.ASSASSINS.OF ARKANSAS. : ,
A TRUE AND AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE.
Of the Celebrated|ayeUenrllle War.
- ' (Concluded from our last.)
In the meantime, the people appeared
absolutely stupificd. They collected in
groups, looking sadly into each other’s fa
ces, yet scarcely daring to whisper their
disapprobation of the damning deed, and
taking no stops to arrest the assassins,
whose drunken shouts roverberated thro’-
oWi the village. If tho truth must be known
the citizens were concerned for their own
personal safety. They knew that within
that grocery wore twenty-five, thorough
desperadoes, and more than a hundred
loaded maskets.
' The clique had friends, too, in tho south,
ern division of tho county, where (he Cano
Hill Lynchers; under Captain Mark Bend,
had only five days previously, hung six
men on the same gallows tree. The con
sciousness of these fuels hiing like a rtioun
tain of iron on tho hearts of the bewilder
ed people, paryTizing all their energies,
and fettering their lips to silence.
There was an exception,- however, to'
this singular stnto of terror—an exception 1
that manifested itself in a strange way. 1
There had recently settled in Fayetter- 1
ville a'young uttnrnoy by tho name of Al-j
berf Willis, as might bo read on the small :
sign-board hung before the doorof his hum- 1
ble office'; and no one then knew, or cn--
red to know more about the unpretending
stranger,'who, with his wjfe and one little!
babe, lived jn poor stylo and in utter scclu-1
sion. His face never darkened tho en
trance of the grocery ; his voice never'
sounded in tho broils of tho gaming table; j
he nevor attended tho balls or churches of
tho village. , , I
But he might often bo seen wandering !
at the evening hour,, with nn open volume 1
in his hand, his gaze alternately glancing!
-from its leaves to tho western sky, us if
dividing his attention betwixt the thoughts j
of the immortal dead and the works of cv-j
er living nature. It was reported, nlso, that |
tho bacchanals ns they reeled homo near
the morning hour, always saw the rays of
n candle twinkling from tho window of his
study. Indeed. Ball had oracularly called
him “a ernzy student,” though few could
divine what a student was.
During the forenoon of that Sabbath of
murders, the young lawyer had been out
gathering specimens of botony, and was
returning across the public square at the
instant the affray commenced, tie stop
ped as if thunder-struck, tho flowers fal
ling from his hand; and as u
statue tilt tho denouement of the trftgedy ;
and then, as he beheld tho assassins [fur
ry away to t,he grocery, apd witnessed the
unaccountable fear and stupefaction of the
multitude, his thin lips writhed into o
strango smile. He approached the largest
group knotted around tho corpses, and be
gan to lecture them in u sort of conversa
tional speech, and more extraordinary still
the burden of bis remarks was a justifica
tion of the murderers.
“I am astonished, my frienddj”—such
wns the substance of his address—“l am!
truly astonished at your silence on an oc-,
casion so glorious as the present. Your I
leaders, tho excellent chiefs and political
fathers of your country, men elevated to j
high office by your voles, and enriched by <
your taxes, have mercifully seen fit to kill,
only three men, when they had the power]
and right to kill you all. And yet you do ■
not thank them! You penl no loud lutz
7,as ; you do not even follow them to tho j
grocery, although the rum is to run freeh
for n whole week ! Are you lost to grati-j
Hide and all sense of shame, or do you . ■
dare to think they have done wrong ?. Can;
vou be such idiots ns,to deem it a crime;
to slay poor men? Did they not have suf
ficient reason to do it? A common hunter,]
dressed in leather, had the presumption toj
chastise.one.of theso rich robed gentlemen
for insulting his affianced bride J Whatj
ri°ht had n hunter to such a beautiful girl?
