Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1884-02-26
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Curse Of Cornstalk Re-
moved.

May his resting place be forgotten
and may the town upon which his evil
influence has pressed so heavily lift
her head and seek some noble title to
| distinction.
The aIlusion in the title and first
paragraph in this article, is to story
current in the southern part of this
State, that little more than one hun
dred years ago there was small set
tlcment of whites at the mouth of the
Great Kanawha, where Point Pleasant
is now located. That it was threatened
with destruction by the Indians, when
Cornstalk, an Indian Chief, visited
this little settlement of whites, known
as Point Pleasant, in friendly spirit
with view of making peace be-
tween the Indians and the Whites
But the whites, being suspicious of
his purpose, put him to death. Just
before his death he pronounced Il
curse on Point Pleasant, because of
this treachery of its inhabitants, which
he declared would hang over the place
for one hundred years. Point Pleas
ant is probably more eligibly sit
uated for city, than any point on the
Ohio between Cincinnati and Pitts
burgh; but it has remained small
village for the one hundred years
which has elapsed since its founda-
ton. Every effort to improve the
place has been failure. Virginia
undertook to have a water communi-
cation between Point Pleasant and
Richmond by canal, and by improv-
ing the kanawha river, but though
she spent probably ten millions of
dollars on this improvement, it was
abandoned after the war without being
completed. The Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad Company desired to pass
through Point Pleasant and bridge
the Ohio river at that place, but
the Virginia legislature would not give
its consent. But the one hundred
years which Cornstalk's curse was to
last, had just expired when railroad
bridge was built across the Ohio river
ut Point Pleasant, and there is now
every prospect that in a very short
time there will be two railroads at
least passing through this point, one
extending from Pittsburgh down the
Ohio to Cincinnati, which is complete
from Pittsburgh to Parkcrsburg, and
from Cincinnati to Portsmouth, and
the intervening link will doubtless be
built shortly, and will pass through
Point Pleasant. The other, from To-
lcdo, on Lake Erie, to Richmond,
which is finished from Toledo to
Charleston, w. Va, and from Rich
mond to Clifton Forge, leaving a space
of only $50 miles to complete. The
only difficulty in the way of these two,
as we'll rs of other railroads, in get
ting to this bridge across the Ohio at
this place, is that this can only be
reached by passing through the streets
of Point Pleasant. Injunctions have
been procured by individuals living
on the street through which one of the
railroads, with the leave of the town
council of Point Pleasant, was being
built, stopping the building of this
railroad through this street. These
injunctions were dissolved by the de-
crees Of the Court of Appeals, re-
ferred to in this editorial in the Eve-
ming Gail, and the editor appears to
regard these decisions as the final re-
movaI of the curse Of Cornstalk, the
time during which this curse was to
last, one hundred years, having re-
Gently expired. AS further showing
that Cornstalk's curse is now removed.
the Federal Government is now en-
gagged in improving, in a very thorough
manner, the Kanawha river, which
empties at Point Pleasant. These i'm
provements will cost probably nearly
a million of dollars. So that it may
now be safely predicted that Point
Pleasant will speedily become city.
If it has been really prevented from
becoming city long since by Corn
stalks curse, it is striking example
of the evils which are entaiIed by
treachery and bad faith.
The Supreme Court of Appeals OF
this State yesterday morning decided
. four Chancery cases brought to this
court by appeals from orders of the
Judge of the Circuit Court of Mason
county, made on the 10Th day of July,
1888, refusing to modify or dissolve
from injunctions heretofore awarded