The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1898-02-12
OyoIa OF Choucoupouiou.

! The summers and winters come
and go, and the birds still sing
their sweetest above the mound
in which Oyola has slept for nigh
on to seventy years, awaiting the
advent Of the Great Spirit to bear
his earthly body off to the Happy
Hunting Ground.
Oyola.was a native of our own
fair Bay St. Louis then called
Choucoupoula, which translated
into the Choctaw dialect means
"bad grass"
OyoIa was a Choctaw, tall and
symmetrical, with Il face of unusual
intelligence fore one of his, race.
He was famed as great hunter
for miles around, and after one
of his hunts the Indians and such
white people as he liked would
fare we'll upon venison and wild
ducks. In this way he was well
known and liked by the whites as
well as by his own tribe. The
Choctaws at that period were a
semi-civilized tribe, and general
| ly were on good terms with the
white families living here.
Their chief was a wise man and
endeavored to keep his people
quiet and peaceful. Such a thing
as scalping was unheard Ola
murderer was shot for his crime
after having been tried and con-
.demned.
EA A popularity of the proceed
fhgs were that after trial only
three days elapsed between then
and execution. During those
three days the doomed Indian was
allowed full liberty to go where
he wished and do what he pleased.
The strangest part was that they
never attempted to escape, and
always appeared at the right time
and met death with great courage.
Some, during their three days
respite, would go about bidding
family and friends farewell, and
settling up affairs in general;
Others would spend the time in
gayety, others in getting intoxicat-
ed, Others yet would go around
collecting hunting materials to
use when the Happy Hunting
Ground was reached.
One morning at dawn the. son
of the old chief was found mur-
deled upon the white sand beach.
For days great excitement pre-
vailed among the Indians, and the
murderer could not be found AS
the days heightened into weeks,
and the weeks into months, Oyola
becamed changed Indian. No
more did he hunt or fish. His
bright smile faded and his brow
became moody. All night he
would wander besides the lonely
waters of the Bay, muttering
wildly to himself, AT last he gave
up and confessed his crlme-one
common in those days. He loved
the beautiful maid Leedorie, and
the chiefs son had also loved her.
They quarreled about her, and
Oyola became a murderer.
During the three days before
death he spent most of the tine
walking along the shore with
poor, sobbing Leedorie, and to-
gether they chose his burial place
in the heart of the forest.
At sunset, on the last day they
shot him. AS he fell back dead,
with a heart-breaking cry, Leedo-
rie rushed forward and threw her,
self upon her dead lover, plung-
ing a hunting knife deep into her
heart as she fell.
The fading sunbeams tenderly
fingered about the dying Indian
maid and her dead lover, and a
wee brown bird innocently flew
over their heads, singing merrily.
The old Indians crcpt silently to
the dead lovers, and carried beau
tiful Leedorie to her people. Then
Oyola and his gun, and arrows,
were covered by the red clay un-
Ill high mound became a mon,
ument above his luckIess head.
Take a walk in the woods, and
somewhere behind The Boardman
and Worseley places you will End
and old Indian mound of 70
clay with two tall cedar trees
growing on the top of it, and In
that mound rests all that was NOR
tai of Oyola of Choucoupoulou.
r. G. CONSTANCE.
Bay St. Louis, Miss, Feb. 1898.