The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-11-02
A REAL GOD ROSE,
Romantic Story of the Origin of q. Flor
ida Flower.

In the western part of Jefferson |
county, Fla, grows and blossoms into
curious and magnificent beauty rose
that seems to be indigenous to small
area of country, but will not flourish
in any other latitude. The bush is
strong and vigorous, and the leaves
are very light, but glossy green. The
petals curve slightly inward and are
the color of bright arterial red. The
odor is pungent and slightly sicken-
ing, fascinating and yet unpleasant in
marked degree.
The popularity of the rose is that
the dew that drops therefrom is of a
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 sad
and melancholy history, according to
the San Francisco Call. Its origin is
one of the mysteries with which nature
at times delights to astonish her won
| dering devotees.
In 1884 John Grant and Nellie Lowry
were married. Soon after they select
ed as their future home farm in JET
| ferson county, near the Aucella river,
and in the spring of 1885 child was
born to them. Soon after that the
Seminoles went on the war-path. Sep
| tember 30 1885, was an unusually
warm day, and young Grant, having
business at the country store, delayed
his trip until the cool of the evening,
when he mounted his horse and started
off, expecting to return about o'clock
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 snort of fear, and turned so vio-
lently that he was almost unseated.
Supposing that he had been excited
by some shadow of brush or briar, he
urged it on, but clump of under
growth near the river became alive,
and, after sharp, ringing sound and
| faint puff of smoke, his horse, shot
through the heart, trembled and fell
under him. Before he had time to ex-
tricate himself the red devils, with a
warwhoop of fiendish triumph, were
upon him. His scalp was taken by a
savage, and his warm body was flung
into the river.
One o'clock came, and the young
wife in the cabin put aside her sewing
and listened intently for the footsteps.
The night had become very dark. The
moon was hidden behind bank OF
dense clouds, and a whisper of rain
was in the atmosphere. 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 q
yell blanched her cheek. For a mo-
ment 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 hunt
| ers found the bodies of mother and
} babe, and buried them. Near by {
little pool of blood had collected, anc
had not been absorbed by the soil. In
the spring the body of the husband
and father was found entangled il
roots at the bottom of the river.
! A few years later hunter, one o
the party who had found the bodies
happened to be in the same locality
and on the spot where the blood hac
!, gathered he saw a vigorous bush
bearing the rose that has been de
SCrlD6d. tie cut some slips from l
and took them to the settlemsnt, wher.
he related his discovery.
Such romantic and singular stor,
3 excited the curiosity of many in th,
, adjacent counties. aud repeated effort
were made to secure growth of th
I slips in other places, but all failed t.
succeed. Within an area of five mile
4 from the scene of the tragedy, it i
]. said, the rose can be found, with it
tall and sturdy stock, its pale greer
l leaves. it's incuryed crimson petals, ant
its bloody dew.