Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1857-10-24
From the Dayton Empir
A THRILLING ADVENTURE.

A THklLLING ADVENTURE.
We question whether, in all the history
of hair-breadth escapes, a parallel to tn,
following can easily be found The story
was told us by.an old man and venerable
friend now resi,lfag in the countrysaaeaf' NH,
city, but whose early days were spent nea
the sccnc CT the tragic adventure here re-
! corded
we give the story as rotated to us, in til,
words of the hero.
1t was about the year 1895 that settled
in Virginia rear the falls of the Fanowha
Ths country. was,at that time an .eabroken
I Wilderness. But few settlements had been
made then by the whites, and they were sc
far apart as to render vain all hopes of asss,
tancc in case of an attack from hostile In.
dians numbers of whom still infested the
neighborhood.
lived here alere.vith MY wife for seve
rel pnonths unidolested, and by dint of un
firing perseverance, being then young ant
hardy, had succeeded in making quite
clearing in the forest which 1 had planted
with Germ, which promised an abundant
yield
| = Cne morning, after We had dispatched our
humble meal, and [ had just prepared 20
venture forth upon my regular routine, ioi
'abor,n'y attention was arrested by tie; tink-
fling@ofa eew bell in.the cornfeld
There, said my wife, the COW is in the
cornfeld.
But the ear Of the backwoodsman becomes
by education cry acute, especially SO from
the fact that his safety often depends upen
the nice cultivation of that sense | was
not so easily deceived. listened, the sound
was regcatod. THAT said /, in reply to
my wife, was not tie tinklc of a bell upon
the neck of a cow. !" tits a decoy of some
Indian who desires to draw me into an am
bush. ~
Believing this to be the case, I took my
old musket down q had TO rihc) and soein g
that it was properly load6ds stole cautious
ly around the field toward the point from
which the sound seemed to proceed. As |
had suspected there in a cluster of bushes,
erouched an Indian waiting for me to APP
pear in answer to his decoy bell, that he
might send the fatal bullet to my heart -
approached without discovering myself to
him, until within shooting distance, then
raised my piece and fred. The bullet sped
true to its mark, and the Indian fell.
Not knowing but that he might be accom-
panied BY others, ] returned with al my
speed to my CABIN, and ffaeiugsfrn,l ,sbarri-
cadoed the door, watched all day from holes,
in anticipation of an attack from the COM
panions of the Indian had killed. To add
to the danger and seeming kepelessness oil
my situation [ discovered that | had only
one charge of powder left.
! cersi make bt one shot, and /! en- il
attacked by numbers, should be entirely
in tteir power. Determined to dc the best
twit1&I1what | had, | poured out aAay last
charge of powder and put into my musket
fifteen slug, and then waited for the ap-
proaeh ofnight, feeling confden. ofl@n at
stack. Night came at last. " beautiful
moonlight night it was too, and this favour
ed me greatly, as | would thereby be able to
observe the movements Of the enemy as they
approached my cabin. It was some two
hours after nig htfall and as yet | had nei-
ther heard nor seen sign Of Indians, when
sud lenly | was started by the baying of my
dog at the stable. | knew that the Indians
were coming. The stable stood little west
of the cabin. and between the two patch
of cleared ground, upon which the light of
the noon fell unebstructed. Judging from
the noise at the stable that they would ad-
vance from that direction, ! posted myself
at the port hole on that side of the cabin.
had previously placed nay wife upon the
cross pole in the chimney, so that in case
atal ~,
IN she might climb out ard make her es-
cape. For n,yself entertained no beoe,
but de,eriajred. lot to he,tekon alive, sf re-
solved to sell my lie doap,y. - is.'[
With breathless anxiety watched at the
port hole At length saw them emerge
from the shadow of tho stable and advance
across the ground towards my cabin One
two, tLrce-grcat heayons. six .stalwart
Indians armed to the teetlr,, and .utgod on
by the hope of revenge alonc to oppose
them, with but one charge Of POWDER Ny
case was desperate indeell with. quick
yet stcalthy step, in close single file they APP
preached, and were already within few
yards of the house, whek "a .,slight move
ment of the forward Indian changed tn po-
sition of the entire six, so that a portion oil
the left side of each was uncovered They
were all i'll a rangc-one aim would cover
all Quicls,a5 thought | aimed and fred.
AS the smoke cleared away, cohld hps dly
credit what mr. senses showed me as the re-
suit of my ssot. n.''
The fifteen slugs with which / hsG loaded
my musket had done the work we'll Five
Of the six Indians lay dead upon the ground
and the sixth had disappeared
Although no enemy was now in sight.
did not venture forth until morning. The
bodies of the five Indians lay there undis,
turbed together, with the rife Of the other
Securing the arms and alnsnuGtien of the
fallen Indians, followed up the trail of the
missing one, until reached the river, be-
yond which point could discover no trace
whatever. lrem the amount of blood that
marked the trail, togetherswith the uunis.
taxable evidence'tiat' he had picked }is'way
with difficulty, was led to believe that he
had been MORALLY wounded, and in order tc
prevent his body from falling into the hands
of his white foe he had CROPPED his way tc
1.-The river apd thrown Himself into tho cur
rent, which mad boans. him, away ~,
| The lndians.,Asd killed my COW, and tina
you may be assured was no triAing loss, ye
in gratisudesos my escape from the mcrci
| less savage, Twould have been 'eitirelywil