The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1847-02-20

and cut down four or five times, to
make him confess; but nothing was eli
cited; and they left him with barely
spark of life.
That evening, as they were return
ing to their headquarters at the store,
one of them named, Winter, missed a
portion OF his horse funture, which had
become accidentally detached. He
said he had observed it in its place n
rnhe back,-that he would return to get
it, and rejoin them at the store, by the
time they should be ready to commence
the spree they had determined on 60
ing into that night. He left them, and
never returned. They soon got drunk,
and did not particularly notice his alb
sence until some time the next day.
when his family, alarmed by the return
of his horse with an empty saddle, sent
to inquire after him. This sortof inqui-
ries had come to be so significant oflate,
that they were instantly sobered, ond
mounting, rode back on their trail.--
Very soon a swarm of buzzards and
wolves, near line of thlcket ahead, de-
signated the whereabouts of the object
of their search; and there they found
his fleshless bones scattered on every
side. They were appalled,. The red
dest- -b'oated cheek among them blanch-
ed! 1t was terrible? They seemed to
be doomed! Three Of their number
dead and torn to pieces within ten days;
and yet moi the slightest clue to the
relentless and invisible foe, but, but
that ghostly story Of Henry's, and the
tracks which only served to tantalize
them! 1t must be some dread super
natural visitation eirhldeous crimes!
They shivered, while the great drops
started from their foreheads, and with
out thinking of looking for any trail,
or even gathering up the bones, they
started back at full speed, spreading the
alarm everywhere. The excitement
now became universal and tremendous.
Nearly the whole country turned out
for the purpose ofunraveling this alarm
ing mystery; and the superstitious fren-
zy was in no small degree heightened
by the report, that this man had been
shot in the same way as the others,-
in the back Of The head!
These incidents were all so unac-
count" BILE, that own | felt no little
sympathy with the popular association
of supernatural agency in their per-
petra,ion. Henry laughed at all this.
but insisted that it was IA maniac; and
to account for the peculiar dexterity of
his escapes and whole management, re-
lated many anecdotes OF the proverbIal
cunning of madmen. The widest.
most absurd. and incredible stories
we're now aAoat among the people con-
cerning this deadly and subtle foe Of
the Regulators; for it was now uni
versaIy believed and remarked, that it
was against them alone that his enmity
was directed. The story of Henry
was greatly improved upon and added
to;and, as some reports had it, the Mad
man,-as others, the Bearded Ghost,
was seen In half dozen places at the
same time;-now on foot, stalking with
enormous strides across some open
glade from thicket to thicket-passing
out of sight again before the observer
could recover from his surprise; then
mounted, he was seen flying like the
shadow of a summer cloud over the
prairies, or beneath the gloom of for
ests, always haggard and lean, dressed
in skins with the hair on, and that long
heavy, terrible rifle on his shoulder!
noticed that there was only one class
OF men who ventured to assert that
they had actually seen with their own
eyes these wonderful sights, and that
was constituted of those who either had
suffered, or from their characters and
pursuits, were most likely to suffer per-
sacu,ion from the Regulators-th the class
of hunter emigrants. These men were
most industrious in embellishing all the
circumstances Of character, leats, and
relentless hatred to the Regulators, as
highly as the excited credulity Of the
public would bear. They never saw
him except in the vicinity Of the homes
of some one Of these hated tyrants!
In their versions this being was for ev-
er lowering around them, waiting the
to strike while they were alone
and far from any help.
They carried this thing SO far as to
attract attention to it, and arouse in the
cunning mind of Hinch the same sus-
picion which had occurred to Henry
and myself, namely, that all this was
the result of profoundly acute and
organized scheme of this
class, headed by some man Of peculiar
and consummate skill,
u;,h tho object of or driv