The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1890-04-18
you must reckon to posterity and to God.
am, Mr.. President, your obedient servant,
HENRY CHARLES LEA"
PsiA1delp7sSa, Ap7r1 8, 1890.
Devils Lake In Alabama.

"Devils's Lake." in Calhoun county, Ala,
seventy miles east of Birmingham, is one of
the most remarkable natural curiosties to be
found in America. Like many other inter-
esting places in that region there is an In
dian legend connected with it. To many
persons besides the Indians it is a lake of
horror, no less than fifteen persons having
been drowned in its waters. The lake is oval
in shape, and covers about four acres of
ground. No vegetation of any kind grows on
Its banks, and nothing lives in its waters.
| Even snakes and terrapins shun the waters
of Devils Lake, and fish placed in it die in
! few hours. The water is impregnated with
| lime and has peculiar taste, which makes it
unpalatable to man or beast. Horses and
COWS will not drink it, no matter how thirsty
they may be. Deep down below the surface
of the lake may be seen what appears to be
the charred and blackened trunks of large
trees. They stand upright in the water, but
have neither root nor branch, and never rise
! to the surface or sink to the bottom. The
lake has no outlet and the volume of water
in it is the same all the time.
A strange fatality attaches to this lake.
Once it was the favorte resort of the boys Of
the neighborhood for bathing and swimming,
but now they never 60 near it. Fifteen boys
have been drowned in its waters in twice as
J
gather there on Sundays, but before they left
one of them would be drowned. Some of the
bodies were recovered, but those who were
drowned any distance from the banks sank to
the bottom and were never brought to the sur
face. Many heartbroken mothers have come
to the banks of the lake and gazed for hours
into the water to see if they could not see the
face of their favorite son whose body lay at
the bottom. The place became the terror Of
parents, and boys were warned to keep away
from Devils Lake.
The depth of the lake has never been ascer-
tanned. Soundings to a depth of 700 feet
found no bottom, and people in the vicinity
say the lake is bottomless: The Indian le-
gend Of the origin of the lake is known to
every resident of the locality, and they tell il
to every stranger who comes to see the ma
tural curiosity.
The legend is that many, many years ago,
many moons before the white man came to
this country, two tribes of Indians lived near
the spot where the lake is. One was large
and powerful tribe the other small tribe
with but few warriors The two tribes be-
came involved in war, and after a number
of bloody battles the smaller tribe was al.
most exterminated. Then the old men and
chiefs of the weak tribe sued for peace The
chiefs of the strong tribe agreed to peace and
arranged for council to propose the terms.
The chiefs and old men OF the weak tribe met
the chiefs of the other tribe in a pine forest
at noon one day and there was council.
The terms of peace were arranged and then
the pipe of peace was filled. While the pipe
was being passed around signal was given
and the chiefs of the strong tribe suddenly
sprang up with drawn tonahawks and MUIR
dered every one of the chiefs of the smaller
tribe. Then the war was renewed and car
ried on until the weak tribe was exterminat-
ed. A few moons after the massacre of the
chiefs fire broke out in the pine forest at
the spot where the council had been held and
where the massacre occurred. The fire
burned in this spot for eight moons, and then
the ground sank down out of sight, the fire
disappeared, and in its stead appeared the
which means Lake ofDeath."