The Davis News (Davis, Okla.), Vol. 24, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 4, 1917 Page: 3 of 8
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THE DA VIS NEWS
TIPPECANO
By
CHAPTER X
6 —
The Cougar Crouches
TO an Indian mother lying In a
squalid tepee In the forest once
were given three sons at a birth One
of the three died In Infancy two lived
to become the most famouB leaders the
terrible Inhabitants of the forest wil-
derness ever knew As one of the two
grew to manhood and forced his way
to the head of his tribe by his daring
bis cunning his matchless eloquence
And power the red man with his love
of Imagery in names -chose the cou-
gar the panther the great cat of the
forest as the fitting type of the chief
whose lightest word was law
The cougar I It was from this demo-
niac beast that the Shawnee chief
received bis name— Tecumseh "the
cougar about to spring"
- A ' Yankee surveyor predicted one
day an eclipse of the sun Tecum
seh's brother on account of his fre-
quent drunken babblings had been
dubbed "The Open Door” but a glim'
sner of shrewdness lighted up his rum-
sodden brain at the words of the white
nan he returned to his tribe and say-
ing to all who would listen that he
bad been given a message from the
Great Manltou himself prophesied
that on a certain day the Bky would
be darkened— a sign that he “The
Open Door” was divine and was
henceforth to lead his people They
laughed but the darkness came as he
had foretold and -from that day he
was looked up to by every warrior In
the forest as the greatest of conjurers
fie was no longer called "The Open
Door” but Elkskatawa "Tho Loud
Voice" and his voice In council was
the voice of authority But years had
now passed and he prayed In secret
for another sign to bolster up bis
wavering strength
The white men came farther and
farther Into the wilderness reared
their cabins In greater and greater
numbers In the red man's forest bar-
tered and bought larger and larger
territories from the stupid savage who
reached out eagerly for a handful of
toys a jug of the white man’s fiery
drink and gave In return the countless
acres of his hunting ground But now
'for years his dumb resentment grew
more and more bitter To Tecumseh
and his brother Elkskatawa the
Prophet the red men looked Impatient-
ly for a leadership which should re-
strain the encroaching settler or
which might even regain for them
their lost lands
The young warriors could not wait
for council here and there they struck
down a settler took a woman captive
dashed out the bruins of a child and
hurried back Into the forest To Har-
rison In Vincennes came Tecumseh
for council and promised redress then
slipped away to the South down the
great river to the tribes along the
Gulf to Implore them to stand with
their brothers of the North against the
white man’s advance The Prophet
meanwhile remained at his village 120
miles north of Vincennes and spent
the time In Incantations and ominous
mutterlngs and the little town of
Vincennes lay In anxious uncertainty
on the banks of the Wabash river
down which came the news of the
Prophet's restless plotting
The little village presented a scene
of the most unusual activity Here
ind there In vacant fields the various
companies of the territorial militia
were drilling— four companies 'Of
mounted men and eight of Infantry —
a force of some six hundred men
which Harrison had caused to be as-
sembled hastily
Women and children stood watchlpg
the evolutions of the volunteers Tb9
Trench Inhabitants chattel ed away In
tremendous excitement As fur ns
military drill and accouterment were
concerned the men were ridiculously
awkward and untrained TJiey could
not keep step to save their souls and
only one of the twelve companies made
any pretense at a uniform this one
was the company commanded by Spier
Spencer of Corydon These wore yel-
low hunting shirts trimmed with red
feathers they were promptly dubbed
“the Yellow Jnekets” and were marked
men But the rest wore whatever
clothes they were possessed of in their
dally life— tow Jeans or linsey-woolsey
or the hunter’s dress of tanned deer-
akin and each man carried the rifle
of his choice firearms of every make
and of any length of barrel
One morning wrs enlivened by a
shooting match Someone got n white-
wood plank and pacing off GO yards
propped it up firmly A circle ten
Inches In diameter was smeared on
the board with wet powder and In
tlie center of this bluck spot a bit of
white paper the size of a dollar was
pinned One after another of the awk-
ward militiamen stepped to the line
and fired seemingly without pausing
to aim Not a man failid to send his
bullet Into the white ’ Then the tar-
get was moved to 80 yards' distance
then a hundred and the deadly accu-
racy continued as the better marks-
men took their turns ‘ And then they
tossed pieces of wood Into the air
These ton enme down pierced by the
miraculous bullets
The afternoons passed in the same
state of suppressed excitement Th
men lolled around tho shady side of
the taverns am chawed their tobacco
SAMUEL McCOY
(Copyright 1916 by Bofcbe-Mnrfll Co)
Do you mind tho time you had a quarrel with your best girl and
vowed never again to go near her? That was the plight In which David
Larrence found himself after Tolnette O’Bannon had been given evU
denco that' ho was a spy had asked him to explain and had been re
buffed for her apparent doubts by tho proud young man Gloomy as a
