Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-05-17

and his family with admirable vigilance,
courage ard tact against the wiles of the
Indians. During the Revolutionary
War all the Indians on the continent
were IN agitation, and for the first
| three years Of the contest, British in
fluence being paramount, the Western
settlements were never safe from at
tack. Only few days after the Dec
laratiOn of Independence a daughter
of Daniel Boone and two of her play
mates were padding in a canoe oppo-
site BoonesbOrough, when five Indians
sprang from an ambush and carried
them away with them into the wilder
ness. Boone being absent at the time,
it was not until daybreak the next
morning that he and three friends
could start in pursuit. But by ten
o'clock they came upon the party of
Indians while they were halting for
breakfast. They gave one fire. rushed
upon them, put them to flight. and re-
covered the terrified and sobbing girls.
During that bloody time two of his
sons and a brother fell under the rifles of
the savage foe, and he himself spent con-
siderable time a. prisoner among one
Of the tribes, escaping just in time to
conduct the defence of Booonesborough
against most formidable attack. For
about ten years the.settlers of Kentucky
waged almost incesSant war against
the Indians, and wherever the danger
was greatest, there Daniel Boone was
sure to be, conducting the defense or
heading the attack.
He stood six feet two; his chest was
broad. his limbs muscular, and his
whole form powerfully and symmetri-
cally developed. His temperament was
tranquil and cool, incapable of worry.
anxiety, or fear; man of few words
and quiet demeanor, who never could
be disconnected or pertubed. He could
stick a nail into board, and at a dis
lance of forty PAGES drive it home with
a bullet. He could bring q squirrel
down from lofty tree. without hitting
it, by the mere shock of the bullet pass
ing close to its head.
In dark night he could snuff a cam
die at q distance of forty PAGES. three
times out of seven-a peculiarly diff
cult feat. He was equally expert in
all the ways of capturing game, track
ing Indians and guarding against sur
prise. At the same time he had con-
stitution that could endure incredible
fatigue and privation. On one occa-
sion he walked hundred and sixty
miles in four days and nights. upon
only one meal.
The last years of this heroic man
were at times clouded with misfortune.
When he and his brave companions
had rendered Kentucky safe and in
viting dwelling place, he was as
founded one day by the sheriff coming
to his cabin and telling him that he
had no legal right to the lands upon
which he had lived so long. And so, in
deed, it proved. He could not UNDER
stand how any man could have right
to his farm superior to his own.
my footsteps he wrote upon this subject
ing sons and brother have 1 lost by savage
hands, which have also taken from me forty val
liable horses and abundance OF cattle. Many
dark and sleepless nights have been compan-
ion for owls, separated from the cheerful society
of men, scorched by the summers sun and
pnched by the winters cold, an instrument or
daned to settle the wilderness"
All true. And yet the case wen.
against him in the courts, and he los.
his farm. After this he went to
Virginia, and lived some years hum
ter's life in the woods. But, by and
by, the spirit of the pioneer revived
within him, and, at the age OF sixtv-
one he traversed the whole breadth
of Kentucky, and joined his son who
had opened farm near the junction of
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
not far from the village of St. Louis
He was now a subject OF the King of
Spain, and the Spanish Governor made
him commander of his district and
gave him eight thousand acres of land.
But ill-luck pursued him, A few
years after, when all this country was
ceded to the United States, he lost his
land through not having complied with
some formalities; and, of course. he lost
his Office as well. Congress, however.
some years later, when he was seventy
nine years of age, made him grant of
eight hundred and fifty acres of land
in Missouri. upon which he lived in
peace and plenty, surrounded by affec-
tionate grandchildren.
Audubon, who visited him in Mis-
souri,, speaks of him as magnificent
specimen of manhood; and another son
of the wilderness who visited his cabin
when Boone was past eighty, testifies to
his venerable and winning appearance.
neatly dressed in garments woven and
made in his own cabin.
His countenance," says this friend was
pleasant, calm and fair; his forehead high and
bold and the soft silver of his hair in unison
with his length OF days. He spoke feelingly and
with solemnity Of being creature of Providence,
ordained 4 pioneer in the wilderness to ad-
vance the civilization and the extension Of his
To the end of his days he repaired
rifles, carved powder horns, made moe
casins and snow shoes, and liked no
feast so well as a slice of venison
toasted at the end of ramrod. He
even made his own coffin. and kept it
under his bed for several years. He
died in 1920, aged eighty-six. His
remains now repose at Frankfort, in
Kentucky, where monument marks
his last NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Parton.
in W Y. Ledger.