The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-06
TRAGEDY OF ASUGARB BUSH
STORY TOLD ny 4 MAN VINO CAN'T
Ear MAPLE SUGAR.

Tho Old TIme Gatherings on surnrinE-OT DAYS
IN IndlRra-A Farm Hcnuty who Changea
Her M~InN-vrnEcnnce 1nnIcted by n Jealous
toosirr Lurer-Its ETcct on One Spectator.
81 don't suppose there is another person In
the world besides myself" said n veteran Nom.
bcr of the theatrical profession, that CANNOT
eat maple sugar. l suppose l like maple sugar.
l know l did tho last time / tasted any, now
more than ffty'ycars ngo, but ] simply can't
bring myself TO eat II. Stranger 1t would
seem so. The fact OF tho matter is that all In
clinatiOn for maple sugar was frightened ont ~
me when l was a boy by a tragedy. Not ontv
was the taste for the popular and delicious'stun
frightened out OF me, but n peculiar terror of 10
was born in me at thu same time. I have tried
to overcome It. but l can't, and 30 1 think I can
set myself mp as being the only person on earth
who could not cat 80 delicious a thing as maple
sugar II It were set before him.
There was n famous sugar. bush near my
native place in Indiana, not far from the Ohio
line. when I was n boy. Maple sugar making
in those days afforded not only pleasure to the
rural communities Of that then far.away region,
but 1t was depended on largely as a product OF
tho farm. The maple sugar crop frequently
went n long way toward caring for taxes and
interest. and many n much-needed item in the
household economy would have continued to'bo
needed but for this sure promise OF the springs
yield Of sap. The sugar.making season lasted
from three to four weeks. and. was, in thoso
good old days, one round of fun and festivity.
A rude cabin or rough shanty near the camp
fire, or connected with tho arched furnace. fur
nishcd nll sufficient shelter during the sugar,
making, and n place to sleep when the sap was
boiled all night. In those rude backwoods
cabins what midnight suppers of coon and
'possum and not infrequently bear cub used to
be served to %the.music of the fiddle, tho shouts
Of dancers, and the thumpy-te-thump Of their
rough shod feet. Tho close of tho season was
generally celebrated with a big party at some
hospitable farmhouse. where everybody for
miles around:assemblcd and enjoyed themselves
from shutdown until sunrise. Then there were
social suppers in the woods at night, especially
when sugaring-off time came, whore the buxom
girls and farmer lads would make merry long
into the night, by the light of the great f1rea
under the huge sap kettles.
my parents werc farmers, and had an in
terost in the sugar bush / mentioned. A milo
or two from where we lived was a neighbor who
had a daughter, and she was the belle of the
sugar bush. The son of another ~neighbor was
In love with her, and as she had accepted his
escort to many of the rude social doings Of the
locality, he had taken it for granted that he
was her accepted lover. The spring 1 refer to
a young man from Indianapolis. 1 think, came
His name was Dayton. His manners were Id
SuCn COulIdbI W tuOSc vi Inc unSOpDlSICdttu
backwoods. Hoosier beau: that all the girls
were smitten with him. particularly our neigh
who thought he had the only right to her
smiles Unfortunately jealous, and when the girl
see her home from the bush. MIR. Hoosicr lover
swore to some OF his companions that he would
get even with the Indianapolis interloper for
The next night there was to be a sugarins.
fhere sa Sns the je ai o 9he ye oamp,f or nSeryo9Tabii s Was Was
to be a particularly grand time, and a Wild
turkey Gp, supper p Spv was h,t 70 z @ Sap on fbor the s fGlti mr fa,b. /
and mother. The. supper was to be at mid:
night. and a few minutes before the time a lot of
ing fire. laughing. and chatting merrily. Com
spicuous among them were the belle of the
ton, to her oil through the evening were par.
ticularly marked. much to her evident delight.
young fellow was singing a jolly song, his face
lighted up.by tho dancing fire: ! stood near
Of ofi1 SOFT 9pd maple @pS a sugar 70 thai 7 I I had inp poure e pi nnd
cooled. when the report Of a gun rang out from
ton threw up, his hands and fell forward into
the fire. AS he fell a stream of blood spurted
and stained with crimson the bit of sugar 1 was
about to put INTO my, mouth,
blood r di1ed me w aaS n1frG not tas s niore Of Of w yhSs
occurred ,S0i that a. I nishtii .G SG naod day hd ! le armed, hoy y.
9 fusnla an Vein Da AND that na Scf SSSn il ssef pr tnra%g fec tne
cred from their terror and pulled his body from
the fire he was burned past all recognition.
htAt hSaN iva A'eA tNNh oAhAt ~ Nv 1Nhh-
GUS young farmer there was no reason to doubt,
for the farmer was never seen or heard of again.
The memory of that night was IL living terror TO
me for many n year. and to this day. although
that was more than half IL century ago. l could
no more bring myself to taste maple sugar than
i could deliberately swallow a dose of poison. ~
THAT very year the sugar bush was levelled
to the ground by what might he in these days
called "a tornado. Not II tree nor n cabin was
left standing, and ii visited no other spot in that
locality. l said that from the night OF that
tragedy the young farmer whose jealousy UNI
doubtedly prompted it was never seen nor heard
of again, but ii Is believed by many that he re-
turned to The neighborhoOd certainly once after
ward. and on another bloody mission, too, which
he fulfilled. The girl whose Irritation had
reused the young farmer to do murder. three
years later married the son of II ncighborinR
farmer and their home was on II farm two miles
from the fatcd sugar bush. One night, two
months after they were married, the young
husband sat ut the kitchen table reading q
newspaper to his wife as she stood near washing
the supper dishes. suddenly II loud report,
accompanied by the sound OF crashing glass,
broke the stiffness. and the husband fell for
ward with his head on the table, dead, with o
bullet through his brain. The shot had been
fired through the window by IA lurking assassin.
The wife sprang toward her husband. when q
second shot tore from her hand tho dishcloth
she still held. and extinguished the light.
Every one believed that the former lover, hav-
ing heard in his place of hiding that tho girl
had married, had stolen back to The neighbpr-
hood. his revenge still unappeased. to assassin
ate her husband, as he had slain young Day
ton. and also TO murder her to make his vengO-