Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1876-09-09
LIFE on THE PLAINS.
Musings of n Traveller In the Western
DeseTt--A Prairie Incident.


Musings of n Traveller In the Western
DeseTt--A Prairie Incident.
As for me, says a correspondent of
the World, crossing the plains, l like to
get out on the platform, late at night,
when the moon is shedding her radi
ance over the awful, desolate, yet beau
tiful scene, and think the thoughts and
recall the legends which are appropriate
to it. Once in a while the tracts of an
old trail appear. How many white
man, how many a white woman crossed
this dreary country long years ago, never
to return to or even to hear from home
and friends again How many nights
were passed by pioneers here How
many tragedies, as gloomy as that de-
sCribed by Cooper in 1.-THE Prairie"
have been enacted in these solitudes, |
unknown to Eastern men and Eastern |
| law What episodes of tenderness and |
honor, of grief and pleasure, have
stirred the hearts of those who persisted,
or who have since triumphed in the
great struggle upon the Pacific coast !
Looking out toward the pale bluffs that
serrate the southern horizon, the spec
tiers of wagon trains arise, and voices
from midnight camps. Distant fires
flicker. The coyotes cry-the "wolf-
music whose only grace was that while
it lasted it assured the absence of hostile
Indians--offends the listening ear. The
coyotes were the natural watch dogs of
the white mans Divouac.
Years ago, before the railroad or the
overland stage route, or even the over
land pony express was thought of, soil
tary family of seven persons, accom-
panied by three men, started from IL
linois to cross this waste. They had
wagons, mules, provisions and house
hold furniture in abundance.
The family was of good origin. 1t
consisted of the grandfather, father,
mother, three daughters (the eldest,
aged nineteen, being very attractive)
and two little muscular sons. Of the
three men outside the family two were
past their prime. The youngest, the
lover of the eldest girl of the party, and
by her beloved, was befriended by her
grandfather, her sisters and both her
, brothers, encouraged by his elderly
male companions, and cordially hated,
ON account of an hereditary feud, by the
girls father (the chief of the expedition
and his wife.
One night the young man was missed
in camp. So arbitrary was the rule the
chief pioneer had established that no
allusion was made to the circumstance
during his silence at the evening meal.
! Next morning the girl was gone. Still
the father said nothing; nor did the
mother make one sign. The rest of the
y train were silent and subdued. Toward
: noon it was noticed thatt the grandfather,
whose affection for the absent girl was
we'll known TO amount to devotion, had
likewise quilted the camp, carrying his
! weapons. This discovery was the sig
= nal for the pioneers action. Shoulder
= ing his rifle he commanded his two sons
y to stay in camp, and then started off in
= an eastward direction at pace that in,
l Dictated his perfect knowledge of the
= whereabouts of the absentees. The rest
= = of the story give as closely as I Can
D recollect it in the language of one of the
J two elderly men who soon left the camp
on the trail of the departing pioneer:
q "We didn't like the looks of ole
~ Sam1, said the narrator, "and so we
followed him. 1t was about seven o.
!; eight mile stretch, and Just afore We
u come to the place we begun to sort o
y suspicion where it was. 1t was bluff
:, like. We walked fast, and got around
y y where we could see what was goin' on
" afore old Saml come up. It seemed
y that old Saml, the second night previ
u GUS, had 'ticed young off'n TIN
o trail around by this here bluff and sho
. him through the chist and left him TO
goner. The girl had watched which
% way they went, and when the boy didn'
20 come back next day she skedaddled tn
+, = next night. So when we got there she''
81 got him down by the brink of it'll
u water hole; and there they both was
she a-holdin' his head on her arm ant
d keepin' the sun off his face with he
IL apron. Pretty soon old SamI com
II along the other side O the bluff. III
10 looked around second or SO, and &c
. his eye on the gal. seen him raise hi
10 rifle and pint it at her, and [ raise
10 mine and pinted it at him. We bot
10 fred at the same time, for just as h
" keeled over [ looked, and the girl wa
~ a-lying face down, flat across -
~ body. The old granddaddy-he jus
-. then riz up 'longside O. the water hole
u But didn't stop to see any more. M
a and my partner both lit out, and onl
u stopped long enough in camp to G
- away with our blankets and q lit
~ :" grub. 1 never hearn of any one O. thu
70 family sence."