Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-08-22

of any state, and it will be our aim
not only to maintain but to improve
its efficiency, and l doubt not that he
who writes the history ofo our schools
In 1896, will have an advancement
to chronicle, fully equal to that we
have made during the % years
which have preceded this; greater,
we cannot reasonably expect, nor
must we be satisfied with less.
In the hurricane that passed over
the Ohio River and down the Miami
Valley on the night of the 4th of Ju-
ly, splendid grove of oaks on the
"old Anderson farm of Mr.. Rog-
ers. in the latter locality, was almost
wholly prostrated, and here is an
amazing story derived therefrom
and gravely communicated to the
Miami County Democrat by one J.
F. Clark.
"Upon the morning subsequent to
the storm Saturday, Mr.. Rogers in
company with hired man, proceed
ed to inquire into the extent of the
damage inflicted upon his premises,
and the first objective point was the
ruined grove. The center tree of
the plat was a noble oak, the king
over his fellows, and a tree which
had stood the ravages of time SEEM
jngly unscathed for several centur-
ries. This tree had been snapped
and felled by the storm. Upon ex-
ining the fallen giant for the pur-
pose Of ascertaining its worth as
rail timber, Mr.. Rogers made a
startling discovery. This was moth
ing less than the fact that the tree
in falling had disgorged skeleton!
The bones were all disconnected,
yellow as gold with age, and scat
tered over several square feet of pas
turage.
The skull was almost intact; all
the teeth save two-molars-were
in their places, and there was scar
on the left parietal bone which look
cd like the momento Of some fierce
cavalry charge. The humerus of
the right arm was shattered, and
save the three defects just mention
ed, the skeleton when put together,
was without a blemish. The tree
In falling, l should have mentioned
was rent asunder-a task not diff
cult Of accomplishment when refer
to the fact that an examination
found that at some remote date the
very heart Of the oak had been cleft
by lightning. From spot twenty
feet from the ground upwards to the
first great fork-a distance of ten
feet-a hollow extended, and from
this cavity the skeleton had been
hurled. If we but knew who he
was, thought my informant, Mr..
Rogers. and, strange to say, a few
minutes later the twain discovered
that the tree had also disgorged a
thrilling history. An old-fashion-
ed pocket or memorandum-book lay
in remarkable state of preservation
which no doubt had been dropped
into the rent made by the lightning,
and thus been preserved while its
master decayed. A few brass but
tons of old and unique pattern were
found near the memorandum, but it
is with the latter that we have to
deal.
This old leather purse, entirely
moneyless, contained sundry papers
covered with rude pencilings quite
difficult to trace, as they were writ
ten on the backs of army passes and
military consignments which dated
as tar back as l776. Mr.. Rogers
carried the bones to his house, and
set about to read the memorandum
of the captive of the tree. But
owing to his failing eyesight he
could decipher but little, and this
little a conglomerate mass of discon-
/ pections. But still he read enough
to learn that the eyes which once
shone in the now orbless sockets Of
ten looked upon Washington in the
heat of battle, and amid the SHOWS
of Valley Forge; and the skeleton
arm when covered with flesh and
muscle had struck many stalwart
blows for our country.
The mans name, as gathered from
the papers, was Roger Vanderberg,
a native of Lancaster, Pa. and a
Captain in the Revolutionary Army
He was an aid to Washington du-
ring the retreat across the Jerseys,
and served time in Arnold's head
quarters at West Point. In 1901 he
marched with St. Clair against the
Northwestern Indians, and in the ia.
nous outbreak of that general on
the Wabash Nov. Sd Of the year
Just written, he was wounded aud
captured. But while being convey
ed to the Indian town at Upper Pi-
qua-a historical place we'll known
to your readers-he effected his es
cape, but found himself hard pressed
by his savage foes. He saw the
hollow of the oak, and despite the
mangled arm, and with the aid Of a
beech that grew beside the giant
then, he gained the haven, and drop
ped therein.
Then came a fearful discovery.
He had miscalculated the depth of
the hollow, and there was no escape.
@, the story told by the dairy of the
oaks despairing prisoner! How
rather than surrender to the torture
of the stake, he chose death by star
yation; how he wrote his dairy in
tho uncertain light and the SHOWS!
Here is one entry in the dairy:
NOV. lO.-Five days without. food!
When l sleep, dream of luscious
fruits and .t7o,cing streams. The
stars laugh at my misery! 1t is snow
ing now. l freeze while l starve.
God pity me!'
The italicised words were sup
piled by Mr.. Rogers, as the tremb-
ling hand ofttimes refused to indite
plainly. Never was such a record
| of suffering traced by human hand
before. The entries covered a peri.
cd of eleven days, and in disjointed
| sentences it told of st. Clair's defeat.
Mr.. Rogers has written to Lancas-
A. .o.o.%o:.~ &c o~,, locoov1 4 n ~ q