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IVolume I.Clearfield, B’n., December 14, 1840.JOIIfl IIILL alias NIXON CtRRY;Or tile Victim of Circumstances,vA TftCE SKETCH OP LIFE IN ABKANSAS.I*Among the truest friends of the peo-Vcontinued to be his character, in the new .ly. “When a man’s time is come, he can country of his adoption, for twelve succes-, hot, he cannot hide' from death; beside, itjde, of all in the present Convention, maynamed John Hill, of St. Francis. His energy, eloquence, and courage, fully en-title him to the proud place he holds, and as we trust, will retain—that of the leader of the Arkansas Democracy.”—Little Hock Gazette ^ in the days of the Convert tion.Bloody Affray.—.A desperate rencontre occurred last week in St. Francis. Two distinguished citizens were killed, and three others dangerously wounded.— The difficulty resulted from an attempt lo arrest John Hill, a member of the last leg* ielature, formerly of the State Convention, who, it is alleged, is the-notorious robber, Nixon Curry, that committed such atrocities.”—Little Hock Gazette of 1839.We have given the previous extracts from the oldest and most respectable journal of Arkansas, in order to satisfy every reader that the follow ing narrative, extraordinary as some of its incidents may ap-r, is no tissue of fiction. Indeed whilegnever had a personal difficulty or quarrel with any human being; and yetv every body was satisfied that such a peaceful life —singular for that latitude, was not owing to a want of courage, or . deficiency in power to perform good services, in anysive years. During oil that period he'would be the act of a coward to do so, ifone possess the power.” Then addressing his son, a fine intelligent*'boy-of thirteen, he continued, “ Bill, you see my gun,” pointing his finger as he spoke to the great double barrel hanging on buck horns over the door; “practice with thatsort of battle-field; for of all Scar hunters l every morning, and the day you are six-that ever pierced the jungled~}6f cane in : tcn, shoot the loads of both barrels intothe man who will thifcdny kill your father.” “Yonder pomes Moses Howard; he will protect you Pa,” remarked Mary, Hill’s eldest daughter, a lovely girl of fifteen, who was to be married the next day to2 -----—* r*1--- ..._ ■ “the great swamp.” or descended by torchlight into the dark caves of the Ozark Mountains, he was celebrated as the most! fearless. . /He was repeatedly elected to the Territorial Legislature, where he distinguished himself by a strong, impassioned eloquence, as a chief leader in the Democratic ranks. He was next, as we have already seen, a member of the Convention that formed the State constitution; and was elected again the ensuing year to represent his county in the Senate of Arkansas.At this period commenced his secondtho youth then approaching.Hill and Howard departed; Lucy with tears, and Mary blushing, both calling out as they leit the gate, “Take good care of him, Mose, and bo sure and bring him back to-night.”“ Never tear,” answered the youth, with a laugh; “ Hill will never die til! I kill him.”“Then he will live forever,” retorteds-series of misfortunes. Hill’s nearest neigh-' Mar)', laughing also.As soon as the friends reached the vil-bors were the Strongs—four brothers of;considerable wealth, more ambition, and (lage Hill began to drink deeply, mani-ifwemay borrow the phrase of the coun-' Tested more than ordinary anxiety fora relating genuine events, and painting true j try, “famous fighters.” Notwithstanding combat, insulting everybody that crossed scenes, we have been especially careful to their character so dissimilar from that of his path; and all the youth’s entreaties» .should arrive at sixteen. Without any charge, vengeance would have been considered by that boy as a sacred duty ; for on* the frontiers, the widows of the slain teach vengeance to their children and occasionally execute it themselves IAccordingly, Bill Hill practised with his father’s gun every day for two successive years, and this even before he hod any rumor as to the place of Howard’s refuge. He then learned that bis foe was in Texas, and two months before he was sixteen ho set out to hunt him up.At the end of four months Bill Hill came back, and hanging up the double-barrel in its old buck horn rack,answered his mother’s enquiring look,—“Mother, Mose is! dead; I let him have both loabs. Though^ I cried before I done it, and afterwards too; he looked so miserable, pale and bony j as n skeleton.”“Poor Mose!” said the mother weeping; “but it could not be helped. The sonof such a brave man as Nixon Currv must•»never be called a coward, and besides it was votir/lather’s orders.”KVAavoid all vivid colors. Should this short. the pacific “bear hunter,” a close and cor- failed to pacify him. At last, the despe- j wj,jj tj10 fletn dsoftlr* inv stL»ntion i to theTHE BOSTON TRAGEDY.Additibhal Particulars and Disclosures in rclatio7i to .the 'Disappearance of Dr.Parkman.iThe Botr n papers of Monday are fille Isketch, by any chance reach the forests of (dial intimacy grew up between them; and Arkansas, the people there will deem its Hill, in on unguarded moment, made the description tome in comparison with the eldest brother, George, a confidant as to deeds of the man. The writer, who has the secrets of his previous history. It haprndo swore that he would clear the court i cjrcrmstnnc s attending the supposedhouse; and immediately entering with a j murdcr of Dr. Gvcrge Parkman, andresided long on the frontier, has no use for fancy in portraying its exciting life. Simple memory will serve him well.About fifty years ago there lived in Iredell county, North Carolina, a Presbyterian preacher* by the name of Carry.furious countenance, and a threat os to his purpose—judge, lawyers, jury and spectators made a general rush lor the door.