A? 1 beautiful womon ought to be mistresses
, for your officers and politicians ! And then
.you forgot the honor, accruing to yourj
country, by the perpetration of such brave i
deeds! The public papers will circulate
]the story over the civilized world, and thus
it will read:
,G«eat Achievement at Favettck
ville !—One lovely Sabbath in July, while
they were worshipping God in their church
their bank officers, their peace officers, and
their district: Judge, shot down with pistols
and hewed to pieces with knives, threo of
their brethren; and they, tho aforesaid
citizens, viewed the act in silence. Thoy
.did not move ;to arrest their gallant lea
dera.;' they w'ero too grateful lor the cx
,'omptipn of [their ownprecious lives I”
The voice of the speakor was inimitable,
r and low, ; but musical, nnd piercing as a
trumpet; and had he exhausted imngina
tiopTor .meaps to arouse the deep indigna
tiop of the popular soul and heart, he could
not havo''conceived any better fitted to the
end than that feigned justification. . At its
clpsa. there swelled up a, hoarse, half sup-|
] ‘pressed , murmer, like the commingled:
growl from a menagerie of wild beast - —j
' J,et it burn on in smothered sccresy—tho j
conflagration will blaze another.day! As;
’ for the student, be,picked up his botanical
.epecitnens, turned- cooly on his heel, and
‘ pursued his course homewards.
'; , the next morning, the Goronor’s
'.lnquest eat over the dead bodies ; and the
' y]umor [havipg flown on tho wings of the
wiijd, ! a thousand were on
' tho, „, By -a practice prevalent
. jot Arkahstys, attorneys word; allowed to
'.oppearVoo ~oither; side. Am even dozen
‘ ,]wer,h engaged for the assassins. , The gold
‘of the" cliquo had already bought up all
but oneand that one was top insignificanf
I mr a thought. Y .
- 1(1 Ijifthb pride of their wealth and',power,
the fymhll office, the sign board
' dha the lustrelesS name of the student,
Albert Wjllis; qnd yet he was present.—
sat heufthe'hfad of'ihe corpse that
1 had hd6n i! Jqhrt GkifiryV with a' face;aS phi
it a-vsiteii'noo r-r;i: < ■■■>
A WEEKLY PAPER: DEVOTED TO LITERATURE, AGRICULTURE, MORALITY, AND FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.
]PmMnsk©<t!l nm ©Ussuri® 11 dlj <a.v®iry--W®<fflm®B<iEgiy M®imimg Iby Bsumfi©ll Wo M®®ir© <& ©llsurlk .Wnle®mo
Volume 5,
lid as the clay besido him, while a pecu
liar smilo writhed like a serpent on his
marble lips.
He did not spoak or- move once during
the examination of the witnesses; but
when Gen. Saunders arose, big with-bois
terous appeal to the jury, Willis fixed his
piercing glance ori the countenance of tho
ruffian lawyer, ns if he would look him
through. Four others in succession thun
dered their anathemas ovqr the victims,
while Bill Shelley stood pear nodding his
approbation of their biller eloquence.
Tho Coroner was then in the uct of sub
mitting the caso to tho sworn Inquost, when
a clear, ringing voice thrilled like a sum
mons to judgment through-every ear and
heart.
“May it please tho, honorable Court of
Inquest, I have a word to say against theso
dealers in wholesale murder!’’
\The effect was electrical—agitating—
awful. Men leapt to their feet by dozens
others started and trembled in mortal ter
ror; bravos clutched convulsively their
duggers, and wild hunters sprung the trig
gers oftheir trusty rifles. Had tho frump
of the archangel sounded its last peul, the
ustonishment could not have been greater.
It was the stranger, the pnlo student, the
forgotlon lawyer, Albert Willis, who had
uttered the daring sentence j and he fol
lowed it up with a splendor of diction, u
force of unanswerable logic, nnd a burn
ing vehemence of invective, such ns nev
er before or since was heard in the back
woods. -
In his word-futures, the very dead
seemed to livo again—causing the living
to shudder ns if the air itself were peopled
with sheeted ghosts. At Qrto point he re
alized the summit of Urn sublime. It was
when he mustered all his energies for n
final burst of thunder into the souls of the
assassins. The appeal was ns the shock
of an earthquake. Even Bill Shelley
shrunk from it—covering his fuce with his
hands, like one blasted with a flash of light
ning. And the great multitude, totally
phtenzied with rage, uttered a wild shout—
“ Tear the murderers in pieces! Blood
for blood ! Down with the clique of ty
rants !”
