The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-03-23
A Story Of West Virginia.

III \ story 4 West Virginia.
The first white settlers of Yves
= Virginia experienced dark and troub
= lous times in AG."fin~ ppssr...nan
Judgment on the banks of the Ohio
|. The Indians, being subsidized by the
: English, were hostile, and conflict:
were inevitable whenever a coionist
/ met a native. To protect the pioneer.
OF this then far remote region. a stock.
tade was conssruc1sf at Wheeling,
somewhere about the close Of the Re.
evolutionary war and a small garrison
placed within it, which was more than
once unnecessarily besieged by the
northern tribes of red men. p
/, Game of various kinds, particularly
: wild turkeys, abounded in the vicinity
of the fort and was hunted by. tile
soldiers OF the garrison to relieve the
tedium of their monotonous life and
vary their ordinary rations. On one
occasion, the seeming call of one of
these birds from a rocky ledge not far
to the rear of tiae stockade, prompted
a soldier to go ont at carly morning in
search, who, at the expiration of his
leave of absence, had not returned.
The autumnal sun declined not return
ed and set in the ha ~ forests beyond
the Ohio, and still is quarters in the
fort were vacant, nor cid he ever again
fill them. Known to I've of a restless
disposition, it was surmissed that,
wearied of his confined garrison
life, he had taken the OF, %oortunity to
desert. A day or two after. the same
direction invited a more trusfy soldier
to solicit permission to go out on the
hunt. The report of a rifle was heard
anon in the direction toward which he
had gone, and his comrades began to
look for his return, successful or other
wise. But he, too, came not nor was
he ever after seen alive. These dis
appearances were accounted very
singular, and parties were sent out in
search of the missing, but in vain.
Before the excitment thereby occasion
ed had subsidized, a squad OF recruits,
to make good the places of men whose
enlistment had expired, arrived from
Pennsylvania.
Among them was one Louis Wet
eel, a veteran Indian hunter, acqaint-
ed with all the subtleties of Indian
strategy, and of holiness equaiel by
his successes. Learning the recent
mysterious occurrences, he quietly re-
marked hat he could solve them if
the like invitation to hunt should hap
pen and leave to do so be given him.
Fortunately he had not long to wait
for ono foggy morning the same sound
echoed through the eastern forest, and
.Wetzel stole forth on his perilous eX-
ploration. An hour passed on, suf-
iciently tedious to his intensely excit-
ed comrades in the fort, and then the
sharp crack Of = rifle broke the still
ness of the woods.
That's Wetzel's gun! exclaimed
the new Corners. I'VE should know
it among a thousand
shortly the long 1.-THE figure of its
owner stalked out of the forest into
the clearing, and, as he drew near, a
bloody scalp was seen dangling by its
single gray lock of hair from the muz-
zle Of his trife.
A rousing cheer welcomed his re-
turn through the sallyport, and the
tale he told was on this wise. Ever
suspicious of Indian subtlety, and
fertile in his expedients to meet it, he
went believing that the .emnoius bird
call issued from q wary h,ned without
feathers and was uttered to bring
some unsuspectjng victim within reach
of his deadly tomah Iwk.
A repetition of having enabled him
to fix more definitely its direction and
distance, he slung his gun over his
shoulder, and climbed a tail pine tree
which gave him a view of the ledge OF
rocks from which the sound seemed to
proceed. Shortly, from between the
branches Of his lofty perch, he espied
the gray scalp lock of old Indian war
rior ensconced behind a large rock,
over which he was cautiously peering
to watch the result of his strategem.
Instantly covering the mark with his
unerring rifle, Wetzel drew trigger,
when the head dropped upon the rock,
and then disappeared behind it He
had obtained too sure an aim to DIS
trust the success of his bullet, and
waiting only a few minutes to ascer-
tain whether the. enemy were single or
not, he descended, and taking a circuit
so as to bring him above the rock,
gotan observation into a kind ~ofcavern
behind it, where lay the wild turkey,
with a perforated brain.
Fastening down, he secured the rifle
and other weapons of his foe, and
found attached to his belt the scalps
of the two missing hunters, to which
he Immediately added that Of their
murderer, and then returned to the
fort. Wetzel's subsequent exploits
in the wars along the borders rank
him with Daniel Boone in daring and
success. The Indians believed him
invulncrable, and. from his ability to
load his rifle on che run, thought the
Great Spirit had endowed him with
an ever-ready weapons. They stood
J - r-o.k foar of him INIT waro navQr