Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-12-11
THE MIKE APPLE.
A Curious Fruit That is Said to
Garry q Cain Mark.
One OF the Familiar Stories which Com
necticut People Never Tire OF
RelatIng-Prompted by the
GOsdngs OF Conscience.
[Cor. ". Y. Sun.1

[Cor. " Y Sunl
The story OF the mike apple" and the
drop of bod in it is a familiar one in New
London County. and old people never tire
of relating it. In almost every country
| town in this part of Connecticut, where
the fruit orig mated, Is to be found one or
more Mike apple tr ees, and ut this time Of
the year children vie with each other in
| gett n the fi-ss a nher -husd wind falls
| AMI finding the drops o. blood in them.
Sometimes the drop is found just under
the siv n skin. thin streak of carmine
that psuetrates 10 the CORE and that
brs tn, silver pulp, touched, as a
d 'op o. bloc m ght do. Ottel it is an
is l,tsI cl,t as large as a whortleberry,
! and som m ) the appe is banded by a
narrow crescs 1t of Grim on that reaches
half arounI the fruit OF the o1tsi le OF the
rinl. Apples thus marked present a very
str king apps lrancs thS crimson patch
bong so clearly defil ed and so vividly in
c ntrAst with the silyery gree rind.
They srs always regarded with romantic
interest by their I ossessors. The Nike
a'pls is in b ripe nDw. Nsver WIS the
furt fnlr>r than Tn season, and tn Q
which the fruit first appeared, in the
town OF Franklin, alb lus six mills north
of this city, perished many years ago,
but shoots sprang from the roots, and one
of those is a iorge tree whose branches
ere bowed wi b luscious apples this sea-
son. II is on h farm of Jake Arm strong,
the miller at Peck Hollow, a wild roman-
tic glen, on tie line of the New London
NArtbnrn II aftrnaI tho n the
town. A SOU IT, weatl er- be iten, old
farmhouse, a lew rods from the depot,
was the homo of Mic IN X ,oi (Mike).
whose name the ili-reputel fruit bears,
an the "Miks tree" is at tue back of the
house where the garden slopes into an old
apple orcharL
In little work con7i ed by
lccal historian in conn 'ction with
the local celebration in 1853 of the
1jJth aunIv ersary of the foun linf of
franklin Con gregltio lal Society, this
authentic accou 1T o, III ks and his famous
apple troe is given:
Rood, Micah, the youngest son of
Thomas H BOD, who WAS an early settler
upon the east side of the She;ucket. Nj
cab had upon his farm an apple tree
which bore large, fair fruit, but always
with red slobIls, like clot of blood,
near the center OF eaca appe The apple,
which has become u great iavorite In this
vicinity, and is called he Nike apple from
its originator, still retains this peculiar
ity, and is the object of much curiosity.
THIS story OF its origin, handel down
from father to son for over a hundr ed
years has gr)wlei to bs fxAd tradi-
tion, imp icitly bel we'd. As the st ry
Iuns, a eddler entered town vending
such costly AMI in <urious wares as had
mover been seen before in the settlement.
The simple Micah, zzled by the display.
invited the psldisr to bis house, and At
an evil moment plum red n knife to his
heart, benoath this very tree, SO
that bis life- bIool flowed down and
mingled with it5 roos. The next
spring It's Ii ISIS pms chang d from snowy
white to red, and in August when the ap-
pies came ;umbl ng down! ,rSe. AMI yell
low, and juicy-thers hung in every one
q drop of blood. There they lay before
terr Fl ID Micln, the evidenc, of his never
to-bs- forgotten deed. With nature in
O. riDg-t ne AMI autumn 50 strangely
prompting the goa1in ,s of his conscien ce,
who shall wonder thai the simple hearted
NJ cab should change into a IN prose and
melancholy man and lead an accursed
lifey Such was the fac. Time went for
naught but he me nory of his Grim ., busi-
ness wos neglected., and soon from pr 1s-
porous farmer he beca ne a pauper de-
pendent upon ths charities of the COM
muuity. In I'LL he was glad t. increase
his slender means by assuming char se of
the meeting house, rec,iv : therefor a
Peck of cora yearly from esch family In
the society. OF his last yelrs, or pauper
death, the records tel briefly but signif-
cantly:
July 1I27. The inhabitants do now.
by their vote, agree to allow each man
who watches with NJ IN Rood, two shill-
ings per night. Also, to those who have
attended 10 X Jol by day, three shillings
per day.
December II, 172S. To Jacob HYDE,
for dIgg ng Mical Ro DDS grave. G. Is. Oh.
In face OF the facts who shall allpronounce
the story of NJ clh RooI a fiction, or think
1t too strange that naturs should rec. I'd
her horror of human crims?
Two foot notes acc )mplny the account.
Thirty years ago it was calleI indef-
nitsly the Mike CT Rood apple, but now
the former nams has generally obtained
October ye first day, 1717, ye societe
agreed by their vote vt each family shall.
give Micah Rood a peck of corn for sweep
ing ye meeti1g-ho Ise:one year.
Tho foregoing is an unvarnished tale.
Tradition depicts him as a simple ma
tured. good hearted fellow, the favorite
of all the neighborhood children. Each
year, when the apples became mellow on
the early tree in the garIen, the children
stopped at the garden gate on the way
from school, aud Nike brought to them
armfuls of the fruit. In the September
following the crime the children stopped
at the gate, AMI Mike met them with sad
face.
"The tree is cursed, Children" said he.
"There is blood in the apples" he added,
after n moment, mo ID ly shaking his head;
ait is the peddler's blood"
he children wers persistent however,
In demanding the apples. aud Mike finally
vie ded. He weat to the tree and returned
with an armful, which be gave to them
Then, pulling out his jack KIN Ife, he split
one of the app'es in twain. A br ght stain
followed the blale and covered the pulp
from rind to core.
"Therep he exclaim ID, ''you see the
blood" He turned away aud went into
the house, mutteriug.
The Mike apple has q tart, agreeable
flavor, and it is cne of the best early fruits.
A fine, large Mike apple tree is on the
Pine Tres Farm, at East Great Plain, In
this town. All the trees are distinguished
by blood-red blossoms. It is a popular
belief that the stain does not appear in
fruit from a grated tree. Propagation
can be accompI shed only b. planting
seeds or transplanting sAoota
Sexton Store,
GROCERIES,