winter and spring months. It was often the case that after preparing the ground ready for the plow they would find their horses had strayed away, they having been turned loose to graze that the corn might be saved to feed while they were worked. Horses going astray frequently became a serious matter. Owing to the sparsely settled condition of the countryit was almost useless to make iiKjuiry. It was a well-established fact that when a horse tried to return to the country from which it was brought he took a direct line, paying no attention to roads or improvements if possible to o^et through, often climbing and descending bluff's which sometimes seem impassable.

"After spending days and sometimes weeks in the fruitless search for their strav animals, the pioneers would return to find their families almost destitute for want of food. In such cases they never appealed to their more fortunate neighbors in vain. They often realized the beautiful saying of our Savior, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' It was not uncommon in such cases of misfortune that the families were compelled to live on bread and milk. The wild onion or ramp, so common at that time, was thj first \egetation in the spring and was eaten by the cows, causing their milk to be unfit for use. These, with many other annoyances common to a new country, caused some to become discouraged and leave the .country, but they were generally of that class who 'go back to their wives' folks.'

"Some left and returned again. John Fosher, who lived in the northern part of the county and who never knew a person too poor to credit for a sack of corn meal, proposed to give those who wished to leave five bushels of meal if they would agree to give him ten bushels of corn should they return. Many accepted this offer. Mr. Kosher informed me that enough had returned and 'acknowledged the corn' to more than remunerate him for all that he had given.

"The agricultural implements of the early settlers were much in contrast with those of the present time. The only plows they had were what they styled 'cork-screws.' The mold-boards were of wood. Some say they would kick a man over the fence and kick at him three times after he was over. The old 'cork-screw' plows did good service and must be awarded the honor of first stirring the soil of Putnam county. It was quite a time before the introduction of the groimd-hog threshing machine. I have always wondered whv thev were not adopted as an implement of war. for they certainly would have been formidable at short range to blind the advancing columns by throwing wheat in their eyes. There was no attachment for separating the wheat from the chaff. It was put in bins and cleaned at leisure by sheet or wind-mill. Corn was gathered by snapping it from the stalk and throwing it on the ground, then gathering up by hand and putting it into a sledge or wagon and then it was hauled to some smooth place on the farm and thrown into a rick, after which all the neighbors would be invited to the husking, when they would proceed to husk and throw it in a pile, .preparatory to being hauled to the cril) and thrown in by hand. There was no such thing as a scoop-shovel to handle the grain with at that time. I suppose the labor performed in gathering the corn at present wages would have cost more than the corn was worth.

"When hogs were sold they were weighed in the old-fashioned steelyard scales. Thev were weighed by taking the breeching off the horses and sust PUTNAM COU-N'TV. IXDIAXA. 8l pending the hogs in it one at a time while they were weighed. flie price was one dollar and fifty cents per hundred pounds for the best. They were driven on foot to some market on the Ohio river. The greatest loss I ever knew to be sustained by stock men in Putnam county was when they paid the above price for hogs. .\ number of years after^vard they used for weighing the old fashioned beams with a bo.K to put the hog in. It never entered their minds to balance against the l)ox. but they subtracted the weight of the box from every hog. as they did the breeching, and when the present stock scales were first introduced I have known men to drive five miles to weigh in the box because the weigh-master failed to subtract the platform and frame around it from the weight of the hogs. So you will see that the old saying that our forefathers carried a stone in one end of the sack and the com in the other is about true after all.

"The young man or v>oman of today, enjoying the blessings and comforts of a modern home, can scarcely appreciate the tender and tearful leavetakings with which the pioneers left their cheerful and inviting homes in Kentucky for the new and unexplored lands of Putnam county. Though years ha\e come and gone, the memory of the relatives and friends who followed us to the turn in the lane will never be forgotten. Brave, selfsacrificing men and women were they who, severing the ties of home and kindred, set out for the perils and privations of pioneer life in the wilderness. I recall vi\idly the arrival of the immigrants who came in wagons, horseback, on foot and in every conceivable shape. I shall never forget the dark and ho()eless outlook when I reached Putnam county on that drearv morning in March. I had spent the night in Greencastle. and set out on foot the next morning for my destination in Bainbridge. It had been snowing all night and I had made a very early start. In the gray of the morning, just as the last notes of the night-owl had faded away in the distance. I passed the Seybol(^ place. The heavy snow having bent the boughs of the trees across the road, it had the appearance of a tunnel. I entereil it almost in darkness and walked on in silence until I reached .Amos Robertson's, now the Crow place. There I saw the smoldering fires of some log heaps being replenished with brush and heard the music of an axe as it felled the timber and I sniffed the savory bacon as it his.sed and curled in the frying pan. Afrs. Robertson soon dished up a toothsome breakfast from their scanty supplv, spicing it with some costly morsel from the store. Coffee, bacon and slapjacks were soon disposed of. No forbidding pile of daintv dishes to be pantried away - just a few tin cups, pewter plate and knives. .\ tap or

"I stopped for a time with Abram Hillis, who graphically described the eft'ects of a hurricane which had shortly before passed through the county, tearing up trees and otherwise destroying property, but got no further than Mr. Marks' place where I had spent the night. The next morning, having ao-ain set out on mv journey, I discovered a man lying in the middle of the road and a horse nearby. I soon discovered that the man's overcoat was frozen to the ground, the man himself having evidently fallen from his horse before it began to freeze. He was so completely imbedded in the snow and mud it was with some difficulty that I was able to pry him loose. When aroused from his stupor he took some whisky which he had not yet consumed and I helped him to mount his horse again. He certainly w'ould have perished without assistance. It has always been a mystery to me why that horse, hungry and cold, remained with his master throughout the night. It could only have been due to the guiding hand of an over-ruling Providence, I am sure.

