The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-05-27

bed but little, and save to stanch the
blood. fthe devoted wife could not aid
him, except by piling the bedding
around him in such way that. in sit
ting posture, he could face the closed
door. The temporary safety of the
children was secured by fastening them
in the cellar, where they would be be-
yond the reach of any bullets their late
visitors might send, and after She had
perfected her plan Of defense, she began
30 assume the offensive.
BY removing the mud that filled the
crevices of the logs at the end of the
house, loop-holes were formed, and
through these holes the husband and
wife began an assault upon their foes.
With his rifle Myron shot one of the In
dams, and at the same time his wife
killed another with the towing piece.
BY this time the foe, finding their in
tended victims more tenacious of life
than they had supposed, resorted to
stratagem to accomplish the massacre.
In the field was cart hah-flled with
hay; in the stable-yard stood a yoke of
oxen quietly eating. To fasten the ami
mails to the cart and not expose them
selves to the deadly aim of those in the
house was difficult task, but one that
the Indians finally accomplished. 70
get the load of hay against the building,
that it might be set on fire, was still
more difficult, and in this case unsuc-
cessful, for before it could be done both
husband and wife had shot an enemy,
while the fifth and only remaining one
sought safety in precipitate flight.
Each moment the conflict lasted the
husband grew weaker, and medical aid
could not be procured without Il journey
of q hundred and eighty miles. To ira
verse this distance, there was no other
mode of conveyance than the oX-cart.
In this rude vehicle. Mrs. Myron placed
her husband and children, and not once
during that tedious journey, made pain
full by the suffering of the man for
whom she had braved the dangers and
discomforts of u frontier life, was a halt
made.
AT St. Cloud surgical aid was pro-
cured. and there. after Mr.. Mvron's re-
cOvery, he sought work of any kind that
would bring insufficient for the support
of his family, since the depredations of
the Indians had impoverished him. 1t
was only by the greatest eNertions that
Myron could keep his. family from ac-
| tual want; and hearing that laborers
were in greater demand at Cape Girar-
deau, he, with his wife and children, EN-
barked on the steamer Tidal Wave for
that place, after having remained at St.
Cloud nearly year. lGH1frs.
The voyage was never completed,
however, for when Tower Grove, Mo-,
was reached, a fire broke out on the i'll
| fat cd estn ~ 81 4,
she was burned to the waters edge.
The loss of life was considerable, and
among the missing ones were the two
Myron children. ,. l..
For the second time Robert Myron
was homeless and penniless, with his
suflerings intensified by the loss of his
children, Perhaps it was fortunate for
him that he was obliged to work very
hard simply to keep the wolf from the
door, for it prevented him from brood
ing over his misfortunes, as even a
stronger man might have done.
During the two years that elapsed aft
er the burning of the Tidal Wave, Rob-
ert Myron labored industriously, but
without success, so far as the accumu-
lation of worldly goods was concerned;
he had been able to pay the rent of a
rude cabin three miles from the village
of Tower Hill, and to furnish it scantily.
But the expenses attendant upon the
birth of two children, and his own Sc
we're illness, during which he was con-
fined to his bed two months, had eX-
hausted the small fund he had succeeded
in saving to enable him to remove to
Cape Girardeau. u.r.t
Then came time when he could no
longer find employment near his
wretched home, and he sought it some
miles up the river, going and returning
each day in a small boat. Even then it
appeared that misfortune was not
wearied with pursuing him, for one
night when returning from his work a
storm came up, which overturned his
frail skitf, and, nearly exhausted he was
thrown upon narrow bar of sand that
made out from the bank of the river at
the spot where the Tidal Wave was
burned On this frail and treaeherous
fOOt-hold he managed to remain during
the night, in full sight of the town, but
unable to attract attention to his desper-
ate condition.
The dawn of the day revealed still
more horrors, for close beside him, hav-
ing evidently been unearthed by the
waves, was the skeleton of a human
being. At first Myron felt that fear
which seems to be'natural in man when
he sees the deserted tenement of one of
his kind; but the resting-place which the
waves gave to the living and the dead
was so small that he was obliged to re-
main almost in actual contact with the
yellow bones. As he sat by the skeleton
waiting for help from the shore, which
seemed so tardy IN coming, he saw
a bOut tha ribs of tho Hach1acS fra,,o 4,