The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1854-02-15

he came and went without speaking. He
never gre ieted any man, and no man ever
said farewell to him. The border people
looked him with respect and fear; the
Indians shuddered at his name, and the
Shawnees. especially looked on him as a
curse sent from the Great Spirit 10 exter-
min ate tn. cir race.
AT last they became so terrified by this
phantom Of the Silent Hunter perpetually
hunting til cir paths, that they all collected
together and fled across the great stream
of kentucky. But he followed them over.
and wa yer on their hunting grounds.
So they fled again and passed over the
Green river. Still the Indians were ap-
palled by h caring of the braves slain in the
forest ard at their camp fires. by an arm
that they never dreamed Of conflict.
The Silent fHunter never lost their trail.
Then they once more burnt their wigwams
and went way forever from that country
And when he last OF the Shawnees had
launched his canoe upon the Ohio, Bill
Smith rose from amid the bushes on the
shore and fiji ed or. the little bark.
Revenge was his monomania. When
he buried his wife and children a rash
and bloody esolulion fixed itself upon his
mind. 1t be ,came madness. He never
spoke to ma n, but silently and remorse-
llessly haunted the trail Of the Shawnees TO
slay every one who came within reach. of
his far-famed rife. Then, after that In
dian tribe had gone from its ancient hunt
ing grounds, lie retired. mute and alone,
to the most in; ,ccessibe part Of the Green
River Hills. a'here. in shady dell, re-
mote from the habitations Of men, he built
himself hat, where, in solitary quiet, he
passed the remainder of his days. He
hunted TO sup ply himself with food and
skins to excka a, ,ge for powder and shot,
which an old man at an out settlement
down on Green River was accustomed to
supply him with. His life was protracted
to the age of eg hty. eight.
One day the sid man at the settlement
was heard to say that something must have
happened to the Silent Hunter, for he had
not come as usual to fill his shot bag and
powder pouch. Bidding no one to follow
him, he went O ut to the Green River
Mountains, and when he came back.
though many que STONED. he said nothing
of what he had Sc. m or where he had been.
From that day, however. no man saw the
Silent Hunter. No one heard of his fate,
but it became dim tradition in the coun.
try that his spirit was still among the
mountains of Green River.
Not many years ago, however, Web
ber, the naturalist hunter, started with a
companion, in search Of game among the
Green River Hills. After wandering many
days among their solitudes. they oame TO
the dwelling OF an old trapper living alone
with his dogs-an hermit Of the forest, full
of its traditions. and familiar with all the
spots they hunted. He said that near the
place, under an old black oak, lay the
grave Of mighty hunter. lie had been a
mysterious inhabita ut Of these mountains,
and his resting bed was marked by a
stone. He had chosen it himself years
before he died. 1t was near spring OF
which he had drank, and an old mar bur.
led him, though no one since had visited
the grave Webber offered the trapper
some money if he ould lead him to the
spot; but he shuddered and refused, though
| at length, with visible trepidation, con-
sented to guide him 10 sight Of it. 1a
| He walked in front of them for some
time, among the cliffs and trees, over
streams and through hollows, till from a
bluff eminence they looked down on a
wide plain. Over the surface of this. lay
what seemed number of fiat rocks, but
4 were in reality stone sarcophagi, or graves
which are to be found in thousands, some
times covering miles Of ground in the
southern part Of Kentucky and portions
Of Tennessee. The people who used this
kind of sepulchre are now extinct. They
existed long before the Indian nation
j long before the redskins hunted through
those woods and savannas. Their burial.
grounds are all that remain OF them. They
were apparently pigmies, for the graves
J are not, on an average. more than three
feet in length; some have imagined tha
, these were the graves Of their children, bu
f the children OF The Aztec nation in this
} case must have died by thousands wher
} they were three feet high, and the Older
, people must have been buried secretly.
: In one of these curious sepulchres the
, body of Bill Smith was discovered.
was sarcophagus sunk into the earth, al
most eighteen inches deep. by the same in
I width. The explorers examined the grave
D they even disturbed the remains, bu
f they laid them in their place Of rest, ant
i left once more to his solitary repose thu
e Silent Hunter Of the Green River Hills.
e What dark and mournful story. How
: strange and checkered life. 1t was til,
n faith Of this man to his early love. and th'
!. affection OF his children that made him th
terrible, silent, remorseless being he after
: wards became. But he was not in ii;;s ma
|, ture wicked. During the latter part Q
l.. his life his mind was shaken by remem
e brance OF that melancholy day, when Mat
o tie and her little ones had been buried b.
s his own hands in the .'Vale of Pines"
d WINcHELL tells good story Of boy o.
g a railroad who initiated the whistle OF
s locomotive SO clearly that the engineer ha
s. to get down and switch him off the track
ALWAYS proceed lady going up stairs
\ This motto is legacy from maide
n. aunt.-[Lynn News. ss
l. Just so, and so it ought to be; otherwis