The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-07-27

the whole country turned out for the
purpose of unravcling this alarming
mystery; and the superstitious frenzy
Was in no small degree heightened by
the report that this man had been shot
in the same way Us the others-m tie
luck OF tie heud!
These incidents were all 50 unaccoun-
table, that own felt no little sympathy
| with the popular association of super
natural agency in their preparation.
Henry laughed at all this, but insisted
| that il was a maniac; aud to account for
| the peculiar dcxterity of bis escapes and
whole management, related many anec-
| dotes Of the proverbial cunning Of mad
men. The widest, most absurd, and in
| credible stories were now atloat among
Tie people concerning this deadly and
subtle foe of the Regulators; for il was
| now universally believed and remarked,
| that it WAS against them alone that his
enmity was directed. They story Of
Henry WAS improved upon and added
| to; and, as some reports had it, the
| Madman-as others, the Bearded Ghost,
was seen in half Il dozen places at the
sane time; now on foot, stalking with
enormous strides across some open glade
from thicket to thicket-passing out of
! sight again before the observer could re-
cover from his surprise; then mounted,
he WAS seen flying like the shadow Of Il
summer cloud over the prairics, or be-
neath the gloom OF forests, always ,ag
gard and lean, dressed in skins with the
hair Oh, and that long, heavy, terrible
rifle on his shoulder. noticed that
there was only one class OF men who
ventured to assert that they had actually
seen with their own eyes these wonderful
sights, and that was constituted of those
who had either suffered, or, from their
! characters and pursuits, were most likely
to suffer persecution from the Regulators
the class Of hunter emigrants. These
men were most industrious in embcllish-
ing al the circumstances of character,
fcats, and relentless hatred to the Resu-
lators, rs highly AZ tic existing crciuii.y
of the public would bear. They never
saw him except in the vicinity Of The
homes Of some one Of these hated ty-
rants. In their versions this being was
foreTcr lowering around them, waiting
the moment to strike while they were
alone and far from any help.
They carried this thing so far AS TO at
tract attention to it, and arouse in the
cunning mind OF 1Iincll the same slspi-
cion which had occurred to Henry and
myself, namely, that all this was the re-
suit Of a profoundly acute and thorough
ly organized scheme Of this class, headed
by some man of peculiar personalities
and consummate skill, with The object of
discriminating or driving off the Regula-
tors. 1tscemed impossible, that, without
collision with many others, the murderer
should have been able to so battle all
pursuit. Hinch and his band had been
thoroughly cowed and awed; but the
moment this idea occurred to them, the
reaction of their base fears was savage
cxultaton. Here was something tangi-
BILE; their open and united force could
easily cxtermlnate an enemy who had
acknowledged their weakness in rcsorting
to secret combination and assassination
from the "bush' They forthwith pro-
claimed "war to tie knife" to the whole
class and during the next week several
outrages, so revolving that will not de-
tail them, were perpetratcd upon these
men III different parts Of the country
and the fact that, during this general tu-
multi nothing more was seen or heard of
the mysterious Rileman, encouraged
them with the belief that they had sue.
ceeded in getting rid of him through the
intimidation Of his confcderates
They had now been nearly fortnight
IN the saddlc-had glutted themselves
with vengeance, and, as they conceived,
broken down this dangerous conspiracy
against their power; and if they had
not succeeded in detecting and punish
in" had at least frightened off their
singular foe. They now concluded thew
might disbani That day, after they
separated, enc Of their number, named
kecs.almost as bad and savage Il man
as ilinch hin!self-was riding past a
thickei, i'll sigh! of his own house, when
Er was SHOT from it. His negroes heard
the gun, and seeing his horse galIoping
up to the house riderlcss and snoring
wildly, they ran down, and found him
stretched in he read dead. He ,vus shot
IN ne cyc, and the ball passed out at the
back Of his head.
When Hinch heard this, he seemed
perfectly !ivid, his knees smole together,
and with horrible oath, he exclaimed
IT'S Jack Long, or his ghost, come
back ior vengeancel
1t was now perceived. for the first time.
that all The men had been shot through
inc eye, instead of in the back of the
mead where the ball had only passed out
AMER entering the socket. The other
hendo Lad been loo unplcasautly niu.ila-
ted TOR examination, and this fact had
not been before observed. OF course
everybody vas satisfied, now, that this
terrible being was in one way or another
Identical with Jack Long; for the noto.
riety OF his favorite mark, and his match
less skill Instantly occurred to all, as ac-
counting for much that was unaccountn
ole III these occurrences. This produced
great change in public feeling. The
better sort began to conceive that thcv
understood the whole matter The
.ynchlng Jack had received WAS fresh in
!heir memories, and they supposed that
Its severity had shaken his mental bal.
ance and made him n monomauiac. and
that the disease had endowed him with
the marvellous cunning-the staupch
murdcrous hate-and the unnatural nm
pearance, which had created such sensa.
,lon. They could not understand how n
peins so simple. hearted and sluggish as
ne was reputed to have been reused or
stung to such deeds by the mere depth
ana power of his natural passions. But
monomaniac or not such vengeance
ana the daring conduct of the whole
anair, were very imposing to their asso.
clations and prepossessions, and they
sympathized heartily with him. It was
only while the general uncertainty left
every man in doubt whether his own
person might not be next the object of
tnls murderous aim, that the public were
disposed to back the Regulators in what
ever violent measures thew MIGHT choose