Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-02-06
NO. 36.
CHECKERED CAREER.
The Astonishing Record or q
6outherner.
sChawea" By Tiger. Bitten by = Mocc.-
sia, Struck BY Lghtning, Tried For
Murder, He Dles at Last
In Fla Bod.
TMniedgeville ,oa. /, Letter.I

rfiiiedgeviiie t0a.) Letter.l
The death OF Thomas Stewart, In Ber-
rien County, removes a singular character
from the scene of life. He frst appeared
there In lS45. He was not remarkable for
anything except for scrawniness, being of
small stature, lean and of q clay bank
color, the result, perhaps, Of private meals
on the chimney clay. But rs time sped by
he became hero in that then wild country;
at least he was hero In one sensa
The family with whom he lived resided
not far from the Alapaha swamp. One
day he and another boy were sent to the
swamp to feed q sow. When within a
short distance Of Ii large American tiger
or jaguar sprang out Of the bushes and
brought Stewart to the ground. He fell
on his face, and the jagaur seemed to be
In no hurry 70 kili him. Indeed, tho brute
was engaged just then In watching the
other boy heeing In the direction Of the
house, Being satisfied as to the direction
tho other boy took, tho beast then took
Stewards head in its mouth and closed on
it, but its teeth slipped over instead of PEN
etrating the skull. 1t bit the boys skull
several times, with the same result, and
the boy, with presence Of mind wonder.
full in one 30 young, did not once finch
while the animal was tearing huge burrows
through his scalp. The tiger, after holding
its nose near the boys face an instant,
as II listening il he was breathing,
seemed satisfied that he was dead, and
hastily covering him up with pine straw
ran hurriedly after the other boy. As soon
rs the creature was out Of sight Stewart
sprang to his feet, and, taking a wide cir
cult, ran with all the speed he could COM
mand, and finally reached tho house In
safety. The other boy reached the house
some time before the tiger came in sight of
it, and the brute, seeing that he was too
late, hurried back to his first prey.
IfStewart had moved while the tiger
was biting his skull, or if he had breathed
while the beast was listening, with its nose
close to his face, he would have been torn
into fragments; but the boy, having heard
of many Of the poculiarities Of this fero-
cious beast, was prepared to profit by the
knowledge.
The neighbors rallied at once, and were
successful in killing the jaguar, which
they found little further on in the swamp.
A few years after tho above occurrence,
Stewart, while feeding q cane mill, had
one of his hands caught and drawn In be-
tween the rollers and 50 badly smashed
that the hand and a portion Of the arm
wi.hered.
Later on he was In the field at work
when thunderstorm came up and he was
struck by lightning and left for dead. He
came to, however, and was all right in q
few days.
By this time he was old enough to take
unto himself wife but the parents Of his
girl did not favor the alliance, SO they de-
cided on elopement. In thos, days, even
. hero could get married without shoes, sc
he started for the future wife, succeeded il
! getting her from the house and the happy
pair were on their way to the parsons
when Stewart was bitten on the foot by
moccasin, dangerous reptile. Even tha
did not stop him. They proceeded to the
parson's and were united In wediock
Stewart did not die from tho snake bite
History does not say whether the snAk,
died.
Next we hear Of Stewart he was beins
tried for his life for the murder Of O mar
named Wheeler. The evidence was al
against Stewart, and everybody thought
he would hang. He was defended by tn,
now venerable Judge Hansell, of Thomas
vile, Ga, then young lawyer just "start-
ing out" So able was the defense, SO pa.
thetically did the young lawyer dwell ap.
on the many hair breadth escapes OF the
prisoner, who seemingly had been pre-
served through them all through provi-
dental Intervention, that the jury brought
tn such a verdict as sent him to the Peni-
tentiary for six years. While In the Peni.
tentiary he learned the painters trade
and after satisfying the sentence of the
law, returned home.