“To the grocery,” cried Ball, nnd the
assassins fled for file.
They entered their fortress, barred their he rode like a madman ; and the first gray
doors and windows, and protruded twenty- twinkle of daylight gleamed In the east
five muskets, before the crowd were all| when he bounded to the earth on his own
aware of their esenpe. Bill Shelley, being j threshold He paused to listen; all was
keeper of the public arsenal at Fayetter- ! .silent within save the song of the cricket
ville, had previously slocked his grocery [ chirping oh the hearth. The tranquil
with arms and ammunition, and provided stillness seemed to soothe him and restore
each wall with port holes. the reign of reason, as he murmured
The people showed a disposition to as- ughe sleeps well. 1 was weak indeed
sault and carry the place by storm, but lQ cret ji t the feverish hallucination.”
were dissuaded by Albert Willis, who had pj e knocked at the door,-but there was
in one brief hour, bocomo the general idol | no answer.
und oraclo. He advised the observance of <‘Mary, deafest, awake. It is I. Opep
order, and a Scrupulous regard for the uu- , be door m y OUr husband.”
thority of tho law. Shall it prove well or j y et thoro was no sound, only the crick
ill for him that the counsel was followed. l e{ sung on . jj 0 , ried lhe knob 0 f t ho door
In the meantime,a scene was occurring' w j tb |,j s hnnd. It was safely locked, and
within the grocery fort, destined to secure/ b(! sa j d t 0 himself —
the guilty from the grasp of violated jus-, *<AII is right, but she slcep3 vory pro
ticc. The assassins weregiving themselves J f ound |y.”
up to the mercy of Judge Ilogo, then in a j j_j e s truck ngain fiercer nrgj. louder—
state ofpartinl intoxication, who admitted i onC6) tw i COi thrice, and then with both
them to bail in the penalty of tenjhousnnd i )UlK j gi fairly shouting—
dollars. “Mury, dear, awake —open ! lam re-
Tho fact becoming known, again tho lu rncd \
multitude were excited to madness. They g u ( jpg cricket alone replied with its
broke open the United States Arsenal, took morning music,
out and loaded two cannons, nnd placed co ld s wcat began to roll 'from his
them within two hundred yards of Shel- f orc hcad as he trembled in every limb;
ley’s grocery. It needed but the touch of und t j, en , making one desperate effort with
a spark to have blown the frail fortress in- a || fij s strength, he dashed the'shutter from
to atoms, and hurled its murderous garri- j ts hinges. It was perfectly dark within—
son into the dark grave of their numerous nnd as the centre of a grave,
victims. ... He groped his way to the bedside,.and
But once more yonng Willis interposed t | lrcw j,j a nTm s around the beloved ones.
I and prevailed on the peoplo to await pa- • j wero thore 1 He could feel
liently tho results of a final trial before the tjj e ( r figure’s beneath the sheet—the full
bar of tho next district court. Undenia- b | own rose of queenly benuty, and the bud
bly, the homicides that day owed their p o jj C( j ; n her bosom.' Ho stooped fora
lives to him. But will they thank him for j c iss of tenderness. Avaunt! tho lips wero
(he undeserved boon? Wo shall soon seo, 0 f j ce
* * * *. *
At sunset the same evening, u fatshand
and father might have been seen parting
with his wife and child.
