San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1889-12-26
THE SWAMP HORROR.

spoke in a previous article of the dis
NAL swamp that stood on the eastern
limits of the village Of Bruceville. Some
time or other, probably before the village
had been settled, there had come through
the forest tornado, and it had lashed
the trees down in all sorts of shapes over
the partly submerged land Then at
some other period a fire had swept
through this, and had left it one of the
most desolate, forlorn looking, tangled
mazes of half burnt wood that could be
imagined. Years had passed since that
time, and the repeated rains had washed
most of the black off the wood and left
the white, gaunt limbs sticking up in the
air, like spectral arms, and made the
ghostly place to us boys region Of ter
ror and first rate place to avoid. No
body, as far as have been able to fearn,
had penetrated into the innermost re-
cesses of that swamp No boy that l
ever knew dared to enter the swamp
even in the brightest sunlight, while the
thought of that swampat night!-whew
it makes me shudder even now.
| Nobody was more afraid of that swamp
than was, yet think | may claim to
have been the first boy that ever explored
it, and that is the reason that my hair
today is gray. may say that about
this time great mystery shook the vii
lage from its circumference to it's center.
The mystery was the strange disappear
ance of three COWS that belonged to three
of our villagers. Nearly every one of
the villagers kept COW, and these COWS
grazed on the commons that adioined the
village. One day three of the most val
liable cows were missing, and search
all over the country for them was unsuc-
cessful. This mysterious disappearance
caused more talk and gossip in that vii
lage than the murder of three men would
have done in larger town. Everybody
had a theory as to how the COWS had dis
appeared. remember that lot Of wan
dering gypsies came along at that time,
and one of the owners Of the COWS con-
suited gypsy as to their whereabouts
After paying the fee the gypsy told him,
somewhat vaguely, that he would hear
of the COW, but that she feared he would
not take as much interest in the animal
after she was found as he had done be-
fore. This turned out, however, to be
strictly accurate.
About this time some one introduced
in the village q strange contrivance
which was known as kite. Improba
BILE as it may seem, this invention would
sail in the upper skies without the aid of
gas, which is used to elevate balloon.
The way it was made was thus:
A hoop Of barrel was taken and was
cut so that it made a semi-circle; then
piece of lath was fastened to the center
of that semi-circular hoop, and piece
of string was tied to the end of the hoop
and down to the bottom of the lath. A
cross piece of lath was also made to
strengthen the affair, and then we cut a
newspaper into shape and pasted it over
the string and lath and hoop ends. A
long tail was attached to the end of the
lath, made of string, to which was tied
little bits of paper, somewhat after the
form of curl papers used by ladies in
those days to keep their hair in curl
Then long string was attached to this
kite, and if the breeze was good and you
held on one end of the string, the affair
rose gracefully in the heavens.
There was great competition among
us boys in kite flying, and the wild desire
to own the kite that would fly the high
est caused bitter rivalry. l succeeded in
getting a very good kite, and bankrupt
cd myself in buying a lot of string as an
attachment. After purchasing that ball
of twine, was poor in this worlds
goods, with the exception Of that Kite,
which proudly foated away above its
fellows. We used 10 tie our kite string
to the fences, and leave the kites float
ing up all day, and have seen as many
as ten or fifteen kites lowering away
above the village. One day, when the
wind was blowing from the village over
the swamp, some enviOus villain, Whose
identity have not been able TO discover
10 this day. cut the string Of my kite al
the fence. II I had found out who the
boy was a. the time, | venture to say
that there would haze been the biggest
fyht that the village Of Bruceville ever
saw. was in another part q the VII
lare when the disaster happened, and ]
saw with horror that my kite, which
foatel - high above the rest, suddenly
bean % vaver and then foated Of to
wards the east. wabb.ing 10 one side and
then 10 tlsa othzr in a drunken. sfurid
sort Of fzlli5n. and finally huftered
down O. the ground somewhere On the
5.Ier side q tie swamp. IN doingthis
& trailed tie IorG lire q valuable string
-lesr a-rnss the si-rllsi swamp.
u uas f-aTi - i,ellere that there c1-il
szist il t.ls HOri1 =l-8 desperate viIlai-y
b u0aif E.razr: n bog % tie awful des4
ua=seI Il91sa tls village weeping
1udlF or-5 t5e lisa-ar- hut tLis 81