Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A MIG HIM MAN, The Herculean UnnteJ of the ?rent Amrrt oan Plaina* The St. Louis Evening Boat says: About three miles down the Illinois shore, near the Ifttle town of Cahokia, lives a vet y queer Indian, who has a history as remarkable as it is romantic. He is a full-blooded Cherokee, and, according to his own assertions, ?is over 100 years old. His name is John MOO DOO, and he was born in the county of Jefferson, Mississippi, where his tribe resided over a century ago, and from which region they were transported to the Tndiftti Territory. John, or the "Big Indian," as he is familiarly term ed, is an extraordinary person in ap pearance, being six feet four inches in height, weighing about 190 pounds, and in spite of his age is erect and compara tivey robust. Hts hair is now perfect ly s ow-white; he has but a few teeth left, and within the last two or three ?ears he has grown somewhat bald, le is a fisherman and frog hhnter by profession, and has a wife about sixty years of age, a French woman, who does not speak English. His first wife was an Indian half breed, by whom he had two children, both living in the vicinity of Cahokia, and hunters and sportsmen by vocation. At the age of seventeen Meehoo had already become noted for his physical strength and great powers of endurance. Unfortunately he became involved in a quarrel with the chief of the Cherokees, Mabanatal, and Blew him. Meehoo, while making an effort to flee, was ap ftrehended by his tribe, and, after a rial according to the forms common to the Cherokees, he was condemned to be burnt at the stake, but during his short confinement, preparatory to his under going this terrible penalty, he escaped. He went to the northern part of the territory of Mississippi, where he joined the Ohiokasaws. Here, too, his belliger ent disposition broke out again, and he killed two of the Choctaw chiefs and made captive a woman of the tribe, with whom he fled. His life since then has been a series of wandering from one State to another. From Mississippi he proceeded to Louisiana, from thence to TA??, Mi<t from TeaccJ-to Mlpaonri, ?nd for the last fifty years/he bas been liv ing in the vicinity.."* St. Liouis, where he has followed the precarious avocation of frog hunting. He has always been famed for hiB remarkable strength. During his earlier lite he was able to lift 1,000 pounds on a derul level. On one occasion he carried on his brood shoulders a barrel of pork weighing 800 pounds, from the landing at East St. Louis to his then home below Cahokia, a distance of six miles. Several years ago he lived in the old town of Kaakas kia, in Hlinoia, where be was employed in the flouring . mill. Remarkable stories are told of the wonderful feats of muscular strength performed by him. It is said that he was in the habit of placing upon his shoulders two bags of wheat, weighing 200 pounds each, and carrying them up a flight of stairs. This labor he would perform for two hours, never seeming to tire. While roaming through the woods one day his dogs, whioh were following him, bayed a huge stag in the bed of a dried creek. Meehoo was unarmed, and after several ineffectual efforts to club the door with such bludgeons as he could Eiok up, he seized this infuriated beast y the antlers, and by mam strength hurled him ovjr his head, bleaking the . animal's ueoki *, . ? XJ raft* ir -? -twmdfcvq.. f/-"loTjablj imf mightiest hunter that roam'e? the wilds of the American bottom. Forty and fifty years ago bears were plentiful in the thick forests of the swampy regions skirting the eastern shore of the Miss issippi, and bear-hunting was Meehoo's favorite sport He still carrion upon him tue marks of more than one terrific contest with sav age bruin. To a reporter who visited him on Thursday last, he gave a recital of a remarkable struggle he had with a bear in the winter of 1829. while hunting through the Dry Creek bottom, about seven miles south of where Oenterville station is now situated. It was on the 24th day of December, and a light snow covered the arnm^L Meehoo had gono out for tbaj^HflBtf bunting wild hogs, and had S wafl trained foj| Rai- sport. While traversing^] Hke was soddenly confronted oJ^HrgeT black bear. The dog rushed ut^rrro, but the bear at one blow of his powerful paw stretched the poor brute dead, and at the distance of thirty feet brain poised himself on his hind loge Mit totora* ?own the gaunt let o? battle. Meehoo immediately palled down upon him with his rifle, bat to his dismay the powder refused to go off. T'.'e oap exploded with a loud noise. It was immediately replaced by a fresh one, but before Meehoo could fire a second time the bear was upon him, and in such close proximity that it was impossible for him even to use the rifle as a club. The man and beast closed in a terrific struggle, the bear in his characteristic game of hugging, the desperate Indian struggling to draw his knife from his belt. Meehoo laughingly said to the reporter, "I tell yon, my son, the ho pr that bear gave me was the worst I ever had in my life. At first I thought my very nbs were broken, and I felt aa if my entire body was mashed, to a complete jelly. My breath was en tirely taken away, and for a moment I was entirely exhausted, but realizing! the deaparato nature of my situation, I made a struggle to free my right arm and succeeded in drawing my knife. Before I could use it the bear hugged me again, but I managed to get a small out in Upon