The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-03-29

rage. y rlhe bullet usually ends the
hunt.
Upon miles and miles of the Big
Thicket's area no man has ever set
foot. Ten feet in from either edge Of
the Thicket person is az completely
lost to view as if the earth had opened
and engulfcd him.
During the Civj! war the Big Thick
ct was the refuge of many deserters
from the Confederate Army. These
were usually men who dwelt in the
vicinity of the Thicket. To capture
them in their retreats was impossible,
except by following those who carried
food to them.
There were instances of deserters
remaining hidden thus in the Big
Thicket until the end of the war, and
many feuds resulted from tbe resent
mcnt dcserters felt toward provost
marshals or their assistants for their
persistent efforts to hunt them down.
Some OF these animosities were kept
up for years after the war, and fami-
lies of both the men who were hunted
and the men who hunted them lost
more than one innocent member be-
fore the vengeance seemed to be salts
fed.
One instance is cited Of man who
was conspicuous citizen of the local
ity where he lived, but who chose to
shut himself up in the fastncss Of the
Big Thicket rather than answer the
call Of his Government and undergo
the dangers and hardships OF the
camp and field. He was two years in
hiding.
The provost marshal of the district
was persistent in his efforts to capture
this particular desertor and bring him
to punishment, but without success.
The war was no sooner over than this
dcserter came from his retreat in the
Thicket, and once set out to hunt
down tho man who had so long sought
to do the same thing to him. He
found his man, with the result that.
after escaping all the dangers Of SOL
dier's life and enduring for years the
hardships and anxieties Of that of g
fugitive in the depths of the Big
Thicket: he wos shot dead few hours
after he was fyee to come and go as he
pleased.
There are many small bodies of
water in the innermost depths of the
Big Thicket, where that curious big
bird, tho water turkey, otherwise
known as the snake bird, which swims
and dives, like duck, although not
web footed, and has long sinuous
neck which, when it is swimming,
gives it the appearance of snake,
abounds and rears its young.
AT the eastern extremity of the
Thicket one Of these lakes has oonuec-
tion with Sabine River in time of high
water, end many years ago this
connection imust have been navi-
gable channel, for in that lake the rot
ting hulks of two schooners, one Of
which must have been boat of seven.
ty-fye tons and the other one of forty
tons. lie half embedded in the soft
bottom.
Just,uwhen these. schooners were
moored in that lake is not known, and
their mission..there can only be sur
missed. They were there seventy-fve
years ago, then in state of good pres
ervation.
1t is supposed theyscame up the Sa-
biue River from the Gulf Of Mexico
with cargoes of negroes obtained from
some slave ship in the. Gulf, or some
where along the Atlantic coast. Texas
was then part Of. Mexico, and the sup-
position is that the negroes were taken
over into Louisiana and sold there
into slavery. the Sabine River being .
safe channel for the carrying on of
that tra fio.E Why the sohoopers were
abandoned at their mooripgs in the
lake, is of course, apart Of the mys-
terry.
Z From the skeleton of one of them
hangs atportion Of chain almost
eaten up by:Iust. On the shore near
by some other rusty links lie against
the trunk of'a tree. They are CON.
tiDuation of theEchain that moored
the schooner to the.tree when it was
abandoned, the part Of it that went
around the tree now beirg foot or
more beneath the surface Of the trunk,
the growth Of many years having long
ago covered it from sight.
The bears Of the Big Thicket are
said to he largo, and of a d;onns;.;on