The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1897-07-27
AN INDIAN LEGEND.

lux lIOul C4tbuub dDOub Ou6 ulllb, anu
so roughly is it flung together by ma
ture and standing at the same time
so perpendicular that tremulous chill
hurries over the body as the awestruck
beholder gazes up at it. A few knotty,
dwarfish pines are to be seen peering
obliquely from the narrow orevices,
looking green even among rocks, like
hope furnishing on the borders of de-
spair.
The red bolt from the thunderoloud,
the winds and the power of centuries
have torn way many fragments of
stone from on high and sent them smok-
ing to the basefwhere already long
pyramidal line is strung along, quite a
mountain in itself The rear of this
place falls off with gentle slope, which
is overshadowed by tall and regal look
ing trees, whose giant roots have never
been broken. 1t presents fearful yet
magnificent appearance. There is no
village near to wake the solemnity of
its solitude, and silence is as profound
at the SUMS meridian as at the hush of
midnight. 1t always seemed to me this
spot was favorite with the sun, for the
first rosy flush of morning appeared un-
easy until drinking the dew from the
trees upon its brow, and his last rays
fingered there at evening, even after
partial twilight began to fling dusky
shade over the vast valley below. But
this may be imagination.
must just mention circumstance
in relation to this mountain which
gave to it the appellation which it has
received.
Once this backward slope was stud.
ded with the wigwams Of the Indians,
called the Stockbridge tribe, and tradi-
ton has handed down many an ambig-
uous and chilling tale in regard to
them. 1t was an established law among
them that when an Indian committed
deed the penalty of which was death
he should plunge himself, or, refusing
to do this, be plunged by some one of
his tribe, over this frightful precipice.
Many had been dashed to the rocky
vale below, and so high was the spot
from where the victims were cast off
that it was generally supposed that the
rapid descent through the air deprived
them of breath, and few if any had ev-
er been conscious of anything when
they had reached the earth.
A beautiful squaw transgressed by
marrying into another tribe, and the
penalty for such an offense was and ev-
er had been death. She was we'll aware
what her fate would be previous to her
sealing it, but it did not restrain her
She disobeyed, and nothing could atone
but the full extent of the law. Although
she had courage sufficient to face death
in marrying, she did not feel willing to
sacrifice herself according to the man
date, and it therefore devolved upon
some one to precipitate her over the
cloud capped mountain. All her limbs
being bound except her hands, she was
borne to the verge and launched away
with all the stoicism for which the In
dams are famous. But here thing o.
CURED which had never been known
before. In her downward flight she
came in contact with the long branch of
pine which swung out many feet
from the rocks, and, grasping it with
the clutch of death, succeeded in break
ing the force she had attained, and re-
manned holding fast, suspended between
the top and base of the mountain.
There she hung at the mercy of a
slender branch, without even a hope of
rescue. The space between her and the
rocks was too much to think of touch
ing them, and her strength, even in the
cause Of life, was not sufficient to draw
her up to the limb She cast her eyes
up, but nothing was there but her re-
lentless enemies, whose diminished and
dusky forms were arranged along the
edge of the mount
They Knocked her in the situation in
which she was placed. and the aisles of
the forest reverberated to their hideous
and unearthly yells. Below all was in
miniature-the rocks were dwindled TO
level with the surrounding vale, the
trees had shrunk away to bushes, an old
chief, who was sitting on a rock string
ing his bow, was but speck, and the
outline Of his form could scarcely be
traced.
1t was morn when her sentence was
executed, and tradition says that when
the shadows of evening began to gather
round she still was there, and her shrili
cry was heard disturbing the quietness
Of the hour. Night came and passed
away, and still she was swinging on
this sloping pine, and the noise which
she uttered told that hunger was doing
his work upon her Late in the morn
ing some of the Indians, going over to
the verge of the precipice and bending
over, saw a few crows circling round
the unfortunate victim head, as if i'm
patient for her wasting body, which
they evinced by diving and darting at
her form and then, rising suddenly in
the air with outstretched wings, as if
some motion of life had deferred them
from their purpose. Often did they rest
their weary wings upon the very tres
by which she was supported, and the
| long day passed with some one of these
sable creatures Watching the moment
when the grasp should fail and her
body fall below.
1t was on the night of the second day
that scene took place which has never
been forgotten. The sun fell away at
eve with a peculiar splendor, turning
every object in the valley to a golden
1 light and causing the Housatonic, in
its serpentine course, to CLEAN up and
spangle like liquid fire. Many was the
hunter who lay watching the beauty of
the beams which were flung around
him, and when the last gorgeous streak
had faded over Monument mountain the
broad heavens were clear and blue. ex-
cept tae crimson folds which hoated IN
grandeur along the west. Yet the squaw
still hung by the branch Of the pine,
and her cries alternately rose through
the deep stiffness that reigned around.
But soon leaden haze began TO rise
along the azure wall of the west and
was shortly succeeded by dark, dismal
looking clouds, around whose edge the
lightning played, as if to light them on
In their sad and gloomy pathway. The
thunder muttered family, then sent its
roll up to the meridian, and finally,
with increased power, cracked and shook
through the very heavens. The shrek
of the squaw was heard in the profound
pause after the roar had died away, but
its echoes stirred not the sympathies Of
any one of the tribe Higher and high
er rose the storm. The lightning crinkled
over the sky more wildly, and the re-
port followed so soon and heavy that
the gray old trees of the mount trem-
bled as the peals burst through the up
per world.
Night had set in with all its black
ness. when party Of the tribe proceed