Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1885-09-24

gatncreQ Danu OF young DUCKS, ALI
like himself, eager for the war-path,
aud started out upon career of muir
der and rapine. Their course was
marked by terrible aud repulsive out
RACES. lighted by the glare of burning
homes and cnlivcncd by the torture of
helpless children. Of all these things
John Grant and his pretty little wife
were in blissful ignorance.
September 20. 1885, was an unusual.
ly warp day, and young Grant having
business at the country store, some ten
miles off. delayed his proposed visit I'M
til the cool of the evening.
At six o'clock he mounted his horse
and started of. lie expected to return
about two a. m. He kissed his hand
gaily to his wife and the Growing baby
as he rode away. In a few moments
he was swallowed up In the gathering
darkness and never again was he seen
of man. Six miles from home his horse
stopped with quick snort and turned so
violently as to almost unseat him. Sup
posing it to be excited by some shadow
OF bush or briar he urged it on.
A clump of underground near the
river suddenly became alive. A sharp
ringing sound, q faint puff of pungent
smoke scarcely visible against the night.
and his horse, shot through the heart,
trembled and fell under him. Before
he had time to extricate himself the red
devils, with a war-whoop OF fiendish
triumph, were upon. him. Poor John!
One prayer for Nellie and the baby and
then his bleeding scalp hung at the
girdle of painted savage, while his
gashed and still warm body was flung
into the river, whose white arms opened
to receive it.
One o'clock came, and the little
woman in the log cabin put her work OF
sewing aside, kissed the sleeping infant
near her and listened intently for the
footsteps she would never hear again.
The night had become very dark. The
moon was hidden behind q bank OF
clouds dense and gloomy. and there was
whisper of rain in the atmosphere.
The long yellow hound sleeping near
the door became restless and whined
uneasily as he snuffed the air. Another
hour passed and the young wife. filled
with an undefnablc dread, was about to
90 to the door when there came yell
that almost froze the bounding pulses
| and left her cheeks as white as the i'm
press of death. For a moment she stood
helpless and trembling; then, clasping
her child to her bosom, she raised a
loose plank in the floor, dropped
through it to the ground, and, with an
agonized prayer to the Almighty, stole
out into the strange and compassionate
gloom. Behind her she could see the
quick glare of burning outbuildings and
the little home that had been paradise
to her. Too soon was her flight discov-
cred and the red fiends were upon the
trail.
About two miles from the ashes OF
her ruined home she was overtaken.
Two days afterwards party of hunters
came upon the dead bodies of mother
and child. Rough and toil-worn hands
gently bore them to quiet grave, the
babe upon its mothers breast. Near
by little pool of their life blood had
collected, which the soil had not yet
absorbed. dark and noisome in the
bright fall sunshine, blot upon the
swift swaying of trees and the joyous
song of birds. In the opening spring
the body of the husband and father was
found cntangled in the roots at the bot
tom of the river and was buried with
the ones he loved so well.
A few years later passing hunter,
one of the original party that had found
the bodies, happened on the same To-
cality, and in the little hollow, where
the blood had gathered. saw vigorous
bush, bearing such roses as | have de.
scribed. He cut some slips from it and
took them to the settlement, where he
related his discovery. Such romantic
and singular Story excited the curiosity
of many in the adjacent counties, ant
repeated efforts were made 10 secure thu
growth of the slips in other places, bu
they have all failed of success. Withir
an area of five miles, where the dolefu
tragedy occurred, it is said the rose Cal
still be found, wiihits strong and sturd,
stock, its pale green leaves, its in-curve,
crimson petals and its bloody dew. =
Hamilton Jay, in Philadelphia Times