— One old drunken man alone did not run as fast as Hill wished, and he sprang on the imbecile wretch and commenced beatingpened that this same George conceived a violent desire for political distinction, and requested Hill to resign his seat in the Senate in the illiberal friend’s favor. Hill refused and the Strongs conspired for a him unmercifully.terrible revenge. Writing back to Caro- Howard then caught hold of his future He was a man in easy circumstances, of linn, they procured a copy of the reward ; father-in-law, (alas! who was never to irreproachable character, and having a offered lor the arrest of Nixon Curry, the be!) and attempted to pull him away. _ r * :_____ ~ L i______j ___ - . j___i i * v .With eyes red, and glaring like a madlarge family of promising sons and da ugh- far-famed robber; and then collecting a tera. Among these, the favorite was Nix- party of a dozen desperate men, they at- dog, Hill instantly turned upon his friend, on, distinguished when a .boy for his lea r- j tempted to capture Hill in his own house, land with a single blow of his list felled leas courage and the tenderness of his The latter had always gone armed with him to the floor, then following up the vio-heart alike. He seems, from several an- his enormous double-barrej shot gun, two; lent act, he leaped on the youth, and be-ecdotes of his early days, to have been a long rifle pistols, und a knife so heavy that! gan a most ferocious battery. In vain child of impulse and intense earnestness! few other hands besides his own could Howard endeavored lo escape, crying out and passion. When only six years of’wield it. The assauitof the Strongs prov-: in tones of beseeching horror,'■•For God’s ago he had a combat at school with a bul- ■ eu horrible to themselves. Hill killed two! sake, cease! Iiill, don’t you know me ?of the brothers, and dangerously wounded Your friend Mose! Remember Mary!”five of their friends, escaping unhurt him-1 Hill’s anger only increased, till finally, he self, although more than twenty rounds of threw his hand to his belt, and clutched a ball and buck-shot wore aimed at hisbreast.ly of the playground, nearly twice his own weight, and after suffering dreadfully, at last achieved the victory, due almost to the sheer power of his endurance.From the time he was six years old, that is to say, from the first session he attended in the country ephool house,* had Nixon Curry been in love. His idol was a little girl of the same age, and under the tuition of the same master. The attachment appears to have been mutual from the commencement. They stood up in one class, and always managed to standwhi h have led to the arrest of Pro cssor Webster of Harvard Univorsit. It np- 1 pears that in the early part of the month ] of November, Dr. Paikmnn called at Pro- lt;fessor Webster’s lecture room, in the Med- j ical College in North Grove street, while ; the Professor was engaged in delivering a \ lecture before the students, and waited un- -til the lecture was over, and the stud nts j had nil left. He then asked Professor ,4Webster for the money due him, and after some con versa ti n, in which both parties , were considerably excited, Professor Web- : stcr desired him to wait until the 23d of | j November, as all the tickets for the fee-11 tures, engaged by the students, had not(i been paid for, but would in all probability * he by that time. Dr. Part man, it fs sta- l ted, left the building a good deal excited. On Thursday afternoon, November 22d, Dr. Parkman called at the residence of Professor Webster, in Cambridge, who be- lt;Tho excitement resulting from the affair was boundless. A requisition came on from the executive of Carolina, demanding the surrender of Nixon Curry. The governor of Arkansas published an additional reward for the arrest of John Hill, and thus betwixt the two fires, the victim’s chance seemed perfectly hopeless.pistol. And then Howard’s blood ulso(ing absent, he left word with his wife, that boiled, and he resolved to fight for liislilb. ■ be wi lied to have her husband call at his ( lie was of as powerful frame os the other (Dr. park man’s) hous * the next morning.On Friday morning, Nov. 23d, the day J after, about 9 o’clock, Professor Webster ]colled at I)r. Parkrrnn’s house in Walnut* j street, the Dr. being out, he left word for | him that he could pay him, if he would call at his room at tl e College soon aftertogether, during the hours of recess when • and fearless as ever. Packing up hastily, the other juveniles were amusing them-. ho set out