The herald., 1896-06-22
SMITHS HAUNTED BOOTS
Originally the Property OF the
Tory Terror
KICKED OFF AT A HANGING
To Prove That fiis Mother Was q
Liar
Three 1en Who Wore Them Years Afterward
We're Killed by Rattiesnakes-Chris
Lords Story

Oouhuys ho oeSiJ NtstNo DtANh a EOou
way, but it's always new and fresh along
the old Sohunnemunk
"Brainard Persons boots, so tho story
goes, were the very boots that Claudius
Smith kicked off his feet Just before he
was hanged at Goshen in tho Revolution
ary times. Claudius Smith was tho bloody
Tory cowboy who, with his following of
cutthroats and robbers, torrorzed the
Schunnemunk and surrounding country
for years.
"After tho patriots had at last captured
the desperado and he was taken to the gal
lows at Goshen ho kicked his boots off as
the rope was placed about his neck and
exclaimed:
My mother said l would die like a
troopers horse, with my shoes on. will
make her out liar.
"Thosc wero Claudius Smiths last
words. His boots, through some manner
of succession, at last fell into the posses
sion Of Brainard Pierson years after the
cowboy was hanged. I've often heard my
father say that when folks heard that
Brainard had got Claudius Smiths boots
they went to him and said:
"'Woe to you, Brainard Pierson, II you
wear those boots! Not for all the treasure
Claudius Smith buried in old Schunne-
munk would We wear those boots! There's 8
blood on em!'
"'And even if there is, Brainard said,
'I'll walk it off tomorrow, for IN going
to drive some cattle down Jersey way. 1
couldn't get pair O. boots like these for
the price O. tho best critter I've got
'Brainard Pierson laughed and next
day started with his cattle down Jersey
way, wearing tho dead Tory's boots.
Somewhere down near the Ramapo pass a
man coming this way met drove of cat
tie. They went on by and the man noticed
that no drover was behind them. Ho went
on. He had gone a quarter of milo or SO
when he almost stumbled over man ly
ing in the road. He noticed that the man
had on remarkably fine pair Of boots,
but he started back in terror as he saw a
rattlesnake lying near his feet. Discover
ing that the serpent was dead he advanced
and was Mortified TO see that the PROSTATE
mans face was black and swollen and
that he was dead. 1t was plain that the
rattlesnake had bitten the man, who had
then killed the snake beforo he died.
1.-THE dead man was Brainard Pierson.
The discoverer of the tragedy sought the
nearest help eEd the rattlesnake's victim
was brought home to Schunnemunk. The
head of the snake had been crushed by a
stone and one of it's fangs was gone. The
snake had bitten clear through one of the
boots Brainard wore and tiny puncturs
on his ankle showed where the deadly ven
ON had entered to do it's deadly work.
"'Claudius Smith S boots was the first
exclamation that folks made when Brain
ard Pierson was brought home dead from
a rattlesnakes bite. There's blood on
em and we told him sol
"For long time nothing was talked
about all through the Sohunnemunk coun-
try but Brainard Persons haunted boots
and the awful fate that Brainard met with
because he flew in the face of warning and
wore them. Somehow or other though
Brainard's folks didn't seem to be able to
see just how it was that he wouldn't have
been struck by the rattlesnake if he hadn't t
had Claudius Smiths boots on, and SO the
boots remained in the family. There was
no one big enough yet in the family to
wear boots and SO they were put one side
And there they remained unused for ten
years. Then the house was robbed one
night. Among the property stolen were
the haunted boots. Two days after the
robbery young George Pierson, Brainard s
son, was hunting on Seven Spring noun
tain, and, going over to one Of the springs
to get drink, he found dead man lying
near it black in the face and swollen. Near
by the body lay big bundle. The dead
man had on the stolen Claudius Smith s
boots! Young Pierson pulled off the boots
On the mans right ankle was a little pur-
plish red puncture.
rattlesnake has struck him as sure
as fate' exclaimed young Pierson.
''The bundle contained the things stolen
from the Pierson family. George backed
them homo and brought the boots along.
Then he spread the news about finding
the robber on Seven Springs mountain,
dead frCra rattlesnake's bite.
"Several years went by again before any
one else wore the haunted boots Then a
relation of the Pierson folks, who lived
down in the Ringwood valley, visited
them. He saw the boots and took a great
fancy to 'em. He wanted to buy 'em, al
though he knew the fate of the only two
persons who had worn 'em in years.
There amt any rattlesnakes in our
section said he. I'll risk the haunt
"The Pierson folks wouldn't sell him
the boots, but they made him present of
'em. He took 'em home with him. Some
folks say that he didn't tell his father-in-
law the story Of the boots when he made
him present of 'em after he got home,
and some say he did. At any rate, the
father-in-law had O good deal Of property
which would go to this Pierson relation s
wife when her father died, and her father
was in the best Of health. The son-in-l law
made him present of Brainard Persons 8
haunted boots. The father-in-law put
'em on one day and went for walk. Not
long afterward he came staggering home.
'He was dead man an hour later, with
black, swollen face and body. On his
right ankle was the mark of rattlesnake
bite, as there had been on Brainard Pier
sons and on the dead robbers. And there
was not rattlesnake in all that country |!
The father in-law Of the Pierson relation
was dead before the doctor could get there.
The doctor was told the story of the haunt
ed boots. Selling the right boot, he slash
ed 1t down to the ankle with his knife.
Something white fell from it to the floor.
The doctor picked 1t up. He examined it
for moment.
"A rattlesnake's fang said he And
there's poison enough yet In its channel to
kill another mani
ut was the missing fang Of the snake
that had bitten Brainard Pierson. It had
been pulled from it's socket by the firm
hold the leather Of the boot had taken of
1t. Held fast thus, with its point ON the
inside, contact with it had been of suffl-
cient force to puncture the ankles Of the
persons who had since worn the boot.
The venom, though dry, was still potent.