The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-01-02

a fist like a cobblestone, Red Ed"
Elan of the Saginaw valley was such
a man as might, in another century,
have carried a spear with Menelaus
before Troy or welded a mace with
the lion-hearted Richard in Palestine
II fate had placed Red Eds leaf
Of life on her calendar some hundreds
Of years earlier. his deeds might have
furnished worthy themes for the pens
of Homer or Virgil or Walter Scott,
instead Of merely providing copy for
the weekly papers of Gratiot County,
Michigan.
AS it was. Red Ed welded nothing
more warlike than a pike-pole and a
peavey with other lumbermen among
the Michigan pines. and his fame, al
though spread from Saginaw Bay to
the head waters Of the Tittabawassee
and the Pine, never went beyond the
confines Of those river valleys
What Elan had been or where he
came from, were queries which his
companions in the woods and on the
river never put When the big man.
with his heavy shock Of dull red hair,
down the Pine. they recognized in
him an expert in his craft, accepted
that fact as sufficient introduction,
and dubbed him Red Ed by COM
mon consent. Later they learned
some other facts concerning him, very
hard, uncompromising facts, taught
mainly by weight Of hand
Red Ed was not a talker He was
far more ready with blow than a
word, and by that his reputation was
built. There were dark hints and
rumors, too, and these, added TO the
more substantial reasons, helped to
make the man universally feared. In
the spring of 1855, wnen Margaret
Spaulding first became teacher in the
little country school on the river road
west of Alma, Red Ed had been log
ging on the Pine for FIVE years, and
had become known as veritable
scourse Of the whole section.
Margaret had heard Of the rough
ness of the loggers along the river
She had seen many of the men them
selves on the streets in Saginaw. She
had even known something of the
when off duty at the towns along the
course Of the drive, and she had
heard OF Red Ed
That she should ever come into di-
rect contact with this bad man of
the lumber country she never mag
ined possible.
Now, Margaret's attitude toward
the so-called danger was quite justi-
fled by ordinary circumstances, for it
was not an ordinary circumstance
that brought Red Ed into her vicini-
ty: il was a snow-storm in May
It showed hard and grew very cold
one afternoon when Red Ed was on
the river, opposite the schoolhouse.
The change in the weather came as
Surprise, and the man was out of
side campfire.
Unfortunately, he was not out of
whisky, which he had obtained in the
last town he had passed. So he
drank, and then started through the
woods in search Of farmhouse
where he might obtain matches. AS
it CHANGED. he arrived at the road di-
rectly opposite the schoolhouse just
as Margaret was dismissing from the
door a half-dozen boys whom she had
kept after school for coming to blows
over the 1ast possible SNOWFALL fight
of the season At another time he
would have found the schoolhouse
empty.
Teacher look there, That's Red
Ed" exclaimed one cf the older boys
the moment the man entered the
road. The little fellow had seen the
riyer-man i'll town, and recognized
him instantly.
The remark was danger-signal to
the others. and they scurried back
into the scnoolroom with a prompt
ness which showed how well every
one knew the evil reputation Of the
owner Of that name.
Margaret herself needed no eSpla-
nation Of their terror Her heart
gave a great bound Of sudden appre-
hension. and the momentary glance
she gave the big man in the road did
not serve to reassure her She did
not dare to look a second time, but
closed the door as quietly as she
could. and silently pushed home
heavy bolt Then she waited, striv-
ing to quiet a fear which she told her
self was foolish. The man might not
be Red Ed Even if he were, he
could have no motive for coming to
the schoolhouse.
But Red Ed did not so away. He
came up the path to the schoolhouse