The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-07-30
ALMOST A CENTENNIAL ROMANCE.


bank Of the Kentucky river. Daniel
Boone and his friend and associate,
Richard Galloway, had been absent
since early in the morning and the
good wives, sharers in the toll of the
early pioneer days, were enjoying the
rest that the Sabbath brought even to
the unbroken wilderness. In the
grateful shade of tree in one corner of
the Enclosure sat three young girls, just
blooming into womanhood, and giving
an unwOnted charm to the rough evil
dences of civilization which had but
recently forced themselves upon the
primitive harmony of the surrounding
scenery.
The eldest of these maidens was
Elizabeth Galloway. The experiences
of life rather than the observance of
natuye seem to have given turn to the
thoughts and tastes of the early settlers,
30, while the. euphonious name of Bes-
sic might have harmonized well with
tne murmuring river and the soft and
lanRuid aspect of nature in her summer
garb, the hard, everyday life of the
adventurous jewellers in the dark and
bloody ground seemed to comport best
with the harsher name of Betsy. So
Elizabeth was known simply as Betsy
Callaway-not a name suggestive of
romance, yet she was withal a gentle
and a loving girl, and had maiden
fancies that gave the deep color of
romance to one of the incidents of her
life in the wilderness. She was Just
turned of sixteen, and as she sat under
the tree that sultry summer afternoon,
ninety mine years ago this day, the sun
that now and then stole through the
foliage and played upon her rounding
form and athwart her wellset head
seemed to bring out more fully the
hthesomeness of her young woman
hood, the glossy blackness of her raven
tresses, and the rich olive color of her
dark complexion.
The other girls were younger by two
years, and differed from her IN appear
Rnce. Fanny Galloway was fairer than
her sister Betsy, but not more pleasing
in appearance. The third girl, Jemima
Boone, was also naturally fair and, like
Fanny, owed whatever of fairness she
may have lost to constant exposure to
the weather. Nor were these younger
maidens without their fancies, too, for
the wilderness natures its occupants
rapidly, and though but fourteen years
counted the lives of the two girls, each
had lover who was a hardy and bold
pioneer and ready to encounter any
danger for his ladylove.
Perhaps these young girls were silent
and sat there cOmmuning with their
own thoughts or thinking of their alb
sent heroes, who had gone out that day
with Boone and Galloway perhaps they
were conversing about their matrimO-
NAL arrangements perhaps they were
idly chatting about anything, and
everything, and nothing for fem
mime nature a hundred years ago,
and in the widest wilderness,
was not unlike 1t is now, and IN the
most civilized communities. But as
evening drew near, the last lingering
breath of air seemed to lull itself to
rest, and the July heat seemed to be-
come still more oppressive. The quick
ear of one of the girls caught the sound
of the river as its subdued murmur
hOated up the river bank, and she pro-
posed that they should go a short dis
lance below the fort to where canoe
was lying, and drift out upon the bosom
of the river to catch the rising GOODNESS
of the evening waters.
Hardly were they seated, and pre-
pared to push from the shore, when
and in a moment more five stalwart and
hideously- painted Indians leaped to the
side of the canoe and pulled it close to
the shore. What girl of sixteen could
be equal to such an emergency? It
was here that the true heroine displayed
herself. It was here that the sentiment
tai girl. who had Just been dreaming of
her absent lover, and wandering through
the realms of maiden fancy with love-
sick girls like herself, in an instant con-
verted herself into the daring and hardy
woman of the frontier; it was here that
Betsy Galway, without a moments hes
itatiOn, determined to defend the honor
and the lives of herself and her young
companions, and wrote her name in the
annals of Kentucky. Standing erect in
the canoe, she seized the paddle, and at
single blow laid open to the bone the
head of the foremost savage. The
other Indians pressed on, but, still I'M
daunted, the brave girl fought them
with the ferOcity of a mother protect
ing her young. Finally exhausted, she
sank to the bottom of the canoe. and
with her trembling sister and friend
was dragged ashore, and hurried of
to meet whatever fate might be in store
for them.
We have hOnOred the memories of
the heroes Of Bunker Hill; we have
reverently celebrated the occasion when
George Washington turned his back
upon the delights of home and gave his
sword TO a cause in which failure would
be ignominy and death we are prepar-
ing to celebrate with impressive splen-
dor the centennial anniversary of the
memorable event that gave us independ-
ence, and illustrated the exalted courage
of the statesmen of 1776 let us pause
for a moment to do honor to this brave
girl, who battled so heroically with a
foe that even strong men hesitated to
encounter ; let us lift the romance of
her rude life out of the common run of
girlish sentiment and make her love one
of the episodes of our history.
The CONSERVATION at the fort can we'll
be imagined. The fathers of the girls
soon returned, and, before the night
closed in, Daniel Boone, at the head of
party on foot, and Richard Galloway,
at the head of a party on horseback,
were of in pursuit. In BoOne's party
were Samuel Henderson, John Holder
and Flanders Galloway. What gave
these youths such determined looks and
made them press on so eagerly? Was
1t only knightly spirit that prompted
them to the rescue of forlOrn and cap
tured damsels All, as Samuel Hen
dersOn strobe along he was thinking of
the Olive-cheeked heroine, Betsy Gala
way and JOhn Holder clenched his
hands and ground his teeth when he
thought of poor, frightened Fanny
and Flanders Galloway almost for
got his kith and kin for thinking of his
captured Jemima Boone. We can easily
smile over it now; but let any man put
himself in the place of any one of these
young men, and ask himself how he
would feel in such a pursuit, knowing
that the girl he loved and hoped to
make his wife was in the power of ruth
less, cruel and treacherous savages.
When the Indians started with the
girls they made the younger ones take
of their shoes and put on mocassins,
but Betsy refused to take off her shoes,
and as she walked along she ground her
heel into the soil to leave a trail. No
ticing this, the Indians made the whole
party walk apart and deviate from the
course, so as to wade through the water
and destroy the trail. Then the I'M
dauntad RatsV brOkp off kuiuu opI