Show STORIES OF MOUNTAINEERS Peculiar Experiences ItEet in West Virginia Captain Jack Wright who practices law ana runs for office the better part of his time devotes the remainder to relating his experiences with the mountaineers moun-taineers of West Virginia says the Philadelphia Times Recently he said to a newspaper man who had wandered into that strange country Young man if I were you I should give up my ambition to live for a time with these people for if you do not you may get into trouble just as I did Then fixing his eye wistfully on a hawk that was skimming through the sky he meditated a few moments suddenly dragged his thoughts down to earth again fired a volley of tobacco juice with unerring accuracy at the head of a cat that sat 25 feet away sunning itself on the sidewalk and continued More than 20 years ago I was traveling trav-eling through this same country where you are going It was early winter and the leaves of the forest painted by the touch of frost were refulgent in the glow of twilight when I began to feel some uneasiness about a roosting roost-ing place for the night Finally like a star in an overcast sky a light burst forth far away up the mountain side and turning my horse in that direction I stood after one hours climb in front of a log cabin My halloo brought along a-long lean fellow with a gun in his hand a coonskin cap on his head and a spike of whiskers on his chin to the door and also judging from the noise thej made about 4000 hounds from somewhere some-where or other The din of the dogs being somewhat allayed I made knowr my desire to spend the night there which after much curious parleying was granted and I was ushered intc the bosom of the family The house was 14x16 feet and served as kitchen diningroom parlor and bedroom Grouped around a blazing pine knot fire were the gentleman5 wife six grown daughters as many more halfgrown sons and such an infinity in-finity of more youthful olive branches that I considered life too short tc count them Supper was a scant one and after it was over I set to work tc get from my host just such information informa-tion as you are now searching for but I found him as grim as a tombstone in the moonlight and just about as uncommunicative un-communicative However just acres from me on a pile of wood in the corner cor-ner sat one of the daughters whose age might have been anywhere from 31 to 50 and whose figure in its exaggerated exagger-ated angularity suggested a supernatural supernat-ural horse rake To me this maider was most attentive and she finally asked me if I would hold the hank ofl which she was winding thread into a ball Of course I complied and though little of the exceedingly personal inquiries in-quiries from the damsel as to whether I was married and if I should like to be etc 4 When the hour for retiring arrived the grown girls and the younger members mem-bers of the family ascended a ladder into the loft while the remainder of the family and myself disposed of ourselves sardine fashion on the floor Betimes the next morning I was astir making my preparations to depart But I observed ob-served a strange constraint in the whole family while the old man looked as black as a thunder cloud Just as I was nearing the door on my return from saddling my horse I heard the wintry faced maiden whose hank I had held on the night before say But pap I wouldnt kill Im fur it moat pit weuns into a scrape xouuns JUSt try a bluff on im Wondering what it all meant and feeling no small degree of terror I approached the interesting family to say goodby To Ivy uttr consternation the lean maiden the mother and sisters fell to sobbing violently vio-lently while the younger olive blanches set up a bawl in all tones from a high treble to a deep bass The old man alone shed no tears but approaching me paid Do weuns see arightly that youuns is a goin to leave these here dlggins arter youuns has disgraced Sal I told him to please make his meaning clear as I failed to see hoI ho-I had disgraced Sal or anyone else That air wont wurruk my young buck Youuns has a disgraced Sal and youuns know it Thets right pap chimed in the maiden of attenuation He disgraced the hull family Didnt youuns hole my hand yer great walleyed steer and dont everybody knows as what the fel ler as does thet with a gal is a hankering hanker-ing arter to git spliced with her Young buck said the old man while he toyed with a big pistol whats wrong with Sal Aint she ez nice a gal ez kin be found this side er hI Now lemme tell yer wat youuns an Sal gits spliced er I draws a bead right atwixt youuns1 eyes an when I draws somepun alias happens Seeing the desperate nature of my situation and knowing how futile ar j I gument would be I resorted to stratagem strat-agem Telling them I was perfectly willing to accept the ancient Sal for better or worse and that I would go and unsaddle my horse I departed the family presence leaped on my horse and urged him down the mountain side at a speed that would have shamed old Putnams feat The bullets flew thick and fast but wide of the mark Then I I remembered the lively Sals advice tc 1 bluff rns and I felt safe But I have never ventured into those regions again Do I get much practice out here Oh yes replied the captain and some of my experiences would tickle an elephant ele-phant Not long since one of my clients who lives down on Tug river had a little difficulty with his wife and here is the letter verbatim ad literatim that he wrote me I Mister Lawylar rite Dear Sur This leaves we well an a hopin it may likewise youuns Craps air bad an cune huntin air a dd sight wuss i wants youuns ter go ter see Squire Karl an git me a divorce frum my wife jaln Tiddler whats six foot 2 in bite an wors a No 10 shue Shes bin a raisin hil an nobody kaint stay on the place which youuns will sind me by male an i will also clad rouuns fee likewise Soon after the war the south was a prolific field for rascals to prey on the ignorance of the newly emancipated slaves Jackson county Florida had an immense colored population and here many swindlers found themselves In clover One scheme was worked with especial success Two flashily dressed gentlemen driving a handsome hand-some turnout made a housetohouse canvass representing to the negroes that they were sent out by the government govern-ment to see if the titles to the negroes properties were good In each case the j title was found to be bad of course and the confiding negro was informed i that it would be made good on payment jof 25 The poor negroes hustled around sold stock household goods and even what little clothing they had to raise the money When that was paid a1 large envelope with a red sqal was given with strict instructions not to open it or talk to anyone but to keep quiet until a day named two weeks from that time when he would meet the government agents at the county seat when his title would be made all right I 1 On the day named over 5000 negroes gathered in Mariana The day wore on but the government agents came not Finally about night one of them I went to a local lawyer and had his envelope I en-velope opened Here was what he found for a title Know all men by these presents that as Closes lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so have we lifted 25 out of this fool And then a voice was heard weeping in the land It was the negro and he refused to be comforted because his 25 was not |