<‘l go dearest,” said he, “to bo absent
fora week. Were I to remain home now,
'my enemies, in the first fury of their pas
sion, might provoke me to a personal diffi
culty, which I nm nnxious, for many rea
sons to avoid. Beforo I return, thoy will
have time for reflection; and cannot fail to
perceive the folly of farther resort to vio
lence.” " ,
“But, my Albert,” remonstrated a proud
faced, magnificent woman, with intensely
black eyes, “will they not say you area
coward for leaving at this crisis 1”
“I would rather be called a coward than
actually bo a homoeido,” replied the hus
band, mournfully.
“But,” persisted the wife, “may ijot the
ruffians ayenge“themselves on me and your
innocent babe 1” .
“Nonsense,'Mary,” replied young Wil
lis, with’a smile; “that would-be an act
•beneath the meanest of'devils.
'.“Well,” 'remined Mary, seeing . all' her
arguments uriaVailibg, “kiss us, good bye,
and bo sure' you ’come back in. a- week.
"' Theft" therp wefo teafs and tender em
braces, and the little child’p lip mingled,with
j' of ith '.parents';;’ and,men ilio father
suddenly vaulted into the saddle and shot
awoy over the prairie with the speed of an
arrow, as if lie were endeavoring to os
capo from tho spectre of some gloomy
thought.
He took tho road to the Cherokee coun
try, intending to visit Fort Gibson and pre
fer charges against Bill Shelly, as keeper 1
of the Arsenal at Fayettervillo, in order to
procure his removal; and he made the ut
most haslo fearing that some emmissary of
the clique would anticipate him and preju
dice the ear of Gen. Arbuckle. But his
mind was ill at ease. The parting words
of his beautiful Mury—
“May they not avenge themselves on me
and your innocent babe?” rang like n
knell from eternity through his feverish
brain. At midnight ho paused to drink of
a crystal spring on the Indian line, thirty
miles beyond Fuyettcrvillo.
lie stooped down and imbibed a copious
draught, and laved his burning brow ; but
when ho raised his head he stood transfix
ed with horror. A low, hurtling murmur
as of busy wings sounded in the air above
him,. He looked, and a fiery illuminous
vapor the size nnd figure of a coffin was
flouting along the nir. Did imagination
paint the rest ! or was it a mere'optical il
lusion, engendered by the wild heal of the
brnin 1 or huve the spirits of the dead at
times truly the power to flash their pale
laces before the living eyes?
These are problems which every one will
solve for themselves. But the young at
torney saw or thought ho saw an awful
group gathered around that coffin of fire
us it floated away into eternity. There
was VVagnon with his gigantic features all
distorted by the death agony ; and Pollock
with that palo smile which commonly char
acterizes corpses perishing by gun shots.
But who wore those in the very centre
of tho ghostly circle —those with their
faces baptized in clotted blood 1 Could ho
credit his eyes that witnessed the appaling
terror ? His Mary and her babe were par
cels of tho vanishing panorama.
He saw no more. Uttering a wild cry
of mingled rage and anguish that startled
the very wolves from their covert, he leap
ed into his saddle and turned his horse’s
head homewards.
All with u whip and spur ainuin,
“Ho!’ fora candle!” It was kindled in
a moment, and tho light revealed it all.
Tho woman and child were literally torn
into pieces by a volloy of ball and buckshot
that had been fired through a crevice be
hind the bed !
But the herenved uttered no lamentation;
not so much as a tear bedewed his glassy
eyo. He tossed his wild hands towards
Heaven, and swore an awful oath. Ho
turned to depart, but as ho was going, tho
cricket on the Henrth caught his glance. —
Its chirp seemed to his frenzied ear the
croaking of some fiend in torture.
“Black fievil, what dost thou there ?” he 1 *
shouted hoarsely, and ground it beneath
his heel,
All that day and the following night
Albert Willis hurried to and fro 'over the
country, detailing the horriblo tragedy,and
arousing the people, to vengeance; and the
next morning fall eight, hundred men tho
roughly armod, mustered at the camp
ground,.two. miles*south of Faveltorville,
whence they immediately marched tostorm
the stronghold of 1 the legalized outlaws.
