The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-09-16
ROMANCE OF A REAL BLOOD ROSE.
Florida Flower which Was FED ~
the Life OF Murdered Couple.

the Life of Murdered Couple.
In the western part of Jefferson county,
Fla, grows and blossoms into curious
and magnificent beauty q rose that seems
to be indigenous to a small area OF coun-
try, but will not flourish in any other
latitude. The bush is strong and vigor-
GUS and the leaves are very light but
glossy green. The petals curve slightly
inward and are the color of bright
arterial blood.
The odor is pungent and slightly sick
ening, fascinating and yet unpleasant to
marked degree. The popularity OF the
rose is that the dew that drops therefrom
is OF faint pinkish cast, a marvel seen
in no other flower, the battling wonder OF
those who have witnessed it. 1t is called
the Grant rose, and it has a sad and
melancholy history. Its origin is one of
the mysteries with which nature at times
delights to astonish her wondering de-
voices.
In 1884 John Grant and Nellie Lowry
were married. Soon after they selected
as their future home farm in jefferson
county, near the Aucella River, and in
the spring of 1885, child was born to
them. Soon after that the Seminoles
went on the warpath. September 80, 1895,
was an unusually warm day, and young
Grant, having business at the county
store, delayed his trip until the cool of
the evening, when he mounted his horse
and started on, expecting to return at
about 4 a. M. He kissed his hand to his
wife and the Growing baby as he rode
away.
Six miles from home his horse stopped
with quick snort of fear and turned SO
violently that he was almost unseated.
Supposing that 1t had been excited by
some shadow of brush or brier, he urged
1t on, but clump of underground near
the river became alive, and, after sharp,
ringing sound and faint pun OF smoke,
his horse, shot through the heart, trem-
bled and fell under him. Before he had
time to extricate himself the red devils,
with a warhoop Of fiendish triumph, were
upon him. His scalp was taken by saw
age and his warm body flung into the
river.
One O'Clock came and the young wife in
the cabin laid aside her sewing and lis
tened intently for footsteps. The night
had become very dark. The moon was
hidden behind bank of dense clouds,
and whisper OF rain was in the atmos-
phere. The yellow hound became restless
and whined as he shifted the air. Another
hour passed, and the wife was about to
go to the door, when yell blanched her
cheek. For moment she stood helpless
and trembling, then, clasping her child,
she raised a loose plank from the floor,
dropped through to the ground, and crept
into the woods.
Soon afterward she saw the glare of the
burning cabin. Her flight was discovered
and she was overtaken about two miles
from home Two days afterward party
of hunters found the bodies Of mother
and babe and buried them. Near by a
little pool of blood had collected and had
not been absorbed by the soil. In the
spring the body Of the husband and
father was found entangled in roots at
the bottom of the river.
A few years later a hunter, one OF the
party that had found the bodies, hap
pened to be in the same locality, and on
the spot where the blood had gathered he
saw vigorous bush bearing the rose that
has been described. He cut some slips
from it and took them to the settlement
where he related his discovery. Such a
romantic and singular story excited the
curiosity Of many of the adjacent coun-
ties, and repeated efforts were made to
secure a growth of the slips in other
places, but all failed of success. Within
an area of five miles from the scene of the
tragedy, it is said, the rose can be found,
with its tall and sturdy stock, its pale
green leaves, its incurved crimson petals
and its bloody dew.-San Francisco Call.