The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-04-11
a Civilized "WiId" Man; Crazy
but Sensible.

resided in the county of Ruther-
81 on the Eastern slopes OF the BLU
gfIre for a couple OF years after the
and often saw in Rutherford a
,r,rce stumbling, tattered figure, with
m hat of coon-skins and mucl the
tyle as the Bard OF Rhamkatte -
tbauch old John Lewis" the person
,..,rrcd to.-was strictly sober, aud not
unthriity after his fashion. lie left an
estate of $4,000 or more. Rutherford
Banner "a,
The deceased was, indeed, apeculiar
Imam; was never married, and living
alone died alone; and on or about Mon
oay the 18th. three days previous To the
daN he was discovered. He was a sol
der IN the war OF 1872, and under Gen.
jackson fought the Creek Indians at
Tahnpcka or Horse Shoe Bend" on
1he 9th OF March, 1913. Returning
from the army he employed himself III
Reaching and stage driving for some
Ncars. but his father dying he COM
ncuced the life OF a hermit which he
lived 10 the last. His mind was a
strange theatcr of reason. Always
wrong. vet strangely right. At II
time he had Il guardian, but never for
goi aud never i"r-ave the injury. For
uI1cucss WI, no part OF his nature aud
amuug his faults this was a prominent
one. He was well vcrocd in the law of
zthc land; in the simple remedies with
thcr application to diseases III mcdi-
ciuc. aud To the leading doctrines Of
s1hc ioLy: but of the latter he had little
OF lao respect. He scarcely ever at
tcntcd church. and habItually sworc
from force Of habit. He never used III
toA.CatIng drinks under any circum-
Stances. He used Il rigid economy
worthy Il better cause, a better life and
q Lester man. He did not provide HIM
Sell with sufficient clothing to protect
lis body from the cold of winter. His
food, If not scanty, Was OF Il kind that
no other man except savages could eat.
How he lived 50 long no II knows ;
how lac died none will even know.
lie was respectfully connected. His
.fatucr wa soldier OF the Revolutionary
war. and aitcrward a member Of the
General Assembly of North Carolina.
His brothers and sisters. (mo>t OF whom
a iOH btttJ dIC dl'DhS ltiC iuOSl IT,
spected citizens of this and other States.
We cannot tell why he chose to live the
lie he did,
HIS VIVID PICTURE Of THE RATTLE
SNAKES POWER.
"Old Johnny left among his papers
the following account of his
with i rattlesnake, which certainly indi-
Gates a degree of method in his mad-
ines:
A rattlcsnake, on Kings Mountain,
ia 1880, was laying across the road as i
rode with the mail from Rutherfordton
to Yorkville. hitched my horse, and
gathered a large Hat rock about a foot
IRE to throw it edgewise across his
back and break it. As advanced to-
ward the shake | remembered | had
heard say they were blind in ''Dogdays"
and then | thought | would make some
experiments, and To know if they were
blind in dogdays. | advanced softly up
TO about 5 or 6 yards OF him and with
my eft hand waved my cloak about. |
discovered he could see. lie raised him
sell up In the middle and stood on his
his head and tail like a half hoop. |
waved my cloak to see what he would do
next. He let himself down and quirled
himself, cooked his head high and look
at me as | thought very harmless. |
looked at his eyes which were all over
the same color. | had never noticed
that a snake badSa spot in their eyes like
all .. her eyes | had ever seen. | was
noti ing the singularity of MS eyes. As
| stood ~ the road ) or 6 yards from
H., NJ, J. f. IL -, ,- l, l,,,l III
my left Lau4 holt of the skirts of my
cloak, the ilrst thing | saw was peaks of
FIRE come do n from above my eyes and
draw up AM down again four or five
times like lite red hot pins and all at
the same tune and size, from ) to s of
them over both eyes Singular, | thought
| would SEE what it Is, bile noticing
1t, behold. | saw greater sights than
that. stw fire streami 9 and whirling
a small ii lance from me | thought [
would sec what it would terminate in.
and 1t wa lar more plain as the light of
day began - dI.Irpear the sun disap-
pearcd and | was still looking at the fire.
Presently | saw both of my eyes about
II yard before me about the size of a
fifty gallon cask. | stood looking at my
biz great eyes and the fire whirling
about in them. Nothing else could | see
but my eyes with the fire streaming and
whirling round | was now in eternal
darkness. thought it all very miracu
lous indeed. | still desired to see what
1t would terminate In, and | did quickly
see that it was the snakes mONh off
there ) or 6 yards from me. | knew it
was the snakes mouth-his pretty mouth
his nice mouth-to kiss his mouth
with ny mouth was my whole desire,
my whole aim. and II put that intention
into execution | started towards him. |
knew it was not far and as [ had gone
about swo yards, some person seemed to
SEIZE and hold me and said stop, sir
you've no business there" | said |
had business there and to let me 60 He
said he had hold of me aud would not
let me do it. | told him | could out-do
forty such folks a. him. ! now got very
sick aud thought | would die. | recol-
lectci seeing a Ing not far off and |
thought | would sit down, but could see
nothing of the log, the ground or any
thing else but the snakes mouth. The
lerson holding me let me loose. taking
the rock out of my hand. The next
thing [ saw the rock balanced on the
Stakes back and daylight appeared again.
The snake screwed round under the
rock, tossed it over and started off |
Iookei round to see who had held me,
but could see no enc. He had myst =
riously disappeared BY this time the
snake had got twenty yards off. | went
after him and killed him, brought him
hun and laid him down by the same
rock and cut off his ~rattles.
HuS long | was ia the above situation
l know not, but the sun seemed to be
about he same place when | saw it last.
This writing is to Inform any one who
reads it tia It a snake charms by the con
tact OF the eyes looking on each other.
JOHN LEWIS