As they entered the village they met
Governor Yell, wiio happened to be pass
ing- through; and he instantly advised them
not to venture on an attack, as the grocery
fort was ...garrisoned by; fifty men, with
countless loaded muskets, besides four or
€}learllelil, I*a., May 10, 1854.
five cannon taken from the public arsenal;
and the nows tended very much to cool Iho (
ardor of the citizens, although they still,
proceeded.
They moved forward in solemn columns!
till within thirty yards of the grocery,
which previously lnd not shown a sign of
human lifo, and whero, in fact, nothing was
to be seen but the old wooden walls yawn
ing with empty port holes, and the four
black cannon peering through their rude
embrasures.
Suddenly tho door was thrown partially
open for one brief instant, and tho fear
less face of Bill Shelloy appeared, as he
shouted in tones of thunder —
“If you come one foot we’ll
blow you to hell I”
Quick as lightning the door was shut,
and fifty guns protruded through the port
holes. An unaccountable pnnic seized the
multitude; every man but one fled jn ut
ter confusion and dismay, and many did
not pause till they wero miles away in the
country. Very different was the conduct
of the one single exception. Albert W ill is
displayed the daring oT n demon. lie
stood firm as a rock ; he tore open his shirt
bosom and dnred his foes lotfire ; ho ban
tered them to come out and he would en
gnge them all at once. His courage awoke
one sentiment of honorable feeling in hearts
dead to every other.
“Fire upon him !” exclaimed Ball.
“No, you shall not,” said Bill Shelley,
“he is too brave to be shot down like a
dog.”
*
* *
For three months afterwards an extra
ordinany state of things prevailed in the
county of Washington and especinjjy
about JFuyetlerville. Albert Willis rode
continually over the country, sometimes
with one, but generally with u half dozen
wild looking ruffians by his side,all armed
to the teeth with double barreled shot guns
and revolving pistols. Occasionally he
was seen near the Indian line ut the head
of a hundred Cherokee warriors. A thou
sand different rumors were circulated. —
Now it was said that ho lay in wait on the
roads to assassinate his enemies; again,
the news camo that he was mnrehing with
a thousand savages to lay the county seal
in ashes. Often at the "hour of midnight
the guilty citizens of the villngo were start
led from their slumbers by the shrill blast
of a solilnry trumpet from the centre of
tho public square. It seemed as if their
foo took a malicious pleasure in putting
them to the agonies of u slow torture ; and
all the while the companions of that odious
clique never left their grocery fort.
At length Willis entirely disappeared and
was not heard of for a year. Ball, San
ders & Company then issued from their
fastness, and ventured out to breathe the
fresh air.
Twolvo months rolled away, when the
community was again agitated by the oc
-1 currenco of a new catastrophe. Alf Shel
ley was slain, when travelling alone on
I Cane Ilill ; and, from evory sign, tho deed
had not been done till after a.despuruto
; contest.
Both his pistols were found discharged,
and his knife was broken in two. Tho next
week JOhnCoulter was killed near the same
spot, and his rifle, 100, lay empty, with the
stock annihilated beside him.
A fortnight followed, and Matthew beep
er was discovered dead in his own office,
which stood in the superbs of the village,
somo two hundred yards frorij' any other
house. This appears the mas£singulur of
all. Tho door was locked ; but a window
stood open, through which the homicide
had evidently made his escape, as the
prints of two bloody hands had been left
on the blinds. There were also two words
traced in blood on tho floor —
“The Avenger.”
There had obviously been a violent com
bat. A strange looking knife, with the
point snapped off, lay on the table, while
the stiff fingers of the corpse grasped a
dagger purple with gore.
■ It is impossible to paint tho, terrors ofthe
cliquo at this swift succession of disasters.
Ball and the two surviving Shelleys ran
away to Texas, never, halting till they
reached the.Tripity. An agent sold their
farms and grocery, and followed with their
numorous slaves. Soon afterwards the fact
transpired that Ball had robbed the Bank
of which Ijq. was enshior, to the amount of
a hundred dollars.
