Muhlenberg County, Kentucky - The whole text, 1913 (part 12 of 13)

Greenville, although started in the spring of 1799 and serving from its beginning as the county seat, was through an oversight not officially "established" by the Legislature until thirteen years later, when it and seven other towns in the State, that had existed for a number of years, were "establi.shed" by an aet pas.sed January 6, 1812. Collias gives 120

Coluns On Muhlenberg, Quoted And Extended

Two opinioas are now held regarding the origin of the name Greenville. On the one hand is the story that Mrs. Tahitha A. It. Campbell was so impressed with the expanse of green treetops, then extending in every direction from the hill selectisl for the location of the county seat, that she proposed the name Greenville, which was accepted. This version was supported by Mrs. Lucy Wing Yost, Judge Charles Eaves, and a few others who were well versed in the early traditions of the town. On the other hand there are oral and printed statements that the place was so calletl in honor of General Nathaniel Greene. After General Muhlcnl>erg's name had been adopted for the county, the admirers of General Greene tso the story is told) endors<>d the name of General Muhlenberg's friend and co-worker for the name of the county seat. At any rate, it is generally conceded that Greenville was so called in honor of General Greene. ^

Greenville is the okU*st town in Muhlenberg. It has always been regarded as the main meeting and trading place for the people "out in the county." .Vfter the adoption of the State Constitution of 1891, Greenville, in November, 1892, elected its first mayor. The following have served as mayors of Greenville; William A. Wiekliffe, 1893-1896; Doctor J. G. Uohannon, two terms, 1897-1904; and J. W. I>am, who began his first term on January 1, 1905, and is now serving his second term.

.Siow//i CurruUton, on W. hank of Gn-en river, and on the Owensboro and Russellville railroad, 10 miles from Greenville; has 8 stores, .3 churches, 4 physieiaas, 2 mills. 3 tobacco factories, 3 taverns, 7 mechanics' shops; population in 1870, 240, and increasing steadily; incorporated in 1846.

South Carrollton was incorporatol by an act approved February 23, 1849, and not iti the year 1846, as stated by Collins. The town, however, was begun aljout the year 1838, and laid out by John Fentress on what

-General Nathaniel Greene. In the estimation of many critics, ranks next to Washington among the generals of the Revolution. He was born in Rhode Island on May 27, 1742. After taking part in many of the battles fought In the north he was, In 1780, placed in command of the army In the south, from which section ho soon expelled the British. After the close of the Revolution the Slate of Georgia gave him a large plantation near Savannah, on which he lived from 1785 to the time of his death, June 19, 1786.

General Greene's popularity Is attested by the many places throughout the Union now bearing his name. Rhode Island erected a monument to him in the national Statuary Hall. In Kentucky, Green County, formed In 1792, and Its county seat, Greensburg, were so called In his honor.

Green River, however. In the opinion of most historians, was not named after General Greene. According to some of the local traditions the first German- Amerlcan settlers of Muhlenberg frequently referred to this stream as The Grube - gnibe being a German word for a deep ditch or trench - although they knew It had already been designated as Green River by earlier pioneers. Some of the old deeds show that Green River was, in the early days, also called .Muddy River. In two of them (Deed Book No. 10, page 79, and Deed Book No. 11, page 15) land referred to In the northeastern part of the county Is described as lying "on the waters of Muddy River alias Green River." Either name Is an appropriate one - Its appropriateness, however, depending on the stage of the water. When the river is high or rising the water is muddy or yellow, while at other stages It is green.

Among the early citizens of South Carrollton were Bryant Bennett, Edmund 51. Blacklock, James Carlmn, Doctor Bryant Davis, John Fentress, Edmund Finch, N. B. Howard, S. Howell, Doctor A. 51. Jackson, John Kittinger, Henderson Ijovclace, Lewis 5IcCown, Charles 5Iorehead, -sr., John Kandolph, J. Edmunds Ueno, and II. D. Hothrock.

South Carrollton's first hotel was "White Hall'' and its second "Our House'' or "The Lovelace Tavern," both of which were in their day among the l>e.st-known places in the county, (ieneral Crittenden's army, as .stated elsewhere in this history, was encamped in and near the town during the last half of January, lfil>2. It had a college for many years. Notwith.standing the fact that South Carrollton has the transportation DOCTOR j. T. wooDBOBN. 1012 facilities offered hy a river and a railroad, the town has slowly deiTcased in business and |)opulation during the past twenty-live years.

Skilrsvillc, on S. hank of firi'cn river, at lock and dam No. J, 11) mihs E. of tireenvillc, has 2 stori-s and a mill; population about HHI; named after Ja.s. K. Skiles, who introduced the first steamboat upon Creeti river, and spent a fortune in ]>romoting the navigation of the river.

'Hugh Davis Hothroek was born tii Greenville Deeember 29, 1812, and died at bis home In South Carrollton October 5. 1882. He was a son of .lohn Rothrook, one of the influential pioneers of the county, who died In Greenville rome time before 1820. About the year 1851 H. I). Rothrock moved to South Carrollton, where, with the exception of a few years, he spent the remainder of his life. He was one of South Carrollton's most progressive and cultured citizens. He conducted a large general store and handled leaf tobacco and strips. He also operated a coal mine near South Carrollton for a number of years. H. D. Rothrock married Susan Jones, county. A map of the town drawn l»y Jacob Luee was recorded in 1844 (Record Book No. 11, page 650). The Skilesville post-office was established, abandoned, and reestalilished a number of times. Since 1007 the people of this neighlmrliood have rec('ived tlieir mail at Rochester or Knightsbiirg. James Runisey Skiles was a citizen of Warren County. Jiiilgi' Lucius 1'. Little, in liis forthcoming liistory of the (Jreeii River country, will publish a sketch of the career of this early jiromoter of (irei'U River navigation. Lock anil Dam No. 3. or the Roeliester-Skilesville lock and dam, was opened in 1N38.

Stroud Cit.v, or Owenslioro Junction, later became {'entral City. Before the da.vs of the railroad the well-known Morehead's Horse .Mill stood on the site laid out for the new town. "An act to establish and incorporate the town of Stroud City'' was approved April 1!), 1873. Legislative acts regarding the regulation of the town were pa.ssed .March 17, 1876, and .\pril 24, 1880. By an act approved February 11, 1882, the name was changed to Central Cit.v. The building used as the town's first post-office is still standing. On August 7, 1871, daughter of Peter Jones, who about the year 1798 came from Virginia and settled near South Carrollton. Mr. and Mrs. H. D. Rothrock were the parents of ten children, among them being Noah U. and Charles W. (two Confederate soldiers referred to elsewhere in this volume), John B., of Paducah, H, F. Given Rothrock, of Hanson, Kentucky, and .Vfrs. Bettie (Alfred H.) Edwards, Mrs. Annie (Ewing) Graham, and Mrs. Belle (James E.) Weir, of I.«banon, Tennessee.

first postmaster of what was then known as Owensl)oro Junction. He was succeeded on August 21, 1872, by Willis Kitfinger, who .served for a few years. In March, 1913, Congress appropriated $7,000 for the purcha.se of a site for a Federal building in Central City, which the Government contemplates erecting within a few years. The Sandu.sky House, opened about 1878 and run by Captain William H. H. Sandusky, was for more than twenty-five years one of the best-known hotels in Kentucky alon^; the line of the Illinois Central Kailroad. Among other churches in Central City is St. Joseph's Church, which was erected in 1912 and is the only Roman Catholic church in the county. This congregation's first building was built in 1886, when Reverend M. F. Melody, then stationed at Ixdtch- field, was the priest-in-eharge. Central City's first mayor was elected in Novemlier, 1892. The following have served as mayor of Central City; Doctor J. h. McDowell, 1893-1896; Doctor .M. P. Creel, 1897-1900; Doctor W. R. .McDowell, 1901-1904; W. 1). MeElhinny, 1905-1909; and Doctor J. T. Woodburn, who has served since January 1, 1910.®

* Doctor James Taylor Woodburn, mayor of Central City and one of the county's leading physicians, was born in Christian County December 2S, 1848, and came to Muhlenberg at the age of four years. Doctor Woodburn was reared In the Bethel neighborhood. He worked on his mother's farm until 1873, when he began the study of medicine In the Louisville Medical College, from which school he was graduated in 1876. The following year he took a degree In the Kentucky School of Medicine. Doctor Woodburn practiced his profession In northern .Muhlenberg and southern McLean until 1901, when he moved to Central City and bought the S. C. Gish drug store. Five years later he consolidated his business with that of Doctor W. R. McDowell, and together they formed the Woodburn & McDowell Drug Company. In the meantime he continued the practice of medicine, and in 1904 took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Clinical School. He has been on the county board of health for more than twenty years, and has been mayor of Central City since January 1, 1910.

In 1877 Doctor Woodburn married Betty Cosby. They are the parents of five children, their only son being Doctor B. Dudley Woodburn. of Central City.

Mrs. J. T. Woodburn. sr., the mother of Doctor J. T. Woodburn. came to .Muhlenberg in 1852. a year after the death of her husband. She died near Bethel Church

Central City is the largest town in Muhlenberg. Sinee 1903 it has been the only place in the county where the sjile of intoxicants is permitted. Relative to the early history of Central City the Muhlenberg Argus, on September 20, 1906, said :

Central City wa.s begun alxuit 1870, when what is now the Illinois Central Railroad was being built, ('oal mining followed shortly after. The farm owned by John Stroud, including the one adjoining it which he bought from Charles S. Morehead and the farm owned by Joseph Settle, compose the principal part of the present (1906) site of Central City. Morehead ran a horse-mill for many years, and although it disappeared nearly forty years ago a few of the old citizens occasionally refer to the town as "Morehead's Horse Mill."

