The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-16
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l Maumee, shall make them for you.' George declared that above all things he wished for pair of moccasins, and the | two youths parted, after the Indian had declared his name and invited George to visit him at his "cabln," where he lived with his sister and his widowed mother. l His name, he said, was Powell.
 Thus did George Randolph meet for the first time with that man who, under his Indian name, was afterward to become the pride and the hope of the doomed nation and to hand down to future ages his name as a symbol of Indian valor and nobility-Osceola The name which Powell had mentioned, the name of his sister-Maumee-had fallen upon the ears of George with a strange fascination and called up hopes and visions. The Ran dolph plantation lay upon the borders of the Indian countryside Seminole reserva- tion. Once when wandering in the per- Il fumed groves a vision had appeared to the boy in the form of an Indian maiden. In fiowery glade he saw her, and she seemed part of the picture. One glance he had and she was gone He pursued, but to no purpose. She had vanished away through the forest aisles. Ever since had he been dreaming of the lovely apparition. Was 1t Maumee?
 The crime of Yellow Jake was fully es- tablished by witnesses who had seen him entice the alligator to the swimming pool Some of the neighboring planters, who had come to the Randolph house on hear ing of the narrow escape of Virginia, and n11 ford. who were devoted to the Randolph family-were gathered there when the disclosure of Yellow Jake's perfidy was made. The man tried to escape but was hunted and captured. An improvised court-of the lynch sort-was held and he was condemned to be burned alive. | Among those who took an active part in the chase and were most insistent that the mulatto be burned-a doom which the Randolphs protested against as too bar baric-was Arens Ringgold, the son of a neighboring planter. Arens was a wild youth, just on the eve of manhood, of a fierce and hard temper, a family char acterstic. His father had such a repu. tation that to "be sold to Massa Ring gold" was threat which generally would keep the most obstreperous slave in order. Young Ringgold made no secret of his partiality for Virginia Randolph. and though 1t was impossible to tell how Virginia felt toward him yet as his father was the richest planter in the district, her mother and father en- couraged his attentions. George Ran dolph disliked the young man intense- Win
 thetic. Powell, too, was on the scene when Yellow Jake was bound and tied to a stake preparatory to his exc cution.
 Hearing the hue and cry after the mullato he had returned Ringgold saw him standing there, and said insolently: "Hallo redskinl You are sure YOU had no part in this business? Eh. redskin r' "Redskinw exclaimed Powell, turning proudly and confronting his insulter. | My skin is of better color than yours you white-livered lout" Ringgold was of sallow complexion, and the blow struck home. Say again that if you dare!" cried Ringgold. Again if you wsh-white- -livered lout. l" Ringgolds pistol cracked
 But the bullet missed its aim, and the next instant the two were clinched, seizing each other by the throat The half-breed's knife gleamed in the air, but was struck from his hand by one of the bystanders and the fighters sep arated. Many of the assembly were for taking the Indian into custody But all this was forgotten in the sud- den discovery that Yellow Jake had escaped The knife of Powell had fal- len at the feet of the mulatto. His legs were bound to the stake but his arms were free. He had managed to get hold of the knife and to cut his bonds. He was off like a deer with the whole company after him. He at length, when almost caught, plunged into lake, and from the depths of the lake-even as his pursuers prepared to plunge in | after him-arose an alligator and | seized the swimming mulatto. Both all 1 ligator and fugitive disappeared be- meath the surface and the water above where they had disappeared was sud- denly reddened with blood. The ex- petition returned home satisfied that Yellow Jake had. met the fate he had designed for Virginia. Powell, mean
 
 ervation unmolested
 One day soon after George decided to pay visit to the cabin of Powel's mother, as he had promised he would. As he was getting into his canoe to go up the river to the region where Powell had told him his home stood, Virginia came to the rivers bank and persuaded her brother to take her along, too. So they padded up the stream until they came to a widening of the waters which made a small lake, and on the margin of the lake saw a large plantation house standing.
 l Well cultivated fields were about it and many slaves working in the fields. For the Seminoles, as we'll as their white neighbors, kept slaves, some of them negroes and some Indians of the Yamas- sees-a tribe the Seminoles had long ago conquered. This they found was the home of the Powells, a home where they were surrounded with much rude luxury and ment. The Widow Powell was a noble looking ful-blooded Indian woman of agreeable manners, and her children had been well educated by their father And in the sister of Powell, Maumee, George saw the vision of the scented groves, that vision which had haunted him for so long, Of this visit to the Indian reservation and of the many subsequent meetings u,hicb Powell and Maumee Virginia and