his shoulder. The animal released me and began to snap at me with his teeth, and he struok at me with his fore paw. One blow felled me to the ground andj almost stunned me into insensibility. By the time I rose the bear was upon me, but I had my knife in time and gave' bim a thrust that made him growl with anger and howl with pain." The old man then proceeded to relate to the reporter the several details of the fight and its result. The contest lasted ten minutes, the bear getting in blow upon blow, knocking his antagonist I down, but never sncoeding in getting in * a hug upon bim. In the meantime Meehoo used his knife in savage desper ation, though for a lc jg time unable to touch a vital part of the monster. Final ly hw managed to stab the bear in the heart and kill him. Meehoo now owns forty acres of land and lives in a very primitive cabin. He is an inoffensive old man now, and con tinues his daily avocations, molesting no one. ^^^^^ Tact. Tact literally means touch; it ib that quality by which one "feels" his way. I lt 1B oomo ticing more than ok ill- -eo mp-, thing more than judgment-it is spon taneous common sense. It is that power by whioh one knows how to do the right thing in absence of prededentsjand rules. It delights in emergencies and glories in exceptional coses. It arrives at a conclusion ?Q quickly for analysis of the steps that lead to it, and you recog nize it only when it has accomplished its object, as a bullet which is seen only Tvhen it hits the target, not in its passage through the air- Syllogisms are useless ?gui JpmilajjMBjgs ignored. Tact is to tElent why JBB is to knowledge, tho one forges InrBlhapes what tho other gathers. Tact creates, talent accumu lates. Tact invents, talent discovery/' Talent knows what to do, tact knows how to do it. Talent is wealth, tact is ready money. The one is momentary, intentional, the other is long and labori ous. Tact presupposes quick perception, lively sympathy, versatility and ready adaptability to circumstances. It can be cultivated but is largely a natif? quality. When cultivated it is apt to become onnning, craftiness, manipula tion, and degenerates into insincerity. It will never do to lose the innocence of the dove in the wisdom of the serpent. Tact is always truthful, legitimate and honest. I lt studies rWportanitfJft, a?*? sion, to the persons with whom it deals. Forethought of Swallows. Bird stories are in order. As a farmer was getting in his hay, he noticed an unusual commotion among the swallows, whioh had built a long row of nests under the eaves of his barn. They appeared greatly excitV, flying rapidly about, and Alling the air with their oriee of dis tress. As the load passed into the barn, he saw that a young swallow, in a nest directly over the door, had caught its neck in a crook between two shingles, and was unable to liberate itself. He stopped his team, and set the young bird free, restoring it to the nest. Upon his return to the barn with his next load of hay, noticing that the swallows were auiet, he examined tbe crack, and found ley had filled it completely with mud, so that, no matter how enterprising or how foolish the young swallow might be, he could not again endanger his life, or the peace of that community, by any experiments on that oraok. Iustinot is a wonderful sense. TIMELY TOPICS. The cotton crop of last year is worth $250,000,000. The Chinese are at length going to mine for coal themselves. A mandarin has permission to noe all modern ap pliances for it and lay a line of rail to the Boa. Scarlet fever has killed 23,829 people in Massachusetts during the last twenty years, according to a paper which Dr. A. H. Johnson, of Salem, contributes to tue report of the State board of health. South' Carolina supplies nearly half the rice product in this country. Georgia is next, or nearly seven million pounds ahead of Louisiana. Nearly all our rice comes from these three S tates. The chinchona bug is the last pest. It has been ravaging Japanese planta tions, and also has a taste for tea. It "saps the chinchona bark and the leaves wither and die. Quinine is frightfully dear already, and if this bug gets the upper hand it will be quite beyond the reach of the million. The sea between Norway and the Faroe Islands, from Mayen and Spitz bergen, has never yet been distinguish ed by any special name; but since this s ea has been constantly navigated for more than one thousand years by the Norwegians, and Tunco natives of Nor way have undertaken its scientific ex ploration, Prof. Mohn proposes that it be called "The Norwegian Sea." Some boys in Markland, Mich., started a show in a cellar. The ad mission was two cents. The perform ance ranged from recitations to somer saults, and a feature was markmauBhip of the kind that killed Volante. A ton year-old boy held an apple on his head for a larger boy to shoot at; but the attempt was a failure. Just as the marksman took aim, the target-boy felt the apple Blipping off, reached up to catch it, and had a bullet hole put neatly thiough his hand. The wounded lad's mother made a raid on the show, and closed it. A correspondent of the London Miller states, as the result of some thirty years' experience with flour mills, that he has seen and known many mill fires, tho majority of which have taken place in the night, and most of them after the mills have shut down several hon- s, many of these breaking out of a Sunday morning, and even as late as the evening, or after midnight-that is, on Monday morning. The cause ot suoh a long interval he attributes to the smouldering of dust around some hot bearing until it hus assumed a body of fire and charred wood,when a slight draught produces a flame, which, before being noticed, is spread too far to be stopped, the mill and its contents becoming a heap of mins. The remedy for thit, of course, is an inspection of all the bearings, before locking up at night. The King of Sciva, in Africa, has sent some remarkable gifts to King Humbert through the explorers repre senting the Italian Geographical Society. One bracelet, a wonderful production to oome from the heart of Africa, is of silver, ornamented with a truncated tte'andAa^e?rk.m, t?