Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1910-01-27

EJyHtI n5yy54 d 1eudal DarOn WIN M
kI'GYSScSa slaves and wide domain m
Sa-44 and vested rights; with lXIg|
horses. hounds and the long chase I#
after fox and good red deer; with w
norm and hagon and high home ~
sail in tha hall-in those days was
born William Jesse Mcdonald, Sep -
tember 2S 1852. His father Enoch
Mcdonald was a planter of the feu-
dal type-feaross fond of the chase. :
the owner of wide acres and half
hundred slayes-whie his GRANDPA
ther, OF the clan Mcdonald on his ma
i've meath, was step nearer in the 9
backward line to some old laird who
lee h!s men in roistering hunt in bloody
fray amid the green hills and in dim glens of
Scotland.
That was good blood, and from his mother,
VINO was Durham-Eunice Durham-the lit
tie chap that was one day to be leader on
lis own account inherited as clear strain.
Ihe feudal hall in Mississippi. however was a
Dig, old plantation house, built of hewn logs
and riNen boards, with woods and cotton fields
on every hand; with cabins for the slaves and
outbudings of every sort. That was in Kem-
per county, over the Alabama line with
DE kalb, the county seat, about 90 miles away.
1t was peculiar childhood that little Bill
Jess" Mcdonald had. 1t was full of such things
as the Homecoming of the hunters with deer
or to%-sometimes (and these were grand
occasions) even with bear. Then there were
wonderful ball games played by the Bogue
Chita and Muckiluta Indans exciting shoot
ing matches and horse races, long fishing and
swimming days with companions black and
white. end the ever-recurring chase, with the
boodnoNnds, of some runaway slave. There
was cot much book-schooling in a semi-bar-
bafE childhood such that. There was a
sChpolho>lse of course, which used for a
cnuTch and gatherings of any sort, and some
times the children had lessons there. But the
kemper county teaching of that day was
mainly t. ride well, shoot straight and to act
Chickly in the face of danger That was the
proper education for the boy who was one day
ID make she Texas Panhandle and No-mans
land his hunting ground with men for his
quarry.
Presence OF mind he had as a gift and it
was early manifested. There was a lake not
far away, whore fishing and swimming went
on almost continuously during the summer
days, and sometimes the small swimmers
would muddy the water near the shore and
then catch the fish in their hands. They were
doing this one day when Bill Jess was heard
20 announce, eXtitedly, I've got him, boys
I've got him! You can't beat mine!" at the
same instant swinging his catch high for them
20 see.
That a correct statement They
couldn't beat his catch and they didn't want
to. What they wanted to do was to get out
of his neighborhood without any unnecessary
delay, for the thing he held up to view was an
immense, deadly moccasin, grasped with both
hands by the neck, the rest of it curling in
stantly around the lower arm His hold was
so tight and so near the head that the snake
could not bite him. but the problem was to
turn it loose. His friends were all ashore and
at a safe distance. He did not lose his head
however, but Wa.ing ashore himself he invited
them one after another to unwind that snake.
Nobody cared fo" the job and he told them in
turn and collectively what he thought of them
Then he offered the honor to a little slave how
on attractive terms
Jim" he said, "ef you-all don't come an
unwind this heah snake, I'll beat youall to
death an cut on yo' ears an skin you alive
and give yo cahcass to the buZzards"
Those were the days when little slave
boy could not resist an earnest entreaty of
that sort from the son of the household and
Jim came forward, his face gray with graft
tude, and taking hold gngerly he unwound a
yard or so Of water-moccasn from Bill Jess.
who with the last coil, flung his prize to the
ground, where il was quickly killed, it being
wellnigh choked to death already.
But even the gift of presence of mind will
sometimes balk az unfamiliar dangers It was
about this time that the civil war broke out
and Enoch Mcdonald enlisted company to
defend the southern cause. The little boy left
behind was heart broken. His father was his
hero and when by and by the news came that
the soldiers were encamped at Meridian-a
railway station about 80 miles dstant-the
Lad made up his mind to join them He ar
rived at Meridian one morning and began to
look over the ground and to make a few in
qutres as to MS fathers headquarters. He
had never seen a railroad before, and he fol-
lowed along the track with increasing interest
till ne reached the engine, which he thought
must be the most wonderful and beautiful
thing ever Great cd. Then suddenly it let off
steam, the bell rang and the air was split by
a screaming whistle. 1t was too sudden and
too strange for his gift to work. The son of
all the McDonalds and of gallant soldier set
out for the horizon, never pausing until halted
by the sentry Of his fathers camp.
He was permitted to enter and was direct.
ed to the drill ground where his father who
had been promoted for bravery to the rank of
major, was experimenting certain maneuvers.
The little boy IN his eagerness ran directly
into the midst OF things and Major Mcdonald
suddenly seeing him, startled into the
conclusion that some dire calamity had be-