In 1876 there were a few houses along the Greenville and South Carrollton dirt road, and in fact until al)out 1888 the principal business part of town was along that road, then and now known as Water Street. The old house where the first post-office was kept is still standing on tin; Greenville Road. Jonathan and Willis Kittinger kept a post-office and .store in this building in the early '70s.

Hrenien post-office was originally established alxuit 1825, in a residence on the Greenville and Rumsey Road near the McLean County line. About I860 it was moved to Andn*w Bennett's store and black.sniith shop, where the town of Bremen now stands; what was sometimes called Bennettsvillo became known as Brenn'ii.

It was pioneer Peter Shaver who, in honor of his father's birthplace, Bremen, Gennany, and in honor of the Gerinan-Ainerican pioneei-s of Muhlenberg, secured this appropriate name for a i)laee in the county. As stated elsewhere, although the Gennan- American pioneers of Muhlenlierg are to-day representtsl by many descendants, all traces of the German language, manners, and customs disappeared a few generations ago, not only from the Bremen eountry - whieli was for many years called the "Dutch Settlement" - but also from other sections in which pioneers of Gennan de.scent had setthsl.

in 188C. Her nine children are among the best-known citizens of the county: John A., Reverend William H., Mrs. Anna (John L. G.) Thompson, Doctor Benjamin W.. Mrs. Terese A. (R. H.) Tolbert. Mrs. Charity (R. C.) Chandler. Mrs. Isabelle (B. F.) Reed, Mrs. America Jane (J. N.) Uurall, and Doctor J. T. Woodburn, who is the youngest member of this family.

The Hlaek Lake eoiintrj' lies east and northeast of Bremen. The soil of the so-called Black Lake swamps is regarded by many as the richest in the eounty, and its reclamation by drainage is now being considered by the citizens of Bremen and the Black Lake country. When this has been accCmiplished and the cypress and other swampland trees have been cleared away, then, as Harry M. Dean, of Greenville (who spent his boyhood in the Black Lake country), expres.ses it in his beautiful poem, "The Cypress Trees," this soil "that's black and deep" will be in condition "that men may sow and reap." The poem referred to was first printed in the Greenville Record on Uei'emher 7, 1911, and has since been reprinted in many papers.

The Cypress Trees

Parailisf, on Green river, 10 miles above (S. E. of) South Carrollton, in N. E. part of county: population about liOO; bas 4 stores and 2 tobacco factories; incorporated in 185G.

Paradise was not incorporated until .March 10, ISofi, which was more than half a century after the town had been settled. For a few years after the Mexican War it was .sometimes referred to as Monterey. A deed recorded in 18.">4 incidentally states that Paradise then had an area of thirteen aen-s. A plat drawn in 1S71 shows an increa.se to twenty-six and one fourth aens. Althoii);h a few acres have been adiled to its limits, the population bas slowly decreased since 1875. Its location and age make Paradise one of the most undisturbed and interesting villages along Green lliver.

Airdrii- sjiraug into exisleiiee in 18.54, and was on the point of being abaiidomsi by many of the original citizens when, on February 17, 1858, the' town was incorporated. Except during a few years, the people of Airilrie received their mail at Paradisi-. The old furnace, built in 18.55, long ago became a piclures(pie ruin, and the house occupied for tnaiiy years by General Huell was burned to the ground in 1!)07. history of .\irdrie is given in the ehapti-r on "Paradise Country and Old .\irdrie.

Drakesboro, now the thiril largest town in the county, was not in existence when, in 1874, Collins published the above-quoted data on the towns of Muhlenberg. Alxnit 1882, or aliout the time the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad was buit, Frank M. Rice began a store near what is now the depot, and there formed the nucleus of a village which for a few years was known as Rieedale. On February 21, 1888, the place was incorporated by an net of the Legi.slature and its name changed to Drakesboro, in honor of William Drake, who lived in that neighborhooil for many years and died in 1868 in a house still standing near the town known as the Bill Drake Old Brick. Among other fii-st-comers in this region was Bryant Cundiff.

In 1900 the town had a po|>ulation of about two hundred. During the past twelve years it has increased to about twelve hundred. Much of Drakesboro 's progress is due to the work and influence of such men as James T. Pierce, who in 1888 opened the Black Diamond Mine in the new town and has since been at the head of its affairs; William W. Bridges, who has been connected with the Black Diamond Mining Company since shortly after its organization; Doctor Jefferson D. Cundiff, who has lost no opportunity to contribute to the town's medical, educational, and commercial welfare, and B. Frank Green, who as cashier of the Citizens Bank looks after the financial interests of the citizens of the town and the Drakeslioro country.

Of the .".even towns commented on by Collins, all had post-offices in 1874 except Skilcsville and Airdrie. There were eleven post-offices in the county at that time. The other six were : Karles, which was maintained in the S. W. Earle residence until about 1860, when the ofhee was moved two miles south to the .store of Thomas C. Summers, where it was continued under the old name of Earles until 1910, when, after rural free delivery Route No. 1 was establi.shcd, the post-office was abandoned; Laurel Bluff, which was located on the Greenville Road aliout two miles from Dunmor (Laurel Bluff post-office was abolished when Home Valley was established, and Home Valley was later changed to Albritton and is now known as Penrod) ; Jlercer and Nelson Station post-offices, which were then where they are now; Painstown, which was about two miles oast of Nelson Station; Riverside, which was a small mining town on Green River about five miles above Paradise.

It may be well to add that alHiut the middle of the last century there was a post-office in the Harpe's Hill country known as Unity, one at the Hugh W. McNary place called Ellwood or McNary's, one at Clark's Perry called Pond River Mills, and one on Clifty Creek east of Cisney, near the Carver settlement, called Sulphur Springs. During 1884, and a few years before and after, a post-office was maintained in the Bethel Church neigh borhood on the Greenville and Runisey Road, called Bertram, and one near Old Liberty called Paceton.

-Muhlenberg County now has thirty-four post-offices, eight star mail routes, and four rural free ilelivery routes. The star routes run; from Weir to Greenville, eight miles; from Haley's Mill, Christian County, via Bancroft to Greenville, eighteen miles; from Cisney to Yost, seven miles; from Rochester, Butler County, via Knightsburg and Ennis to Yost, nine and a half miles; from Wells to Vest, six ami a fourth miles; from Penrod, via Gus, to Huntsville, Butler County, ten miles; from Beech Creek to Browder, two miles; and from Rochester, via lx>at to Paradise and Rockport. fifteen miles. There are three star routes from Dunmor into Butler and Todd counties. The rural free delivery routes run: No. 1, Greenville, Greenville to Earles, returning via Ilarpe's Hill, established in 1910, was the first in the county; No. 1, Central City, Central City to Gishton and Bethel Church, returning via Cherry Hill Church; No. 1, Bremen, extending from Bremen northeast into .McLean County, returning via Millport; No. 2, Bremen, Bremen to Gishton and Earles, returning via Isaac's Creek and Briar Creek.

Most of the first-comers received their mail at Greenville, Worthington, or Ijewishurg, or at "Hunt Settlement" or some of the other settlements.

Town 1910

Members of the Slate Senate (Collins aa follows: "Win. Worthington, 1814-2)i; Win. ('. McNary, 1840-.50; Wiley S. Hay, 1853-57; Finis .M. Allison, 1807-71. From .Miihlenhurg, Butler, and Ohio counties - Roix'rt S. Ru.s.sell, 1850.'' Colonel William Campliell was a member of the State Senate in 1800, representing what was then "Livingston, Henderson, Muhlenhurg, and Ohio counties.''

' Doctor Addison D. James was born In Butler County. February 27. 1849. moved to Muhlenberg at the age of twenty, and died at his home near tVnrod June 7. 1910. He received his degree of medicine from the University of laiuisvllle In 1869 and the same year began the practice of his profession at Penrod, In which he continued unto about 1890. when ho entered politics. In 1891 he represented Muhlenberg In the State Constitutional Convention. He was twice elected to the lower house of the Legislature, and also served as State Senator. In 1893 he was a Commissioner at the World's Fair, Chicago. In 1897 he was appointed United States Marshal, which office he filled for eight years. In 1906 he was elected a menilter of Congress from the Third District. He was the third man who. while living In Muhlenberg, became a member of Congress. Doctor James was an energetic man, kind and accommodating to all, regardless of their politics.

- D. P. Taggart took the oath of office and served until February 14, 1906, when the contest between him and Doctor T. J. Slaton was decided. The House of Representatives ordered and adjudged that Doctor T. J. Slaton was on November 7, 1905, duly elected Representative from Muhlenbc-rg County and entitled to his seat, and on February 15. 1906, he took the oath of office and his seat In the Legislature.

The following Jluhlcnbergors have served as State Senators since the foregoing list was compiled : Louis Jones, December, 1887, to December, 1889 ; Doctor A. D. Janies, January, ISOfi, to JIarch 11, 1896, when his seat was declared vacant by tbe Senate; Doctor T. G. Turner, January, 1898, to January, 1900; J. W. Wright, January, 1908, to January, 1912.

Coal. - At McNary's coal bank, on the E. side of Pond river, in the W. line of Muhlenburg county, is the singular phenomenon of two thick beds or veins of coal within 3V(> feet of each other - the upper of and the lower of 61/4 feet. The latter has a thin clay parting about the middle. They crop out at an elevation of 70 feet above high water in the river. Three miles S. E. of this, the Marcus coal occurs, 6 or 7 feet thick, a few feet above the bed of a branch. Three miles N. W. of Greenville, three beds of coal, 8 feet in all, occur in 110 feet of a section. A "general section" of Muhlenburg county (Kentucky Geol. Sun'ey, iv, 399) shows some 26 feet of coal, in 9 different seaias, within 440 feet - the scams varying from 10 inches to 5V^ feet in thickness, except one thin seam; of these 5 scams arc of workable thickness, 3 feet or over.

