West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-05-25
THE PIoNEER OF KENTUCKY
The Pecuslas Product of the Period. in
Rhch He Lived.
Courier Journal.

courier JouIu~h-
The pioneer of Kentucky was the
peculiar product of the period in
which he lived. His presence on
the frontier was due principally to.
the attfactionsoft heabnndant game
and the adventures of an unrestrain-
ed life, the hope Of securing new
home where nis growing family
might reap the benefit of cheap lands,
or an ambition to'raise up q commui
nifty in which he would attain world
" honors and self-aggrandizement-
No distinct line of division defined
these classss the one often merged
into theother, and there were indi-
vIduals who were successfully emf
nent in each of them, though this
was exceeding rare. Daniel Boone
and Simon Kenton represented that
class who sought the sOlitudes OF
the painless forests IN exchange for
the trammels of civilized society,
where they could hunt without re-
straint and live without a govern
ment of rigid laws and stern police
regulations.
Joe Logston represented another
type of the piOneer-the worst type,
perhaps, that "skirted the confines
ofcivilization.'f Heand Simon Ken
ton were types of the two extremes.
Logston, or big Joe Logston," as
he was called was man of tremen-
dous physical organization, with
coarse features and q sup-brOwned
skin that when exposed was almost
as scalys as shell bark hickory.
His parents, in many respects, were
remarkable people. 3 They lived In
the Allegheny mountains, and were
coarse, rude, ungainly, as were their
worst surroundings, and rough OF
speech as rough could be. The elder
Logston was of extraordinary size,
and possessed great muscular
strength. His wife was large and
coarse, possessed the strength Of
three ordinary women,and consider
ed himself a match for any Indian
warrior in fair fight. The son Of
such parents was predestined to ex-
eel in physical strength, and ere he
reached his majority he was his faith
er's equal in size, and his superior in
athletic accomplishments. His size
became proverbial, and big Joe
Logston" was the most exalted
standard Of physical excellence in
his neighbOrhoOd. A buffet of his
fist was not unlike a blow from
pile-driver, and his skill with the
rifle was not the least of his accom-
plishments.
Joe Logston moved everything by
his own promptings. He knew lit
tie or nothing of the rules of society,
and he cared less. He was brave,
but disposed to be somewhat vindic
tive toward an enemy. A stranger
with anything like an equal physical
organization seemed to affect him
much as a red flag does a mad bull.
Such he would roughly insult with
out cause, and if the stranger, in ig-
porance of the man, resented the in
suit, fight was sure to result; and
in the old style of rough -and-tumble-
knock dOwn-and drag-Out, LOgston
never met his match. Indeed, he
was wont to boast, with an easy as
surance that none cared t. contest
practically, that he could "out run,
Out-leap, out-jump, throw down, drag
out and whip any man on the Dor
der" One of the exploits that gave
him great nOtoriety occurred in 1870,
when, in fight with two stout In
dian warriors, he wounded one Of
them mortally and beat the other to
death with his fists. Logston took
to the woods as naturally as duck
to the water. His early years were
spent in the quest of such game as
the mountainous region about his
home furnished, visiting the settle
ments at rare intervals, and then
only to exchange his skins for pow
der and lead. As settlements en-
crOached upon his hunting-groun
like Daniel Boone, he grew restless,
and soon pulled up stakes" and
moved on. 1t was told of him, that
whenever cabin was erected within
q lesgue of hir haunts, he accepted
il as q notice to vacate, and imme-
diately hunted ont a new locality
where he began life anew. Soon sf-
ter the close of the Revolutionary
war he came to the wilds Of Ken
lucky. And here for the first time
he met the hostile Indians. Hither.
to, in his mountain fastnesses-in
his highland glens-he had come in
contact with none of the "red man
or his kindred" and his sports and
pastimes had been confined to hunt
ing wild beasts, and to a fist-fght,
whenever an opportunity offered,
with some rival hunter. The Indian
he considered but a nobler kind of
game, and with him he had numer-
Gus adventures which gave him
great distinction among both friends
and foes, and the recital Of which