The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-09-26
Personal "REMINISCENCES OF AN
OCTOGENARIAN.
BY DR.. GIDEON LINCECUM.


that took place between the French Hugue-
not, Gideon Lincecum, and the Scotch las
sic, Miriam Bowie-own aunt to tho cele-
brated desperate, James Bowie, the origin
ator of the Bowie knife. If glory and
greatness consist in the amount of throat
cutting performed, tho Bowie knife was a
greater invention than was Napolean Bona
parte even.
My mother originated from the union OF
the Englishman, William Hickman, and
the Dutch lady, Maria Ornbeck. 1t fell to
my lot to be fathered and mothered by the
last born of these two families. My father
was raised in the school of rebellion, and
graduated on various battle fields during
the American Revolution. He knew moth
ing of books, being able only to read toler-
ably. He was possessed of good, strong
mentality, but owing to the unsettled state
of the country and the turbulence of affairs
generally, at the time he was forming char
acter, it had been wofully instructed.
Being matchless in his physical powers,
and having full confidence in his knowl-
edge of their application and uses, he often
repeated the remark that he chad nothing
to fear" He delighted in border life
and he reared his numerous progeny on the
various boundary lines as they occurred
from the frequent little treaties made with
the Muscogee Indians on the western bor-
ders of the State of Georgia. About my
mother, there was nothing remarkable
except that she could outrun anybody;
was handsome, healthy, energetic, ingeni-
GUS, industrious, frugal, but entirely illit-
crate.
I was the first-born of a mother not
quite sixteen; was educated by the Musco-
gee Indians and hunters of a frontier
country until l was fifteen, having the
Muscogee children for my playmates, and
the bow and arrows and the blow gun for
my hunting implements.
By the time I was five years of age, the
use of these destructive implements had
become perfect passion with me. wed
with the best marksmen of my age among
the Indian boys; could knock the picayune
out of the split stick at ten PAGES distant
as often as any of them; and woe to the
luckless snake, or rat, or lizard that came
in my path. Another year and the fish
and large birds became the object of my
pursuit; and by the time was ten years
old the quantities of fish and fowl, rabbits
and squirrels that would come in of an
evening from my Indian associates and
myself would, to the uninitated, be sub
ject of wonder. Talk about the pleasures
of the sportsman with dog, she'll cartridge
and breech loading guns. Pshaw !! why l
real soul-stirring delight and enjoyment,
unalloyed pleasure, experienced by the ten
or twelve years old boy, with his bow and
arrows, on the creeks and branches and in
the cane brakes of wild. unhacked, echo
ing wilderness, in pursuit of the legitimate
bow-and arrow game, in single day than
can be had in a whole year of manhood
with the breech loader and setter. The
hunting implements of my red skin com
panions and myself, except the fish-hook,
were of purely Indian origin. Bows, ar
rows, blow gun, fishing spears, snares and
many forms of traps, all Indian. My
father retired before the unholy, intrusive
tramp of civilization, aud my Indian COM
panions were frequently changed; but the
in Of OF
removes on the borders always seemed
proud of me on account of my being able
to talk with them, and my sports would be
continued with new life.
During my eleventh aud twelfth years l
had five nice, good natured fellows. We
were all about the same age; and better
behaved set of boys have never found in
any nation or country. Would you like
that?" would be asked when doubtful pro-
position would occur. ono" "Then don't
offer it to me-" This would be often re-
peated amongst them; and the sacred prin-
ciple was as visibly present in their daily
Intercourse as were their bows and arrows.
This prevalence of the basic rule of pure
democracy secured the peace and filled our
sporting hours with undisturbed delights.
All strove manfully to excel; but superior
skill or extraordinary success was never
alluded to by the performer. This, how
ever, is common with all Indians previous
to their being contaminated with the is DON
lush fl lok chee,-the forked- tongue civil
ties of progressed society. But that is not
what started to talk about. These boys
could, and so could l. initiate the call-notes
of all the birds, and we practiced it in our
daily sports. The most deadly and muir
derous deception practiced by us, and
which was attended with the greatest sue
cess, was to take a blow-gun and plenty of
arrows. A blow-gun is a middle sized
cane, five eigbths of an inch in the bore,
nicely dressed on the inside by forcibly
dragging wet rope covered with sand
through it until no inequalities on the in,
side of it can be seen. 1t is from eight to
twelve feet in length and very straight. l
have made them; and, it requires two or
three good days work to complete good
one. The arrows are fifteen to eighteen
inches long, constructed ofsplits ofthe larg-
est cane. The splits are as wide as they are
thick; dressed smooth, about the one six
teenth of an inch square. 1t is then point
ed and heated in the embers, and while it
is hot and timber, it is twisted until it has
the appearance of coarse screw; and
holding it SO till it cools, it remains twisted
and straight During the heating process
the point is partially charred, and it is as
hard as iron. 1t is now ready for the
feather, which is composed of thistle
down, ingeniously wrapped securely, on
three inches Of the hinder end with deer
sinews. A good blow-gun and strong
healthy lungs can propel one of these ar
rows seventy-five yards. Any where under
forty yards for small game, cartridges,
rabbits, squirrels, it is certain and fatal as
a rifle. knew an Indian woman, who
killed her husband with blow-gun. No
body blamed her, for he called her ugly.
In Indian etiquette, that is the most un-
pardonable, offensive word that can be