Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-08-07
A Revolutionary skeleton.

THE REVELATIONS OF AN OVERTURNED
oAK--A STRANGE STORY, IF TRUE.
! In a hurricane passing over the Ohio
! River and down the Miami valley, on
| the night of the 4th of July, splendid
| grove of oaks on the "Old Anderson"
! farm of a Mr.. Rogers, in the latter To-
/ cality, was almost wholly Frustrated
/ In connection herewith the following
/ story is communicated to the Miami
1 County Democrat, by a Mr. J. J.
! Clark ... .....-
Upon the morning subsequent to the
| storm Saturday Mr.. Rogers went, in
] company with a hired man, to inquire
| into the extent of the damage inflicted
upon his premises, and the first obiec-
| tive point was the ruined grove The
+ centre tree of the plat was a noble oak,
! the king over his fellows, and a tree
which had stood the ravages of time
! seemingly unscathed for several centu-
ries. This tree had snapped and telled
by the storm. Upon examining the
fallen giant for the purpose of ascertain
ing its worth as rail timber, Mr.. Rogers
| made a startling discovery This was
nothing less than the fact that the tree
in falling had disgorged a skeleton
The bones were disconnected, yellow as
gold with age, and scattered promiscu-
Ously over several square feet of pastur-
age; the skull was almost intact all the
teeth save two-molars-were still in
| their places, and there was a scar on the
left parietal bone which looked like a
mementO of some fierce cavalry charge.
| The humerus of the right arm was shat
tered, but save the three defects Just
mentioned, the skeleton, when put to-
gether, was without blemish.
'The tree in falling, | should have
mentioned, was rent asunder-a feat not
difficult of accomplishment when l re-
fer to the fact that an examination found
that, at some remote date, the very heart
of the oak had been cliff by lightning.
| From spot twenty feet from the
ground upwards to the first great fork,
distance of ten feet, hollow extend
ed, 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, few min
utes later the twain discovered that the
tree had also disgorged thrilling histo-
nv. An old fashioned leathern pocket
or memorandum book lay in a remarka-
BILE 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
buttons 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 money!
less, contained sundry papers covered
with rude pencilings quite difficult to
trace, as they were written on the backs
of army passes and military consien-
ments which dated as far back as
1776.
Mr.. Rogers conveyed the bones to his
house, and set about to read the memo
randum of the captive of the tree; but,
owing to his failing eyesight, he could
decipher but little, and this little a con-
glomerate mass of disconnections. But
still he read enough to learn that the
mans name was Roger Vanderberg, a
native of Lancaster, Penn, and a Cap
tain in the Revolutionary Army. He
was an aid to Washington during the re-
treat across the Jerseys, and served
time III Arnold's Headquarters at West
Point. In 1871 he marched with st.
Clair against the Northwestern Indians.
and, in the famous outbreak of that
General on the Wabash, November 3, of
the year just written, he was wounded
and captured But while being convey
ed to the Indian town at Upper Pioua.
he effected his escape, but found himself
hard pressed by his savage foes. He
saw the hollow in the oak. and desnite
the mangled arm, and with the aid of a