The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1867-12-18

low, IN circumstances WHICH lelC IO uOuol
in the mind of any one but that he and
his children had been murdered. Traces
of blood and fragments of the children S
clothes rendered the matter conclusive.
Although II s. character had previous
ly stood fair-he being a jealous member
of the Baptist church, the people at
length came to the conclusion that the
murder could have been committed by no
other than he. From various reasons it
became evident that the man on the south
side of the river could have had no agen,
cy in the affair. He was heard to re-
mark, however, that had it not been for
clump of bushes on the north side,
which obstructed his view from the south
side, he believed that he could easily have
identified the murSMr, Not long after
this this man n..ss.i~~~l iss-siF'-
cumstances VII conclusive to the
people of the setSement that the deed
was performed by a son of H, the sup
posed murderer of the soldier and his
children, named Stephen, and the opinion
became permanent that Stephen had mur-
dered this innocent man lest he should
disclose his father crime. Here matters
rested. There was no human testimony
to the guilt of either father or son, and
yet there was scarcely doubt in the
mind of any one but that they both were
deeply and doubly criminal. Not many
months had elapsed, however, before the ell
der H came suddenly to his end by the
falling of tree, while he was plowing in
his field. Stephen lived some years after
his father, but came also to an untimely
end. While on bear hunt, he came in
contact with one of these animals in a
cauebrake, doubly ferocious by being
wounded. By it he was seized, and so
terribly mangled that he died, | believe
while In its grasp.
Some, l am aware, would probably say
that this was all mere accident. Other
men have come to their end by the fall
ing of trees, and the grasp of wild AMI
mails. This is true. But it is question
able if two cases equivalent to the above
can be found, where justice seemed so
strikingly retributive. Let others, how
ever, think as they may, | am sure that
the old inhabitants of that settlement
could as easily have been persuaded that
the Arkansas flowed west, as to have been
made to believe that the falling tree and
the huge bear were not the diviuely ap-
pointed avengers of the harmless soldier
and his three fnofis fess Children.
Most Of tho above particulars re-
ceived from a lady of great excellence
who resided in her early years in the set
tlement where the events occurred. In
the year 1928 or 1929, when returning
from visit to Old Dwight, in the Cher
okee Nation, spent night at the house
of Stephen H. He kept house of
entertainment near theScene of the above
mentioned tragedies. He was tall, saw
age looking man, and taciturn in his man.
ners. The only incident remember, as
connected with his establishment, was
that in the room where | lodged was a
bOarder who kept a jug of whiskey under
his bed, to which he resorted repeatedly
during the night,-and also that in the
morning Stephen called up his little son,
four or five years of age, and poured out
for him some whiskey in tin cup. The
child seemed reluctant to drink it but at
length yielded to parental authority. l
was half amused in looking at the little
urchin, seated on the rude hearth, slowly
slipping with a teaspoon the insidious
poison.
In concluding this statement l would
say that while we have sufficient evidence
that God visits sinners, often visibly, in
the present life, yet, for reasons unknown
to us, the wicked may be permitted to
live at ease and to die apparently in peace.
The infdel Hume, after exerting his un-
common powers through life to undermine
the very foundations of Christianity, is
represented as jesting in his last hours
respecting his interview with Charon at
the river Styx. But his biOgraphers do
not tell us what ideas were present to his
mind after his tongue ceased to do its Of
flee. Even his distinguished friend, Adam
Smith, the expounder of the laws of ma
tions, could not hold intercourse with
him then, nor "divert him with his fav-
orite game of whist. "
Who can tell what may be the sensa-
tions of the sinful soul when entering the
valley of the shadow of death The sud-
den transition from the light Of day to
the darkness of the tunneled mountain,
has caused many momentary shrek of
despair; yet that was not "the black
ness of darkness forever"
No uninspired description has ever
awakened in my own mind such horror as
have experienced while revolving the
words of that poet who represents Con-
science personifed as whispering in the