VOL. 1.o3 EASLEY, SOUTHCAROLINA, FRIAY, .SEPTEMNE2 1884.{O.49
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MESSENO ER, Easle, S. C.
AILL ARP'S TALK.
The Cherokee Philosopher Visits Old
Scenes.
The Georgia railroad. The old
reliable. The first railroad I ever
saw. How fondly memory goes
back to my amazement and awe
and childish fear when for the first
time I saw the huge leviathan come
steaming down the track breathing
fire and smoke and making tle
earth tremble with its noise. For
tymix years have passed, and I am
on this venerable road. again,
steaming away to Carolina. Ru
minating thoughts come free and
unbidden, and as we pass Coving
ton I am reminded of the time
when my good wife and seven chil
dren, with one at the brea.t, were
flying f rom the fowl invader-seek
ing a refuge somewhere outside of'
Sherman's raid. The nurse, a good
faithful family servant, was walk
ing out with our youngest child, a
litstle black-eyed brunette, and the
raiders came clattering down the
road and stopped her, and one of
the vandals said : 'Put down that
child. What you carrying that
child for? Dont you know that
you are free?
The nurse was amazed and in
dignant. 'Whtat you want mne to
put down dleehile f'or; de chile cant
walk.'
'Whose child is it?' said the old
brute.
'It is my chile,' said the nurse,
hugging the little thing to her
breast, 'Whose chile did you reck
on it. was?'
'4Well, it'it's yours it's a dami
strange color,' he roptied, and gal
loped on,
Unprotected and aimnost un
kno#n., my wife and children hid
ont until the raider's left the vil
lege, andl~ having no tran~sporta
tion did not know how they would
escape from the next brutal hero
that catne alonug. But about mid
night they were aroused with
smothered voices at the Window.
and friendly greetings from-famil
iar faces, for a triend in need from I
Mad :.on ha& ahmfiBW I is
onthe wins ofte 'Wid, "id sa kt
a carriage and a wagon after them,
and so the. were hurried on with
bag .and baggage and about sun
rise arrived at his hospitable home.
A friend in need is ; frietid indeed.
A thousand times have I thought
of that act of disinterested kid-1
ness, and wondered at it, for it was 1
a perilous thing to do in perilous 1
times when the fonil. invader was
only too happy to capture good
stock, and a horse er a mule was
worth nearly his weight in confed
erate money. That one deed of
kindness stamped Eugene l ar1is
as a noble, large hearted man and
a friend in deed. I shall always
love him. In a few days I found
my lost family at his house, and
we thought the raiders had left1
the country and felt secure ; but
one bright morning they cazme
tearing by and took the town of
Madison by storm. Our folics were
two miles out in the cot'ntvy, and,
when the yankees rode up and
wanted water the good old mother,
who was alone, came to the door
and saluted them, and said : 'Cr
tainly, gentlemen, you shall have
water. Do you think there is any
danger of the yankees coming this'
way?' They langed and told her
they were yankees, and she quiet
ly remarked: 'Well, you seem to
act like gentlemnen,' and thi.s pleas-i
ed them and they said, 'Some of
us are, madam, I hope,' and thank-1
ing her for the water they rodet
away. Well, some of them were
gentlemen, and all such we re
spect. I recalled the few succeed
ing days when Harris-and Joel,
Abbott Billups and I and two or
three friends hid *out the mulesi
and the horses in a canebrake and
fed them at night, and hid our-l'
selves out in a pine thicket in sight
of the horses and played cards on
the ground and eat melons and
told stories to pass away the time,
and had signals of peace and war
and distress arranged with our
wives, 80 that we could act on
emergencies. I remember how two
straggling soldiers found the mules
one day anid rode two of them up
to the front gate, and Mrs. Harris
detained themi in pleasant conver
sation until we could get there,'
and how Eugene was Curiously andt
recklessly mad and slipping round
to the back door, got two double
barrelledl guns~ and giving mue one
of them he rushed frantica lly up
to the robber's and shovfrig thme
muzzle ki' one's face ordered himn
to diasmount and he just fell offi
quick on the other' side, and the
next one did thme same, and theyj
departed in haste to parts unknown.
I saw the houne atnd the pnc thic
from the cAr witdow as we roll
1djalong, "and it carried rae back
othe times that-tried men's bouls,
f47solfte 16tIWr*,#'b t'h.enoethe T
xgood deal, and lhardly knew w hin
to stop.
