The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-03-12

his gruff- looking npknions toward the
counter where my chl@ was playing and
my wife stood, the erpuching Wolf said
he would come back. Ne wants the talk
ing water he wants tlat, or revenge. He
will have one.'
az tried to reason with him, but he was
deaf to reason He Asd tasted from the
fagon of one of his red companions, and
the fumes were in his brain.
"'Come, medicine-nAn,' said he, 'the
Wolf wants the hre-milk. Where is it?
he CANNOT wait His spirit Is up, and his
forehead is warm
az saw that he grew desperate; but my
resolution was taken. ] sternly denied
him; 1t was fatal denial
"During the colloquy my wife and child
had gone out on the green sward, and the
latter was picking wild flowers aad string
ing them. The Crouchine Wolf left me,
growing some gutteral lentences to his
companions; and, OIL mSciful Heavens!
/ saw them advance toWA,l my child. l
was motionless, and paralyzed with terror.
As the Wolf approached my little girl, he
drew Q tomahawk from his belt, and
hourished 1t on high. sprang toward
him, but was pushed back by his com
psnions. The dear, innocent, unafhghted
child smiled in the -fso1 of the crorching
purity Of her look stayed hie vengeful arm.
He paused, until scream from the mother
aroused the terror of her little girl She
then shrunk back IRON the relentless
savage, while her mothet like myself, was
kept at bay, and the dear little innocent,
quivering with dismsy, said, in childish
simplicity, Naughty Iniian! If he hurts
Sarah, ma viii be angry, and punish him.
aAs she said this she burst into tears
her last for ever
ain one instant the tlenchAnt weapon
of the infuriated Indian Glove asunder the
head of my babe; In the next his excited
comrades, of whom now there were Eve,
had murdered the wife Of my bosom. I
have an indistincs and herrid remem-
brance Of my burning store-the red
nends yelling over the consuming roof
and walls-and my escape to the forest.
The rest was but silence and oblivion. I
was madmani
"Ten months after that found myself
In New Orleans. had reached the city,
no one knew how-had been conveyed to
q hospital, kindly treated, and discharged
as cured, but an outcast and q beggar.
Misfortunes seldom come alone. I found
that during my seclusion from the world
my father had died, and as had already
received my share Of his property, the
residue melted away among several
brothers and sisters. MY Inheritance
on this side of the Atlantic being destroyed
by Indians, I was without home or Q
friend.
Chow subsisted I scarcely know. At
last, as was one day walking moodily
along, saw q group collected around an
Indian who was performing tricks from a
box with rattlesnske The Indian was
the Crouching Wolf
"The murderer of my wife and child I
I exclaimed, as penetrated through the
ring, and with one fierce blow felied the
vile monster to the earth. I seized him
by the throat. I placed my knee upon
his breast In few moments he was
distorted and CHASTITY corpse beneath my
feet
my award of retribution was consid-
cred Just, and no effort was made to arrest
me. Awaiting myself of the box belong
Ing to the Crouching Wolf, which l con.
tended was mine as debt, soon learned
the mystery of his art, as if by intuition.
An upper drawer of the box contained the
real rsttlesnake; an under drawer merely
the skin of One, which could be inflated
by the breath at will. The motion Of the
~n S1 sSs
mcvesnens " fthss~tsrs1Ts sne sasn-. cau.cs
Filled from the lunks, It Could readily be
taken into the mouth and compressed into
q very small compass, and while re pass
ing outward, inflated again. l bought a
new snake from the museum, which l
killed and prepared according to the
model before me. could not endtire the
thought OF even using the same instru-
ments employed by the destroyer of all
that most loved On earth, and I turned
from his trickery with feeling of almost
positive loathing; yet in the end did
not see why should not make capital
out of it.
IA little practice made me an adept in
the mystery of snake eating, and l have
since wandered in loneliness from town to
town, attempting this curious enterprise
My. pecuniary success has been sufficient
for my comfor. and convenience, and the
danger OF the feat is only in appearance
With slight exertion / can turn my face
into the colors and contortions you wit
ness this evening, and which heighten the
interest of the spectacle. But these things
can only temporarily divert my thoughts
for carry within my heart an aching
fever, which no prosperity can allay or re-
move. The objects which have cheered
me can cheer me no more. / stand alone
in this wilderness world, f1ourner and a
pilgrim. My visions are of my wife and
child my day-dresms are of them but
1 must suffer, as you see, until l meet them
IL that better country where the sun de-
scends not, and darkness is unknown I;
where the ewicked cease from troubling,
and where the weary are at rest' l can
forget my child, for her existence seems
to me like misty trance, in the fond as
surance that the sparkling dewdrop has
exhsled In heaven; but for the cherished
rose that sustained ii, cease not to grieye
Alas for the wife of my boeoml"
With the last words the snake eaters
voice failed, his body was convulsed, until
q food of tears relieved him. He would
hear no sympathetic words horn his
friend, but parted with him thus
"You alone have my secret. In few
months more my body must be consigned
be consigned to the earth on the sacred
spot where my wife and child were mur-
dered You shall be one of the executors
of my will, and beseech you faithfully to
carry out my instructions"
The snake-eatef was right; few
months after this interview he sdied and
now, in the very centre of q populous
town, on the banks of the Mississippi, may
be seen tombstone recording the events
which occurred on that spot, an 1.-THE hope
of the departed husband that he should
meet his wife and child u. .heayen,