"We traveled on and after a while my unfortunate friend began to recover himself. In one place we encountered an immense tree which had fallen across our path and which my companion said had killed the son of Colonel Piercv while carrving the mail a short time before; also that some kind of a disease had made serious inroads among the people and that every man who owned or occupied land along that road from Bainbridge to Greencastle, with the exception of William Randel, had passed away - an announcement calculated to afford solemn and serious reflection to a stranger about to pitch his tent in that neighborhood. I finally arrived at the hurricane-visited spot, about one-half mile south of where Bainbridge now is. The destruction of timber had been frightful. The track of the hurricane appeared to be about a quarter of a mile in width and its course east and west. Scarcely a tree was standing in its course. By night I reached Bainbridge, a hamlet in the woods which contained four families as follows : William T. Damall, ]. H. Lucas. Adam Feather and Reuben George. Lucas was the big man of the place - landlord, justice of the peace, postmaster, merchant and tanner.

"As is invariablv the case in newly settled places remote from the great rivers or lines of communication, the price of stock, grain and other products was invariablv low and out of proportion to that of other commodities. \'erv often after reaching the large trading centers the settler would find an unlooked-for advance in tlie price of what he expected to take back with him and the market glutted with -the kind of produce he had to sell. I well remember three of my neighbors who went to Lawrenceburg only to find an oversupply of grain. Being unable to find a customer, they almost gave their stocks away and in order to secure the necessaries for the party, two of them were compelled to remain and work a week in a distillery in order to make up what they lacked in money. Flour was unknown at first and meal scarce. Meal of home manufacture was made by pounding boiled corn in a sort of mortar made in the top of a stump. The pounding was done with an iron wedge fastened to a stick. Various other contrivances were used. Buckwheat was ground in coffee mills. In this way flour was ground for many a toothsome flap-jack. Meat, of course, was very cheap. Bazil Pursell, who helped build the bridges on the National road in Putnam county, told me that in 1824 he sold a wagon load of jerked or Indian smoked venison hams in the village of Greencastle for two and a half cents per pound.

A Charivari

"When visiting Greencastle in early times I stopped with John Lynch, who kept a tavern on the west side of the public square. There I always got good corn bread of Aunt Lucretia's baking, who could put to shame her modern sisters in the art. On one of these occasions, I think in the winter of 1835, I was informed by Pleasant S. Wilson that there was to be a charivari in town that night in honor of the marriage of Robert M. Wingate and Cynthia Ash. As I had never heard of such a thing and didn"t wish to expose my ignorance by inquiry, I concluded to stay and hear or see what it might be. I hadn't long to wait after dark before the sound of revelry began. It seemed that Bedlam itself had been let loose. I repaired at once to the scene of disturbance. The figures were all masked, wearing nail-kegs, buckets antl other devices on their heads. In order to give the reader some idea of the noise and confusion they created, let us imagine fifty men in a drunken revelry, with dumb bulls, drums, horse fiddles, horns, bells and tin pans being beaten, blown, rattled and commingled with their demoniac yells and the squealing of ducks, geese and chickens, with a cannon fired at intervals, vou then have a faint idea of that charivari, for all of these things were brought into requisition to make night hideous. I soon found that I and certain others w^ere intruders. A spy came around with something on his head like a turkey with a long, sharp spike for a beak and by the motion of his head he could inflict a severe wound, as Jim Lynch could attest. Thinking discretion the better part of valor, I retired to bed. there to hear every bed post bounced on the floor bv the jar of the cannon, which had broken many panes of glass out of the court house and other buildings. On hearing people assembling in the room below, I immediately descended, to find a council being held by the better class of citizens to devise some means to save the town. It was soon decided that Reese Hardesty should disguise himself in P. G. Wilson's coat and cap and spike the cannon, which he did. But the crowd soon found it out and Hardesty had to make his escape amidst a shower of brick-bats and stones, the prints of which remained on the door for years. Later in the night the enthusiasm of the mob began to wane and I finally returned to my bed. resolved that I would never again be caught in town on the night of a charivari.

The First Oyster Supper

"On another occasion, after the advent of a few Yankees into the county, an ovster supper was announced to take place at the hostelry of James Ricketts - Lhimself a Yankee4-on the west side of the court house square. Having a great desire to see and taste oysters, which I had never seen and of which I had often heard my father speak. I ventured once more to Greencastle to spend the night. On the assembling of the guests it was found that thev had no more oysters than would supply the Yankees; but their prolific minds were equal to the emergency and they forwith proceeded to make cod-fish soup for the Hoosiers, believing that the latter could not tell the difiference. which proved to be too true; for not one of those present save the Yankees had ever seen or tasted an oyster. The fraud was complete. We Hoosiers didn't enjoy the feast very much owing to the fact that we thought the oysters spoiled by their long transportation. If I am not entirely correct as to details, I am sure my old friend. R. L. Hathaway, may be able to give some light on the subject, as he was one of the Yankees present on .that occasion."