ghost he left tho Corydon settlement and went to Vincennes to live
And soon thero comes Into his lifo an event which makea the pretty lov
ere quarrel seem Just less than nothing I) marks thd turning point
In his existence Tho hand of Destiny Is seen moving relentlessly in
this Installment
David you'll romomber had corns all tho way from England to thr
frontier settlement of Indiana territory to kill an enemy He makea
friends with tho Americans and falls In love with dainty Tolnette
Among his acquaintances are Job Cranmer who turns out to be a Brit
Ish apy and Doctor Elliott secretly In league with Cranmer Iko
Blackford is a true friend
MAMMAAaAAAMVVWVVUVVMMMMAAMMMMUVWUWWVVM
silently The long hot hours dragged
by At sunset they beard the bugle
at Fort Knox the stockade Inclosure
three miles up the river sound faintly
the end of the day
Night came ou and a group of men
gradually gathered on the benches and
the grass In front of the Jefferson
house as the tavern of Parmenas
Beckes bearing on its signboard a
staring portrait of ' the statesman
was grandly called They talked In
low tones and David Sa the edge of
the crowd could not distinguish their
words He knew however that most
of the leaders of the town were there :
Wash Johnson the old postmaster
with his deep voice booming out at
intervals Henry Hurst and Henry
Van der Burgh the 'judges Benjamin
Parke more recently appointed to the
bench old John Small who had been
sheriff twenty years before and
scalped with his own hand marauding
Indians whom his posse had pursued
and captured Peter Jones who had
seen the error of his ways as a tav-
ern keeper and had reformed and be-
come the territorial auditor and the
custodian of the infant public library
the hot-headed Virginian Thomas Ran-
dolph scarred with the knife wounds
received In his row with "Sawney”
McIntosh the defamer of Harrison
the two sawbones "Doc” Elias Me-
Namee and "Doc” Jake Kuykendall
and a dozen more Francois Vigo the
old Spanish merchant who bad seen
George Rogers Clark storm Vincennes
32 years before sat at David’s side a
fine old fellow of seventy-five
The only light visible was that In
the shop of the printer Elihu Stout
industriously aiding his apprentice at
the types or wiping his Inky fingers to
exa line a proof pulled on the broad
hand-press The moths and Insects
fluttered around his candles and the
sweat poured off his forehead but the
Western Sun was due for publication
on the morrow and he meant to see
It through
David listened with closer attention
when he overheard Governor Harrison
address a square-jawed young man in
the uniform of a captain In the Unit-
ed States army telling him that he
had Just written to Eustls the sec-
retary of war at Washington and
had commended to the department the
work of the young captain In trans-
forming the little fort near Vincennes
from a place wretchedly neglected into
an adequate stronghold - yigo whis-
pered to David that the boy was Capt
Zachary Taylor from Kentucky who
had been placed In command at Fort
Knox but a few weeks previously
"I trust” went on Harrison “that
Mr Enstls will be thoughtful enough
tc bring my letter to the attention of
His Volca In Council Was the Voice
of Authority
your uncle President Madison I
would like him to know that we are
well pleased with your work"
Taylor flushed through his tan with
pleasure lie would have liked to say
that he hoped that Harrison might
some day occupy the presidential chair
hut he was us taciturn as most of the
men of the frontier fur less would
lie have permitted himself to dream
i hat the grout o liee might be his own
This is a story of pioneer days in
Indiana when courageous frontiers-
men fought the redskins and the
wilderness and won vast territory
William Henry Harrison I Vincenneo
was 118 years old the man thirty-
eight There had never been anything
commonplace In the existence of place
or man Each had already had a his-
tory whose telling must move the heart
more than with a trumpet
The face of the man was the face
of the soldier— strong resolute proud
Indomitable But It was likewise the
face of the man of the people the
man In whom they trusted for his
calm patience and his warm friendli-
ness With what unfaltering devotion
had they come to relyon him! And
how the men and women of the wilder-
ness seeing thnt tall and martial fig-
ure pass paused to mark that long
grave face the eyes deep-set under
bushy brows on either side the lengthy
humorous nose and smiled in love and
deep regard In answer to the slow
smile of the wide and kindly mouth
What had he not done for them I
He was a warm admirer' of the
democratic Jefferson ond he was an
aristocrat of the new territory Steeped
In the classic scholarship of the Old
Dominion the son of a signer of the
Declaration of Independence at
eighteen be had chosen to leave be-
hind him the culture of the older
states and to plunge Into the rude but
generous wilderness At twenty-eight
he was governor of the Indiana terri-
tory At thirty master of an empire'
of 150000000 acres ruler over a prov-
ince twice as large as England and
Ireland larger indeed than all bf
France
Within the ten years following his
appointment as governor the negotia-
tor with absolute power of treaties
which added to the new nation fifty
millions of acres a domain large as
England and Scotland combined At
thirty-one holding In his hand for five
months the destinies of a tract of
250000 square miles an imperial
province greater than any other one
