The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1870-10-19


q HER BABE-A ROMANCE OF HU-
RON COUNTY.
Many years ago, in the Domin-
sion Of Canada, lived a family of
swell-to-do Fcedch people, who i'm
I smigrated hither in the year 1853.
"a fair young flower was the dark
scyed Celia, and her three sturdy
sbrothcrs were jealous Of the man
swho might in future years secure
sthe budding rose full blown, and
sbreak the chain of happy hearts
saround the social hearth. Time
spassed. The war and its rewards
: had called the brothers from their
shome, the falhor, allurod by the
srewards which smuggling pre-
.seDted at the time, and which
was engaged in to such an extent
Jon the lake shores in the years
s166l-4, had turned his honest fish
boat into 4 dark-sailcd smuggling
craft. Celia, fattercd by the com
moncrs and recognized by the ''se-
lcct" on account Of her grace and
beauty, all unconscious of the law
; less father and the fate Of the three
warrior brothers, laughed on, all
sheedless Of what was in store for
shcr-bccoming vain, careless, and
fond Of dress.
Vanity is always the thin ice of
destruction, and in Celia's case 1T
proved no exception. The spoiler
was on the watch; he recited to the
daughter the story Of her fathers
crimes, her brothers death. in
Southern prisons: and onded with
the fairest proposal Of marriage
In her terrible dependency, caused
by these horrid relations, the girl
Cecilia accepted the proposal Of her,
destroyer, IN the recklcssness Of
|her despair. Shortly after one Of
|her brothers returned from the;
war, alive and we'll as ever, and
Through bis instrumentality the;
;real character Of the villain, was
discovered and made known to bis
sister. Knowing the disgrace and
degradation into which she bad!
fallen, her reason began gradually
ito fail her, and in G short time she;
disappeared. from the neighbor-i
hood, going no one knew whittier;
During the fall Of 1865, some:
two years after the disappearance;
of the Frenchman's daughter, two,
hunters from the township Of.
White Rock discovered in a Wild:
forest the foot prints,
of a human being, barcfootcd and;
alone. Their curiosity was at;
once aroused, and by the aid Of:
dogs, after chase of eighteen:
hours, they succeeded in obtaining:
a view Of the object of their pur-I
suit. Nearer they approached;
the form coming more palpable at:
every step, when the object hear:
ing the approach, turned full uponI
them in all its horrid semblancess
of the humanity it was not. Re-
voting and bideous as was its ap-s
pearance, the hunters recognized
through all the ghoul-like aspects,s
the person Of a female lunatic!;
The dark, wild, insane eyes; the;
and tangled hair; thes
shreds of filthy covering; the:
Scared and fostering skeleton FORM
all told Of reason lost, Of a lifes
wrecked, Of a soul which had per-s
ished. With a scream wild and
uncarthly, she gathered bundles
from the ground, flung it across:
her shoulders, and disappeareds
with the swiftness Of the wind.s !
The people of the neighborhood;
were aroused, the excitement rang
high, and long into the early part:
Of the winter hunting parties weres
securing the woods in search off
the lunatic woman.
At last she was captured, justs
over the line in Sanilac County.
and taken to the common jail :
People gathered in crowds to seeS
this strange phenomenon. The:
bundle which she was always scens
to be carrying while on her flights
in the forest, was opened to theS
public gaze, and there-oh horrors
Of all horrors LAY the skull andS
skeleton Of an infant-her babes
which she had carried through alIS
her tedious marches by night ands
by day for two long years ands
more. She was an inmate of thes
Jail during the whole of the win-s
ter and the following summer
The only service which she rem 5
lered at the time was knitting, atS
which she was an expert. Theres
are many yet who recollect theS
''old crazy woman" and but fews
who saw her will believe US whcns
we state that her age, instead ofS
being from so to go, as it rcalIys
seemed, was less than 80 years.
A. times she would humble overss
4 list of names, which the jailorS
would hurricdly take down as Z
nearly as possible in their jumbleds !
state, and then inquiry would be-
instituted and letters written tos
Ill parts, but all to no purpose. 5
Her name and history remained az
sealed volume. s
L