Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1903-10-30

far as results seemed to indi-
cate. 1t was all about small
dame jeanne of fine brandy which an
Indian of the name of Long Hair had
seized and run off with at the height of
the carousal. He must have been So
berer than his pursuers or naturally
fleeter, for not one of them could catch
him or even keep long in sight of him.
Some pistols were emptied while the
race was on, and two or three of the
men swore roundly to having seen Long
Hair jump sidewise and stagger as if
one of the shots had taken effect. But,
although the moon was shining. he
some way disappeared, they could not
understand just how, far down beside
the river below the fort and the church.
1t was not an uncommon thing for an
Indian to steal what he wanted, and in
most cases light punishment followed
conviction, but it was felt to be cap
ital offense for an Indian or anybody
else to rape a demijohn of fine brandy,
especially one sent as a present by
friend in New Orleans to Lieutenant
Governor Abbott. who had until re-
Gently been the commandant of the
post. Every man at the river house
recognized and resented the enormity
of Long Hairs crime, and each was for
the moment ready to be his judge and
his eXecutioner. He had broken at
once every rule of frontier etiquette and
every bond of sympathy. Nor was
Long Hair ignorant of the danger in
volved in his daring enterprise. He
had beforehand carefully and stolidly
weighed the conditions, and true to his
Indian nature had concluded that a lit
tie wicker covered bottle of brandy
he had put himself in condition for a
great race by slipping out and getting
rid Of his weapons and all surplus
weight of clothes.
This incident brought the drinking
bout at the river house to sudden
end, but nothing further came of it
that night and no record of it would be
found in these pages but for the fact
that Long Hair afterward became an
/ important character in the stirring
historical drama which had old Vim
cennes for its center of energy.
Rene de Eonville probably felt him
self in bad luck when he arrived at the
river house Just too late to share in
the liquor or to join in chasing the
bold thief. He listened with interest,
however, to the story of Long Hairs
capture of the commentaries demijohn
and could not refrain from saying that
if he had been present there would
have been a quite different result.
Il would have shot him before he
got to that door" he said, drawing his
heavy fiintlock pistol and going
through the motions of one aiming
quickly and firing. Indeed, so vigor-
Ously in earnest was he with the pan
tomime that he actually did fire, unin-
tentionally of course, the ball burying
itself in the dooriamb.
He was laughed at by those present
for being more excited than they who
witnessed the whole thing. One of
them. leathery faced and grzzled old
sinner leered at him contemptuously
and said in queer French, with a
curious accent caught from long use
of backwoods English:
Listen how the boy brags! Ye
might think to hear Rene talk that
he actually amounted to a big pile"
This parsonage was known to every
soul in Vincennes as Oncle Jazon, and
when Oncle JaZon spoke the whole
town felt bound to listen.
"An' how well he shoots, too" he
n11 aI xr,;k tnIa 10 ,;v,Ix
aimed at the door and hit the post
Certainly Long Hair would have beer
in great danger! oh, yes, he'd ave
killed Long Hair at the first shot
wouldn't he thought
"All right Oncle Jazon," said Rene
laughing and blowing the smoke on
Of his pistol. "'Twas you, all the same
who let Long Hair trot off with thu
governors brandy; not l. If you coult
have hit even a doorpost it might have
been better
Oncle Jazon took off his cap anC
looked down into it in a way he haC
when about to say something final.
"Ventrebleu. | did not shoot at Lon
Hair at ALL" he said, speaking slowly
DcCHuSt lllc SCOuuuItl WIS ulldIlllcu
He didn't have on even knife. and h
was havin' enough to do dodgin th'
bullets that the rest of 'em were
t plumpin' at i'm without any compli
(, ments from me TO bother i'm more"
, well" Rene replied, turning away
; with a laugh, IF I'd been scalped b.
the Indians as you have | don't thinl
. there would be any particular reason
why l should wait for an Indian THE
to go and arm himself before | &C
cepted him as target"
: Oncle Jazon lifted a hand involuntar
lily and rubbed his scalpless crown
! then he chuckied with a grotesqu
grimace as if the recollection of hav
ing his head skinned were the funnies
. thing imaginable.
"When you've killed as many of zen
No npoIa Ia1a, hoe mama o1 hx,