The completion of the railroads through this county is fast opening the way for large exports of coal to the Ohio river, Owenslwro and l/ouis ville. At Stroud City, the first bed of coal, ai/2 feet thick, is reached at 14 feet from the surface, and the second bed, of .superior quality, at only 20 feet. Many tbousamis of millions of bu.shcls of coal can be taken from beneath the surface in Muhlenburg county, without injuring the surface in its farming value.

Black Band Iron Ore, a stratum 10 inches thick, ferruginous chocolatecolored, peculiar in its nature, color, composition, and paleontology, is found at Airdrie and elsewhere. It has been discovered, in one place at

Iron ore from the Jenkins ore bank, 2V2 to 3 feet in thickness, yielded 43.56 per cent, of metallic iron; and that from the Hoskins ore bank, on JIuddy river, 47.1.59 per cent, of iron.

The ".lenkins ore bank" referred to is about seven miles south of Greenville; the "Hoskins ore bank" is near tbe Mud River Mine, and was opened by .lackson Hoskinson. The history of the development of Miihlenlwrg's mineral resources is given in "The Story of The Stack," "Paradise Country and Old Airdrie," and "Coal .Mines and Iron Ore." plainly to be seen in the solid sandstone. Sonic liave Iwen ivnioved. anil taken, it is said, to the St. Louis museum. On Muddy river is a sandstone rock with flat surface, 30 or 40 feet si|uare, on wliieh are carved hierogly|)hics as yet undwiphcred ; the full form of an Indian, surrounded hy different animals; the sun, moon, stars, and other symbolic signs.

Mounds. - One mile N. of Greenville, near the old Caney station - which was the first settlement in the county - are several mounds. From the largest, about 75 feet in diameter, have been dug portions of human .skeletons. Trees of consiiierahle size are now growing on the mounds.

Such "tracks" of mules and horses as are here referred to hy Collins can lie found in various parts of the county. The.v are, in my opinion, no more than evidence of the existence of a fossil shell that had Is'en imbedded in a rock while the rock was lieing fonned, and ages later, when the surface of the fossil-hearing strata was exposed, the fossil, being of softer material, was washed out, leaving a cavity the size and shape of the original fossil, which eavit.V resembles the track of a mule or horse.

The undeciphered hieroglyphics reported to have been seen on the rock on Mud River will pnihahly always remain undeei[)hered. The place referred to hy Collins is known as Indian Rock. It is one mile from .Mud River Jlinc, near Cave Spring, on the Old Coal Road. If any Indian hieroglyphies were ever discovereil there, the rocks on which they were carved have since eroded to such an extent that none of the marks are now visible. A number of "carvings," however, can still he seen on Indian Rock. One is a rough outline of the head and shoulders of a man, life size, almve which is carved "II. II." AnothiT is the crude outline of a man, almut two feet high, wearing a "derby" hat. The.se and the few other carvings 1 saw on Indian Roi-k are such that I infer they have been made in eomparativel.v recent years and were po.ssihly cut with a hammer and nail hy some men then connected with the old Mud River Mine.

In many parts of the count.v there can still he found mounds and other evidences of the Indians and Moundhuilders who lived in what i,s now MuhlenIxTg. Hut the ohl mounds, like the stone imidements left hy the alwrigines, an; rnpidl.v disaitpearing. Stone implements, such as arrow- [loints, spear-heads, and axt>s were i»icked uj) hy the first settlers and are still occasionally found by plowmen and others. Prneticall.v none of these relics was preserved hy the pioneers, and the same ma.v Ik* said of man.v of tho.se that are found to-da.v, Kveti lho.se that had been picked up am! laid aside have, in most cases, disiippcared - like old hooks. fin*-arms, or farming tools. Many stone axi-s have served as nut-crackers, and in con- .seipience are badly damaged, arid thousands of large and perfect Hints have been ruined hy unappreciative people who broke them ".just to see how hard they were." It is said that a woman who lived in the Pond River country picked up "wagon-loads of flints" iluring the course of her long life, pulverized them, and fed the "Hint feed" to her chickens for grit. Although the stone relies of prehistoric men in Muhlenberg are far older than any of the wooden or iron implements made and left by the pioneers, many a stone axe and spear-|M)int will lie seen in the county long after the last old spinning-wheel or tlintlock gun has disappeared.

Mounds, or tract's of inoiuuls, can still he fuiintl in many parts of tho county, especially on hills near streams. Most of the mounds, having been plowed over during the course of years for the purpose of cultivating the fields in which they were located, arc now almost leveled to the surrounding surface. A few years ago one in the upper Long Creek country was rooted up by hogs and the bones destroyed by them. The mounds near Caney Station, referretl to by Collins, have worn awtiy, and now nothing .save a peculiarly rich soil marks their site.

Prehistoric Mound Near Buckner'S Stack

Kvery om- of the twenty-five mounds 1 have .seen in Muhlenberg has apparently been opened one or more times. One in a wood near the Huekner Stack, although three partial excavations have been made therein, is the best pre.served artificial earthwork of its kind in the county. It is now about five feet high and one hundred feet in circumference at the ba.se. It was opened in 1H70 and again in lihlS by Imys who were looking for "gold," but not finding any, reinterred the bones they had exhumed In 1910 I opened this mound and procured thn-e .somewhat mutilated skulls and a few other bones. The.se and other fragments of bones indicate that at least a dozen Iwdies of various sizes had l)een deposited in it. No stone or other Indian relies were found by me or by those who had "investigated" before me.

In this mound, as in most other mounds in Muhlenberg and in other parts of the Ohio Valley, all the bodies had apparently been deposited at one time, on tbe original surface of tbe bill, in a stone-walled sepulcher that was covered with flags of stone about four inches thick, and over all of which a circular mound of earth had been thrown. The fact that these mounds contain a number of skeletons apparently placed there at one time causes many to conclude that a battle must have been fought, and that all or some of the dead were buried in one place. From Professor F. W. Putnam, of the Peabody Museum of Archaology and Ethnology, I quote: "We know not if these burials indicate famine, pestilence, war, or unholy sacrifice. We can only conjecture that they were not the graves of person-s who had died a natural death."

It is quite likely that many of the prehistoric men who lived in Muhlenberg were buried in individual graves. Many of their .sepulchers, in all prohahility, were covered with small mounds that have since di.sappeared, leaving nothing to indicate or mark the place of such burials. A number of individual stone-lined graves have been discovered in the Long Creek country and a few other places in the southern part of the county by plowmen. Traces of three or four such stone graves, that were opened about 1870, can still lie seen on Ilarpe's Hill, alanit one hundred feet from a mound that according to local tradition "has been <liig into a dozen times or more."

All the mounds in the county, and probably all (races of them, will di.sappear long before the close of the pre.sent century, ju.st as did the last of the earth rings, or hou.sc-site rings, about a quarter of a century ago. A few of these rings, it is said, were noticed on one of the hills overlooking the Murphy's Lake flats, and two were traced as late as about 188.') by W. S. .John.son, on his farm five miles .south of Greenville, on the level surface of a hill overlooking Pond Creek. The.se circles were ridges of earth then a few inches high, a foot or two wide, and from fifteen to thirty feet in diameter. 'J'hesc more or l(*ss well-defined rings are, according to areha'ologi.sts, the remains of circular huts, the ridges having been formed by the decay of the stick-and-pole walls and by the refuse that had accumulated against the walls when the huts were oecu|)ied. In the center of these circles charcoal and burnt clay were found, indicating that fires had been built therein.

-1 Sink, of the general appearance of similar sinks elsewhere in Kentucky, but comparatively bottomless, is in the barrens ti miles E. of Munfordsville. It is funnel-shaped, tapering from alsnit 70 feet diameter at top, to 10 feet, at the depth of 80 feet. Its depth has not been explored, but stones cast into it are not heard to strike Iwttom.

This de.scription of a sink, although printed by Collins uniler the head of Muhlenberg County, was evidently intended to appear in his sketch of Mart County.

.1 Cave in the S. part of the county, 10 miles from Greenville, is worth attention. In Oct., 1872, an e.\ploration for half a mile "reported" the discovery of two petrified figures, man and woman, dressed in the old Roman costume, and each holding in the arms a child - the man one of 10 years, and the woman a babe of 1 to 2 years. It was first discovered in the winter of 1852-3 by a person who tracked raccoons into it. In Aug.,

1853, G. P. McLean, of Mississippi, and others explored it for about 2 miles - to a pit beyond which they could not pass over for want of a ladder. Eight or ten branches led off in different directions, some of them apparently larger than the direct avenue. A petrified monkey, as perfect in shape as if alive, was found in the cave, a few weeks previous.

This cave is known as Lovell's Cave or Shutt's Cave, and is located south of Long Creek. Local tradition says it was first discovered in 1839 by Archibald Duvall, whose dog "treed" a "coon" in it. The opening la 1896 tbit old mound wai abont six foot high In the center and bad a diameter of about -Izty feet, lake many of the other roounda, haring been frequently plowed orer, it ie now almoet lereled to the aurroundlng lurface was then a very small one, and "digging out the coon" resulted in the discovery of the cave. The "main hall" leads off from the entrance, and is aljout one hundred and twenty-five feet long and twenty-five feet wide. A much narrower hall, a pas.sage three or four feet wide and about twentyfive feet high, leads to the left from the "main hall," winds in various directioiLs, and finally comes back into the wider pa.ssagc a short distance from where it started. A number of short branches turn off from the narrow hall, one of which goes to two "bottomless pits," that are about three feet wide and twelve feet deep. Recently a measurement was made with a string (but no compa.ss) of the heretofore explored portions of the cave, which shows that the two halls have a combined length of aliout three hundred yards. It is probable that other halls exist, and that their discovery may show that this cave is (as is popularly reiwrtcd) "a couple of miles long." Old citizens who are familiar with the history of the cave declare that no petrified figures were ever found in it, and that no signs indicating that the place was once occupied by prehistoric men have ever been observed.