&^j^t fl?t lu. A silver cartridge bept of simi lar design is not less remarkable. A cover for the king's mule is of blue velvet, fringed with fine chains and silver bells, which produce a tinkling music as the animal moves. A similar trapping for his horeo is of red leather, ornamented with green leather with holes cut in it, through which are seen plates of gold. These products, both in design and manufacture, are appar ently the work of a highly cultivated people, now nearly extinct. The Goa j ira Indians, who inhabit the seacoast north of A spin wall, are a fierce and fighting race, numbering about 80,000. In their domestic lile tho most singular feature is the fact that tho father has no control over the children. The mother's brother or the next nearest relation on the mother's side usurps the authority, of the father. In inheriting rank or property, and in the distribution of valuables, the testimony of the mother as to the rights of the children outweighs th tt of the father. Fashion Notes. Changeable silks are amone'.h omo mer fabrics. Elegant parasols are made ot ?atm and fin?8hod with straw fringe. Fringes of two distinct colors are pnt on some of the new costumes. New parasols are made of black mata lasse ails: and lined with white silk. Old fashioned yoke waists are again in favor for drosses warranted to wash. Silk dresses are trimmed with narrow flounces in front, almost to the waist, at he moment, by Worth. Colored drees bonnets are lees need than white ones, and are almost confined to beige and mastic shades. The trains of full dress toilets measure three yards from the waist to the extrema end of the train in the back. A dash of Jacqueminot red is the only spot of bright color on many of the most fashionable hats and bonnets. Plain oV polk? dotted white silk, with " " white satfn trimmings and accessories, is the bridal dress of the moment. The novelty in handkerchiefs is of pale blue or rose-colored linen batiste, with white borders scalloped to match. Everything is embroidered in Paris at present-shoes, dresses, gloves, bon nets, corsages, cravats, wraps and trim mings. Dark bine cntaway snits, with waist- . coats and silk skirts made very plain, " tailor fashion," are affected by young ladies. Beige-colored brocaded or damcssee silk makes a beautiful waistcoat to be worn with any dark cutaway jacket cos tume. Porte bouquets, which do double duty as a brooch or fastening for a shawl, are seen in some of the fancy goods stores. . r The girl of the period wears a cntaway swallow-tailed jacket, and leads an Eng lish png with a silver ohain and a blue ribbon. Those negligee corves of hair on the forehead and temples, a la Montagne, are becoming to young and pretty faces only. Cardinal capes reaching to'the elbow of Sicilienne, and trimmed with flutings of black French lace, are fashionable light wraps. Balbriggon stockings are seen in lead ing hosiery departments, hair-lined hor izontally in color and ohooked on the sides in the same. Beize and mustio gray tulle veils, dot ted with chenille, are worn around the crowns of dressy bonnets, crossing in the back and made to form strings. Amber beads strang at intervals on black silk fringes are effectively used for trimming black Sioillienne mantles intended for ceremonious occasions. Worth's) latest drosses are short, sheath the form in front, but have small paniers in the back, or looped draperies formed by catching np the demi train. The novelties in children's hats are pagoda-shaped crowns, peaked Mansard roof orowos, and sharp-gabled crowns. Their names are Pekin, Alps, Mer oed es, Savoy, and Ohin-Chin. White Swiss and organdy toilets, trimmed with fine Mireoourt torchon lace, ar? to ba worn over colored lawn or Silesia nlips for summer fetes, flower shows, Afternoon concerta and croquet j Debts of t??e Narara** *.? France ls the most burdened, having about $4,687,000,000 to pay. England ably seconds Franee with $3,880,000, 000. Russia has $2,500.000,000. Rus sia's debt has trebled within the last twenty years, but her income has not even doubled. Spain owes $2,050,000, 000, and together with Greece and Turkey cannot pay the interest due. Italy comes fifth with $2,000,000,000. The debt of the United States has been more than quadrupled within the last seventeen years. Austria is next with a borden of 81,771,000,000. Prussia has $1,116,000,000. Turkey stands about the eighth on the list, but, until the Eresent difficulty is settled, it will be ard to tell just where it stands, or whether it will stand at all. The range of debt comes in the following order : Portugal, Netherlands, Bavaria, Bel gium, Roumanie, Wnrtemburg, Sax ony, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Nor way and Switzerland, the latter little country having only $5,520,000 of debt on her shoulders.