The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1893-02-07
hog Edition.l
THE cROUNO.HOG CASE.


The I'd of February. 1873, dawned
leaden and heavy in the ranges Of the
Kinnikinick mountains in Eastern
Kentucky. The dull crepuscular
light, in which all things were essen.
TALLY gray. revealed Aeecy smoke curl.
ing from many farmers cabin in the
valley of the Swill Creek. while dull
candle light shown in dead-eyed win
dows, for those husbandmen were early
risers. Snow lay in patches along the
bald hillsides, frost cleaned from tree
and shrub, and from the creek, halt
inclosed in ice, q gentle steam arose.
As the streaks of sunlight came slant
ing over the scraggy hilltops the bay
of dog mingled with the cocks
shrill clarion, and Swill Creek valley
was alive with sound and action. 4
woodchopper down at Farmer Smit-
ties demesne. in the ''bottOm. added
his resounding stroke to the din; anon
there was a neighing of horses. low
ing of kline. and the inevitable porcine
squeal is feed time approached.
Up on the yellow hillside, on a
clayey plateau. just back of SilcOtts
place. the pinched and mea>ly cabin
of Bill Tomlinson stood 1t was Il
.'chinked and daubed" affair. Bill,
who lived by doing days work on the
farms thereabout in the summer and
fall and hunting i'm the winter. had
erected this habitation himself. There
was washtub outside. an old kettle
and an ash box, where family soap
was periodically made; crib made of
poles-for Bill cultivated couple Of
acres of corn-a pigpen and some
struggling remnants Of rail fence. Two
coOnskins were drying on the stick
and mud chimney at the south end OF
the cabin. and a yellow jug with Il
corncob stopper graced what had once
been the framework of a grindstone.
A scythe hung under the projecting
clapboard caves.
Bill was poor. Compared with him
Lazarus was in some respects well-to-
citizen. His antecedents were I'M
known. He may have been the off:
spring of one of the fugacious horse
thieves who infested the kinnikinick
hills before the war, for all that any
body knew. Nobody cared. Ger.
tainly Bill didn't. When the war
broke out, in 1861, he went South
with a half dozen reckless young tel
lows from Greenupsburg. He was in
Kirby Smiths command when that
worthy invaded Kentucky in the au-
tumn of 1862, and was shot in the hip
at the battle of Richmond. After a
season he drifted back to his old
stamping ground with bad hip, an
increased appetite for raw whisky and
profane opinion of Yankees. Bill
was what was known, at the date
named, in the vernacular of the hills,
as IAN Ornerv cuss.'
On the morning Of Feb. ,, as afore-
mentioned, it being Monday. the first
person to stir. in the Tomlinson hut
was Mrs. r., soured, wrinkled, ignO-
rant person. who had been drag to
William, shiftless as he was. She adj
justed her linsey-woolsey dress, stirred
the fire, lii cob pipe, and sat down
ON a wooden stool, prepared to growl.
Anon William awOke. He was not
in happy mood. He had gone down
to Compton's Mills. the post village Of
the section, on the previous Saturday
to attend a shooting match. He was
good shot with rifle, was Bill. He
won 81 from the Simpson boys, got
drunk, slept in a barn the greater
part of Sunday, and had arrived at
his simple home at about Top. IN. in
the evening, disgruntled, vicious, dye
peptic. and the posseseor of 30 cents.
That was the extent of his excheguer.
Having slept in his butternut trous-
ers and WOODEN shirt, it didn't take
William long to adjust his raiment.
He drew on a pair of foxy cowhide
boots, which had long yearned for a
little tallow and beeswax, donned his
red 'wamus,' tied the ends in a neg.
lige way and approached his family
hearthstone.
"Why amt YOU cookin' breakfast,
Mandy he said to the partner Of hi:
scant JOYS.
Good reason" was the surly reply.
.'Ther' amt nothin' to cook"
"GeewhilIikens!" calculated the
late infantryman of the Fourth Ken
lucky, G. $. a. Where's that
chicken"
Weasel got it Saterdy night"
That was u sad and sickening reve
lation for William TomlinsOn He
pinched bit of twig from a wisp 81
/ .snlJ f;ald b.Ison" honsr,uU dry aul