Gen. Sanders set put on a trip to Wash
ington, and was heard of no more.
A long period elapsed without any fur
ther incident resulting from tho Fayetter
villo war,and men had almost forgotten its
horrors. * Ball and tho Shelleys had .be
come popular chiefs, in Texas, with im
mense cotton 1 furms nnd vast influence. —
4)n the fifth of July, 1849, about ten years
after tho Sabbath of murders, they were
returning home with a friend from a bar
becue given to Gen. Houston, at the town
of Crocket tho day before. Jt was sunset
when they renched tho right bank of tho
Trinity, and they waited a few minutes for
the ferryman to row across fropa the op
posite side, . , . .
| Suddenly ah extraordinary appatftipn
'emerged from the tangled cane, and con-
I fronted them at tho water’s-edge.'. 1 ■• _ ■
1 It was a half makdd figure; \yith long
l5.
beard and hair, that did not seem to have
been shorn for a dozen years ; the faco
bronzed ; tho haggard, blood-shot 'oyes
blazing with wild delcrious light, and the
whole appearance denoting the madness of
immeasurcabledespair: And yet thestrange
being was thoroughly armed ; his hand
grasped a shot-gun, douhle-barreled, und
of huge calibre, while his large leathern
belt held Dcringcrs and revolvers to the
extent of thirty rounds,
110 spoke, and his tones were shrill and
piercing as the cry of some bird qf prey.
“Villains, I see that you wear your old
weapons ! It is well!”
Ho said tho truth; tho comrades were
amply provided with pistols and knives.
“What want you with us?” exclaimed
Ball, supposing the intruder to bo some
wnndering maniac.
“I want to fight, and I mean to fight you
all three,” replied the stranger.
“In the devil’s name who are you?”
cried Bill shelley, as an appalling memory
flashed across his soul.
“lam the wild man of tho woods, who
was Albert Willis!” shrieked the stranger;
and the three guilty comrades started as if
they had been struck by a thunderbolt.
Bill recovered first
“You have every advantage,” glancing
at the other’s shot gun, with both its ham
mers at full cock.
Willis rejoinod mournfully
“1 killed your brother Alf, und Coulter,
and Leepcr, and Saunders, in a fair.fight,
and so I will kill you all I” ho - shouted with
a hoarse chuckle, as lie tossed his gun into
tho river and drew Colt’s patent murderer.
There followed n deafening roar, and
Ball dropped to tho earth a c<JK]*se. Then
came another, like a doublo explosion of
lightning, and tho younger Shelley went
to his long home. Then two awful doto
nalions burst at once—Willis and Shelley
both firing at once, and both falling at tho
same instant, but still not dead. Blending;
almost expiring, their hatred, nevertheless,
seemed immortal. Mustering all their dy
ing energies, with glaring eyeballs and
gnashing teeth', they crnwlcd forward, like!
two mangled snakes, till they met, nqd
each buried his bowie knife up to the hilt
in the other’s bosom!
Such wus the finnl consequences of the
“Sabbath of Murders” the last battle of the
“Fnycttcrvillo War.”
Prohibitory Liquor Law. —The Hon.
Ross Wilkins, Judge of ilio United States
Court, Michigan, has uddressed a letter to
Judge Platt of the Supremo Court, of that
Slate, pronouncing the prohibitory liquor
law unconstitutional.
The judges opinion is but n reiteration
of a decision o( the Supreme Court of Penn
sylvania, delivered by Justice Bell, on an
appeal taken up from Allegheny county,
the Commonwealth against Purkerel al.