with his wife and children, in a selves with boisterous sports, the preco- j common moving wagon, for Upper Arkan-cious lovers would wander amidst leafy j sas, where he knew of a band of despera-groves, or by the mossy margins of silver 11 does that he believed would, protect him.ftrills. For ever to eternity, and wiener- j He was overhauled at Coir#ay Courter, the scft •rcl! of ■'?:•, it House by two hundred men in pursuit, allbrings wi.h i* the bright «pui» of poetry, j thoroughly armed, and some of them rlt;r-acattering thick-starred dreams and divine, nowncd “lighters.” Hill saw their ap-visions of beauty over all things. Even; p roach on the distant prairie, and with histhen they exchanged pledges and discour- j dreadful double-barrel—that sure death-sed in sweet ainles3 whispers of their fu- dealer to either man or beast, within theture bridal.And thus they grew up into one deli-of fancy and of feeling.— Their bias for each other’s society, whilecioua identitychildren, caused no particular remark.— Such attachments are common between tho youth of opposite sexes in the country, and, as usual, terminate abruptly, on arrival at mature years. Far different,however, was the case with Nixon Curry and Lucy Gordon. Their passion became so evident at fifteen, that all farther intercourse was forbidden by her parents—a-mong the wealthiest aristocracy of Carolina. Then followed stolen meetings by -star-light, firmer vows and wilder love, which always increases in proportion to its crosses, and like the tree of Lebanon, tends down its deepest roots into the heart, the more it is shaken by storms.Finally, at seventeen* when Lucy’s relatives were endeavoring to force her into the amis of another, she fled with the lov-#r of her childhood. They were pursued—overtaken; and Nixon Curry shot his rival and one of the proud Gordon’s deadthe only person in all Arkansas to be compared with the desperado in physical strength.Howard grasped the barrel of tho pistol as Hill cocked it, and the weapon exploded in their hands without injury. Once Hill’s conduct in the crisis was prompt; more they clenched, and the most dread-j o’clock. Dr. Parkman, Professorful struggle ensued ever witnessed in the 1 Webster states, called at the Medical Col-west.^ .The advantage shifted from one . lege about half-jast one o’clock, and was 1 c side to the other for the space of five min- pajd |y him $483 04, which amount was i utes, till both were bathed in streams of; to take tip two notes and cancel a rnort-;their own blood. Even the bystanders, 1 gnge. Dr. Parkman gave up the notes, looked on through the windows of the low 1 j)Ut }m(j not t|)e mortgage with him. He, court house, with wonder and uwe. At however, said he would go and cancel it. length, while writhing and twisting like q^is transaction, Dr. Webster says, took two raging serpents, the handle of Hill’s place at the counter in his lecture room, huge bowie knife, unthought of previous-1 nrij t|iwf Dr. Parkman left the room thro*ly, protruded from beneath his hunting* the door near the main entrance to theshirt. Both saw it at the same time, and buildingboth attempted to grasp it. Howard suc-j ginr£ half-past I o’clock on Friday the ceeded; quick os lightning he drew the ’ 23d, the time he was seen bv a number of. c keen blade from its scabbard, and sheathed it up to the hilt in the bosom of his friend und his Mary’s father.“The dream is fulfilled,” exclaimed Hill, with a smile of strange sweetness, that remained on his features even after he was a corpse. He then sank down, 6lrange of two hundred yards—instantly marched to meet his foes. This increch-tckrI(i1ahble bravery,joined to the fear before inspired by his desperation, affected the advancing troops with such unaccountable panic that the whole two hundred sought safety in a disgracefully rapid flight.Several other attempts were made to capture the dangerous outlaw, all alikepeople to enter the College, nothing of a reliable nature has come to lijjht as to hisOwhereabouts. He was seen to enter tho College, but no one has been found who saw him coma out of out ; and this fact produce ! an impression in the minds of alending either in ludicrous or bloody fail- expired without a groan, ures. In the meantime Hill’s character ; Howard gazed on him there as he lay, and conduct underwent a complete change, with that singular smile on his lace, andnumber—more stropgly in that of Mr.Kingsley, Dr Parkman's agent—that he never (ini come out of it.The College is built upon walls whichForced to be always on the lookout, and j,is glazed eyes open. And then, awak- ( rest u[)0n pj|eS) and tho tidc ebhs und nowtherefore unable to follow any study bust- jng with a start, as if from some horrible ness in order to support his family, he re-; vision of the night, the poor, unhappysorted to the Gaming-table. He learned also to indulge in the fiery stimulus of ar-‘ dent drink, and his disposition, necessarily soured by recent events, became quarrelsome in the extreme; perhaps there never was a man, excepting only that Napoleon of duel lists, James Bowie, who was so heartily dreaded. I have myself seen persons of undoubted courage turn pale merely at the appearanc