Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-22
LEGENDS OF IOWA.
Origination and Character of West
 ern Folklore.
Tho clone Tree "-Opening of Rock to Conceal a Girl Pursued by Savages- Saved by q Thunder-Bolt-Suicid
 of Ind an Lovers.

Saved by q hunder-Boit-Suicide
 of Ind an Lovers.
 Legends will originate wherever men and women may happen to congregate. It is however. somewhat startling to learn that legends exist in countless numbers among the people of tho Vest ern States. Portions of Illinois and Iowa. which fifty years ago were will derness or prairie waste, to-day teem with romantic stories, and scores of ob- iects with which are connected strange adventures or incidents are pointed out to the traveller who has the fortune of coming across one of those most indis- Densable members of Western society, an old settler.
 It has been said that legends reflect the character of . people and if such is tho ease, tho early Western settlers must have been sturdy men who saw good in every thing, and opposed all strictly vulgar superstition; for the great majority of their legendary stories contain morals and poetic inspirations | of tho highest order. They arc free | from the dross of superstition found in | the tales of England, Germany and | France; they do not breathe the roman | tic but misleading spirit of occultnesS | which pervades the fables of the Orient; nor do they in any way resemble the weird. uninspircd sagas of tho Morse poasantry.
 The legends of the Wcstarc as sturdy,
 as independent and as forcible as the men who created them, and for this | reason, if no other, deserve moro than
 passing mention.
 | What could, for instance, be more
 poetic than the story of the Lone Tree" which was related to the writer not long ago by one of the oldest settlers | of Eastern Iowa! The tale-or, to speak moro properly, tho logend-is | based on an oak tree, for many years l the only one standing within 9 radius of eight or nine miles. How did the
 troo como there? That the unsophisti-
 cated pioneers could not cXplain; so
 they resorted to invention, and gave currency to story which will live long after they have been forgotten. Early | in the year 1S4O, so the report goes,
 soon after the so-callcd Blackhawk | Purchase had been consummated.
 young couple cmi igrated from New York | State to tho West. Tho man (Bill | Brewster was his name) was open
 hearted, hospitablo and courageous, 1 and his wife was representative
 American woman of the middle class,
 industrious, kind and faithful. After
 their arrival in Iowa the two young
 people went out ''proSpccting' Hooking
 for suitable land) every day. and finally
 reached q tract of fatprairie land which
 promised to yield rich crops. Here
 they decided to take up their abode,
 and the woman. relieved of all anxiety
 and worry, then and there gave birth
 to a son, and at the same mCmcnt-to
 corrmemoratc the ovent-an oak sap
 ling sprang up which was ever after
 ward called the Lone Trec.' The sap
 ling in course of time, became q stout
 oak tree, and stood for many years in
 it's isolated position, mystery to the
 uninitiated, an object of never-ceasing
 curiosity to tho old settlers, and q mon-
 ument of interest to the student of American life and manners, until a van
 dal cut it down, four or five years ago. Scarcely less interesting is bit of , legendary talk current in the region of the Wyoming Hills Ca chain of mound like elevations located on the western shore of the Mississippi river, between tho towns of Davenport and MuScatinc,
 Ia.). These hills were once upon a time
 tho meeting-place of thousands of In
 dians, and hundreds of their dead were
 buried in gigantic mounds constructed
 on tho crests of the elevations. When the white settlers first appeared they received a cold welcome from the red , mon who wandered through tho country , which was onco their own. but had been , cedcd to the United States Government by their chiefs. Tho savagcs carried vengeance in their hearts and murder in their eyes; and many q bold agricultur- ist, who had braycd tho hardShips oi pioneer life to acquire some land for his family, mover returned from his corn. $ field, and the wailing and lamentations of widowed women and fathcrless chil dren were echoed from one farm to the other almost every week. One of these r men went out one Sunday morning tc i; collect his cattle. lIo asccndcd one ot
 the sloping hills, not noticing the form
 of an Indian who was concealed among
 the tall weeds growing on the summit s The settlers foot never crossed the !; threshold of his home again. He was cruelty murdered by his hiddcr 3 foe and his body thrown into the } waters of tho Mississippi. His 9 wife, growing anxious about hi. welfare, at noon sent out her little !, daughter to hasten her fathers return !, The child, inured to danger, undertook a tho task, but had not proceeded fa
 when she noticed rcd man on tho hill
 and, turning around, one behind her
 Escape seemed impossible; but just a that moment a crevico large enough to l conceal her opened in the side of tn, ,, hill. She sought the refuge thus provi dentially offered, and as soon as sht
 concealed herself the opening closed
 and to her startled sight was revealed
 cavern of large dimensions, of whicl she was the only occupant. Not unti the following evening did the crevict