The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-16
KEEP YOUR BLOOD CLEAN

And that's how he hoodooed Masss
-Stone,'' they add.
For fifteen years this curse had no ef
feet. 1t was when Mary Tanning Ston.
died at the birth of that little daughter
! for which she had prayed so long that
the first blow fell And the curse, a!
! curses often do, fell back on Wood, FOL
| he still loved the woman and her life
/ was dearer to him than anything in the
world
Marcus Stone, ST., gave the care of hi'
little girl to a faithful old nanny
who had lived in the family ever since
Mrs. Stone was bride When the little
girl was four years old Marcus Stone Sr
and Marcus Stone, Jr., the splendid young
i stripping who is now eighteen years old
went into the city to live a greater part
of the time, coming out to the plantation
as business would let them during the
winter months.
One night they returned from New Or
leans. called for the little girl, and got nc
answer. Going up to the nursery they
found nanny" fast asleep, but nc
child. Upon awakening, nanny said
that the child was with her when she
went to sleep, that she must have run
off, and was around the quarters some
where.
Search was begun throughout the en-
tire plantation, and every cabin was turn
ed inside out.
Investigation was made to see if any
little negro child was missing to give a
clue as 10 whether the two had run off
to play on the river. Midnight struck
without the child being found, and then
came one of the most exciting weeks
that was ever known in the Teche coun-
try in ante-bellum days.
One hundred and fifty slaves, splendidIy
trained men. with the finest bloodhounds
on the plantation were scattered in every
. direction to find and follow a trail. Thir-
ty-six hours these negroes walked
through the woods without food. and re-
turned exhausted the next night for fur
Their orders from the half-crazed master
These were days of tracking and trail
! ing, when the keen animal instinct of the
African and the great geius of the blood
hound were depended on to find lost peo-
pie. The bloodhounds were as safe as
slaves, for they never injured any one
unless told to do so. They obeyed sig
nal as perfectly as a human being, and
cared for the trail and mot for the death.
But all that could be done by money
and determination and relentless effort
failed.
There were many Indian villages scat
tered through the villages of Louisiana at
that time, and it was finally the accepted
belief at the end of the week that Indian
craft had been matched against the craft
of the trailers. and that the child was
being held by some chief. So white and
black, from all the plantations, offered
their services-for nothing was so joy
'ous to them as a brush from the In
dians-and that week saw the most re-
markable search known in the history Of
that country
Marcus Stone was a power in that re-
gion,and to have brought to light his
child would have been to earn undying
regard and great honor.
s Within ten days the child's wooden hood
was washed to shore and from that time
Mr.. Stone and the plantation accepted she
theory that the child was drowned She
vas NCAS AOiiu VI pay ING W tiie SItc "a
the Teche. and it was the most plausible,
theory that her little feet had caught in
some knared root, she had fallen into the
water, and been carried through the
Atchafayala into the Mexican Gulf, from
which nothing ever returns.
Mr. Stone, Sr.. never became reconcfled
to the loss of his wife or his daughter,
and great fear came upon him OF the
curse. When the talk of war began he
welcomed it as a relief from his terrible
thoughts and awful loneliness
Both father and son went hot-hearted
into the Confederacy, but only the son
returned. The father was shot at the
front.
So the Stone family had gone. The
war freed the hundreds Of faithful follow
ers, who. thrown on their own resources,
without means of livelihood, begged to
be allowed to stay on the plantation and
earn their food.
Marcus Stone, Jr., now a man Of 81
years, was alone. Money and land were
gone. father and mother dead. the little
sister stolen or dead. He had little doubt
Of the latter.
Before he went into the Confederacy
he was in love with Mary Wood, who
was known as the adopted daughter Of
the Widow Baker He found her loyal
and true when he returned and ready to
share with him that terrible aftermath
OF Gettysburg and the reconstruction per-
iod through poverty and into the new life
They were married at once, and those
slaves who had remained put the plan
tation in order and the couple went to
live in the gray old mansion wherein
tragedy had already lived.
After twety years of married life they
had ten children, but one by one death
had taken them until only two remained.
AS each one died the legend Of the
curse which had grown into a folk-super-
stition was whispered about the country.
One day in the autumn OF IS. the day
before the anniversary OF their wedding.
the greatest blow Of the curse feu. The
Widow Baker and several laborers called
excitedly AT the stone mansion. The la
borers were bearing a heavy burden. and
when Mrs. Stone came down 10 receive
them they laid a huge iron pot at her
feet
They lifted a rusty la and showed her
that the pot was filled with gold pieces,
and on the top was an Old yellow letter,
unopened, addressed to Mary SAone
Wood. 1t had lain there twenty-five
years. Here IS the letter verbatim:
Dear Child: Three years prior 10 your
birth Mary Fanuing-your mother-was
my promised wife. Business called me
from Nebraska. 10 California. and wheu 7