The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1876-02-04

but always left behind the terrible sentence
which had made their existence eXecrable.
At times they fell upon their hunters, and
left them by the roadside marked with the
sign of vengeance.
Fear began to paralyze the Carolinians !;
many abandoned their homes for the sake
of their families and it is probable that
the ontile district would have been depop-
ulated in short time, had it not been for
!. the courage of one woman.
Her name was Alice Reauchampe.
1t was dark night in the last week of
! November, when the heroine Of my story
+ left the house Of a friend. Her own house,
] which bad been deserted for several days,
was not far away, and she had deter mined
to return to it for the purpose Of securing
an article of apparel left behind i'll her re-
cent fight.
I Before she set out on her journey she
was warned of the dangers that environcd
it but she smiled, and declared that she
did not fear them. She could enter the
! old house through the kitchen, i'll the rear,
find the garment without light, and re-
turn safely to her friends.
! The path she had often traverscd was
! barely discernable but she made good
headway; and reached her. homo without
! incident. The silence of the grave hung
about the forsaken place, and the lifting of
/ the latch sent chill Of terror to the young
girls heart Through the kitchen, across
the deserted paIlor, and up the stairs, she
/ crept 70 the room whore she had left the
! object of her nocturnal guest. The drawer
! of the old bureau yielded without noise,
and Alice vas drawing forth tile garment
! when the voices of men fell upon her ears.
She started, dropped her prize, and with
; her heart in her throat crept tn the window
. that overlooked the porch in frJnt of the
! house.
| She could see nothing for the night was
/ too dark but tie voices of mei,, mingled
with the champing Of bits, continued to
/ salute her ears.
This is old Bcauchampe'a house, said
one. 1T has been deserted for several
/ days. The daughter frightened by the
manner in which we treated her father, has
: fled somewhere for protection"
+ These words drove every vcstige OF color
from The listeners face they told her who
. the men below were, though she could not
! see even the outlines oftheir persons. One
week prior to her visit, her father, one of the
Kings Mountain heroes, was found dead
in a palmetto grove, and the words of Fer
guson's Avengers lay on his breast. Then
she had deserted her home, knowing that
the hand that had struck the father would
not spare the daughter.
Well mig hit the lone girl tremble when
she found herself so near the dreaded
scourges Of the country, aud she did not
move until she heard the front door opened
by kick, and heavily booted feet in the
room below.
Then calm thought Of her situation
drove fear from her heart, and Alice
Beauchanpe prepared to perform one of
the most daring deeds of the Revolutionary
War.
The noise in the house increased, and
oaths and rude jests preceded and followed
the lighting OF fire on the hearth.
Alice, who had longcd for sight OF the
dreaded six, crept to a spot near the
bureau where there was a crack III the
floor. Then applying her eye to the peek
hole, she saw six wild looking men directly
beneath her.
They were, beyond Gpub., the Avengers
of Ferguson's death, for several masks lay
on the table, along with three or four bot
ties of wine which they had taken from
some patriots cellar. Tall, rough, devil
may -care-loolIng fellows they were, armed
.;,l, :. L. Il v,t, Iii
of men who never court the smiles of mercy
or listen to the pleading of innocence.
Just such fellows as they were, Alice had
supposed them to be, for she had seen
many Of the prisoners takcn at hing
Mountain, and she longed lor the presence
of band of patriots. There were true
men in South Carolina at that tine who
would have given their right arms for
! chance to exterminate the avengers, and
Alice knew where little party Of patriots
Jay, but alas. they were not very near.
''We'l rest here and finish that wine -
said one of the leaders of the band, whose
( face told that already he bad imbibed freely.
Bring in the poultry, and on old Beau
champe's hearth wc'll prepare feast.
AT his command, one of the men left the
house, but soon rrturned, bearing with hlm
a duck and several chickens, from whose
freshly wrung necks the warm blood was
dripping.
.How's the horses" asked one of the
Avengers, as the man flung the poultry on
| the table.
standing like rocks was the reply.
''Such horses as they are don't need watch
ing, and, beside, there isn't rebel within
ten miles of this accursed place.
'Why, there's the Widow Hartzell.
81 didu't think of her." was the reply
GLOW bitterly old Hartzell hated us, but
we caught him at last"
.'And presented him with a breastpin