Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-09-26
miscellaneous 3eadins.
TWo-FINGERED DAVIS
Remarkable Coincidence in Connection
With the Life of Notorious Outlaw

III oOuSHCtu S"aUuPs
Forty odd miles from Grenada, Miss,
surrounded by a wilderness OF cypress
and cane, lie two large mounds in the
midst of what was once swamp. In
later years the levee builders have lift
ed hands against the river floods, and
drainage commissions have so wrought
that the whilom swamp lies mostly
high and dry. Here and there lagoons
mantle. and everywhere the face Of the
land Is wreathed with vines and rank
weeds. Switch cane protrudes itself.
rich and luxuriant. Deer slip through
the glades. Now and then a big black
bear crashes through the massed vege-
tation.
The ring of the ak Is just beginning
to be heard, the first note Of civiliza-
ton, faint and far across the wilder
ness. But the two mounds, notwith-
standing they represent most valua-
BILE asset in that land of marsh and
moor, lie undisturbed. The wilderness
for more than a mile on each side OF
them retains its primeval character.
Only once within the memory Of man
now living has an attempt been made
to utilize these two mounds, and this
is the story of that attempt. The ne
groes and poor whites who cling pre-
cariously to the fringes Of the swamp
and by sheer cunning and daring wiring
scanty living from its treasury Of wild
life, declare that the mounds, and, in
fact, the whole region for mile or two
about them, is 'ha'nted."
Just what the "ha'nt" may be seems
somewhat uncertain. Most Of the ne
groes refuse absolutely to discuss 1t at
all. Nor is the account to be won from
the poor whites of the section by ingra-
tiating division of tobacco and "sper-
rits," any more coherent or illuminat-
ing. That 1t Is something monstrous
all agree, and all. with one accord, re-
ligiously avoid the proximity Of the
mounds.
Five years ago a Wisconsin man, at
tracted by the fertility of the delta"
soil and the rapidity with which levee
and drainage canal were reclaiming the
swamp, bought tract Of several thous-
and acres of this land, including these
two big mounds. A few months later
he came down and began fencing in his
estate and making preparations to
build handsome residence upon 1t.
In order to carry forward this work.
1t is worth noting, he was compelled to
import labor from distance, for none
of the natives would turn hand at this
fencing, and any Of them would have
signed his own death warrant as soon
as work on the residence when it was
announced that it was to be erected on
the larger Of the two mounds.
Nor was the work destined to be car
ried far. for while the workmen were
digging shallow trenches along the top
Of the big mound, in which to lay the
foundation walls, one Of them dropped
his pick with a yell and ran frantically
from the spot. He had driven the i'm
plement up to the handle into a mol
dering human skull.
When the work was resumed the en-
tire skeleton Of powerful man was
unearthed. 1t was magnificent speci-
ment Of it's kind, with one exception:
Where the bones Of the left arm should
have been lay a hideous malformation
"a thing which seemed to be formed
of the three bones Of the arm and fore
arm, cemented in an angle Of about
160 degrees by a bony knot twice the
size Of the natural elbow.
The Wisconsin man, whose name is
withheld for obvious reasons. turned
white as a sheet at the sight Of this OBJ
ject, and at once called for his horse
and rode away. That night he was
closeted for an hour with an old physi-
clan Of Grenada, one Of the oldest set
tiers of the district, who shall be known
as DR.. Smythe. When the Illinois Cen
trail train came along a few hours la
ter, northward bound, the Wisconsin
man boarded 1t. He was never seen in
that section again. The following day
DR.. Smythe advertised the mounds and
the lands surrounding them for sale.
They are still on the market without q
buyer.
1t was from old Dr. Smythe, now an
octogenarian and retired from medical
practice, that the tangled web Of events
lying back Of the strange disappear
ance of the Wisconsin man was learn
ed. 1t is best to let him tell the story
in his own way.
THE story" he began in the halting
utterance Of the very old, really be-
gins with the notorious outlaw, John A.
Murrell Murrell was the most notori-
Gus outlaw Of the middle south, and /
doubt II anywhere or at any time he
has ever been quite matched in sheer
viciousness and executive ability. He
was a man with absolutely no pity or
any softening trait, and he had the ge-
MUS of Napoleon. He had planned a
general uprising Of the negro slaves
had provided arms for them and plan
ned that in the Saturnalia Of blood and
fire which would follow their revolt his
henchmen should glut their plunder-
lust unrestrainedly. The plan would
have succeeded too. If it had not been
that Murrell himself was captured just
before the uprising was to have taken
place.
"Murrells organization extended over
many states and included hundreds of
the most influential citizens. Sheriffs
and their deputies, county and criminal
judges, jailers and physicians were
among them. This was one reason why
members of the Murrell gang, once ap-
pretended, seemed to slip through the
fingers Of the law without effort or
stay.
"One Of the ablest of Murrelrs lieu
tenants was a powerfully built Welsh
man named William Davis. Davis, in
one of his fights between the gang and
a party Of civilians at a camp meeting
near Jackson. Tenn, lost three fingers
from his left hand and was thenceforth