ofH ill’s gigantic form, broad -youth, fell headlong on the body of his friend, crying in tones.that melted many a hardened spectator into tears, “ GreatGod I what have I done.” He kissed the clammy lips of the dead; wet his cheeks with a rain of unavailing sorrow; essayed to staunch the bloody wound with his handkerchief; and then, apparently satisfied that all was over, sprang upon his feet, with a shout, or more properly aly belled and bristling with pistols. He* scream—“Farewell, Mary, your iather is^ i t . i _ r* • 11% • *. t t • ii ion the spot and found on asylum in the! was waylaid and shot at a numbor of: gone, and I’m going with him;” and turn-Aliegheny Mountains, near the sources of the Catawba. Here, under the plea of necessity , ho embraced the profession of a robber, and rendered his name famous by the number and astonishing boldness of his exploits. We may record it, not as a matter of merit, perhaps, but for the sake of historical truth~that the youthful bandit never, was known to perpetrate murderfor the purpose of plunder, though he did several to avoid arrest. At length the rumor of his ''felonies ceased sudaenty, and notwithstanding a reward of five thousand dollars was offered for. his apprehension by the Governor ofthe State, he was heard of pojnore in North Carolina. ;At the (first settlement of the fertile delta, bordering on the.St, Francis, there camc-aupmigrant, who called himself John and whp ^oon succeeded inr acquir-*' universal lt;popularity, Although ofi rate fneans, he was sober, .industrious, generous and hospitable; and suchtimes, yet still escaped without a scar. But this could be considered no wonder, for even brave men’s hands shook when they saw him, and shaking hands generally make very poor shots.During the September term, 1843, ofthe Circuit Court tor Pope county, in whichingthe point ofthe gory knife towards his own breast, would have plunged it into his own heart, hud. he not been prevented by the bystanders, who now crowded into the room.The same evening Moso Howard disappeared, and was heard of no more forHill resided, he got out of bed one morn-! nearly two years, when a horse-trader ing uncommonly gloomy, and while at the brought back word that he had seen himbreakfast table, suddenly burst into tears, in San Antonio, Texas.,«What’s the matter, my dead” asked Lucy—that beautiful Lucy, who had formerly left her wealthy home in Carolina for the robber and the robber’s cave.“I have had a dreadful dream,”answered the husband, shuddering at the recollection; “ I saw George Strong in my sleepi and be kissed me with his pale lipsWhen the shocking news reached* Hill’sfamily, the beautiful Mary burst iiito a wild laugh. She is now in the Asylum for the Ihsane, at New Orleans.Had we been inditing a tale of romance, we would have paused with the preceding page; but little truth compels tis to record another fact, equally characteristic, boththat burned Jike fire and smelled of sul-1 as to the chief actors and the backwoods phur. Iam sure Ishalldie before sunset.” theatre of the main tragedy.m“Then do hot go to court, to-day,” said the wife, jn accents of earnest entreaty* “But f will/’ replied the husband firm-It will be remembered; that the fallen r 9 .desperado had enjoined it oh his eon to slay the slayer of his father on the day hethrough apertures underneath the basement floor, between the compartment formed by the wall*. One of these compartments forms what is termed the vault underneath Prof. Webster’s laboratory. There is a .trap door lo the compartment next to that used by Prof. Webster, situated some forty feet from the water closet. Littlefield descended through this trap-door on Friday, with a crow-bar, and knocked on aperture in the wall near the wot *r closet, and discovered, about 4 o’clock that afternoon, portions of a human body, wh ch had been washed by the sea. These portions were the pelvis, the right thigh and leg. Littlefield immediately proceeded to Dr. Bigelow’s office, and acquainted him with the fact, as we understand, in the most excited manner, saying, “I have have found it!” and repeating these words so often that Dr. Bigelow took hold of him and told* him to be quiet—that ho acted like a crazy man.Dr. Bigelow went to the City Marshal’s office that afternoon, and informed Mr. Tukey of the discovery whtdh had been made, who immediately, with somo officers, proceeded to the college and found it was so. Mr. Tukey then gave directions for the arrest of Professor Webster, and officers Clapp,^ Starkweathdr and Spurr, proceeded to his residence in Cambridge in a carriage for that purpose. They arrived at.the nouse about 9 o’clock/just as Prof. Wobster was showing a visiter put; Theofficers met him at the gate, and told him that the college officers were met in con-eilt;nckswv\1oefinafteiIutlIcdstwP1mb(ecclt;aistinhiwaiDrcatinclthblth
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Clearfield Country Dollar
Clearfield, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Dec 14, 1849
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USA 22 Sep 2022
Other Publications Near Clearfield, Pennsylvania
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