The citizen., 1900-06-22
CALAMITY MURRAY.

One bright Summer morning John
Murray kissed his wife and newly born
babe. and with a light heart hurried
away to his work, singing merrily as
the lark. The sun came over the hills
and made the dewdrops on the flowers
sparkle like so many diamonds; birds
sang in every tree, and the skies
seemed bluer and brighter than ever
before, but how many days of SORROW
have dawned as bright?
A storm came up after noon, and
cyclone swept over the hills, leaving
a trail of death and desolation. John
Murray came home-no, not home. His
home had stood in the path of the cy-
clone. The humble cabin was now
pile of broken timbers.
Strong arms and willing hands
cleared away the logs, and beneath
them they found the mangled body OF
the young wife, dead.
Like the giant oak of the forest, rent
by the storm, is the grief of a strong
man when all that is near and dear is
taken from him in one moment, with
out warning. By the mangled body
of his dead wife John Murray cried
aloud in his anguish. Friends and
neighbors came by and bye, and took
him away, and when his first terrible
grief was over they brought his
child. Clasped to its mothers breast,
they had found it unhurt. Maternal
love grows stronger when face to face
with death, and, dying, the woman had
saved the child.
John Murray turned from the child
with a shudder; from the little white
face the eyes of his wife looked up into
his.
"What shall we call him, John"
asked the kind neighbors who had
cared for the child, one day when 1t
was several months old.
The mangled form of the dead wife,
the ruined home, rose before the
father, and he answered: Call him
Calamity"
So Calamity Murray was named.
Before the child was year old John
Murray sickened and died, of broken
heart, his neighbors said. and Calamity
grew up like the wild flowers on his
native hills. The rough mountaineers
had tender hearts, and the child never
. suffered for food or clothing, but no
one ever spoke a kind word to him,
and early in life he realized somehow
that he was an outcast. He grew to
manhood, ignorant and rough as the
poorest Of the people around him, and
with the feeling that he had no friend
In the world. Why did he not go away!
Because to him the world was hemmed
In by the blue hills around his native
valley.
Calamity found work with the moon.
sinners, and he soon became an expert
at making the "mountain dew" as the
liquor was called. But somehow the
moonshiners distrusted him, and his
every movement was watched. Once
he was intrusted with wagon load of
the Illicit whiskey and sent over the
mountain into Willis Valley to dispose
of 1t. Before he had sold a single gal.
Ion the wagon was captured by reve
nue. officers, who started to Huntsville
with Calamity, after disposing of the
team and the load. Somehow Calam-
fly managed to escape from the Off
GERS, and made his way back to the
still in the mountain. His story was
not believed, and he was openly ac-
cused of being a spy and a traitor.
Four well-armed and desperate moon.
sinners bound Calamity with ropes,
leaving only his legs free, and started
with him to Willis Valley to learn II
there was any truth in his story. They
found the story of the capture true,
and released Calamity after cursing
him for his stupidity and carelessness.
After all this he went back and
worked for these men again. because
he knew no better, but the distrust Of
him had been increased. and his life
was made harder than ever before.
nuiinc the Winter of IS the reve
nuc officers made a number Of success
ful raids into the Sand Mountain coun.
try and destroyed number of stills.
IL soon became evident to the moon
sinners that there was a traitor and
spy among them For awhile they
made no more liquor. but met every
night at some secluded spot to talk
over the situation and try to discover
the informer.
Calamity Murray hain't got no rea.
son not ter give we'uns erway ter ther
revenoos," suggested one of the leaders
of the gang one night, and Immediately
dozen of them agreed that Calamity
was the guilty man. Notwithstanding
his protestations Of innocence, swift
and terrible punishment would have
been meted out to him had not one of
the eldest members of the band inter.
ceded for him and urged the moon
sinners to do nothing until they Sc
cured some proof that Calamity was
the traitor.
No raids were made for several
weeks, and the moonshiners were suf-
fciently recovered from their alarm
to start all the stills running again.
Not a suspicious stranger had been
seen on the mountain for three weeks,
when just after dark one night three
long, loud blasts on fox horn sound
ed the alarm and called the moonshin-
ers to meet on Pine Bluff with their
guns. Fires were put out, and the
liquor on hand was moved away from
the still houses to some more secluded
spot.
Half an hour before midnight twenty
4.