Year: 1866




swearing. He was raving as ] after.
wards understood, about Henry
calling his story about the meeting
with the remarkable parsonage all
humbug, and asserting his belief tha,
If any murder had been committed


Henry had been its author. Oui
host quietcd him in some way, and
when he came out TO Join them he
greeted us with snariiug look o
civility. lie was thick set, broad
tshouldcred, bully-looking wretch
with blood-shot eyes, and face bear
ing all the marks of riotous debauch.
cry. Our search was for several
hours entirely unsuccessful. Henry,
by accident, found the place where
he had encountered the Bearded
Ghost, as some one christencd him


Here one of the keen-eyed hunters
found the traces Of a large mocasined
foot. These were purused for sever.
al miles and lost, but on spreading
our line and continuing the same
general course for some distance fur.
ther, we at last indeed found the
body Of Stoner. 1t has been so much
mutilated by the wolves and ravens
that little examination was made oi
the bones. We gathered them to
gether to carry them TO his family
and in doing this | noticed the frac
lures of a bullet through the back
part Of the skull. 1t had been strip,
ped bare OF flesh, and both eyes were
Iplucked out by the birds, and was toe
shocking an object for close eXami
nation. But what puzzled all parties
most was the discovery a short dis
tance of, of the trail of a shod horse.
Now, there was perhaps not u horse
in Shelby county that wore shoes,
and certainly not one in our party.
Shoeing is never thought OF, being
unnecessary where there are no stones
This was as perlect'a poser as even
Henry's story, and threw a greater
air of ineXplicability around the af.
fair. 1t was thought that this track
might be traced to any distance; but
after worrying about it for several
days it was given up in despair, ana
the Regulators, fatigued and disheart
ened, scattered to their respective
homes.


But one of their number never
reached his. Being missed for two
days, there was a general turn out to
look for him, and as has been the case
with SUoncr, his body was found torn
to pieces by the wolves. The report
was that he, too, had been shot thro
the back of the head.


These murders, and the singular
accompanying them,
created a great sensation. Hinch
and his troops secured the country
in every direction, arrcsting and
lynching suspicious persons, as they
called them. One poor inofIcnsive
fellow they hung, and cut down four
or five times to make him tell; but
nothing was elected, and they left
him with hardly spark of life.


That evening as they were return
ing to their headquarters, one Of them
Winter, missed portion of
his horse furniture, which had be-
come accidentally detached. He said
he had observed it in place a mile
he would return to get it,
and rcjoin them at headquarters by
the time they should be ready to com
mence the spree they had determined
on going into that night. He left
them and never returned. They soon
got drunk, and did not particularly
notice his absence until some Tune
next day, when his family alarmed
by the return of his horse with an
empty saddle, sent to inquire after
him. The sort Of inquiries had come
to be so significant of late that they
were instantly sobered, and mount.
ing, rode back on their trail. Very
soon a swarm of buzzards and wolves,
near Il line of thicket ahead, designat,
Ell the whereabouts of the object OF
their search, and there they found his
heshless bones scattered on every
side. The reddest bloated check
among them blanched. 1t was ter.
rible! They seemed to be doomed!
Three of their number dead and torn
to pieces in less than three days, and
yet not the slightest clue to the re
lentless and invisible foe, but that
ghostly story Of Henry's and tracks
which only served to tantalze them!
1t must be some dread supernatural
visitation Of their hideous crimes!
They shivered while the great drops
of sweat fell from their forehcads,
and without thinking of looking for
any trail, or even gathering up the
bones, they started back at full speed,
spreading the alarm everywhere. =
Tho excitement now became univcr-
sal and tremendous. Nearly the
whole country turned out for the pur
pose OF unraveling this alarming
mystery, and the superstitious frenzy
was in no small degree heightened
by the report that this man had been
shot IN the same way as the others
in the back of the headl


These incidents were all so unac.
countable, that l own / felt no little
sympathy with the popular associa
tion of supernatural agency in theil
)perpetration. Harry laughed at al
this, but insisted that it was man


lac; and TO account for the peculiar
dexterity of his escapes and whole
management, related many anecdotes
of theproverbial cunning OF madmen


The widest, most absurd, and in


credible stories were now ahoa