The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-01-25
|sufRsIITl0ls nIssoual.
Ozark Mountaineers All Dsysufll
Fear the Devfl.


LAD Kssbbers-
Txrey Cozney Letter Ii Ne. YORK san
1T viii .neTer come osxt unta its
burned ouf-s1as what they gay So
remarked an Intelligent business man
Of Forsyth. pointing 70 black stain
OF blood on the Eoor OF j. 4. Berry,
old store. where Capt KINNEY. the
Knobber chief, had fallen wfien shot
70 death By young Bill Miles" 4
good many hare tried to scrub eaf
blood stains. they say but never
could do II =
This Is q common mountain super
sfition. The mountsineers have
noticed thas blood stains ON cotton
goods turn black and are rot easily
washed away They conclude that some
supernatural power. instead Of schem-
ical combination. keeps the stain
there IL is . common practice, they
say. 20 cut cut blood stains and burn
them.
Ii there Is any place in the country
where living spirit OF evil. the per-
sonzl devil. Is believed In unquestion-
ingly. IL is here Satan travels up
and down the guIlies and rayines and
peers in at the open doorways at the
firesides. or, finding an open door,
.just n1elts his way in Those who
have read the story OF the Bald Knob
Der win perhaps think there is good
reason for their faith. But the noun
taineer goes further. He sees Satan
and his fmps. There are mysterious
sounds and sights in the woods-that
is, they are not understood by him.
and he says the spirits are responsible
for the mysteries Not alone does he
see the evil spirits, but the souls OF
the murdered dead, he believes, are
never at rest. Captain Kinney. the
dead Knobber chief. stalks forth By
night clad in mask as of old. but now
with q blood-stained shroud around
him instead of the marshal's coat of
blue that was his pride That he will
seek vengeance on those who oppose
the Knobbers is not doubted.
On the other hend. there are those a
plenty who say the old oak from
which the Taylor boys were hanged
by Kinney's men still shrieks and
groans in agony as the boys did vainiy
for mercy, while the. spirit of muir
dered coggburn comes down to the
village square, and there Undertaking.
as man once more, throws up its left
hand and striving to draw a revolver
fails to get it raised. Then falling
back on the ground it hurIs phantom
pistol away through the darkness.
They do net believe that the spirits
of the dead seek vengeance vainly.
Whenever misfortune befalls any one
they shake their heads ominously ii
he has ever shed human blood. Sick
ness, accident and death are not the
results of bad sanitary conditions or
carelessness; they are the visitations
Of justice-loving spirits. But the fear
of future visits of spirits never acts as
power to keep the ready hand from
the pistol.
Perhaps good people who have
read of the cold-blooded murders that
have been committed here have wished
that missionaries might be sent hither
to preach the gospel of peace. That
would be natural wish. But the
fancy man would hear il i'm astonish-
ment. The truth is that they have
have nearly all been converted, ac-
cordlng tn their understanding of Holy
Writ. Preachers and churches
abound. There are II preachers in a
population of 1000 now. What more
could one wish? Only the low trash
are beyond the pale of the church.
All the best citizens of the county are
oh Thar raa1 $1,.x hst.fa
carefully: they sing religious hymns
melodiousiy: they pray and say amen
fervently. They give literally to the
poor; they are careful to entertain
strangers. But somehow they never
comprehend the sermon on the mount
or the seventh commandment. There
Is old Uncle John Hildreth. He Is the
remover of warts for the mountaineer
lads and lasses. The old man takes a
piece of thread six inches long and ties
a knot, drawing the knot tight directly
above the wart, saying some mysteri-
Gus words as he does it. The wart
goes away, the mountaineers say,
within week.
The superstition about the number
IL has curious hold here. They
think combination of IL people for a
purpose will be invincible. The Knob
bers are said to have organized in
groups of IL at the first, and there are
those that believe that had that prin-
cipie been adhered to the Knobbers
would have still ruled the 0zarks as
they did in 1856. In their thirst for
whipping people they wholly neglected
to organize gangs OF 13 or multiples of
that number Hence their downfall.
There Is another curious theory held
by some of the mountaineers. Thus,
Liveryman Raw, who carried visitor
from New York to see the victims OF
the knobbers in the vicinity of Sparta,
told of revolver that he had. which
would sweat drops of blood when fired
under proper circumstances. Two
mer had been killed with il. When q
weapon has killed two men It win
thereafter sweat q drop of blood when
eyer fired at living target An in
animate target is OF no effect they say.
The whips that were used to whip
men with were invariably burned af-
terward II would have brought bad
luck tn have left bloody switch in
existence. Various theories about the
ill-luck that would follow were held.
Jarvis Lawrence says that such whip
would turn TO serpent that would
hunt the man who had used il and
avenge the blood OF the victim with
bite There was no use In taking
whisky for such bite. Death was
sure to follow. Another notion is
that the cattle of the nen who used
the whip were sure 10 find il within a
year and lick IL with their tongues
Then they would die Of the murrain.
A little while ago, in Sparta, the viii
lage hogs that everywhere run the
streets III this country. were dying ut
the rate of three or four day. right
in the street. The reason was plain
enough TO one who knew anything
about hog cholera, so-called. There
was great pool of stagnant water
near the center of the village that vas
the resort of all the hogs of the neigh
borhooa. They had wailowea in il the
season through. and got nothing else
10 drink save when a rain-Storm made
scarcely less filthy pools elsewhere.
WHY shouldn'i they die Would the
hog o@nerS see it, Not At all twas
4 mysterious visitation. Likely
enough when the knohbers were
hanged ~ Ozark the hogs would not
die any mere. That : what the anti
Knahhers thought and said The
knobbeTs said il VAS a Just intsiefion