Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-04-11
AN APALAcHEE DESPERATE.
Shooting Four Men Just for a Little
Target Practice.

Target FrdcLlce.
The lumbermen of the Apalachee
swamps have bad reputation. Most
of them are refugees from the justice Of
other States, who have sought safety in
these morasses. Here they are indeed
secure, for once let man who knows
anything of woodcraft get into such a
labyrinth of swamps and forest, and
nothing can dislodge him; regiment of
soldiers and 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, Woodworking lives,
seldom leaving the woods, one or two
visits year to town being about all that
they see of civilization. They are, as n
rule, hospitable and peaceful men, unless
under the influence of drink, then some
of them are dangerous in the extreme,
for it is ''fighting whiskey" that they
generally get when on ''tear, and the
invariable result of visit to town is q
series of fracases among themselves.
OF course, one sees some very desperate
charaeters-men who would not hesitate
at any crime, but whose misdoings may
be traced to liquor. L. was a short,
thick-set man of about thirty-five, with
a red face. He was Il nervous, eXcitable
fellow, whose quick, restless eve seemed
always on the lookout for an imaginary
pursuer. II was said that he had been
obliged to fly from Georgia on account
of a killing scrape iii which he had been
implicated and he bore very bad name
among his companions as being a reck-
less, desperate fellow. Such, however,
we did not find him, for during our stay
of a week this hitherto total stranger en-
tertained us tothe very best Of his power,
dropping work to guide us to the best
shooting grounds, padding our canoes,
and refusing upon our departure TO
accept Of any remuneration for his ser
vices.
Illustrative OF the character Of these
men, their immunity from the conse
quences of hardship and exposure and
their semi-alligator nature, ! will relate
n circumstance that occurred during our
stay. One morning MS L. and | were
padding up the river in bateau, my
hunting knife Slipped out Of its sheath
and fell overheard. / made some re-
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 diving several times my lost blade
was finally brought up. Notwithstand-
ing the fact that he was soaking wet and
exposed toa chilling wind, j. 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 suffered
no bad effects from his wetting and
laughed when he spoke of his catching
cold.
A few months after our visit this same
man. who gave up his house to rs and
did everything in his power for our
pleasure, killed In pure wickedness four
defenseless negroes. it seems that he
had been TO town and was returning
home in his bateau with new Winehes-
ter rife that he had just purchased. On
nearing camp he saw six negroes sitting
on the bank, aud, using his own words (
wishing to see if the gun was any nc
CONT" he popped away at the poor
devils, who tried to make their escape as /
best they could, but left four Of their
number dead on the ground. He after
ward told steamboat man Of my &C /
quaintance that 'the gun was good /
enough. for he killed four out of six, /
and it was not a good day for killing
niggers either" Efforts were made to
bring him TO justice for this outrage, but
he shouldered the gun that had done
such mmderous work and took to the /
swamps, where no one could or would +
follow, and since then it is reported that
he has left the country. Forest and
Stream.