The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-07-24
A Florida Siege.
WHAT CAME OF A MATRIMONIAL TRADE
ON THE SUWANEE.
New York Sun Letter

| On THE SUWANEE.
New York Sun Letter.
AS | came down stairs the othe1
morning l saw Capt. Frank Sans, {
noted hunter, seated on the edge of thu
st0op, swinging his feet into rOsebush
Look here" said he, "yOu think yOr
know something about Florida murders
The Lang and COchrane stories amt {
patch to the beauties of the Suwanee
country. Out there they make whole,
sale business of it. Some time ago two
men named LOcklier and Munday lived
near the mouth of the Suwanee river
They raised cattle for a living. Lock.
her had an average looking woman fOl
a wife, while Mundy was widower with
a mighty fine daughter. The two men
got quite thick, and used to COW drive
together and eat in each others houses
After a time Mundy took a fancy tC
Locklier's wife, and Locklier took a
fancy to Mundy's daughter. So they
struck, up a trade. After palavering
around, Mundy offered to givehis daugh-
ter for LOcklier's wife and twenty head
OF cattle: Locklier took him up straight
and the bargain was made"
| asked the captain what kind of girl
the daughter was.
Well" he replied, "I've heard she
was a plump little filly, about eighteen
years old. LOcklier's wife was a little
skinny, but she was good driver and
band. The daughter never made any
objection to the bargain, and the wife,
like most of the women, was glad of
anything fora change. So oMnndy drove
OFT the twenty head of cattle and the
old woman, and LOcklier shook him
self down i'll the cabin with the daugh-
ter. Things were all snug. Well, in
about two weeks LOcklier's wife cot
sick of it. She declared that her hus-
band was bad enough, but he was an
angel alongside of Mundy. She went
back home, and swOre that she wouldn't
live with Mundy any longer under any
circumstances. Then Mundy came up
to LOcklier's house and wanted his
daughter back. The daughter by this
time had fallen in love with Locklier,
and you couldn't have driven her out of
his cabin with pack of dogs. LockIier
said she shouldn't unless the old man
drove back the twenty head of cattle.
Mundy said he'd see Locklier in hell
before he brought back the cattle, and
threatened to shoot him if he didn't turn
over his daughter Locklier told him
V.
parted bad friends"
THE CART-WHEEL BATTERY.
l interrupted the Captain by asking
what the neighbOrs thought of such pro-
ceedings.
WELL" he replied, they didn't have
many neighbOrs. What they did have
upon the whole thing as bona fide bar
gain, and if one or the other got cheated
it was no outsiders business. As | was
saying, Mundy declared war. He threw
up sort of parallel around Locklier's
house, and b0mbarded it with a double
barreled shotgun. All day long he laid
around the house, waiting for a shot.
LOcklier was afraid to go out or even
show his face at the window. FOrhOurs
he would sit on chair with his old rifle
across his knees and watch the door.
Whenever the latch moved he would
blaze away without waiting to find out
who was coming in. Two or three times
he came near shooting his wife when
she was out after pail of water. You
see he knew Mundy meant business, and
he wasn't going to let him get twist
on him.. Mundy skirmished around the
house until dark. Then he travelled
home and got good nights sleep; but
by daylight LOcklier again found him
intrenched outside the door.
This Arrangement lasted several
days, and L0cklier began to get tired
of his imprisonment. One night he took
a couple of stout cart wheels standing
sides with twO-inch plank, and when
Mundy put in an appearance the next
morning confronted him with this nova
BILE battery. The tables were turned.
The old man had to fall back. Lock
lier followed him up the road with his
battery, shelling him at every jump.
Mundy was driven into his headquar-
ters, and his antagonist took the part of
besieger. A dozen shots were exchang-
ed before sundown, and at dark Lock
lier drew back to his house under cover
of the battery. Before the rOOsters stop
ped growing he was again moving up
the road toward Mundy's house, shelling
his way every few rods, and driving the
old man and his shotgun to cover.
THE MOONLIGHT TRAGEDY.
'"',Well, the war was kept up in this
way about week, but at last it had to
come to an end. One bright moonlight
night Locklier thought he would quiet
ly wheel his battery up the road and
see if he couldn't catch Mundy outside
of his Notifications. So he laid his rife
before him and set the wheels agoing.
He had showed them about quarter of
a mile, and was just turning curve in
the road when he heard scraping noise
ON his left. Mundy had tlanked him.
By the light of the moon he could see
the old man on his knees behind fence.
showing the barrels Of his shotgun be-
tween the rails and getting his head
down to take aim. Locklier had no
time to lose. He snatched his rife and
sighted it. They fred together. Mundy
fell dead with a rife bullet in his head,
and Locklier tumbled into his battery
with eleven buckshot in his breast. He
lived about four hours, and declared If
he hadn't been listening to the crickets
he would have seen Mundy before tile
battery passed him. The wife and
daughter buried the two men, divided
the twenty head of cattle and got all
the property"
:. QUEEN VICToRIA's HABITs.-When
free from the cares of State, nothing can
be simpler than the daily routine of life
Queen Victoria leads at Balmoral Castle. !
She manages her household on very
strict principles, the servants according
to merit-promotion always being held
out. For a stupid act one member of
the royal household had to wait ten
wars for DpOmOtian Her Majesty rises