St. Paul daily globe., 1889-05-14
AN APALACHEE DEsPERADo.

Shooting Hair Dozen negroes
just for Little Target Prac-
tice.
Forest and Stream.
The lumbermen of the Alapachee
swamps have bad reputation. Most
of them are refugees from the justice of
these mOrasses. Here they are indeed
secure. for once let man who knows
anything of woodcraft get into such
labyrinth of swamps and forest, and
nothing can dislodge him; regiment
OF soldiers and a battery of artillery
would be pOwerlesS in the unknown
ways of these vast wildS.
And so it is that these woods are full
of outlaws, or rather men that have been
outlaws, for in their new homes most of
them lead honest. hard-worklng lives,
seldom leaving the woods, one or two
that they see of civilization. They are,
as rule, hOspitable and peaceful men,
unless under the influence of drink,
then some OF them are dangerous in the
extreme, for it is fighting whisky"
that they generally get when OH a
''tear, and the invariable result of
visit to town is series of fracaSeS
among themselves.
Of course, one sees some very desper-
ate characters-men who would not
hesitate at any crime, but whose misdo-
ings may be traced to liquor. F. was
short. .thick-set man of about thirty-five.
with red face. He was nervous,
eXcitable fellow, whose quick, restless
eve seemed always on the lookout
for an imaginary pursuer. It was said
that he had been obliged to fly from Geor-
gia on account of killing scrape in
bore very baG name among his COM
panions as being reckless, desperate
fellow. Such, however, we did not find
him, for, during our stay of week, this
hitherto total stranger entertained us to
the very best of his power, dropping
work to guide US to the best shooting
grounds, padding our canoes. and re-
fuSing, upon our departure, to accept of
any remuneration for his services.
Illustrative of the character of these
men, their immunity from the cOnse-
quences of hardships and exposure and
their semi-aliigator nature, will relate
circumstance that occurred during our
stay. One morning as f. and [ were
padding up the river in bateau, my
hunting knife slipped out of its sheath
duu ACIl OtClOOQIOs A0oO lC-
mark of regret at its loss, when
to my surprise down went my
companion after it, without even
waiting to take off his shoes and
scarcely his hat. The water was ten
feet deep and very cold, but after div
ing several times my lost blade was
finally brought up. Notwithstanding
the fact that he was soaking wet and
exposed to chilling wind. F. would not
hear Of going back to the camp, but
kept on with the hunt for several
hours. during which time he was obliged
to sit cramped in the canoe; yet he suf-
fered no bad effects from his wetting,
and laughed when we spoke of catching
cold.
A few months after our visit this same
man, who gave up his house to us and
did everything in his power for our COM
fort, killed in pure wickedness four de-
fenseless negroes. 1t seems that he had
been to town and was returning home
in his bateau with a new Winchester
rifle that he had just purchased. On
nearing camp lie saw six negroes
sitting on the bank, and, using
his own words, wishing to see
if the gun was any account" he popped
away at the poor devils, who tried
to make their escape as best they could,
but left four of their number dead OH
the ground. He afterward told steam
boat man of my acquaintance that 1.-The
gun was good enough. for he killed four
out of six, and it was not good day for
killing niggers either.' Efforts we're
made to bring him to justice for this
outrage, but he sh0uldered the gun that
had done such murderOus work and took
to the swamps, where no one could or
would follow, and since then it is re-
ported that he has left the country.