Other small caves liave been discovered in the Ixing Creek country witliin the past fifty years. The best known and most interesting of these is the John Jenkins Cave, tliree miles east of Lovell's Cave and near the Green F. Walker farm. The pa.ssages in this cave are walled with vertically fluted columns, while in Lovell 's Cave the evidences of erosion are in the form of a .series of small horizontal benclu's of rock projecting from the high w'alls. South of the John Jenkins Cave and within n mile of it are two caves, one on the farm of Charles Hutler and the other on that of Riley Oates. These caves are, in a rock which is more of a sandstone than a limestone. I found no stalactites, stalagmites, or gypsum in any of them. However, 1 noticed in places an incrustation resembling miniature stalaetite.s.

There are a number of picturesque bluffs in the southern part of the county. Three miles south of Mud River Mine and near New Hebron Church is a small cavern, known by some ns "Eternal Hole" ami by others as "Internal Hole," which is said to have been occupied by Indians, although no evidences of such u.se are now visible. On Long Cre<-k, on the Old Jonea Peach Orchard Hill, two miles above Lead Hill Church, is a concave blulT known as "Saltpeter Cave." On one of the forks of Clifty Creek, between Dunmor and Cisney, is a high bluff and an old spring called "Sulphur Springs." ^lany of the bluffs in .Muhlenberg along (flifty Creek and its branches are very picturesque, one of which is the Jes.se McPherson "Cave Hut Clitf." 'I'he cliffs of Clifty increase in height and heaut.v as one goes up the creek into Todd County, and are there seen at their be.st as "Huzzards' Raid Yard," and "Wildcat Hollow."

There are many beautiful scenes and bistorie s|iots along tlu' Muhlenberg bank of Green River. Pond River anil Pond Creek are picturesque at all times, even during the driest sea.sons, when both streams become little more than broken chains of short and long ponds. Hence the names of the two streams.

(ten. liaron SInthn), the distinguished Prussian general of our Revolutionary war, located bis Virginia military warrants, granted him for .services in the war, in what is now Muhlenburg county. It was all lost (some 4,(X)0 or more acres) to his estate, under the occupying claimant limitation law.

/a the lV«r of 1812, the late Judge .Mney Meljean . . . commanded a company at the battle of New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1815. His lieu tenant, K. M. Prank (still living, 1871), while the battle was raging hottest, mounted the breastworks to repel the British. 'I'he late L. N. Akers was taken prisoner at the battle of the River Raisin, and compelled to run the gauntlet ; he drew a pension on account of wounds received.

During the War of the Rebellion, Greenville was for some time an outpost of both armies, or rather neutral ground between them. It was taken by Gen. Huekner in Feb., 18G2, and some time after by John Jlorgan, and was onec or twice partially sacked by guerrillas. Muhlenburg county .sent 836 men to the Federal army.

This statement is cpioted in the chapter on "Muhlenberg in the Civil War," where attention is called to the errors that occur in it, among them being the date on which Greenville was" taken " by General Buckner.

Kdwakd Ki'.msey was a prominent man of Muhlenburg county and of S. W. Kentucky, for more than fortyfive years; represented the county in the .state legislature, in 1822, and tlie district in congress, 1837-3!): was an elocpient speaker, and a man of decided ability. Only his remarkable modesty and timidity i)revcnteil his taking a more leading part in the iiolitics of the state and nation.

CfiAHi.E.s F. Wing was a captain at the battle of the Thame.s, and .saw Teeumseh afti"r he was slain. He was clerk of the .Muhlenburg courts from the organizjition of the coiint.v in 17!)S to 18.76 - .78 yi>ars; a longer period than an.v other man ever held a elerkship in Kentucky.

Among the first ehaptci's in this hi.story is one on Edward Kumsey and another on Charles Fox Wing. Collins ends his notes on the history of Muhlenberg County with brief biographies of Generals Buell and ^ruhlenberg. Sketches of the lives of these two distinguished generals appear elsewhere in this volume.

- Robert Y. Thomas was born tn Logan County in 1859; seven years later his parents. Reverend and Jtrs. R. Y. Thomas, moved to Muhlenberg, since which time he has lived in the county. Reverend Thomas was a son of Jonathan Thomas, and his wife was a daughter of George Rriggs, both of whom were pioneers in the Green River country. Reverend R. Y. Thomas was a Methodist minister. lie began preaching in 1848, and continued that work in Muhlenberg and other parts of Western Kentucky until 1900. He died in Januar.v, 1905. R. Y. Thomas was educated at Bethel College, Russellville, from which institution he received the degree of A. B. in 1881 and of A. M. in 1884. He represented Muhlenberg in the State from 1885 to 1887. In 1903 he was elected Commonwealth's attorney, and held that office until .March 1, 1909, when he resigned to take his seat in Congress. He is the fourth Muhlenberg man who while a citizen of the county became a member of Congress. He has been a member of Congress since he was first elected in 1908. R. Y. Thomas is one of the best-known men in the Green River country. His home is in Central City.

Appendix

It was published in 1828 by Judge James Hall, of Cincinnati, in his "Is'tters from the West." At least four versions of the story of the Ilarpes have been printed since Judge Hall's was juiblished. I reprint his account because it is the oldest, and ns his hooks are rare it has become the lea.st accessible version. Collins, in his "History of Kentucky," under the head of Hopkins County, gives two versions; Allen's "History of Kentucky" has one; T. Marshall Smith, in his "Legends of the War of Independence and of the Knrlier Settlements in the Wt-st," publislusl in 1855, gives another. Judge Hall's being the oldest, as already stated, is probably the truest. T. Marshall Smith's is by far the longt-st and most intcresling. None of these, nor do any of the oral versions, agree on the details of any important point. Nevertheless all are, in a general way, the same.

Judge Hall's statement that the two wives of Hig Ilarpe remained in Muhlenberg does not agree with local traditions nor with any of the other printed versions. T. Alarshall Smith gives the names of the two Harpes as Bill and Joshua and shows that they came originally from North Carolina, were cousins, 'I'ories and sons of Tories, and that neither had more than one wife. Writing almut the unfortunate women who became the involuntary' wives of the heartless Harpes, he .says: "Susjin Woods (wife of Bill Ilarpe) told them (deputy sheriff of Isigan county and others) in the most humble and suppliant terms her osvn .sad .story and cruel sufferings. Maria Davidson (wife of Jo.shiia Ilarpe) confirmed her statement, and related her own intolerable .sufferings. . . . They both lived in the county of Ix)gan many years after, where they were often seen, known and conversed with by the author of this narrative, and who received from the lil)s of Susan Woods herself most of the facts narrated in the foregoing pages, in reference to herself, Maria Davidson anil the two Harpes, from the time they became so unhai>pily connected with them, . .

Edmund L. Starling, in his "History of Henderson County," published in 1887, says that on Sci>temher 4, 179!), a court of quarter sessions was called for the examination of the three Ilarpe women, then committed in the Hender.son jail as parties to the murder (on August 20, 1799) of Mrs. Moses Stigall, her infant son, and William Ix)ve, a school-teacher, and that the three prisoners were found guilty and remanded to jail, hut were subsequently taken, under order of eourt, to Russellville, there to await the action of the grand jury, where they were tried and acquitted.

Jt)seph R. Underwood, in his account compiled in 1871, ba.sed on information supplied in 1838 by .John U. Ruby, of Hopkins County, and published in Collins' history, writes: "The pursuers, armed with rifles, got on the trail of the Ilarpes and overtook them at tludr camp, upon the waters of Pond river; but wbether in the present boundary of Hopkins or Muhlenburg county I have not sati.sfactorily ascertained.''

Local tradition .says Uig Harpe cros.sed Pond River at Fn-e Henry P'ord and was killed in Muhlenberg County, near what has since been known as Harpe's Hill. An oak tree four feet in diameter, which until 1910 stood on the bank of Boat Yard Creek near the Slab Road leading from Harpe's Hill to Free Henry Ford, has always been pointed out as the tree under which .John Jjeeper or Lieper, .Moses Stigall or Stegal, and the other menila>rs of the pursuing party, killed JJig JJarpe, and under which the headless corpse of Uig Hari)c lay until it was devoured by wild animals. Clara Garris, who l)ceame the wife of .James Stanley, and who during her long life lived near Harpe's Hill, frequently jminted out this spot, declaring that Uig Harpe was killed near this tree and that when a child of about ten years she .saw his headless Imdy lying there.

.Many years ago, two men, named Harpe, appeared in Kentueky, spreading death and terror wherever they went. Little else was known of them but that they passed for brothel's, and came from the borders of Virginia. They had three women with them, who were treated as their wives, and several children, with whom they traversed the mountainous and thinly settled parts of Virginia into Kentucky, marking their course with blood. Their history is wonderful, ns well from the nund)cr and variety, ns the incredible atrocity of their adventures; and ns it has never yet appeared in print, I shall compress within this letter a few of its most prominent facts.

