Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-12-24
THE sAUGERs.


From the New York Sun.
Having business away up in West
Virginia some months ago, was warned
to look out for singular race of beings
called "Saugers." They are found In
the mountains in sparsely settled tracts
and are certainly great curiosities.
had heard of them when boy living in
the Roanoke district, but supposed their
existence purely problematical. They
were represented as race of Tom
Thumbs, and many nursery stories were
told concerning them. Plantation hands
said that they had seen them lurking in
the spurs of the Alleghanies and the
Blue Ridge. Their achievements were
said to rival those of beanstalk Jack,
and my young blood was curdled by
tales of their cruelty. Darkey infants
were broiled at their feasts, and the
bodies shared with enormous eagles that
lowered above them and awaited divi-
sion of the spoils. They were described
as chunky little rascals, who lived in the
crevice of the rocks, fed on roots, berries
and babies, and roamed over the noun
tains like foxes and weasels.
During my journey, 1 kept bright
genuine tribe in Nicholas, Pendleton.
Greenbrier and Webster counties. There
are scattering communities in other parts
of the state, but in these four counties
they seem to attain absolute perfection,
They live on wooded slopes or in noun
tain gorges, miles from most roads and
township settlements. They keep en-
tirely to themselves, and physically and
mentally are not far above the Digger
Indians. They earn a livelihood by
ging and selling the ginseng root, which
grows wild in all parts of the country,
and is superabundant in the mountain
Businesses. This root is bought by coun-
try storekeepers, forwarded to Cincin-
: natl and other cities, and shipped to
China, where it commands high price.
The origin of the "Sauger" is un-
known. He existed long before the war,
and his ranks were largely recruited from
the deserters and camp-followers of the
Confederate army. Many of those re.
cruits came from North Carolina regi-
ments, and the cross between the real
"Tarheel" and native "Sauger" has
produced breed unique in texture and
extraordinary in mental pabulum. Their
| fecundity is remarkable. In some COM
munities marriage is unknown. Poly
gamy, however, is not allowed. The
children begin to care for themselves at
an early age, and are never sent to school.
Lawyers are tabooed. The people live
by themselves, and are law unto them.
selves. They make no wills, and have
no disputes over the property of dead
men. But few of them vote, and they
have never heard of reform or constitu-
tion. They are shy of strangers, and,
like cartridges, shrink from public gaze.
Rarely do they approach settlement.
Those who do so enter it with stealthy
tread, as though fearing an ambush.
Now and then one or two come into
some country store with a backful of
ginseng roots, and exchange it for salt,
whisky, sugar, and occasionally powder
and shot With the exception of little
bacon and corn meal they buy nothing
more. The women drink tea made
from sassafras and the roots of the gold
en- rod. They raise their own tobacco,
and use corn cob pipes. All their fresh
meat is caught in traps Racoons, OPP
posums, ground-hogs, squirrels, pinnated
grouse and similar game never come
miss. In winter there is a plentiful sup.
ply of bear meat and venison. During
the spring and summer delicious brook
trout are in season. But these are deli
cacies only. Bacon and corn meal are
the main staple. hear, however, that
they have many edible curiosities, such
as rattlesnakes, owls, eaglets, young
crows and polecats. They recognized
the virtue of horse and mule meat long
before the siege of Paris, and say that it
is exceedingly wholesome. They look
upon frog eater with horror; yet am
told that fried grasshoppers are not des-
pissed by them. Persons living in the
mountainous regions of West Virginia
detect "sauger" at glance. The
specimens seen by me were as tough as
knots and active as cats. They had q
starved, stunted appearance, and were
clad, or half clad, in grotesque rags.
rode ten miles on horseback over road
from which no habitation was visible,
and two of them kept abreast of me on
foot. The horse was q fast traveller, but
the " saugers y loped along, showing no
sign of fatigue, and l think they could
have kept it up all day. They were
strangers, but / had no fear, for they
bore no arms. I am told that not one in
twenty owns gun or pistol. Virgini-
ans teal me that they are very cowardly,
and never touch man unless they can
do it at an overwhelming odds. This
may be so, but from what I saw of them
should say that they are prudent and
peaceful.
I cannot call them an agricultural
people, for they seem to have an anti
pathy of farming and gardening. A
few attempt to raise little corn, but %
out of 80 trade ginseng roots for corn
meal, and never touch hoe. They
live in long huts, with mud chimneys.
One room serves for all purposes. With
a roaring fire in the hearth they pass the
coolest winters apparently happy in
their squalor and poverty, without a
thought of the outside world. They
sleep upon the floor covered with wooden
blankets, with their feet turned toward
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