The National tribune., 1900-10-04

4 When L was boy of ID or II "Uncl
Billy" as we boys called him, was a CON
paratively young man and rather incline
to be serious, unless business was parti4
ularly good, on which occasions he wou
even treat us to new Sate-pencil, &
iish-hook; and sometimes a fish-line; an,
then he bought all the hare, muskrat
mink and otter skins we could bring t.
his store. The otter had become yer.
scarce, on account of the constant hunt
ing of them by men and boys with gun
and trap, the large fox trap being used
These wary animals were found only il
the Ross Pond. a mile or so from Ever
ett's Bridge. This pond, except Lake
Drummond, in the Dismal Swamp, is th'
largest pond or lake in Virginia, beinl
about a mile and a half in length and 20t
or 300 yards wide. After failing to catcl
the wideawake otter with steel traps.
finally succeeded in getting one by STRAIT
egy. Arming myself with an old Queer
! Anne musket loaded with three fingers
OF powder and shot, | padded very 81
lcntiy to near the upper part of the pond
and there concealed myself and little boat
in a group of cypress trees, where L was
almost hidden from view. 1t was then
just before daybrcak, and everythin, was
SO very silent that, temporarily, / expert
cnccd feeling of loneliness. Ny gun
was on the full cock, and lay across my
that the otter took his breakfast of bsh
just before and just after the break of
day, and that his table was usually an
old log or stump. | had not been III my
place of conccalment more than 10 min
utcs when. hearing very slight splash
of water, / turned in the direction, and
there appeared n large, handsome otter
in the act of climbing to the top of a cy-
press stump, about n foot high above the
water. AS he reached the top, bearing Il
fish in his mouth, | fired, aiming at the
otter's head. The weapon was a flint
lock-" and as the smoke cleared away
there was nothing on the stump, no sign
of otter and / heard nothing save the
echoes and re-echoes of the explosion
produced by firing the old musket.
Padding to the stump, | noted that
tom and quickly thrusting my hand into
the shallow water, to my indescrihable
delight l felt the dead otter, and in Il
second or two had hauled him up and
into the boat. l had accomplished the
most remarkable hunting feat of my boy
hood.
1t was declared by the negroes that
'Marse Joe was gwine ter be bigger
hunter den Marse Stone Whitley" Mr..
Whitley was the leading hunter in the
County, owning many fine dogs and i'm
ported English guns.
When the skin had been properly dried
carried it to Uncle Billy Parr, who, af-
ter examining it critically, said he had
never handled a larger or finer otter in
his life, and that he would pay the largest
price paid in the County, 81, whereuDon
he counted out to me IA large, bright,
sparkling silver half-dollars.
DURING WAR TIMES.
Uncle Billy Parr occupied about the
sane position in southeastern Virginia as
did Uncle Jimmy Todd in the great North
Mountain region of western Virginia.
There were some young men who remained
true TO the old flag, although the majority
of them in the County We're sooner or later
either induced or conScripted into the
Confederate army. But if any Union
man was threatened, or n conscript was
in danger, Uncle Billy had him safely con
veyed to a place i'll the great Dismal
Swamp.
There were many slaves at work in the
Swamp, living in little huts of boards
and reeds, and nearly all knew and loved
Uncle Billy, ard they cared for his friends
until the occupation oflNorfolk and Ports
mouth, when refugees went into the Fed
cral lines. A large number of runaway
slaves also found refuge in this Great
Swamp until "Massa Butler" came. | re-
member giving several of them coming
from the Swamp employment in the Com
missary Department. This was ut the
post of Portsmouth, where we had over
200 escaped slaves employed in the Com
missary Department, unloading army sup
plies from ships constantly arriving at
our wharf. In 1864, when we We're sup
plying Gen. Sherman's army through the
upper Dismal Swamp Canal via Abe
marie Sound, these negroes, free then,
worked faithfully, often until midnight.