The point decided was precisely the
same as that of the Michigan question,
namely, thut to delegate legislation to the
people, by authorizing them to determine
what shall be luw al the ballot box, was n
palpable violation of tho constitution, rela
ting to the powers of tho legislature. The
peoplo have parted with the power to make
and repeal laws, that power is vested in a
particular branch of goverument; and,
therefore, any utteinpt to exerciso the law
making prerogrative,otherwise than accor
ding to the prescribed terms of the consti
tution, would be a usurpation, dangerous
to those checksmnd balances which are
essential to tho* harmonious workings of
constitutional government.
Harrisburg Union.
A Goon Sjiot. —One day last week Mr.
C. Myers of Fewsburg, killed 17 pidgeons
at ono shot. —Fredonia Censor.
Pshaw ! The other day Mr. L. Dean,
of Monroe, killed 33 pidgeonsnt ono shot.
Con. Reporter.
Theso are pretty good shots for New
York and Ohio marksmen; but hero in
Pennsylvania they are considered ‘no great
shakes.’ Proof—Mr. Martin, of Harbor
creek township, killed a few days since 63
at one shot, 34 at the second, and tho next
ho wquld have brought dowti an acre or.
so, but unfortunately his foot slipped just
as he touched tho trigger, consequently his
aim was a little too low. As it was, about
threo pecks of legs was all the return he
got. —Erie Observer.
A Cask 6iT Consciknck.— A man nq-.
med John C. McKinzie, who was impliaa
ted with some seven others in the alleged
killing of Ebnn.Floyd, in Clinton county,
Ohio, over four years ago, and who left
the State at that time, returned on Satur
day, the 15th inst., and gave himself up to
the Sheriff, declaring that he wpuld rather
'suffer whatever penalty the law may .in
flict upon him, tliuh to'remain any longer
a wandering outcast, away from his homo
and his friends.
oO”Lynmn Combs, of .Boston, on Mon
day night, fell asleep or fainted while feed
jpg one of Gleason’s fast cylinder presso3.
He Jell upon, tho press, ond one of his arms
was drawn in by tho cylinder:till it was
crushed to pieces and.stppped tho press.—
The type in the form were greatly? battered
by, the bones of the? poor Ibllow’s crushed
limb. '
An Abduction Indeed.
We copy a passage from a paper read
before the American Geographical Sbciety
by Captain Gibson, lately' returned'freim
.■the East Indies, and bringing with, him
I some now facts as to tho tribes of Ourang
outangs inhabiting the deserts of that part
or the world. . He says:
“My statement of tho extraordinary
peculiarities of those apparenty semi-hu
man beings has led to to tho expression of
so much curiosity to know more of them
by some, mid of skepticism of tho fact of
their existence on the part of others, that
I havedeeemed it duo to myself and to
public curiosity to give some additional
facts along witfeall tho coroborativo evi
dence that has fallen under my observa
tion. !•
Wliilo at Mintok, Palembnng, and Bat
avia,tl hoard-many romarkablo stories of
the agility, audacity and especially of the
super-human strength oftheourang-outang.