Ettgene-Harrtih. I think of him
Wnd Ffd'hk Jones together. Both
)f then the fi iends of my youth
1n my age. Two ndble men
whom time nor trouble nor peril
aor poverty haVedenoralized from
their natural goodness and great
ness of heart. Many a time have
[ laughed silently and all alone
>ver the midnight frolic when Eu
gene tread on a snake in his room
At Stonewall iron works and was
bitten, and they strudk a. light and
killed th& venomous, reptile and
losed 'RugCne with whiskey and
ot him drunk and his ankle be
an to swell and -his tonguite got
oose and he used language-much
snguyae-gnd was iss. Wild and
Frantic as an untained Camanche.
Send for Axson, Frank ; I love Ax
ion. Oh. my Lordy; I've been
hilnking for five years I would
join thechurch: Axson knows it.
riank Jones, did you kill: that
snake?- Kill him again the infer
rial beast. When can Axson get
riere ! D.o you- reckon .I'll die?
G ive me some more *whiskey Just
to think of it. I've lived mighty
nigh 4.0 years dodging death and
the devil and yankee bullets and
ill manner of perils, and now at
last-have got to die by-an infernal
make. Mash his head again Frank
:nd giye me another drik-When
3an A xson get here, I want to hear
Miin pTay, once more. -Confound
the snake.'
Well, he was laid up two long
mnonths and suffered agony, but he
got well and. still livyes to brighten
the faces of his friends.
My mind kept wandering along
aind got to the Rome encampment
where the boys fired their blank
-artridges and rmarched around
%nd had a big frolic in time of
peace and picked up Henry Grady,
and toted him around on their
shoalJders,and made much of him,
and lhe treated them to watermil
ions, and ice cream, and soda wa
ber, untill they let him off'and Bet
him down again-a ti then they
cheered the boy -and. patted him
au theback, and .petted him like
aL syoiled child. IHteused to be
Rome's boy, and Athen's boy, b)ut
now he is Georgia's boy, and the
best known man I reckon in the
state. All this carried me back
20 years~when we too had a camp
near Rothe-whien we had a legion.
Just think of it-a legion. Lejion
is a big name, a glorious name.
Legions5 of angels ; legions of sol
dier's; legious of devils. It is a
classic na. . Wvell, we had a le
gion.' Y r's legion, home guards
fire aidd denders. Georgia n mel..
ih, Joe Brown pets andait sorts
of.'nfines. 'And We t6o were in
camp and had tibttedy and somse
6aalry and infnte'and Ne just
dared the foul invader to come:. 1
remember how I waslieutenAnt of
artillery and. one darls rainy nignt
our guns went oft' and waked up
the legion in terror and alarmed
the settlement, and the lonag roll
wasjbeat and. tlye. universal cry
was.'to arms, to..arms,- ye ..brave.'
George Burnett tand Tom Aver
were at the bottom of that- doeel
mneilt, and I remember how- a few
days after, half a dozen yankce
cavalry were seen down the rode
galopiing furiously along in their
blue clothes about suni down, anld
another alarm was beat and our
battery was ordered t) charge
down to Quinn's ferry and and we
charged and planted our gunis up
on the banks and. .waitea for the
fowl inva(et! to come. Bit h
didn't come, and we soon found
out that the yankee horse-men
were Jeff Johnson and Bill Arp
and a few more of their sort hun
ting mischief. I remember that
the legion had 800 fighting men and
1200 quarter'masters and comm is
saries who were instructed to scour
the country in search of forage and
vittles, and they scoured. .. Eugene
Hariis and oliver StillWell were M.
my mess and when 614 man fLeWis
caie into camp one day hunting
for some lost hogs, George Burnett
told him he hadn't seen 'em, and
didn't know anything about 'em ;
but altl he did know was that Still
well, and Harris, and me, had had
spare ribs and backbone, and fresh
pork to eat every (lay for three
days.
So we were -reported to Colonel
Yeizer, and like to have been court -
martialed; and old man Lewis be
lieved as long as he lived that we
stole his hogs.
Well, it waS a gloriots kind of
war that we engaged in then--a
isplendid war, and reminds me of
the scene when the big Texas ran
ger rode up to a squad of home
guards, and, drawing a big shoot
er from his hoot, exclaimed: 'Lay
down, melish-I'm gwine to buist
this cap.' Bmrtt Aar.
-A sPE~CIAL' from Union Star,
Mo., tells of a fearful crime corm
mitted in the .vicinity. of Flag
Spi-ings, Andrew -county- ode Sun
day. Two little girls, children of
John McGathlin, aged seven and
nine years respectively, were over
taken in the woods by unknown
parties and outraged. The villains
then disemboweled the elder and
afterwards shot her in the head.
They then cut the throat of the
youngest child. The whole coun
try is aroused, and lymching will
be in order if the parties are
caught.