The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-12-23
LOST IN THE SWAMPS,
Terrible Fate of Boy In Georgetown
- County.

PLANTERsvILLE, Dec 15.-Your cor
respondent heard some days ago that
a boy had been lost in 'Carver's bay"
and upon inquiry, finds the report
we'll founded and surrounded by such
circumstances as makes sad and
heartrending story, particularly SO be-
cause of the indifference shown by the
parents and those naturally most in
terested in the boy; nearly two weeks
elapsed before the magistrate at this
place was informed and appealed to
for aid. Few people know what
huge and dense swarnp, parts OF which
are impenetrable, "Carver's bay" is.
and what kinds of wild beasts dwell
in its jungles 1t extends across the
northeastern portion of the county,
from Black river to Pee Dee, the cas-
tern end of which, however, is bold
stream, and is known as Cypress
creek, emptying into the Pee Dee riv.
er two miles from this place.
It seems that on November 30th Mr..
Daniel Jacobs, living near the bay,
went deer hunting and carried a TO-
year old negro boy to help "drive.
The hunting is done on the edge OF
the bay and the swamp tributary there
to. The boy was given blowing
horn and cautioned how far to venture
in, and that is the last of John
Hughes, for that was his name. At
ter reasonable time. the boy not re-
turning, horns were blown and blowo,
but whether he mistook the direction
or did not hear them will never be
known. ......
When Mr.. Jacobs informed the boys
parents they showed little or no con.
Germ and none of the negroes seemed
inclined to search for the unfortunate
child; so, whether he was frozsn to
death or devoureG by wild beasts will
hardly ever be ascertained. It is
claimed that a woman heard a horn
blowing in the bay near midnight on
December ID, two days after the boy
was lost, and just at the beginning of
that terrible freeze, and it is thought
that it was the blowing Of the lost boy,
but unless there is well defined
guiding sound from the outside, in
all probability the wiliest woodsman
would be doomed in that terrible
waste, 10 say nothing of a boy 10 years
old with little experience in woodcratt,
if any.
I have heard horrible experiences in
connection with this lonely spot of
wilderness, among which old hunters
are reported TO spend hours in retrac-
ing few steps from the edge, and In
another case, where good woodsman
left a certain spot only to return after
making repeated efforts to get out and
finally having to trust to the horse for
a safe deiverance. There are parts
of "Carver's bay, it is claimed, that
man has never penetrated, so vast lslts
wilderness.
It is reasonable to assume that John
Hughes has met horrible. violent
end as his people did not seek for him
while he was yet alive, it is impossi-
bic that they will venture a search for
his remains.
THE BOY Is ALIVE.
GEORGETOWN, Dec. T.-A most Ter
rible experience, told and vouched for
by Mr.. Daniel Jacobs of Carver's bay, is
the great exposure and wonderful en-:
durarce of a colored boy 10 years old
who, the day before the recent biz.
zard, followed Mr.. Jacobs out into the
woods to help him place a pack of
hounds on a deer's trail. Mr.. Jacobs,
thinking the boy would keep up, or in
hearing, rode on. absorbed in the
chase. That was the last seen Of the
unfortunate boy until last Monday,
when after wandering around in the
dense bay lost. i'll clad, shoeless and
subsisting on the withered berries of
winter and the bark from trees, he
heard the sound of a turpentine chip.
per's axe, by which he was led to sue.
cor and almost from the grim grasp OF
death. After fourteen days exposure
three or four of which were during
that terrible freeze, weak and attenu-
ated in frame, it is wonderful to note
that one so young and miserably
clothed is living and rapidly recover.
ing.-The State. 49,.