The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1954-03-18
Too Lazy To Live

IL was late fall and the rain that
fell was cold and chilling but Petre
Ruishond still sat on the log and
shivered. He was too lazy to get
out of the rain.A
Petre had set his trap for wild
turkeys and was waiting for one
to get into it. The turkeys seldom
came and less often fell into the
trap. Petre sat too near it and his
presence scared them away. Even
at that it was better and much
easier than hunting the big birds
with rifle or shbtgun. If Petre
had managed to hit a turkey it
would have fallen foo far away and
he would have haR to walk to re-
trieve it The tuE key wasn't worth
the effort, the maR had decided.
Ruishond only wanted the turkey
for change in diet. He lived on
beans for days and boiled them in.
great quantities 50 he would not
have to build fire 20 often.
Too lazy or tRo b ash Ful to brdboss
although he h4a cqurted oftenI TIE
man had no wifa al had ItoAo his
own cooking. Aof As/ ever had
managed to get Ap enough energy
to cross the Atlantic and work his
way down the Ohio River to the
French Grant in southeastern Scioto
County none of his sneighbors ever
knew-they believed him the LATEST
man in the world.
Ruishond was one of the recipients
of free lands set aside by Congress
in 1895 for French families who had
been attracted to Gallipolis by false
representations and there had lost
their all. The Grant extended eight
miles along the Ohio River and in
cluded $4,000 acres. In 1898 10000
more acres adjoining its lower end
had been added to it
Of this land Pete Ruisond had
been given 217 acres but had cleared
only a little of it--just enough to
raise beans enough to keep from
starving. He put in most of his
time looking at the Istars and moon
and trying to predict things-mainly
the weather Once when legally sum-
moned to help build a bridge Petre
predicted rain for the day to keep
from going. And it did rain.
Though the neighbors thought little
of Petre's predictions and seldom
paid attention to any of them, there
after when he said rain they usually
took their gum coats along just in
case it might be going to rain des-
pite Ruishond and his prophesy.
Big, awkward and good humored,
Ruishond was tolerated by the COM
munity and was trusted because it
believed him too indolent to do a
wrong even if heEthought up one.
Finally when his cabin burned
down Petre was too lazy to rebuild
it and solved the dilemma by ar
ranging with a. neighbor to keep
him for the rest of his life in return
for a clear title for his 217-acre
tract of land. From this deal Petre
did not benefit fer long-he died
in 1823-something he had not
predicted.
What Ruishond had done in France
or where he had gotten the money
to be invested in Gallipolis real
estate is unrecorded. But like many
others he had gotten stuck in the
crooked deal and was stranded in
the wild Indian country until given
a haven in the French tract by the
government.
1t will be recalled that the lots in
Gallipolis wereH sold throughout
France and especially in Paris
through fraudulent representations
about the luxury of the country and
the opportunities, to grow rich there.
Many of the French coming there
had been jewelers., diapers and other
fine tradesmen and artisans in their
homeland and had little chance even
for survival in the primitive Ohio
wilderness country Many of them
starved to death in Gallipolis and
Marietta before the United States
put them on tn Grant to make
homes for themselves.
Of the 10000 acres added to the
Grant in 1898, 1900 was given to
Mons. ]. G. Gervas, who laid out a
town there called lBurrsburg. The
town never had many inhabitants
and in a generation only eight fam
lies were left living in it. No trace