In the autumn of the year 1799, a young gentleman, named I>angford, of a respectable family in Meeklenburgh county, Virginia, set out from this state for Kentucky, with the intention of passing through the Wilderness, ns it was then called, by the route generally known as Boon's Trace. On reaching the vicinity of the Wilderness, a mountainous and uninhabited tract which at that time separated the settled parts of Kentucky from those of Virginia, he stopped to breakfast at a public house near Uig Rockcastle river. Travellers of this description - any other indeed than hardy woodsmen - were unwilling to pass singly through this lonely region; and they generally waited on its confines for others, and travelled through in parties. Mr. I.angford, either not dreading danger, or not choosing to delay, determined to proceed alone. While breakfa.st was preparing, the Harpes and their women came up. Their appearance denoted poverty.

with but little regard to cleanliness ; two very indifferent horses, with some bags swung across them, and a rifle gun or two, composed nearly their whole equipage. Squalid and miserable, they seemed objects of pity, rather than of fear, and their ferocious glances were attributed more to hunger than to guilty pa.ssion. They were entire strangers in that neighborliood, and, like Mr. Langford, were about to ero.ss tlie Wildernes.s. When breakfast was served up, the landlord, as was customary at such places, in tho.se time.s, invited all the persons who were a.ssembled in the commons, perhaps the only room of his little inn, to sit down; hut the Harpes declined, alleging their want of money as the rea.son. Langford, who was of a lively, generous disposition, on hearing thi.s, invited them to partake of the meal at his expense; they accepted the invitation, and ate voraciously. When they had thus refreshed themselves, and were about to renew their journey, Mr. Langford called for the hill, and in the act of discharging it imprudently displayed a handful of .silver. They then set out together.

A few days after, .some men who were conducting a drove of cattle to Virginia, by the same road which had been travelled by Mr. Langford and the Harpes, had arrived within a few miles of Big Rock-castle River, when their cattle took fright, and, quitting the road, rushed down a hill into the woods. In collecting them, the drovers discovered the dead l>ody of a man concealed behind a log, and covered with brush and leaves. It was now evident that the cattle had been alarmed by the smell of blood in the road, and as the laxly exhibited marks of violence, it was at once suspected that a murder had Is'cn perpetrated hut recently. The corpse was taken to the same house where the Hariies had hreakfa.sted, and recognized to he that of Mr. Langford, whase name was marked upon several parts of his dress. Suspicion fell upon the Harpes, who were pursued and apprehended near the Crab Orchard. They were taken to Stanford, the seat of justice for Lincoln county, wliere they were examined and committed bj' an inipiiring court, sent to Danville for safe keeping, and prohalily for trial, as the sj'stcm of district courts was then in operation in Kentucky. Previous to the time of trial, they made their escape, and proceeded to Henderson county, which at that time was just heginning to he settled.

Here they .soon acrpiired a dreadful celebrity. Neither avarice, want, nor any of the usual inducements to the commission of crime, seemed to govern their conduct. A savage thirst for blood - a deep-rooted malignity against human nature, could alone he discovered in their actions. They murdered every defenceless bi-ing who fell in their way, without distinction of age, sex, or colour. In the night they .stole secretly to the cabin, slaughtered its inhabitants, and burned their dwelling - w'hilc the farmer who left his house by day, returned to witne.ss the dying agonies of his wife and children, and the contlagration of his possessions. Plunder was not their object: travellers they robbed and murdered, but from the inhabitants they took only what would have been freely given to them ; and no more than was immediately neees.sary to supply the wants of nature; they destroyed without having suffered injury, and without the prospect of gain. A negro boy, riding to a mill, with a bag of corn, was seized by tlu'7ti, and his brains dashed out against a tree; hut the lioi'se whieh ho rode and tlie grain were left uninolested. Keniales, children, and servants, no longer dared to stir abroad; unarmed men feared to encounter a llarpc; and the solitary hunter, ns he trod the forest, looked around him with a watchful eye, and when h(> saw a stranger, picked his flint and stood on the flefensive. '

It seems incredible that such atrocities could have been often repeated in a country famed for the hardihood and gallanti'y of its people; in Kentucky, the cradle of courage, ami the nurse of warriors. Hut that |>art of Kentucky which was the .scene of these barbarities was then almost a wilderne.s.s, and the vigilance of the Ilarpcs for a time ensured impunity. Tlie spoils of their dreadful warfare furnished them with the means of violence and of escape. Mounted on fine liorscs, they plunged into the forest, eluded pursuit by frequently changing their course, and appeared, une.xpectedly, to perpetrate new cnormitie.s, at points distant from those where they were supposed to lurk. On these occasions, they often left their wiv»>s and children behind them; and it is a fact, honourable to the community, that vengeance for the.se bloody deeds was not wreaked on the hi'lples.s, but in some degrt>e guilty, companions of the perpetrators. .Iiistiec, however, was not long <b'laycd.

A frontier is often the retreat of loo.se individuals, who. if not familiar with erime, havi; very blunt pereeptions of virtue. The genuine woodsmen, the real pioneers, are independent, brave, and upright; but as the jiu'kal pursues the lion to devour bis leavings, the foot.stc))s of the sturdy hunter are closely i)ursued by misereants <lestitute of his noble qualitii's. These ar(! the i>oore.st and the i<llcst of the human race - averse to lalamr, and impatient of the restraints of law and the courtesies of civilized society. Without the ardour, the activity, the love of sport, and imticnci- of fatigue, which distinguish the bold backw(a>dsman, these are doomed to the forest by sheer laziness, and hunt for a bart' subsistenee ; they are the "eankers of a calm world and a long peace," the helpless nolaxlics, who, in a country wheiv none starve and few beg, slet-p until hunger pinches, then stroll into the woods for a meal, and return to their slumlx'f. Frequently tlu-y arc as harmless as the wart U|)on a man's nose, and its unsightly; but they arc sometimes mere wa.x in tlu> hands of the designing, and become tiu' aeces- .sories of that guilt which they have not the courage or the industry tt> perpetrate. With such men the Ilarpes ari' siqqxtsed to have .ssunetimi's lurked. None are known to have participated in their deeds of bbxxl, nor suspeeted of sharing their counsels; but they sometimes crei)t to the miserable cabins of those who feared or were not inclitied to betray them.

Two travelers came one night to the house of a man named Stegal, and, for want of better lodgings, claimed undi'r his little rixif that hospitalit.v which in a new country is found at i-very habitation. Shortly after, the Ilarpes arrived. It was not, it seems, their first visit; for Mrs. Stegal bad received instructions from them, which she dared not disobey, never to address them by their real names in the presence of third persons. On this occasion they contrived to inform her that llu'y intended to personate .Methodist preachers, and ordered her to arrange matters so that one of them .should sleep with each of the strangers, whom they intended to murder. Stegal was absent, and the woman was obliged to obey. The strangers were completely deceived as to the character of the newly arrived guests; and when it was announced that the house contained but two beds, they cheerfully assented to the propo.sed arrangement : one crept into a beil on the lower floor with one ruffian, while the other retired to the loft with another. Both the strangers became their victims; but these bloody ruffians, who seemed neither to feel shame, nor dread punishment, determined to leave behind them no evidence of their crime, and consummated the foul trageily by murdering their hostess and setting fire to the ilwelling.

From this scene of arson, robbery, and murder, the perpetratore fled precipitately, favoured by a heavy fall of rain, which, as they believed, effaced their footsteps. They did not cease their flight until late the ensuing ilay, when they halted at a spot which tiu-y sujjposed to be far from any human habitation. Here they kindled a fire, and were drying their clothes, when an emigrant, who had pitched his tent hard by, .strolled towards their camp. He was in search of his horses, which had strayed, and civilly asked if they had seen them. This unsns|)eeting woodsman they slew, and continued their retreat.

In the meanwhile, the outrages of these murderers had not escaped notice, nor were they tamely sulmiitted to. The Governor of Kentucky ha<l offered a reward for their heails, and parties of volunteers had inirsuetl them; they had been so fortunate as to escape punishment by their cunning, but had not the prudence to desist, or to tly the country.

A man, named Leiper, in revenge for the murder of Mrs. Stegal, raised a party, pursued, and discovered the assa.ssins, on the day succeeding that atrocious deed. They came so suddenly upon the Harpes that they liad only time to fly in different directions. Accident aided the pursuers. One of the Harpes was a large, and the other a small man; the first tisually rode a stmng, powerful horse, the other a fleet, but much smaller animal, and in the hurry of flight they had e.vehanged horstsi. The chase was long and hot; the smaller Harpe escaped unnoticed, but th<* other, who was kept in view, spurred on the noble animat which he roile, and which, already .jaded, began to fail at the emi of live or si.\ mih's. Still the miscreant pres.sed forward; for, althougli none of his pursuei's were near but Geiper, who hud ofitridden his companions, he was not willing to risk a combat with a man as strong ami p('rhaps bolder than him.self, who was animated with a noble spirit of indignation again.st a shocking ami iinmanl.v outrage. Leiper was mounted on a hor.se of celebrated powers, which he luul bor rowed from a neighbor for this occasion. At the beginning of tlie chase, he had pri"s.sed his charger to the height of his speed, carefully keeping on the track of Harpe, of whom he sometimes caught a glimpsi- as he luscended the hills, and again lost sight iti the valle.vs and the brush. But ns he gained on th<" foe, and became sure of his victim, he slackened his pace, cocked his rifle, and deliberately pursued, sometimes culling upon the outlaw to .surrender. At length, in leaping a ravine, Harp(''s horse sprained a limb, and Leiper overtook him. Doth were armed with rifles. Leiper tin'll, and wounded Harpe through the bod.v; the latter turning in his sent.

levelled his piece, which missed fire, and he dashed it to the ground, swearing it w'as the first time it had ever deceived him. lie then drew n tomahawk, and waited the approach of Ijeiper, who, nothing daunted, unsheathed his long hunting-knife and rushed upon his desperate fta*, grappled with him, hurled him to the ground, and wrested Ids only remaining weapon from his gra.sp. The pro.strate wretch - exhausted with the loss of blood, con(|uered, but unsubdued in spirit - now lay pa.ssive at the feet of his adversary. Expecting every moment the arrival of the rest of his pursuers, he inquired if Stegal was of the party, and being answered in the affirmative, he exclaimed, "Then 1 am a dead man!"

