Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-07-27

- Wv u - aS
Massacre-The ~NeiGhbors Conldn't I'm
derstand Why the Farmer Moved.
Impending perils may cast n shadow
pcrsistently ignored in a waking state,
while the mind is under the influence Of
a self %deluding optimism-the wish that
is father to the belief in the significance
Of the threatening danger. But in sleep
the voice Of the monitor cannot be 81
fenced by such illusions, and warning
f~orebodings often take the form of dis
tinct visions. repeated with a vividness
! and frequency which at last cannot fail
to influence the actions OF the individual,
in spite Of all waking sophisms.
DREAMED 1T TWICE.
remember the instance of an Amerf-
can family that had settled in the
northern uplands of Cameron county,
Texas, but before the and Of a year re.
moved to the vicinity of a larger settle
ment and sold their half completed
home for reasons that remained a mys-
terry to their upland neighbors.
"We had selected that building site
after q good deal Of prospecting" the
first proprietor Of that house told me a
few years later, land at first it seemed a
| puzzle to me that nobody had pre-empted
it long ago. it was n broad hill with a
fine prospect east and south; we had an
abundance of timber, fine range, two
| good springs, and a ledge of soft lime
! stone within n thousand yards of the
house, where you could shape out build
ing stone with a common saw. l never
could hope to find better ~neighbors;
they actually got up a picnic to celebrate
u arrival, $ glad they were to have
English speaking folks within visiting
distance.
"We had every prospect of getting an
improved road and a p~ostoflice, and three
months after our first entry | would not
have sold that homestead for ten times
my direct expenses. But about half a
year after that ranch seemed a haunted
place and | didn't feel at rest night or
day, though people that know me are
not likely to call me superstitious. Inever
was afraid of darkness even when ! was
a boy and a swarm Of ghosts would not
scare me worth n cent But one night,
about Il week after | had got home from
a trip to Brownsville Landing, / dreamt
our house was tackled by a band of
Greaser b~ushwhackers (Mexican bandits
and that they shot me down and killed
my little boy with a club, and then
loaded their horses with everything they
could move.
1.-TWO nights after ] had exactly that
same dream over again, and | could see
every stick and stone in our yard, when
| tried t make a break for our next
neighbor and was shot down Just as l
rushed through the gate. | noticed the
very horses and saddles of that gang and
could have recognized every II of them
if had met them in daylight, and Inow
do believe that l did see them somehow
or other on that trip to the landing.
TIE wIFE'S WARNING.
"The idea began to haunt me when that
dream had come back for the third time,
though | never said n word; but one
morning my wife seemed uneasy till all
our farm hands had started to work,
and then asked me to come out in the
garden for a minute.
"'Do you think there are any robbers
in this neighborhoody she asked me
when we were quite alone.
"'Why, did you see OF hear anything
su~spicious| | asked her back.
Ono, but ! had such a strange dream
last night said she, with a sort Of a
shudder, Il dreamt a gangof McXicans
came to our house and made me run for
my life, and just before ! got through
tho door | saw them knock down little
Tommy with a club
Didn't help you" l laughed.
"I don't know she said. Il saw you
collar one of them, and l kept calling
for you in English to save yourself, but
just as you dashed through the gate l
heard the crack Of a shotgun and then /
tainted
II made no reply, but that minute /
felt that We couldn't stay any longer,
and two weeks after I made up my mind
to move to Indianola. There were no
Mexicans in our immediate neighbor-
hood at that hill farm, and no serious
robbery had happened anywhere nearer
than Casa Blanca, but / felt that / had
to look for a new home If l expected to
get an hours peace, and it often seemed
to me that ! was doing a sin if l let my
little boy out Of sight for ten minutes.
So we made up an excuse about schools
and postotfice and managed to sell our
pretty place for a few hundred. The
neighbors thought I must be half crazy,
but / couldn't help it; and just ten weeks
after we were gone we got the news OF
that Pancho Parras massacre. The
whole neighborhood had been sacked
and outraged, and as / know my boy, ]
am now morally certain that he would
have stood his ground and got himself
killed if he had seen any brute lay his
hands on his mother"
The very homeliness Of that account
impressed me with aconviction Of its alb
solute truth, and on the whole consider
1t the most characteristic instance of
what Artemidoros would have called
"theorematic dreams Felix l.. Oswald,
NJ. D., in The Open Court.
The Meanest Man I'm Creation.
A man in Clay, who owes US over two
i ..t 3. - I~ayy