I will tresspass upon your attention by re
lating one of the most extraordinary, at tho
same timo of. the.best attested, which 1
heard while at Bamvia: Lieutenant Shoch,
of tho Dutch East India army, was on a
march with a small detachment of troops
and coolies on tho southeastern coast of
Borneo; he had encamped, on one occas
ion, during tho noonduy Heat on tho banks
of one ol the small tributaries of the Ban
gs rmassin. The lieutenant had with him
his domestic establishment, which inclu
ded his. daughlor-a playful and interesting
little girl of the ago ofthirteen. One day,
while" wandering in the jungle beyond the
prescribed limits of the camp, and having,
from the oppressive heat, loosened her
garments and thrown them off almost to
nudity, tho beauty of hor person excited
the notice of an ourang-outang. Who
sprang upon her and carried her off. Her
piercing screams rang through the forest'
to tho cars of her dozing protectors, und
roused every man in the c.amp. Tjipswift
bare-footed coolies were foremost in pur
suit; and now tho cry rings in the agoni
zed futher’s ears that his daughter is.de
voured by a biantang —again, that an
•burang-oulnng has carried her off.". jHe
rushes, half phrenzied, with the whole'
company to the thicket from whence tho
screams proceeded, and thero, among the
topmost limb 3 of an enormous banyan, tho
lather beholds his daughter, naked, bleed
| ing, and slrugling in tho grasp of a powqr
' ful ourang-outang, who held her tightly,
yet easily, with one arm, while he sprang
lightly from limb to limb, as if wholly un
encumbered. It was vain to think of sbooj
ing tho monster, so agile was he. The
Dyak coolies, knowing ftio habits of the
ourang-outang, and knowing that ho will
always plunge into the nearest stream
when hard pressed, began a system, of
operations to drive him to the water; they
set up a great shout throwing missiles of
all kinds, agitating the underbrush, while
somo proceeded to ascend the treo. By
the redoubled exertions of the whole com*
pany the monster was gradually .driven to
the water, yot still holding tightly to the
poor girl. At last tho monster and his
victim were seen on nn outstretched limb
overhanging the stream ; the coolies, who
aro among tho expertest swimmers in tho
world, immediately lined tho banks; tho
soldiors continued tho outcries arid throw
ing of missiles. Ho clasped his prize more
tightly, took a survey of tho water and of
his upward-gazing enemies, and then
leapod into the flood below. He had hard
ly touched tho water ore fifty resolute
swimmers plunged in pursuit; as he rises
a dozed human arms are reached out to
wards him ; he is grasped, others lay hold
upon the insensible girl; the ourang-out
nng used both arms to defend, and after
lacerating the bodies of somo of the coolies
with his powerful nervous claws, finally
succeeded in diving, beyond tho roach of
his pursuers, and in escaping down the
stream, while the bleeding, insensible Do
dah was restored to the arms of her father
and nurses, in whose hands sho .was hßL
mulelv restored to consciousness, health
and strength once moro. This savage
version of the classic story of Pluto and
Proserpine is well authenticated, and the
girl, now n grown up women, is living at
Ambonyn, in the Molucns.”
OCT A minister, while preparing his next
Sunday sermon, stopped occasionally to
review what ho had written, and, as a
matter of course, to cruso some portions,
which, on consideration, seemed to require
improvement. While doing so ho.was
accosted by his little son, a child, about
three years of age, “Father does God tell
you whnl to preach?” “Certainly, my
child,” “Then what makes you scratch.it
out?” ‘
OCrTho steamship Baltic, of the Collius
lino is being thoroughly overhauled for the
first time since sho was built. During tho
last’ three yenis.tho Baltic has crossed the
ocean j foilit-Ughi times, running more than
one'hundredandJiftytiioasandmilesfiqiiaA
to six limes the circumferanco of the world.
She has averaged a trip across the ocean
every three weeks, and has hot laid in port
more than five weeks at ono ’tjrpey . ‘
” s Q3rDo not envy the violet tHC ( 'd(iu'-drbp
of glittier of the sunbeam; do not'enyyjthe
bee thq, plunt from which jie drawslsomo
sweets. Do not envy man the liitle;gdbds
he possesses; for tho earth is for : hibi,the
plant from which ho obtains' sdmo sweets,
and his mind the dew'-drop which tbe world
colors for tin instant,— Leopold Scheffer 1 .
Gratitude is the fuirest blossom .which
springs from tho soul; and .the heartmf
man knowoth npna more fragrant; ■ ;Wjbile
its opponent, ingratitude,'is a deadly weed ;
not only poisonous in itself, but impregna
ting the very nlmosphoro.in which It grows
with fetid yamrs.-^lloseaiSullou..]\ -,r/ \
CoAi.moN.-lyMr, MclCeiilic, neatq
Council Bluflsj lq'tvq, Ims in.ji.'cqgq a blqck
bifd,;,a:-rat; a : cat, ! c mouse
livtrtg,qs:,harmbriibusly togotne'r qsjftwVw
expected;' 11 ' •' w ?