The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-05-05
J. P. COWAN, NJ. D.
,e over Citizens Bank Ashland Ohio.
The Hollow Oak.
A RED RIVER TRAGEDY.

and drove the gamblers from thel
quarters hanging some, lynching oth
ers, and setting some adrift in TIN
night time upon the swift-runnin:
river, in a. small and careless boat
! was Tom Gatney, or as he was bette
known among his compeers by the so
briquet of Bloody Tom," from hi!
trade of butcher, his proper sity fol
fighting, and his free use of the knife
The just but stern vengeance tha
had caused him to flee had also trum.
peted his fame so wildly that he found
it difficult, if not unsafe matter to
, obtain shelter in other cities. Ever
New Orleans, the abode of vice in al
its forms, became too hot for him> and
he was glad to join party of kindred
spirits and find resting place upon
the banks of Red River.
The severe lesson-we may look
upon it from the stand point of the
present with almost shuddering, but il
was necessity of the times-they had
received, held their lawless passions in
check Tor a period, and with changed
names they might have led changed
life and became good members of So
ciety had they been 50 disposed. But
he mania for gaming, the love of de-
bauchery, the facility of obtaining
money by the arts of the counterieiter,
was too strong within them to be cas-
lily obliterated, and very soon they
drifted back into the o.d current. Still
they did nothing openly. Bsd as was
the generality Of soc ETY., there WAS a
limit beyond which they dared not 90;
and their meetings were held in Sc
cret, and their worst actions carefully
screened.
This mode of living, however, was
despised and ridiculed by Tom Gafney.
He had been accustomed to trouble all
his life. and to fighting his way out Of
it. If he was bad man III every
sense of the word, lie was still brave
one, and be laughed to scoru the ef
forts of the other TO keep their nef:lri-
Gus practices from the eyes of the
world. Besides the memory of his
sudden and forced exit in Natchez
still rankle within him, and the VOW
OF revenge he had sworn had never
been either forgotten or satisfied
There WAS but one person in the
world that could check the torrent of
his anger, could cool him in the least
when his blood was at torrid heat.
That was his wifc-in name Mt least.
While he was a man above the usual
stature, with shoulders and muscle like
giant, and neck like an OK, she was
delicate in extreme. His hair was
black as midnight and curied closely,
hers golden as the sun tingcd clouds
at morning, and floating in air. undu-
lations. His face Vas swarthy almost
as that of an Indian, hers purely white
as alabaster. If he was the tornado
when the brutal passions of his nature
were aroused, she was the calm that
followed, and beneath the soft touch Of
her petite hand. the reproving glancos
of her blue eyes, and the magic of her
low-tuned voice, his better feeling
awoke for the time at least, and his
blood stained hands were kept from Il
deeper dye. Could she have been
ever by his side there might yet have
been hope for him. But when alb
sent he threw off the power Of her al
most spiritual influence, was the mas
ter mind, and did deeds at which an
gels turned weeping away.
But gamblers and thieves cannot
live long by robbing each other. The
vulture must go beyond its own kind
for the poor pigeon that is to be pluck
ed, and the refugeed, per force, from
the city on the Mississippi soon had
to look beyond their own circle for the
means of support and the qualification
of their animal appetites. 1t required
both time and means to prepare or OBJ
tain a quantity of counterfeit coin with
which to deceive the unsuspicious, and
great care was necessary to place in
circulation q sufficient quantity to rem
der it a paying investment. Live they
must and would. They had imbibed
extravagant notions-were accustomed
to live a fast life in every respect, and
an amount that would have b zen am
pie for their support for year with
judicious management was worse
than sqandered i'll a single night.
Whece, then, was the money to
come from
Now and then, it is true, they could
''rope in" some planter who was re-
turning from Crescent City with the
proceeds of few bales, or rob one Of
their own class who had feeced IL vic
tim in some other part of the country,
by means ofprivate signals and mark
ed cards; but these gains were uncer-
tain, and they very often were upon
the borders of want. And at such
times, when the suming fire of a de-
praved and long-gratified appetite was
raging furiously within-when their
dress was becoming shabby, and they
saw no means of replenishing their
empty pockets-the question constant
ly arose. "Where was the money to
come from ?" Work they would not,
petty thieving was beneath them! a
large and bold robbery, even though it
should be consummated at the price
of murder, was the only plan they
could devise.
A few miles up the river from where
they had located themselves was an
unusually large and well cultivated
plantation. The proprietor, Colonel
Jardin, was rich-not alone in stock
and slaves, and cotton and gold, but,
more than all, in the possession of a
daughter who was ''passing fair.
The spies OF the gang, who owned
Tom Gafney as chief, soon found means
to ascertain that the Colonel had just
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