The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-01-14
A MUCH VEXED QUESTION.

To the Editor: II he would not
speak when he ought to be heard. then
he shall not be heard when he ought to
keep silence
The above is a quotation from a quo
ta1ion of our esteemed supreme court.
Maybe it is too late now for me to say
| anything on the lately much discussed
subject, 1.-THE Over-Hills of Ottoay or
the ditto of Ottoray." Well, when l
tell You why l did not speak, l feel very
sure Of forgiveness for not speaking
sooner. He who settles a much vexed
questions, and settles it right, wins the
gratitude of all except those who love to
quarrel for quarrel's sake; and | shall
now proceed to incur the lasting graft
tude of all good people interested in
the alleged over-hills of Ottorlay or of
Otrolay.
admit that l had theory on the
subject. But l insist that | kept my
theory carefully and conscientiously to
myself.
sot out on the 10th day of November,
in the year of our expansion, and trav-
elled westward. For many miles | went
by railroad, and for good many more
miles | rode a mule. AT the limit
of mule travel l went afoot, and
a very few miles brought me to the wig
wan of Il venerable Indian of the tribe
Cherokee The people who do not
know how to talk Cherokee, the kind
Of people who degraded Sa-tu-leh
Mountain down to Stooly and viciousy
rendered into English the euphonious
Indian which meant Hanging Dog, /
say, that kind of people call this old
Indian Sawnook. 1t will do for the
purpose. He does not pronounce his
name that way, nor do | feel able to re-
produce with the letters of our alphabet
the sounds that go to make his utterance
of it.
| sought out old Sawnook because I
had been reliably informed of his extra
ordinary lore i'll matters traditional, per-
tanning TO his tribe and their pictures
que land. He lives in Graham county.
in the extreme southwestern portion Of
thls State: the county in which the late
Judge Shlpp, man of infinite jest
threatened to sentence man to board
week at certain hotel in that county,
but on account of his family let him off
with six weeks in jail.
Sawnook, when / had read to him a
sufficient number of the newspaper arti-
Giles to put him on the track OF what /
wanted him to run down, begged per-
mission to laugh, which | reluctantly
granted. If there is any truth in the
common belief that the noble red man is
incapable of hlarity, void Of sense or
humor. then he furnished a notable ex-
ception when | assure you that he roll
ed over at least four times. coming up
every time with his hands full of up-root-
ed weeds and grass. When he recovered
he assured me that my labors were now
over, and that he could tell me in
few words all about it. This was not
SaWnoOk' S language, of course, for his
English, while perfectly Ineligible,
would not look very well in print. In
substance he said that he knew and
loved a grandfather, whose life and
labors commenced about the time Dam
iel Boone dropped out of print. Daniel
other than his right to pose as an his
t0rical landmark of the development of
the country.
This old grandfather took violent
fancy to Sawnoob, and his affection was
returned in such good measure that the
child actually used to sit for hours and
listen, or try to listen, to the old mans
tlresome "reminiscences Of earlier times,
and TO his recitals of traditions handed
down from his forefathers. The seed
thus soWn in dutifully respondent soil
bore fruit and became i'll after life Saw
hooks crown Of glory. Among the prec-
Gus bits of lore thus perpetuated was the
faithful and true account of how the
name "Oyerhills-Ottoray" came to he
given to Western North Carolina. This
is hit
For many years after the Piedmont
country had been ceded and abandoned
To the white folks. the transmontane
section still belonged to the Indians.
White people seldom veptured into its
Confines. Occasionally an uncommonly
bold hunter slipped over the ridge, and
crossed over into the settlements OF