The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-02-01
THE QUAKER'S LEGACY.
An English Engineers Ad-
ventures i'm Missouri.
+ Continued. ]

were of Ruth Pell's blue eyes and sweet
shy beauty, and how tender and true
a wife she, who was so good daughter
would be certain to make.
"Time to get up, massa, if massa want
to take one lilly bit breakfast before
caravan start for de West, sar!"
The Santa Fe caravan presented a
picturesque spectacle when it set on
two hours after daybreak, while the
streets of Jefferson were crowded by
spectators who had come abroad thus
early to see us start. 1t was, beheVe
but = poor affair, however, when com
pared with the vast trains OF wagons
that had been used to depart, laden
with goods and immigrants for the
prairie land, and followed by huge cabal'
fadas of horses and mules. But now the
broken roads, the destruction of bridges,
the unsafeness of the route, had COM
bined to give check to the traffic
Such goods as the traders now took
with them for the Indian and Mexican
traffic were carried on pack animals,
and the whole party were on horseback,
and armed.
There were no women or children,
and our appearance was decidedly war
| like as we rode, accOutred with rifles
and revolvers, down the dusty western
road that leads to Kansas. twenty
dragons composed our escort, and, 10
my great satisfaction, found that their
officer was Lieutenant Randolph Har-
ris. Such guard was more necessary
than ever; for not only were the Indians
rendered unusually restless and auda-
cious by the internecine strife that was
going on among the whites, but the
frontier swarmed with bands of reckless
marauders. Indeed, as my friend the
lieutenant laughingly remarked beside
the camp fire, at our first halting-place,
between Confederate bushwhackers and
Federal iayhawkers there was not much
choice for those who had anything 70
lose.
1t was not, however, until we got
among the border counties of Missouri
that we began to see in its true colors'
what civil war meant. Then, indeed,
broken fences, corn crops wantonly cut
down and left to rot, the fire-blackened
ruins of houses, and the carcases OF
slaughtered cattle left by the roadside,
gave CHASTITY tokens of the ruthless ma
ture Of the contest. We often found the
road torn up, and in places streams had
been diverted from their course, o. giant
trees felled so as to intercept the track.
No wheeled carriage could have passed
without the aid of corps of pioneers,
and our own progress was slow. 1t was
the third day before we left Clinton be-
hind us, and on the morning OF the
fourth we scarcely expected to reach
Osawatomie before nightfall.
Hitherto we had met no armed men
except detachments of Union troops Of
the Missouri militia; but OH this fourth
day of our march an urgent entreaty
was made to the officer commandin & our
escort to afford protection to the inhab-
itants of little town called Clayvllle,
which was threatened with fire and
sword by the Kansas jayhawkers who
had crossed the border under the guild
ance of the notorious senator "Jem
Lane" and who, in defiance of the pro-
hibition of General Schotield, were
threatening to lay the border counties
of Missouri utterly waste, partly in re-
venge for Quantrclps raid, and partly to
prevent future forays.
Lieutenant Harris started for Clay
vile accordingly, taking with him most
of the soldiers. Indeed. only two troop
crs and an Irish corporal remained with
the caravan, but this seemed to be OF
the less consequence, as our escort
would certainly rejoin Osawatomie, and
no Confederates were known to be IN
the district. This separation Of our
forces occurred early in the day, and 1t
was late in the sultry afternoon that the
caravan, after long plodding its way
through gloomy tract Of virgin forest,
emerged into n clearing of considerable
extent. There was large farmhouse
before us, with out-buildings of unusual
size for the West; but, alas! the spoileT
had been busy there. The fences were
broken, the crops trampled down, and
several cattle, manned by the knife OF
shot down with rifles, lay dead or dying
in the grassy lanes, overshadowed by
persimmon and laurel trees.
We passed an orchard, too, of which
the apple trees had been cut down, the
Topped boughs and severed trunks ly-
ing in a confused heap beneath the axe;
while, little way off, the charred ruins
of q barn were still sending up wreaths
of hot blue smoke, and piles of golden
maize, half burnt, could be seen through
the blackened boards. As VIC approach
ed the dwelling, fresh signs of merciless
ravage met us at every step, in the shape
of household furniture, broken, smash
ed, and singed, tossed here and there
amid the litter of the farmyard. Broken
china were mingled with handsome
chairs and tables of rosewood and ma
hogany, with torn garments, with the
shattered toys Of children; and books
spitefully rent to pieces. little family
treasures (such as portrait or quaint
old desk or work-boX) damaged and de-
faced, met our eyes everywhere. ~,
"The militia hey been here, mister"
said an old Santa Fe trader, who rode
beside me; ''and, if Pm not much mis-
taken, yon's their camp, out there, where
the smokes risin', and the turkey buz-
yards air wheelin' above the -treetops.
They've gin it these poor folks hot and
heavy, they hev. Look at that rose
wood piano chopped with tomahawks,
aud the picture with q bullet-hole
through it; and that satin gown slashed
to tatters; but what rifles me the most
is to see the dolls and plsythings ripped
and smashed as if. Mercy on us!
they've took life and allw - 10
And as the trader spoke he jerked his
finger upwards, pointing to a CHASTITY
object that dangled from projecting
branch of the huge shade-tree that grew
before the house. 1t was the body of a
man dressed in homespun cloth, of the
butternnt color so common in the South.
A cap had been drawn over the face.
The stiffened limbs were still pinioned
together with thongs of raw hide.
Several of us entered the house, which
we found in q sad state of confusion
and disorder. A frightened woman,
with three or four terrified children be-
side her. was found in q corner weeping
and rocking herself to and fro. The
children set up a wsiling cry when they
saw us, no doubt thinking that the enc
my had returned; but with some diff
Guilty we persuaded them that our pur-
pose was friendly. With many sobs the
woman, the mistress of the house, as we
at once conjectured, told us what had
happened.
UJavhawkers hey heen here she