The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-05-28
LEGEND OF NULL HILL.


and n Barrel of Bull Beef.
GREAT POND. Me-. May 26.-If the residents
OF Bull Hill settlement look east they see the
broad surface OF Great Pond. In the opposite
direction their vision climbs the steep side OF
a mountain which hides its top among clouds
in the daytime and talks with the stars at
night. There are fourteen houses, a general
store. a hotel. a blacksmith shop and n diminu-
tive schoolhouse in the village. Beyond these
are trees and crags. tenanted by many wild
animals and haunted by the ghosts of the men
who perished years ago while trying to solve
the mystery Of a barrel Of bull beef. The
village of to-day has not changed in forty
years. except that a schoo!house has been put
up on the srot where a grogshop was burned
by a mob in 1865. The schoolhouSe is the
smallest institution Of learning in Maine. 1t is
II feet wide and 10 feet long. Five pupils for
every school day is the average attendance.
When the boys start for school in the morning
every one takes q dry stick Of cordwood on his
shoulder and saws it into stove lengths before
beginning his lessons.
The name OF the man who founded Bull Hill
was Hussey. His act was, wholly involuntary:
In company with three other men he started
an oxioad OF supplies to a lumber camp in
sbesIdter o P'fBa ulI Giiil a. ehe 'h msn m9 %aIked t one
stick, and guide the team, At tie very
parted. and a barre Of sailed bull beef rolled
Off to the ground. from which point gravitation
took It over the brow OF the hill and carried it
!Tiil get that barrel of beef, said ,!Hussey
with an oath. or III never come back
believed he was fond Of bull beet Because his
teeth seemed to. te, made for the purpose of
teeth. which he never housed day or night.
summer oil, winter. the taunt made him mad
If | find that barrel Of beef he cried, I'll
Stay until | cat IL all nm nj I'll Il nfNn IN death
He took his axe. gun. ammunition and, a few
off down the hill, while the men continued
their journey to Greenfield camp. Hussey
the foreman needed him badly and looked for
him every day. On their ieturn to Amherst
the men expected to Gnd HuSseE at home, but
his friends grew frightened and began
time til m rep9rt sr about ST"t n man %| F"tt''if n the e1 wooa q
reached Bangor and Old Town. and, men who
w TInspsat an n o u}amfy '0 Of h Tnm nnd $ m SnSe q was" on a
the side made frequent Journeys 70, Great Pond
In quest Of Hussey and his bull beef Many
Of these well-meaning scarcherS cam" to grief.
A canoe containing three men and 4 hoy was
overturned on Great Pond in May; 1889; and
ing month a party of -four men took refuge
under a fallen hemlock to avoid q sudden
thunderhult. Three months later II party OF
six. was overtakcn BY IA great forest fire, in
which two lost their lives. ono man was lost
in the woods and his body was torn to pieces by
wild animals:
In spite Of hardships and disasters the hunt
for Husscy and his beef was Kept up for ten
years, and though evidence that he was still
living was discovered at several times. he re-
manned unknown to the world until 1882, when
James Ciinch ~ d Arthur Penney padded into
n cove on the aL1c Of Great Pond on" afternoon
and saw Hussey sitting at the mouth OF q cave
watching. a handsome squaw at play with her
three half breed children.
My wife. my, babbies." said Hussey, intro
ducing his family. Glad ter sea yer. boys.
Stop and have Il snack"
After supper the men questioned Hussrv and
asked him why he had never come out to tho
clearing in all the years that had gone,
i've, bin wantin' to many's the time 70;
piled HuSsey, but | took nv oath thi$ I'd
never come back I'll. the hull beef was ct up"
He paused here long enough 10 point out n
barrel in one corner Of the room. and added
And it amt all gone yit."
Current report has it that Hussey ate bull
beef until the. day Of his death, After he was
gone his children married and settled. near
their old home. So in n few years the side of
Bun Hill held n small village. resting among
the rocks and reaching up the road over which
thp founder chasRd "A burrpl pf bull bepf