Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-08-01
BIG TRACT OF LAND NEAR WASH.
lNGToN NEVER FULLY Elk
PLoRED.
The Dismal Swamp In Virginia Shelf
ers Negroes Who Fled There In An.
te-Bellum Days and Also Criminals
Hiding From Civilization.
Especial Correspondence,

Washington Bureau Of the Courier.
Washington, D. c., July "a.
1t is inconceivable to the average
American who is accustomed to asso-
ciate the word exploration" with ven.
lures into lands far away, that there
Is within a little more than one
hundred miles of Washington an
area OF land about forty miles
square of which less is known
than of remote portions of AT
RIGA or the Arctic regions. 1t is the
Great Dismal Swamp. Strange though
II may seem the morasses of this great
marsh have never been exhaustively
explored by anyone who has given
really first class account of the topo.
graphy OF q most interesting bit of Vir-
glnla. Even the hunters who seek in
the swamp the various kinds of wild
game Which abound do not presume to
say what is to be found within the re-
cesses OF the swamp. Lumbermen are
the most frequent visitors, but there
live on the solid portions of ground
among the great trees, negroes, some
OF whom sought refuge in the wilder
ness when fleeing from slavery in ante
bellum days. Then rumor has it that
there live in the fastness of this great
forest men who are not negroes and
who never were slaves, save perhaps
to guilty conscience. These persons
naturally shrink from the view of the
hunters, for they are there usually be-
cause the law renders continued resi-.
dence In civilized parts uncomfortable
for them
Certain parts of the swamp are ac-
cessible to small boats In the inter-
lor is beautiful Lake Drummond. It's
waters and those of adjacent streams
have the color of cold tea, but are as
pure as that which spouts from any
mountain stream.
A Sea Trip.
Within the last two or three years
there has developed marked increase
in passenger traffic between coast ports
on the Atlantic seaboard during the
summertime. There has been decided
awakening to the fact that "a sea
trip" does not merely mean an oversee
journey from New York to Europe, but
that the various excellent steamship
lines plying between Baltimore, Bos.
ton, New York, Philadelphia, Provi-
dence, Portland, Me, Halifax, N. S.,
Charleston, S. c., and Savannah, Ca,
offer to travellers most attractive
respite from all things which worry
the mind and body in travel by rail.
For instance a splendid line Of steam
ers operate between Baltimore and
Boston, the trip between the two ports
requiring about fifty hours 1t is in
every respect an ocean voyage. The
| ships, modern and complete in every
respect from engine room to cuisine,
push their noses straight through the
Atlantic and are seldom in sight of
land until arriving at their destination
They offer the inducement Of all the
benefits of sea travel coupled with the
advantage of less expense and the
fact that the traveller is not obliged to
leave his native shores for the better
part Of two weeks. Many westerners
travelling in the east manage to make
the coast voyages a most agreeable
| link in their itinerary.
Which Way7
The writer was recently in Ports
mouth, Va, and in the quaint church
yard of the Oldest house of worship
there found the work of a wag. 1t was
beneath this old epitaph on tomb
stone marking the resting place of a
worthy citizen who died about 1920:
Stranger take heed as you pass by
AS you are now such once was I,
AS am now so you will be,
Prepare for death and follow me-"
The epitah is old enough, but the
joker had chalked beneath it:
Before to your request assent,
I'll have to ask you which way you
| went"