The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1869-05-20
"REMINISCENCES OF SARATOGA.
Who Was He?
BY VIM. L. STONE,
From adrance sheets of the Northern
MOnthM.

Monthly.
1t was on a mild April day, in the
spring Of 1864 that, with two friends,
Ballard and French, I visited the summit
of small mountain one mile north of
the village Of Saratoga Spring and called
| by the inhabitants mount VISTA. To
any one who visits the spot, the apRprEo
priateness of the name is apparent. The
village of Saratoga lies in the center Of a
vast plain stretching out on either side
{. series of broken ridges or spurs of the
| kayaderosseras range came down to with
In the village limits where they lose them
selves in the plain. This little mountain
chain is, even at the present time, as
primeval as when the bear and the wof
roamed its dark and tangled thickets of
pine and hemlock. That such wildness
should exist within almost stone throw
| of a noted fashionable watering place can
| only be explained by the fact that a
tramp over these hills would be incompati
| BILE with that dolce far niente which every
one Is supposed to court in a town like
Sar,.toga. At the White Mountains, on
the contrary, climbing is the fashion;
and delicate women, who week before,
at the Springs, could scarcely walk from
their hotel to the village church, now
nlmbly climb the sleeps of Mount Wash
ington. The highest of this range of
hills is Mount Vista; and the dead level
which it overlooks renders the view from
its top even more extensive than from
an elevation three or four times its alti-
tude. The eye, wandering over miles of
cultivated fields and fertile meadows,
finally rests upon the many little villages
nesting within the folds of the Green
Mountains; or, turning southwark, takes
in the beautiful Catskill with the Hudson
washing their feet.
Our party, having accomplished the
mission ON which it came-namely to
| place upon the summit of Mount Vista
the stars and stripes in commemoration
of Lees surrender-returned down the
mountain by route apparently never
before trodden by man. When nearly
at the bottom of the descent, Ballard 5
foot slipped, and to rescue himself he
caught at a shelf or cleft in the rock.
Finding his hand rest on some smooth
substance, he made an examination which
resulted in the discovery of human
skeleton lying upon its face. Further
investigation, moreover, showed that 1t
had belonged to man rather under the
medium height, and also that the bones,
though very much decayed, were, even to
the smallest ones of the feet,in their place,
except the little finger of the right hand,
which was missing The closest scrutiny,
however, failed TO reveal any article
around OF in vicinity of the skeleton except
a fiat tin pocket book Containing a finely
written manuscript and the yorm-eaden
cover OF book, on which could yet be
made out the word Shelley" These
articles lay underneath the ribs. having
evidently been contained in the breast
pocket of the deceased. That the bones
we're not more decomposed nor displaced
was undoubtedly owing to the fact of
their having been protected both on the
sides and top by lime stone rock, the
effect of which was to shed the rains and
SHOWS like slate roof. We carefully
gathered up the remains from their natural
sarcophagus. and, before starting for the
village, cast a sad aud lingering look al
the spot. 1t is sweet wild haunt. The
sunshine falls there with 8 sottened
radiance and brook, near by, murmurs
plaintively as if mourning for the dead.
As soon as our discovery was known
in the village, there was no little curiosity
excited but as there was no one te
whom any person remembered to have
mysteriously disappea and as the
doctors said that the bones must have
lain where they were found for at leas
thirty years, interest In the subject soor
| died out.
, Now, if were writing for effect, the
orthodox manner of presenting the man
, uscript found in the tin case would bs
something after this fashion," That some
t evening Ballard, French and mysel
5 having drawn our chair nearer the fire
q replenishcd our glasses, and lighted fresl
Havanas, French unfolded the manuscrip
and read as follows" This statement