Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1851-02-18

!
of their number dead and torn t,
PIECES within ten day 5; and yet no
theTslightest due to the relentles.
land invisible foe, but the ghostly sto
Fryof Henry's, and the 3 tracks whicl
only served to tant alize theml i
must be some dreah supernatural
4 visitation Of their hFdeous crimes,
They shivered, while The great drops
started from their foreheads, and
without thinking Of looking for any
trail, or even 8 Gathering up the bones
they started back at full speed
spreading the ALARM everywhere.
The excitement now b ecame uniyer-
sal and tremendous Nearly the
whole country turned out for the
purpose-of unravelling this alarming
mystery; and tlf super lstitious frenzy
was in no small degreel heightened by
the report, that this d IAN had been
! SnOC III the same way IaS tne OlneIS,
in the back Of Hehekd
These incidents wete' all so unac-
countablc, that | own I felt no little
sympathy with the popular associa-
ton of a supernatural dgency in their
preparation. Henry laughed at all
this, but insisted that if was a maniac;
and to account for the peculiar dex-
terity of his esd sdapes al Id whole man
Fagement, relate d many anecdotes of
the proyerbial cunning Of madmen
The widest, most abF Furd, and in
credible stories we're now aaoat among
the people concq qrning t bis deadly and
subtle foe of the Reg tlators; for it
was now universally believed and re-
marked, that it was against them
alone that his enmity was directed
The story of Henry w As greatly i'm
proved upon and added to; and, as
some reports had it, the Madam,
others, the Bearded Ghost, was seen
in half a dozen place$ at the same
time; NOW on foot, now stalking
with enormous strides across some
open glade from thick et to thicket
passing out Of sight again before
the observer could rec@ @Fer from his
SURPRISE then mounted, he was seen
flying like the shadow of a summer
cloud over the prairieB, +, or beneath
the glpoms of forests, al lWays haggard
and lean,' dressed in s kins with the
hair on, and that long heavy, terri
bic rifle on his shoulder! / noticed
that there was only claS IS Of men who
ventuied I'd assert that they. had ac-
tually seen with their 0 wn eyes these
wonderful sights, and that was con-
stitated Of those who q ither had suf-
fered, or fiji pm their c haracters and
pursuits, we're most likely to suffer
persecution from the Regulators
the class of hunter emlgrants.-
These men were most ! Industrious in
embellishing all the circumstances of
character, feats, and relentless hatred
to the Regulators, as highly as the
excited credulity of the public would
bear. They never saF him except
in the vicinity OF the homes Of some
one Of these hated tyrah hts! nItheir
versions this being was for ever hov-
ering around them, wa aiting the mo-
ment to strik e 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 suspicion which hd ID occurr ed to
Henry and myself namely, that all
this was the result Of profoundly
acute and thoroughly organized
scheme of this class, he eaded by some
man of peculiar personalities and con-
summate skill, with the object of ex-
terminating OF driving off tile Regu-
Iators. It sdemed impossible, that,
without collus sion with many others,
themurderer should have been able toI
so baffle all pursuit. Hinch and his
band had been thoroughly cowed and
awed; but the moment this idea oc7
Cured to thel b, the rea aetion of their
base fears was savage eXultation.-
Here was sorh hething tangible, their
open and nited force could easily
exterminate a b enemy who had -ac-
knowledged their weakness in resort
ing to secret combination and assas-
sina6on from the bushl' They forth
with proclaimed war to the knife
with the whole class; and during the
next week sew Yeral outrages, so revolt
ing that / will not detail them, were
perpetrated upon these men in diff