The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-13
0YYT~ GTS ] In Which is Told the ] " &<A ANS " }FictiOn of How Com Immunity Rid Itself of b A O O XN \ Thirteen Bad Men.
BY HARRY J. BURNEY.
 

On a steep side of Red mountain. near the sleepy village of Rockville. in Blount county, are thirteen graves. They nave long been neglected, as Is evidenced oy their appearance, and that they have ever been cared for Is doubtful Certain 1t Is that the funerals were held with little ceremony and no mourners. The occupants of these narrow beds were never enclosed in metal caskets, nor did even pine boxes contain the bloody corpses upon the reconsignment of the dust. In life, the bodies buried there preyed upon civilization as represented | in its highest form. patriotism. until they were in turn the hunted and not the | hunters.
 spent my last vacation in Blount county, and one day, while ascending Red mountain on a fishing expedition to | the Little Warrior in company with one of the old men of the section. l came upon these lonely sepulchres They are | far from the haunts of man, and rarely are they ever approached by human. Thirteen jagged pieces of limestone once served to signify that in the red earth | below lay the remains of thirteen men, | but of these tombstones, only three re- | main upright The others have been | leveled by the rush of waters down Red | mountain in the times of flood. and that | the bones of the buried have not become | exposed, I was informed, Is because they
 were placed nine feet under the sur- | face of the earth The scrubby under | growth that dishgures the sides of | Straights Sand and Red mountains in North Alabama long ago has taken this | secluded cemetery. and from it's appear ance the place Is fit habitation only for the dead and the unreasoning living. That animate things have not altogether abandoned the scene was made known to
 me when, as 1 nearly stepped upon grave, l heard the warning signal of the deadly rattler.
 Uncle George Boyd, who had lived in
 Blount county since. as he said, 1t was
 no bigger than the village of Rockville l itself, was my companion on the fish | ing jaunt and the old mans garrulity 1 made 1t not difficult for me to induce
 him to tell me- as we walked on toward | the river, the history of the burytng
 and the buried.
 War" he said, T do know about those | fellows buried there, and to tell the
 truth I seep the dirt shoveled out to
 make room for the carcassee, but wheth- CT I was present when they become car | casses. O. course ye could hardly expect me to say. The Good Book says we should fergfce and ferget. hope I have
 fergiven. but 1 shore aint forgotten.
 Them graves was dug in '66. and the carcassas was there waitin' for the holes to be finished.
 When Ole Jeff Davis hollered that he wanted us, me and many another buck
 from the mountains of Blount cleaned
 up our old squirrel rifles and went to
 the front At the same time there was
 men that hung behind. and when 1t got
 to be that they had to fight on some side.
 they heard Abe Lincoln's holler louder'n
 they did Jeff Davis's. and joined the
 men that was fghtin' for the ole nag.
 h don't think that they did right, but
 vou must allow for a mans principles.
 and their principles was to have reg'lar
 eatin' and little shootin'. But then, that's
 all right