Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-01-13
CHECKERED CAREER.
The Astonishing Record or .
Southerner.
"Chawed' by . Tiger. Bitten by . moees-
sins struck by lightning, Tried For
Murder, HE Dies zt Lat
Ia His Bed.
ndilledzevills (Ga. } Letter.I

4rdLA 4IOu1as Stew ART, IA D<f-
rien County, removes singular character
from the scene of life. He first appeared
there in 1915. He was not remarkable for
anything except for scrawniness, being or
small stature, lean and OF a clay bank
color, the result, perhaps, Of private meals
OF the chimney cl~y. But as time sped by
he became hero in that then wild country;
at least he was a hero in one sense.
The family with whom he lived resided
not far from the Alapaha swamp. One
day he and another boy were sent 70 the
swamp 20 feed SOW. When within .
short distance Of it large American tiger
or Jaguar sprang out OF the bushes and
brought Stewart 10 the ground. be fell
on Lis face, aud the jagaur seemed To be
in no hurry 10 kill him. Indeed, the brute
was engaged just then ia watching the
other boy fleeing in the direction OF the
house, Being satisfied as to the direction
tho other boy took, the beast then took
Stewards head in its mouth and closed on
It, but its teeth slipped over instead of PEN
etrating the skull. Ii Bit the boys skull
several times, with the same result, and
the boy, with a presence of mind wonder
ful in one so young, did not once finch
while the animal was tearing huge furrows
through his scalp. The tiger, after holding
its nose near the boys face an instant,
as il listening II he was breathing,
seemed satisfied that he was dead, and
hastily covering him up with pine straw
ran hurredly after the other boy. AS soon
as the creature was out of sight Stewart
sprang to his feet, and, falling a wide cir
x.rft oil . ha
mand, and finally reached the 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.
Ii Stewart 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 peculiarities 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 the above occurrence,
Stewart, while feeding cane mill, had
I.
tween the rollers and so badly smashed
that the hand and a portion of the arm
withered.
Later on he was in the field at work,
when a thunderstorm came up and he was
struck by lightning and left for dead. He
came to, however, and was all right in
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 thoss days, even,
hero could get married without shoes, so
be started for the future wife, succeeded in
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 TINT
did not stop him. They proceeded to the
parsons and were united in wedlock
Stewart did not die from the snake bite.
History docs not say whether the snake
died
Next we hear of Stewart he was being
tried for his life for the murder of q man
named Wheeler. The evidence was all
against Stewart, and everybody thought
he would hang. He was defended by the
now venerable Judge Hansell, of Thomas
vile, Ga, then a young lawyer just "start-
ing out" So able was the defense, so pa
thetically did the young lawyer dwell up
on the many hair-breadth escapes of the
prisoner, who 81 semingly had been pre-
served through them all through provi-
Dental Intervention, that the jury brought
in 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 tho
law, returned home.