Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-09-17
strange Narrative.
frr,m ihe Miami ~ ,.,.,

| ~. rom the Miami fD } Dcmo-r.,
W'.n"ut Occupying much at your
valuable space, l beg leave 10 dct.;I
an incident connected with In, Tor
ribie hurricane that passed over t,,,.
Miami valley on The evening of ,I,c
!, GLORIOUS 4th."
On the wcll-known cold Andcr.
J son farm" whose fertile acres extend
TO the banks of the historical Miami,
: stands, or rather stood, fine oak
grove. a fortnight since the majcstic
trees stood erect aud in tact. but no "
two-thirds of them are lying on The
ground. hurled down by tho rrl.,t.
less fhry Of The last great storm.
Little did The siorm-dcmon think
when lie set out upon his mission O!
obstruction that lie was destined to
rob n Tree Of secret which il hs s
sscrnpu.ously kept for cighiy-two
ycars.
have the f.c.s Of This storm incl.
dent from the lips Of Ir. -Rogcrs.
HE present occupan, of the farm re.
'erren 10, and 81 n::n Of provcrhia!
vcraciiy.
Upon The morutns subsequent TO
the stofm, Mr.. Rogers. In coippar;
with 4 '.hircd mau." proceeded IT,
inquire into the extent nr the din,,y.
Inflicted upon lis premises. ant. the
| iirst objective point vas the ruined
grove. The centre tree of. the plat
was noble oak, the king OF the ;e!-
| lows, and Il tree which had stood the
rafhGcs of time seemingly unscatircd
Tor several centuries. This tree had
Iiccn snapped and fclicd by the storm.
! Upon examining the fallen n!aEt Tor
the purpose of ascrriaininy II, worth
as rail timber, Mr.. L.. nil,t,. n START
! ling discovery.
This was nothing less than the fac;
hat he tree iii falling had G:sgur.rd
/ IL skeleton!
The bones were DISCONNECTED. vel
ioW as gold with aye, and sca,trrc,l
! promiscuvuslv over several sua are
feet of pas:uragc. The skull. w:.S al
most i'll tact: all the teeth save two
mo!ars-wcres still in their places. ana
there wa: a scar on the left parir.ai
bone which lonkca like the inc:nrmto
of some fierce cavalry charge, The
hunr:us OF the right arm was slAt-
/ tered, and save the three ,.rircIs ;a-t
:.ieH'ionca the kc!c;on. when put to-
| 9cilicr, was without blr,ni,h.
The tree in falling. I should have
! mentioned, WAS rent asualcr-a task
not difficulty OF accomplishment
y:licn r,:icr 10 the fact ihai ia..-~sr,'rr-
j.. l.i.-s~~rT't~ ~rrIHt ut some remote
date the very heart of the o.. had
been cleft by lightning. From aspot
twenty feet from The ..rount, u,.w*rd
to the first great fork-a di,iancc of
ten fcct-a hollow extended, and
/ IA
been hurled. "If VIC but knew who
he wa-,' thought my informant, NJ.
H. ana, strange 10 say, I few min-
utes later the twain discovered tina;
':e tfec haa also s!isgorgcl !: :hr:!l;n.
+ history.
An old-!as!.ioncd leather pockc. or
mrnoramGum book lay in rcma-ka-
bic STATE OF pcrscrva' which no
doubt Lad been dropped into thc
rent HiHdc By the lightning. ~, / ;Lu,
been preserved while its MASTER de-
caycd. A few brass buttons q: old
and unique pattern were found near
the memorandum. but it is with the
latter we hare to deal. This ola
leather rursc-cn.irc.y moucyicss-
contained sumdry papers covered witA
rude pcncilings, quite difficult 10
trace, :iS they Were written ca the
backs of army passes and military
coHSiHnl1cnis which dated lis Tar
back as 1915.
Mr. Rogers conveyed. the homes 10
his house, ani set about TO read the
memorandum of the captive Of the
tree. But owing 10 his falling eve
s;g.t, he co"!d dcciphcr but liliic. !
ani this little 4 cong!oIneratc mass off
disco"Ecc;ions. Bat still hH read |
enonga 10 learn that the eyes that |
cncc silone III the ROW orb,css sockets
often looked upon Washington in The
heat of battle, and amid The SHOWS
OF Valley Fcr-c, and the skeleton arm
when covered with flesh aud muscle
had struck many sta!wart blows tur
our country.
The mans name as gathered from
ihc papers was Rogers Vanderbcrg, :.
native of Lancaster, Pa, and q captain
III the Revolutionary army. He wa,
in all 10 Washington durin. the re-
treat across the Jerseys, a,:d serv-., ,
time in Arnoid'S headquarters n. /,
West Point. In 1891 lie marched with
81. Clair against Tie northwestern
Indians, and in the iamo%s outhrcak
Dt tia. General on The Wabash. NV.
5i, OF the year just written. lie Wr. !,
wounded and captured. Eat While /,
being conveyed to the Indian ,owu:.t
Upper PilHa-a historical Place we'll ,
aEoWE II Your rra,ivrs-!.c effected
his escape. Int found limsrir nnrI
pressed hy his savage foes. :
lie saw the hollow in the oak, and A
with he aid of Il beach that grew be-
SIDE the giant then. he gained the
haven and dropped therein. Then
canc q fearful discovery. lie had |
niscaicnlatc1 the depth of the hollow |
md there was no escape. ., tn: story i
old by thc diary of the oaks do e
pairing prisoner. How, rather than t
surrender 70 the torture of the stake, :,
IL chose death BY starvation: how In i
T.o:c his diary II the uaccr,aim h,,,t
lnti Tie SHOWS.
Here Is one entry in The diary
"Nof. l1.-F!vc days wiihuui food, :.
y lien l sleep | dream Of lu>c nu> (.
ruiti and flowing streams. The star, /
au2h at my misery. 1t is snow Ing :
TOW. ! frcczc while | s,arve. Gyl n
,ify me-. y
The iiailcisc.i words wcrc supplied II
~ Nr. Rogers, II the trembling i..,.d o.,
'iti;ncs refused to indt!c plaiuiv. IA
Never Was such record ol suffer =
ng traced by human hand b"lurc. 9
The entries cover Il period Of eleven -
lays. and in d,sjoiuicl sentences j. "
old the s.oiy OF ST. Cl,ir's drtcur. v
Tie diary is 10 be placed ia Inv q
lands. and with Your pcrn,iSeiua 4 (
will transcriJc it tur your culu,n, :. G
Mr.. Rogers has written To I.anras- {;
erto ascertain If any descendants -. (,
he Inflated captain hvr; If o, they {
hall have his bones.
Suca is one of the freaks Of The {
ate storm. pcrpc;ra;ch in our own .,
ouniy. How iiti!e dreamed we that "a
o near us has been impr,,om Tor =
ighty-two years ono If tie snI.iirr- .
4 the revolution. Often the starry :.
nag heard his red foes ut lhe tool oi =
Is prison, but he wou'd not Eail :
mem, and peri>ird ut last With -
'raNer heard only b. Hin 10 whom {
was directed. IC
If the descendants OF Cap ir:.>Naudcr- ~
'crg cannot be discovered, hope n
al there will he enough rair:otisn
"un'i IN Miami county to erect
over his rcntins. The Y
tory al the diary will c.siil tic hearts n
,; all who read 1t, and meet Tie eye !,
II sympathy ior :bc noble soldier oi I
lis country. d. i. CLARKE. u