Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1865-11-16

neighbor tell that some negro ran OF last
night and carried away bis horse or mule;
another that the negroes have been stealing
corn from his crib, or cotton from his gin
house, and another of depredations upon
his sugar cane and potato patch this lady
has lost so many sheets, quilts and towels,
and SO many chickens, ducks and stur:
keys: They have indeed attacked athe corn
that mods in our abandoned fields, Hand our
afolds, poultry. yards, barns and storehouses
have become their prey" And we fear
that it will not be long before they will
plunder and burn our dwellings and murder
the inmates
Singular Life-work Of, o Lunatic. &
Has any one noticed the miniature fort at
the upper end Of Blackwell's Island, to the
north of the Lunatic Asylum? It il. the
work of an insane man, who has spent half
of his life upon it. he lost his mind in
Mexico, or somewhere else where high pri.
Yates were in, demand, and just escaped
being Mr., Armstrong, or ! Mr., Parrott, or
Mr.. Whitwortb, by going crazy.
s. Gunnery was what ailed. him-and forti-
fications. Asshe wasfound to be quite harm.
less, and obedient to his monomania, they
gave him intrenehing tools and told him to
fortify the island he took the geographi.
cal aud geological bearings with the sagac.
ity Of West Pointer, and concluded that
any attack upon it would come from the
south. So be devised sea, coast battery,
with bomb proofs, approaohable By dixie
with sluioes and gates, and mounting heavy
ordnance. ).
There never was a more patient worker
for humanity or patriotism, than this poof
addle:head. Nobody else being insane ION
the same point, he could get no assistance.
All the other monomaniacs had oil on. the
brain, or poetry, or capital pnnishmens or
negro suffrage, and were Quite as devoted
and jealous as he uponstheira claims.
So the old soldier, with q long sigh and
. brave heart, took up his single shovel and
commenced to build the whole fort by him.
self. He wheeled barrow after barrow Of
earth into the sea, tugged from morning till
night, until at last be raised narrow cause.
way from the main lsnd to rock at the end
of long sand bats With pebbles and
shells and stones from the river, be walled
this causeway until it became permanent
All this was not months nor years
work; year after year passed over his gray
hairs, but he kept on wheeling, wheeling.
The great CITY on the greater island re-.
quired protection and he was making its
@gis. So he went on like the men who
threw up the Charleston redopbts; and for
fear he would be too late to his task, he left
bis bed in the asylum altogether, and built
himself hut close to his place of labor:
Here he slept and dwelt in the company
only of his assuring conscience; and when
at last his path was done, he set to work at
his fort.
The result of all these years is before US.
His battery is sodded green, with parapet,
BERN, ditch, magazine, revetments, abattis,
and itmounts mock or Quaker guns, upon
carriages of capital construction, looking
up from the sound towards He'll Gate, like;
real afbiters Of dominion t-'7'
The old luuatic is worn and failing, but
he is not satisfied. His fort is done but
not his whole duty. So he has projected a
water. battery and sea wall around the en-.
tire island, and means to bring to bear upon
it all the knowledge Of Vauban and Todle.
ben. When the island is impregnable he.
will wrap his mantle about him and. die at
his battery s.z&< -. 49,. -.
For the truth Of this story let anybody
passing up the East River look upon the
island tip and see the old man ditching and
building, and the little fort close by him
briseling with popguns.
Scientife american.