Hide Article Text (OCR)
.iffeet across, perfectly round in the shape of a funnel, and walled up nicely with|?hi^hljShst befnpfru|_distim l» 'MWpir m* of tb* kindIn thitns igl^orMiKKl, iM froAthi^day to im t^n^ Aormk hSstoM'm ewhat the Indians used those places for.There were a few Indians yet in the country who had escaped, from the mainbody While mtivliigJtfcearWfeflt a year ortwo before, and had returned to thegraves atfd tlicrcailipllrei of tfaeirfathersr-The first and second winters were very cold with deep1 shows:' One cold day father was ■ a# ay from 1 home* hod therest of us were housed ap trying to keepid on open the door ' there stuodr^litUe old; Indianwarm, we heard a noise, and on openingnearly frozen*' to death/ He bad little black eyes: (like a mink), a sharp Roman nose, an old yellow blanket aronndhun, leggings and moccasins on. He left his gun outside, which was a good sign. I asked the poor old soul to come in, which he did;-and took a seat - My mother was nearly scared to death, as it was the first Indian she had ever seen. Indian said he was hungry; She said we bad nothing to give him. 1 said there was some cold pone left, and to give him that, which she did. lie ate it up, and then left, and never said farewell, good-bye, thank you sir, or nothing else. After he left I took his track in ' the snow and followed it south about half a mile, and then be turned east up into . the heavy timber, dragging something in the snow like a deer. A3 it wa^uearly night I went home. My father came home that night, and the next morning we,‘took his trabks again, and followed it up into the heavy timber about three miles near Mr. Hiser’s old place, and there we found him in a little bark hut or wigwam, built-by the side of a big log; to break the wind and snow off of him.' He' had a squaw-and papoose. As wc approached the hut a wolfish looking dog, with hair turned nil the wrong way, ran out at us. The Indian said something and the the dog subsided. We found he had killed' a deer the1 day before, and had a smalt kettle on a small fire in the center of his wigwam, making soup otit of the entrails of the deer. He motioned us to. have: some, but I was not: hungry enough for that kind of soup. Wc asked him kis name. He said something about Pe-ash-away, Bad Ax, or True -Ax,' Tippecanoe, lt;fcc., but we could not understand him.- He gave us some venison to take home, which more than paid for the cold corn-bread of the day before, and as I was always piously inclined I thought of that passage of scripture:’ “Cast your bread upon the waters, and after many days yc shall find |it ” •» • -■INow for the ground hog .question. 1 have always been a firm believer in the ground hog theory, for the truth of which ! I refer you to the present year. If the j ground hog sees his shadow on the 2d of \ February there will be six; weeks morel cold weather, if It takes to the 4th of Itf uly to have it. On a 2d day of February' 1 \vthe morning was clear, and I went out to watch an old ground liog that lived in a sand bank near our cabin. I slipped up behind a tree; Mr. Ground Hog came out, took a walk around, saw his shadow, played flip (lop, and turned a somersault backwards into his hole, thro wed sand into my eyes, took the holedn after him, and said, “Farewell, yain world, I am going home,11 and that was the last of him for.two months. That was the cold winter when teams crossed Fletcher’s, (take and the Wabash river in April, and every old settler ought to remember it . This was also the winter that some hunters killed sixty dear on Bogus Island in Beaver Lake, the deer having been surrounded til re with smooth ice and could not get off. Those were my happiest days, liv- | ing on.wild game and honey, and sleep- | ing out with nothing but the green grass or dry leaves bcneuth me and the starry heavens above me, aud drinking the pure water out of Bluo Grass and Indian creeks. I might give you many more items and incidents in reference to the Indians, hunting bees, killing game, etc., but this article is already too long : and I will close for the present, and perhaps at j some future time.will give you another j dose of the same kind. -Yours truly,.■« Samckl L. McFaoix.
Newspaper Details
Logansport Evening News
Logansport, Indiana, US
Fri, Apr 06, 1877
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Roberta H.
IN, USA 25 Sep 2019
Other Publications Near Logansport, Indiana
Logansport Daily Reporter
Logansport Weekly Star
Logansport Daily Star
Logansport Democratic Pharos
Logansport Morning Journal