"That would make no difference," replied Leiper, calmly. "You must die at any rate. 1 do not wish to kill you my.self, but if nobody el.se will do it, I must." Leiiicr was a humane man, ea.sy, slow-spoken, and not quickly excited, hut a thorough .soldier when rou.sed. Without insulting the expiring criminal, he questioned him ns to the motives of his late atrocities. The murderer attempted not to imlliate or deny them, and confe.sscd that lie had been actuated by no inducement but a settled hatred of his speei«>s, whom he bail sworn to destroy without distinction, in retaliation for some fancied injury. He expressed no regret for any of his bloody deeds, except that which he confessed he had perpetrated upon one of his own children. "It cried," .said he, "and I killed it: I had always told the women, I would have no crying about me." He acknowledged that he had amas.sed large sums of money, and de.scribed the places of concealment; but as none was ever discovered, it is presumed he did not declare the truth. Leiper had fired several tinu's at Harpe during the cha.se, and wounded him; and when the bitter was asked why, when he fouml lAiiper pursuing him alone, he did not dismount and take to a tree, from behind which he could inevitably have shot him ns he approached, he replied that he had suppo.sed there was not a horse in the country equal to the one which he rode, and that he was confident of making his e.scape. He thought also that the pursuit would be le.ss eager, so long as he aKstnined from shedding the blood of any of his pursuers. On the arrival of the rest of the party, the wretch was dispatched, and he died as he had lived, in remorseless guilt. It is .said, however, that he was about to make .some disclosure, and bad commenced in a tone of more sincerity than he had before evinced, when Stegal advanced and severed his head from his body. This bloody trophy they carried to the nearest magistrate, a -Mr. Newman, before whom it was proved to l>e the head of .Mica.jah Harpe; they then placed it in the fork of a tree, where it long remained a revolting object of borror. The spot, which is near the Highland Lick, in Union (then Henderson) County, is still called Harpe's Head, and a public road which pa.sses it, is called the Harpe 's Head Road.

The other Harpe made his way to the neighlwrhood of Natchez, where he joined a gang of robbers, headed by a man named Mea.son, whose villanies were so notorious that a reward was offered for his head. At that period, vast regions along the shores of the Ohio and Mi.ssiasippi were still unsettled, through which boats navigating tho.se rivers must necessarily pa.ss; and the traders who, after selling their cargoes at New Orleans, attempted to return by land, bad to cross immense wilderne.s.ses, totally destitute of inhabitants. Meason, who was a man rather above the ordinary stamp, infested these deserts, seldom eommitting murder, but robbing all who fell in his way. Sometimes he plundered the descending boats; but more frequently he allowed these to pass, preferring to rob their owners of their money as they returned, plea.santly observing, that "those people were taking their produce to market for him." Ilarpe took an opportunity, when the rest of his companions were absent, to slay Meason, and putting his head in a bag, carried it to Natchez, and claimed the reward. The claim was admitted; the head of Mea.son was recognized but so also was the face of Ilarpe, who was arrested, condemned, and executed.

In collecting oral te.stimony of events long past, a considerable variety will often be found in the statements of the persons conversant with the circumstances. In this case, I have found none, e.xcept as to the fact of the two llarpes having exchanged horses. A day or two before the fatal catastrophe which ended their career in Kentucky, they had murdered a gentleman named Love, and had taken his horse, a remarkably fine animal, which Rig Ilarpe undoubtedly rode when he was overtaken. It is said that Little Ilarpe escaped on foot, and not on his brother's bor.se. Many of these facts were di.sclosed by the latter, while under sentence of death.

A^ter Harpe's death the women came in and claimed protection. Two of them were the wives of the larger Ilarpe, the other one of his brother. The latter was a decent female, of delicate, prepossessing appearance, who stated that she had married her husband without any knowledge of his real character, shortly l>efore they set out for the west ; that she was so much shocked at the first murder which they committed, that she attempted to e.scape from them, but was prevented, and that she had since made similar attempts. She immediately wrote to her father in V'irginia, who came for her, and took her home. The other women were in no way remarkable. They nonained in Muhlenburgh county.

The.se horrid events will sound like fiction to your ears, when told as having happened in any part of the I'nitcd States, so foreign are they from the generosity of the American character, the happy security of our institutions, and the moral habits of our i)cople. Rut it is to bo recollected that they happened twenty-seven years ago, in frontier settlements, far distant from the civilized parts of our country. The principal .scene of Ilarpe 's atrocities, and of his death, was in that part of Kentucky which lies south of Green river, a vast wilderness, then known by the general name of the Green river country, and containing a few small and thinly scattered settlements - the more den.se population of that state being at that time confined to its northern and eastern parts. The Indians still po.s.ses.sed the country to the south and west. That enormities should sometimes have been practiced at these distant spots, cannot be matter of surprise; the only wonder is that they were .so few. The first settlers were a hardy and an honest people; hut they were too few in number, and too widely spread, to be able to create or enforce wholesale civil restraints. Desperadoes, flying from jmstice, or .seeking a secure theatre for the perpetration of crime, might frequently escape di.scovery, and as often elude or openly defy the arm of justice.

PIONEER Jana-s Weir, of Greenville, made a number of trips from Lewislnirp, or Kineheloe's Rluflf, to New Orleans in the early days. The date of the first was alamt six years after he settled in Muhlenberg, when he was about twenty-seven years old, and as far as known it is the only one of wlueh he ever wrote a description. The original manuscript is .still in existence, and for a copy of it I am indebted to Judge Lucius P. Little, of Owensboro, who will publish the story in his forthcoming l)ook on "Old Stories of Green River and Its People."

I arrived at Natchez on the !)th March. It is a beautifid little town situated on a high bluff rising from the river by a gradual ascent. & a fertile & level country seems to make off from the town. From the eligibility of this place I think it is found to be the center of trade for the We.stern Country. There are about 5(M) dwellings in this place. They are mostly Americans from South (.'arolina & Georgia. There is a number of large stores there. Goods are sold about the same price with Nashville. I suppose from what I have seen that Natchez is, or the inhabitants of the town are, as much given to luxury & di.s.sipation as an.v place in America. There is great abuiulanee of cotton in the vicinity of Natchez. That is their sla))le commodity. There were 5 sea-ves.sels (schooners or brigs) lying there waiting for loading. It is thought that in time shipping will come there in great numbers as it will not take them more than 5-fi days, if .so long, to come u]) from Orleans if the w ind is tnoderately in their favour. I left the Natchez on the 12th for the New Orleans and on the morning of the 1.3th I arrived at 1/oftier Heights just as the soldiers were firing the morning gun. Loftier Heights is a place of defen.se occupied b.v the troops of the United States under the command of Gen. Wilkin.son. The garrison is in good order and the troops look well. This place is 4.1 miles below Natchez on the line betwwn the Spaniards & Americans. Th(" river is from there to the Orleans ver.v good and we sailed night and da.v. From the Heights to the Atchafalaya is 11 miles. This is a place that boatmen dread as it has been said that boats were sucked out there and were not able to return but were taken into lakes that empty into the .sea, tlmiigh I found no diffieult.v in it, nor do I believe that it is so dangerous as has been represented. From this to Point Copee is 21 miles.

I arrived tliere in the evening and went to the Commandant & got my passport signed. lie sent down to my boat & hought a ham of haeon. I thought from this example I might sell on without hesitation. I continued to sell till the next day at 12 o'clock when 1 was taken by a guard of Spanish Regulars who told me that 1 must go into eontinement together with all my crew, save one to take eare of the boat for selling without permission. I desired to see the Commandant for I hated the thought of going into a calaboose, hut all in vain.

We were hurried into a nasty prison amongst a number of Spanish transgre.s.sors who were almost naked. I then began to think of Baron Trenk in the jail of Magdaburg & that it might perhaps he my lot to be there without cause, possibly for months or years as our liberation or confinement depended wholy on the will of a capricious tyrant. I walked through this nasty prison very uneasy still looking through the iron grates and ruminating on my sad misfortune. I sat down at length on the straw & began to console my.self that I was not the first that had been in confinement unjustly & that I was not alone as 1 had one of my company with me, a Mr. Hobbs who was merely a pas.senger in my boat. After we had been there about half an hour the interpreter came & told us we must come out & go before the Commandant. We went out cheerfully expecting to be lilwrated knowing ourselves to be innocent.

We were brought before the Commandant who sat in his judgment ball. He demanded of me why I had sold bacon &e without permission from him. I told him that 1 did not know that it was neces.sary, and if I had trailsgre.ssed against his law.s it was through ignorance I being a stranger in their land & al.so that he was the first to purehase from me him.self and that he did not tell me that it was ncce.s.sary to have a permit & therefore I thought it ungenerous of him to put me into confinement. He took ofTen.se at this mode of expression and ordered us both back to confinement. The interpreter began to intercede for us but all in vain. Then Mr. Hobbs, who was with me, began to plead that he was only a pas.senger & that he ought to he W't at liberty. The commandant agreed he should be liberated but I was scut back to confinement. I directed Hobbs to stay by my boat & not to leave the jilace till he saw the result. He said he would stay by me if it was for 6 months & use every exertion to get me out. He went to the boat & I to my prison with a heavy heart.

The poor dejected Spaniards that were my companions in this .solitary place began to eye me with attention & one of them got up and made signs for me to sit down on his blankets. I sat down and mused to myself. 1 had no company for I could not understand them. While I sat thus in dejection & had no hopes of coming out shortly there came a messenger to the door 4c asked me what I had to advance in my behalf re.specting the affair for which I was confined. I told him I had nothing more to say than what 1 had already told the Commandant, his master, & that he might tell him that if he did confine me here without a cause I would see the Governor at the New Orleans who would certainly see justice done & perhaps by liis removal from office. In about 10 minutes tbe messenger returned & told me I was to be set at liberty. Tbe iron bolts were again turned & I was once more set at liberty.

