The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1865-08-24
sTRoUDsBURG MONROE COUNTY, PA AUGUST a. 1866.

for the heirs of heroic courage were con
sidered peers-the class Of interiors EN-
braced none but towards
| Presently two rifles exploded With sim
ultaneous ruars. Col. Morton gave pro
digious bound upwards, and dropped t.
the earth corpse. Deaf Smith stood e
rect, and Immediately began to reload his
rife; and then having finished his briei
task, he fastened away into the adjacent
forest
Three days afterwards, Gen. Houston
accompanied by Deaf Smith and ten more
men, appeared in Austin, and without
further opposition removed the State pa
! pers.
The history of the hero of the forego-
ing anecdote, was one of the most extra
ordinary ever known in the West He
made his advent in Texas at an early Pc
riod, and continued to reside there until
his death, which happened some two
years ago, but though he had warm per-
| sonal friends, no one could ever learn Ell
ther the land of his birth or single
CLEAN. of his previous biography. When
questioned on the subject, he laid his fin
ger on his lip; and if pressed more ur-
gently his brow writhed, and his dark
eye seemed to shoot sparks of livid fire.
He could write with astonishing correct
ness and facility, considering his situa-
ton; and although denied the exquisite
and priceless advantage of the sense of
hearing, nature had given him ample
compensation, by an eye quick an farsee-
ing as an eagles, and smell keen and
incredible as that of raven. He could
discover objects moving miles away in the
far off prairies, when others could per-
ceive nothing but earth and sky and the
Rangers used to declare that he could
catch the scent of a Mexican or Indian at
as great distance as buzzard could dis
tinguish the odor of a dead carcass.
1t was these qualities which fitted him
so we'll for spy, in which capacity he
rendered invaluable service to Houston's
army during the war of Independence
He always went alone, and generally OBJ
tanned the information desired His hab-
its in private life were equally singular
He never could be persuaded to sleep un-
der the roof of house, or to use tent
cloth. Wrapped in his blanket, he loved
to lie out in the open air, under the blue
canopy of pure ether, and count the stars
or gaze with yearning look at the me-
lancholy moon. When not employed as
spy or guide, he subisted by hunting,
being often absent months together in
the wilderness He was genuine son of
nature, a grown up child of the woods
and prairie, which he worshipped as
sort of Pagan alteration. Excluded by
his infrmities from a cordial fellowship
with his kind, he made the inanimate
things of the earth his friends, and en-
tered by the hearts own adoption into
brotherhood with the luminaries of heav-
en-. Wherever there was land or water
barren mountains or tangled brakers of
wild waving cane, there was Deaf Smiths
home, and there be was happy; but in
the streets of grand cities, in all the great
thoroughfares of men, wherever there
was fattery or fawning, base, cunning or
craven fear, there was Deaf Smith an
alien and an exile.
Strange soul !-hc hath departed on
the long journey, away among those high
bright stars which were his night lamp
and he has either solved or ceased to
ponder the deep mystery of the magic
word ''life." He is dead-therefore let
his errors rest in oblivion and his virtues
be remembered with hope.