When I returned to the boat the erew wa.s overjoyed to see me once more. We then pushed off our boat & set out for tbe Orleans, resolving to stay at that unfortunate place no longer. From Baton Rouge to Orleans, 180 miles, nothing more particular occurred on our voyage. We sailed night & day as in this part of the river there are no sawyers. When we came within 100 miles of Orleans the river is levied on both sides to keep the water from over flowing the settlements. Here you are presented with beautiful prospects on the levy on Iwth sides of which are houses, large & beautiful farms, orange groves, sugar cane & sugar hou.ses all the way to the New Orleans. When we came in sight the masts of the vessels that lay in harbour appeared like a forest of old trees. We got in amongst them with some difficulty and landed just aliove the (late.

I arrived at the New Orleans on the 23d of March 1803 a handsome city much larger & better situated than I did expect. There is a number of wealthy American merehants residing there & they carry on business largely ; houses that may be relied upon cither to deposit property with or to do business by consignment. Orleans is not a place of defence. 'I'hfir garri.sons and forts are out of repair. They have about 400 Spanish Regulars. They are a poor looking starved like crew. I am persuaded that 100 Kentucky men could take the place if it wa.s the wiU of Government for I supimse that one third of the inhabitants of the Orleans are Americans in possession of the place.

New Orleans is situated low. The country falls off from it. About 3 miles back it is so swampy that no pei-son can .settle on it. It is a fine place for fish & oysters in the lake that lies about 3 miles back from the city. New Orleans is a very rich place and a great place for doing business & would be a great acquisition to the United Slates if they were in possession of it. The French & Spaniards living there are for tbe most part very much of gentlemen & more to be relied on than many of our American citizens that are settled there. Some of them that I became acquainted with treated me with the greatest civility & freindship.'

I set out from tbe Orleans for Philadelphia on the 6th of April on hoard the .schooner Roby, C'apt. Martain, Master (a very worthy and respectable

' The national and international compiicationa invoived in the guestion of keeping the Mississippi River open to American merchants were wideiy discussed by Kentuckians and others in 1803 and during a number of years preceding. Baton Rouge and New Orieans at the time referred to by Mr, Weir were, as he states, Spanish garrisons. Florida - then embracing the present State of Florida and the southern portions of Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana, east of the Mississippi River - was ceded by Spain to Great Britain In 1763 and recovered by Spain in 1783. After the purchase of "Louisiana" In 1803 by the United States, much discussion arose regarding the boundary of the Spanish territory of Florida. The Perdido River was declared the western boundary of Florida, and is such to-day. What Is now Florida remained Spanish territory until 1819, when it was ceded to the United States. It may be well to add that "Louisiana" was ceded by France to Spain in 1762 and re-ceded to France in 1800. In April. 1803, "Louisiana" was purchased from the French by the United States. What is now the State of Louisiana was admitted into the Union in 1812.

man, a Quakar). We liad a fair wind down the river to the mouth viz 105 miles. Just before we eame to the Halize or mouth of the river we struek a sander & stuck fast for 3 days. On the evening of the 4th we earried out our anchor & u.sed every e.xertion hy all hands & draw her off, yet nevertheless, I felt not satisfied, for I thought it was ominous of bad sueet^ss. We had to wait till tlie ne.xt morning for a pilot to take ub out the mouth of the river as the channel is very narrow and often changes so that it is impossible for any person to come out or in without a pilot who examines the channel every day & sets up stakes on each side next morning early.

The pilot came to us & the winds blew fair & we went out (together with seven other vessels) into the main ocean. Then it was that I began to feel sea sick in good earnest. The waves rolled high and the water looked green & loathsome as the hated Styx, (spoken of by the hejtthen poets.) We had 14 pa.ssengei-s on board. They were all sick save one. There was nothing to be heard but vomiting and crit's of the sick. I l»ore it |)atientl.v knowing the sickness was not iinto death & hoping that in a few days the woi-st would be over, but I continued sick almost throughout my whole journey. I had no appetite to eat & all kinds of victuals to me were loathsome till I arrived in the Delaware. We had a fair wind for 4 days after we left the Halize which blew us on rapiilly. AVe sailed a south course till we eame in sight of the Ilavannah. We then changed our course to K. N. K. The winds were contrary almost continually. We madi' no progress 1ml were ratlu'r l«-aten back. Thus we were beat alwut in most horrid tempe.sts. sometimes in sight of the Florida shore & sometimes in sight of the Land of Cuba & it was with dittieulty that we could keep off the rocks & sands. 'I'he crew was in the utmost consternation & wisheil themselves on shore in any part. The Captain nevertheless preserved a calm and unshaken mind, bid us be of good cheer, that when adverse fortune had spent herself, we would have better winds & that he hoped to laml us all safe at I'hiladelphia yet.

On the evening of the 4th of May one of the pa.s.sengers a young man from Monongehala of the name of William Kelly jumped over Iward and drowned himself without any known cau.se (except the apparent danger of our voyage & seasickness of which he had greatly suffered.) lie was noticed to sit pensive all that day till evening when he pulled off his shirt & immediately jumped overboard. A\> called to him and threw him a rope but he would not receive it, but swam immediately from the ves.sel. We turned the ves.sel about in order to take him up but it was imi>raetieable as the wind blew very high. We could set* him swimming for the spare of 20 minutes, when he jumped up almost out of the water and eryed out twice very loud & sunk down & we .saw him no more.

(Jreat was the solemnity that pervaded through the whole crew. All si'emed to regret the loss by so sudden death of so fine a young man who hail .so latt'l.v la*en our most jovial companion. We also .seemed to eonjeeture that it did pre.sage the destmetion of all the crew & vessel. I went to bed but slei>t very little. I still fancied 1 could see poor Kelly jump out of the water & cry out for help.

The next niorniuf; there blew up a miplity storm with mueli thunder and dreadful flashes of li(;htnin^ that rolled aloni; the skies. The waves heeame most dreadful sueh as we had never seen before. They often ran over our ves.sel and eame into the eabin windows till it wa.s knee deep on the floor. Then it was that I began to think that we must certainly perish. However, through the skill of our captain & sailors & the mercy of God we were preserved to encounter a more eminent danger. Cruel & adverse fortune seemed never t<x> weary to jiei'secufe us. The winds sulisided & the clouds blew away & bright Plu-bus began to emerge from the deep & seemed to promise us a pleasant day. Hut how short was this interval of pleasant calm. It was like the prosperity of the wicked but of short duration.

We were calmly reclining ourselves on our beds talking over the dangers we had so n-cently c.scaped when it was cried out on deck "a waterspout! a waterspout I & it is coming towards us." We all ran u(> on deck when we perceived it not far distant from us & jirogressiug on towards us. (Now a watcrs[)out is a thing much feared by sea men. It is a body of water drawn up out of the sea into the clouds and then falls down with wonderful velocity and if it strikes a vessel it commonly sinks it.) 1 found our captain (who had hitherto appeared unmoved in all danger) began to appear much alarmed and the form of his visage was changed and all the sailors began to be in utmost confusion. The captain ordered all the pa.s.sengers below. They mo.stly went down, but 1 resolveil t<i sta.v on deck & see the event. The captain trieil to make sail to get out of the wa.v of it but it was all in vain. For then it seemed as though it would go before us. Then we struck sail thinking to fall back & let it pass on laTore us yet all our exertions s(H*med in vain. For though our vessel occupied but a small ))art of the wide extended ocean & this unhappy jihenomenon was I suppose 2 miles olT when we saw it first yet it eame directly and immodiatel.v to us as though directed by a supernatural power for our certain destruction.

Now this horrid scene begins to approach, the air is darkened, it roars like one continual jieal of thunder. The captain cried out. ''It is done! we are all lost!" The .stoniest hearted sailors began to cry out ''death, certain death! Lord have mercy on us!" The pa.s.sengcrs began to flock up from ImOow. Horror & paleness overspread each countenance & all crying out for mercy. I stood near to the cabin door & held by a rope expecting every moment to launch into the unknown regions of eternity. It came up & struck the stern of our ves.sel with a dreadful .shock. She wheeled round with a great force & sunk down into the sea till the water came up to our shoulders on the mail deck when I never expected to see her ri.se again. It tore away our main sail & our top sail & our flying ,iib & the greater part of our rigging & drew them up into the air ns in a whirlwind so that we saw them no more. It took the hat off the mate's head together with a number of other articles off the deck. After having shattered us most intolerably it passed by our ves.sel which rose out of the water. Wi* tri<>d the pump & found that the hull of our ves.sel was yet sound to the inexpre.s.sable .ioy of the captain and all the crew. It was .some time before we recovered from the shock we received. When it struck the ves.sel it was like the shock of thunder when near, or eleetrel fire. Indeed it was 2 da.vs before some of the crew was well. Now all hamls are einployetl ill clearing away the Rliattered rigging & in trying to erect a small .sail for we had no eaiivas on Imard & we had to sew together the ruins of the old in the evening. We raised two small sails tho of little consequence & tried to stand our course. Tho' the winds were yet contrary we kept in the Oiilf Stream which beat us on to the North.

On the 2()th & 27tili the winds blew fair. On the 28th the wind shifted to the North & heat us hack 2 degrees. We are now in the latitude of Charlestown & in sight of the Cape.s. The pa.ssengers prayed the captain to land them there for they began to despair of ever getting round to Philadeliihia hut he refii.sed. So we beat on in great distre.ss & confusion as our water was nearly exhausted & our ship in miserahle repair, however the wind changeil more favorably & on the 8th day of May we arrived in the- Cape of Philadelphia & on the 9th we got a pilot & proceeded up the Delaware river (viz 120 mill's to Philailelphia). We had a fair wind up the river & .sailed up very pleasantly. A more beautiful prospect 1 never saw than in pa.ssiiig up the river. On either side is one continuous village with tho most beautiful houses, meadows & orchards that yielded a most delightful prospect & a swi>et & salutary perfume as the orchards & tiowers wen> now in their bloom. I forgot all my dilTiculties, my seasickness left me and I felt uninterrupted felicity from the charming prospects. Vessels continually pa.ssing & rejiassing us with the same winds and towns arising on every side & ships coming in from all jiarls of the world. We spoke ve.ssels in the river, .some from the Hast & West Indie.s, from Kngland. Prance & Spain & from ail jiarts of the United States. On the 12th we arrived in Philadelphia, truly a large and elegant city mo.st pleasantly situated. The people are remarkably plain & very civil. A great many of the inhabitants of this city are (Quakers, mostly merchants and very attentive to husines.s.

On the 2:iil I set out from Philadelphia for Pittsburg. On the 24th I arrivisl at Lancaster a beautiful inland town, T .supj)o.se superior to any in the Unili'd Stati's. 1 stayisl there 3 days, then .set out for Pittsburg. On m.v way T |>assed through several handsome little towns. The country is well settled by industrious citizens. They have fine orchards meadows & hams, & housi>s tho the.v chargt' travelers very high. On the 13th of June I arrived at Pittsburg a handsome little town in the forks of the Monongahala & Allegheny rivers. It is the place where mo.st of the Wi"stern merchants embark with their merchandise to come down the ri\*er which causes mone.v to he very plent.v there. I sta.ved there 4 days to wait till the wagons came in with my goi>ds. 1 purchased a Ijoat, put in iny goods & set off down the river. We pa.ssed by some handsome little towns on the way. I think it will he one day a continuous village on the hanks of the Ohio from Pittsburg to the New Orlean.s. The river was very low. 1 floated night & day yet I was 4 wei'ks & 4 days from Pittsburg to the Redhanks, where I arrived on the 4th lia.v of Jul.v, being one day more than 5 months from the lime I set out from Lewishurg to the New Orleans.

Two Local Stories By Edward R. Weir, Sr

Edward R, WKIR, sr., of Oroi?nville, son of pioneer .lames Weir, was the author of a number of short stories. Only two are still preserved, and they are here briefly outlined.

"A Visit to the h'aith Doetor" was piibli.shed in the November, 18:3(i, i.ssue of The Western .Magazine of Cineinnati. When it first appeared in print it was the subjeet of much lively discussion in the Green River country, and e.speeially in Muhlenberg County. Although the story caused Air. Weir to lose a few votes, he lu'vertheless gained many others, when in 1841 he ran for the Legislature, to which he was elected by a large ma.iority. The first half of the tale is a somewhat one-sided discussion of faith cures, in which the author quotes from the old Greek scrilH's and many of the writers of his own day. The last half is the account of an e.'cperienee he had in visiting a "faith doctor'' near "a little town on Green River,'' all of which is followed by a short argunn-nt on faith eurc.s in general. The whole sub.ject is treated ironically and by no means seriously. Nevertheless it was evidently written with a view of trying to prove what he considered "the absurdity of belief in faith doctors."

"A De«'r Hunt" was published in the Knickerbocker Magazine of Afareh, 18flf), under the heading of "Random Sketches by a Kentuckian - K. R. W." In the .same number of the magazine appears an article hy Washington Irving and a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Mr. Weir begins his story with a few remarks on the great forests around Greenville, which I have omitted.

A Visit To Thk Faith Doctor

Many of the ancient writers held the belief of supernatural power being given to man, and that there were some who eoidd cure as well as give di.seases by iirayer, exorcisms, laying on of hands, etc. . . .

Steele .sa.vs in the Tatler, "It is not to be imagined how far the violence of our own desires will carry us toward our own deceit in the puisinit of what we wish for." Imagination is a powerful emotion, and it has been satisfactorily proven that it will not only elTeet cures of "incurable disca.ses," but will frequently pnxluee death. Witness the ease of the .Jew in France, who on a very dark night pa.ssed safely over a bridge which consistwl of a single log, whilst below him was an abyss of several hundred feet. On the next morning he was shown the fearful danger he had I'seaped, and so great was his emotion that he fell dead. .Another is a ease of a person whose fear of the plague was so great that when he entered a room

[Mr. Weir then proceeds to tell alwut a visit made by two ladies and himself to the Faith Doctor's farm. One of the ladies was afflieted with an inflamed eye, and had decided, as a last re.sort, to call on this wonderful man. Their party of three left (Jreenville "one warm day in August,'' and after an interesting ride, during which they paused long enough to partake of an excellent dinner, they arrived at the "Doctor's domicile." Tradition says this house was in Ohio County, near Livermore.]

It was a one-story log hou.se with two rooms, and did not differ in any respect from those that we had pa.s.sed during the day, .save that a niimlmr of benches were ranged in front of the door. . . .

We dismounted and walked in. There was no person in the room, and we had time to look around the place into which we had thus introduced our.selv»»a. Hut then- was nothing to mark that we were in tli<' dwellingplace of the wonderful man, I looked around for the books, the musty records of ancient knowledge, over which he might have pored ami from which he might have gathered the power he was reputed to pos.se.ss. Hut in vain we looked for the.se. No huge ironbound tome met our gaze. Kverything was most jirovokingly i>lnin, nothing mysterious, nothing which we might not find in any common farmer's cabin.

The neat little bed which stood in one corner of the room was like all other lasts. The old-fashioned clock, enclosed in a still more anti<|uated case, ticked on like any other clock. From a furtive glance which I east into a cupboard 1 found that the Doctor and his family did eat, for it was well storeil with cold meats and cold ]>ies.

Hefore 1 had time to extend my discoveries any farther his daughter came into the room. She was cpiite a pretty girl, but >infortunately for the I>oetry of the thing, she forgot to slip on her stockings. Shoes without stockings, you know, do not look well. We enquired for the Doctor. He was "in the meadow at work." We looked in that direction and beheld him astride of a ha.vstack, which he appeared to be "topping off." A mes-senger was dispatched for him, and we prepared for the interesting interview.

From the house we had a full view of the meadow, ami before it was possible for tin; little l)oy, whom we had sent, to reach him where he was. we saw him slide from the .stack, snatch up his hat and start for the hou.se at about half mast. Then thought I, "he has an intuitive sense that he is wanted," but the next moment "the woeful want of dignity" .strm'k me more forcibly. 'I'he cau.se of his haste was .soon explained : there was a rush among the green corn ; then a bark, and a squeal, and forth rushed a gang of hogs, closely followed by Towser and I'onto, while just behiml came the Doctor, encouraging his dogs by name, who soon succeeded in clearing the field from intruders.

Two Ixjcal Stories By Edward R. Weir, Sr

Five minutes .sufficed. He merely a.sked her name, which eye was affected, and how lonp it had been so. He took down her answers in writing and told her that the optic nerve, which we all knew before, was affected. I was very anxious to close the scene. So, hurrying the lady to her horse, I returned to bid the Doctor farewell. . . . We were told he accepts no corapen.sation for his service - that he a.sks no pay ; hut he is not avei'se to his family receiving presents. Nevertheless 1 asked him if he would make any charge for what he had promised to try to do, to which he answered: "Yes, I charge you this: next time you come, shut the gate.''

[Upon her return home the patient was confined to her room with a fever and headache. However, she rapidly recovered, and regained the full use of her eye, and the faith doctor had in her another enthusiastic convert.]

From the slight conversation I had with the Doctor, and from what he has said to others, I gather that his plan of operation is by prayer, and that his creed is foundeil uixm that pas.sage of Scripture, "Verily, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed,'' etc. Uy his neighbors he is said to be a truly pious and estimable man, and that he pos.sess«>s some intelligence. From this 1 would humbly heg leave to differ: I think him a very ignorant man, who may iirohahly have succeeded in forcing upon himself the belief that his prayers "avail much."

[The article concludes with the argument that if prayers and petitions can result in such wonders through this Faith Doctor, whom he declares "arrogant and impudent," how much more effective would he the result, and reverential the act, if the affiicted, instead of "laying his ease before this pretender," would "pray to God and not to man."] fine-looking hound, which had lH*eu presented to me, a few days before, by a fellow-sportsman. I was anxious to test bis qualities, and knowing that a mean dog will often hunt well with a good one, 1 tied up my eager and well-trained Hravo and was attended by the stranger dog alone.

[After a brisk canter of half an hour (which is very interestingly described) the sportsman sighted a deer, the object of his hunt. One version of the tradition has it that Mr. Weir first saw this stag on the hill three miles east of Greenville, which since the publication of this story has been called "Buck Knob."]

On the very summit of the ridge, full one hundred and fifty yards distant, every limb standing out in bold relief agaiast the clear blue sky, the stag paused and looked proudly down upon us. After a moment of indecision I raised my rifle and .sent the whizzing lead upon its crranil. A single bound and the antlered monarch was hidden from my view.

[The eha.se continued for several hours, and led the hunter many miles from the starting-point, until finally he had a second shot at the animal.]

Again I poured forth tlie "leaden messenger of death," and meteorlike he flashed by us. One hound and the noble animal lay prostrate within fifty feet of where I stood. Leaping from my horse and plaeing one knee upon the stag's shoulder and a hand upon his antlers, I drew my hunting knife. But scarcely had the keen point touched his neck, when with a .sudden Imund he threw me from his Imdy, and my knife was hurled from my hand. In hunter's parlance, I had "only creased him." I at once saw my danger; but it was too late. With one bound he was >ipon me, wounding and almo.st di.sabling me with his sharp feet and horns. 1 seized him by his wide.spread antlers and sought to regain possession of my knife, but in vain; each new struggle drew me farther from it. Cherokee (my horse), frightened at this unusual scene, had madly Hed to the top of the ridge, where he .stood looking down upon the combat, trembling and (juivering in every limb.