man ever controlled in the history of
the United States before or since
Opposed to him the great protago-
nist of the tragic drama of 'the savage
Tecumseh Ruler of five Indian tribes
master mind of the great Indian con-
federacy of another score of tribes
Chief of 5000 warriors ranging over
100000 miles of territory
Harrison had policed the same terri-
tory with exactly twenty backwoods-
men Twenty men to guard an empire
They threaded -their ways through
the wilderness from St Louis to De-
troit They reported to him at Vin-
cennes On this enormous stage the curtain
is about to be lifted on the titanic duel
of the West
The group of men lolling In the
shadows by the Jefferson house began
to speak of the latest dispatches from
the East News had Just come that
the younger Wellesley had driven Mas-
sena’s French columns off the field of
Fuentes-de-Onoro adding to the lau-
rels gained at Tnlavera and Busaco
Napoleon was beginning to wonder
at this Englishman The Little Corpo-
ral himself wus snarling at the Rus-
sian bear the White Czur was dis-
obeying his commands to starve the
trade of England by closing the ports
of the Continent ' England driven to
desperation was seizing American sea-
men on the pretext that they were
Englishmen and forcing them to serve
against the French and still the gov-
ernment at Washington kept up Its
endless attempts to stop these Insults
by words words words
The little group of Westerners un-
der the stars of the wilderness felt
themselves hopelessly remote from the
world of leadership their affairs
seemed petty and narrow David Lar-
rence alone gazing silently over the
broad prairies misty under the newly
risen moon and remembering the
crowded cities of his native England
suddenly saw how greut a prize the
ample lnnds would be to her and saw
as In a vision of what mighty stature
were these backwoodsmen who held
the land for America
The feeling of apprehension which
had been growing all summer seemed
to have reached an unendurable pitch
It was Inevitable that something should
happen ’
In the skies of early September a
comet gleamed a miraculous portent
But nothing happened
The men and women continued their
speculations as to Tecumseh’s where-
ubouts aud Intentions The inveuted
new theories each hour and every
other hour they turned old theories
over and over till they were thrend-
bare aud people got tired of hearing
them Tho children ran up and down
the lanes In thr twilight playing at
Indians until their mothers called
them Indoors with a shudder at the
thought of the nearness of the lurk-
ing savages who might turn those
shrieks of pretended fear Into shrieks
of actual terror
There seemed to be nothing to do
but wait
But at noon on the seventeenth of
September a serene and cloudless day
a backwoodsman passing through the
lanes of Vincennes pausing carelessly
to glance up at an eagle soaring into
the face of the sun uttered an ejacu-
lation A piece had been bitten out
of the sun’s edge he thought Little
by little the dark shadow gnawed Its
way Into the blazing disk and the
people stopped their tasks to gaze up-
ward at the growing eclipse The
simpler French Inhabitants chattered
In an agitation which was as nothing
however compared with the dismay of
the squalid Plankeshaw Indians who
dragged on their harmless wretched
existence In the village of tepees on
the edge of town By three o’clock
only u ring of light was visible the
center of the sun being-obscured by
a smoky disk which cast the earth Into
twilight darkness The Indian vil-
lagers cast themselves upon the
ground In abject fright and sacrificed
their dogs alive to appease the angry
Manltou
Half-blind Elkskatawa Prophet had
received the answer to his prayer
And Tecumseh the Crouching Cougar
was far to the south
CHAPTER XI
By Break of Day
Still the depredations of marauding
bands of Indians continued Horses
were stolen more than once a settler
at work In a field far from help was
surprised and murdered his body
found lying by his plow always bear-
ing a red scar upon the forehead In-
dignation ran higher and higher
David Larrence who had enlisted as
soon as he reached Vincennes drilled
daily with the grim frontiersmen He
had told himself that Corydon should
be wiped from his memory but In
spite of all bis mind could not blot
out the Image of a girl whose blue
eyes smiled above her smiling lips
could not forget the little cabin which
she hallowed with her grace the little
house on the edge of the woods lone-
ly pathetically exposed to the unseen
danger of the dark forest that over-
shadowed it
The sun that had been veiled at
midday of the seventeenth struggled
all the next day through gathering
clouds and sank among the shoulders
of gray giants David was walking In
the twilight toward the Jefferson
house when the sound of flying hoofs
thudding along the dirt lane the old
rue St Louis struck on his ear
He turned idly to see who rode so
furiously and as the horseman drew
rein and pulled the smoking steed to
Its haunches a cry of mutual recogni-
tion broke from both men
"Ike!”
But Blackford paused for no greet-
ing “The Indians — Tolnette 1"
He flung himself from his horse and
staggered with exhaustion His face
was as white as the lather of foam on
the heaving flanks of hts mount
"What?”
“They took her Inst night — at dark —
O’Bannon had left the house scarcely
an hour — God help him It struck him
like a palsy 1 Oh David we must save
her !”
"I will go” said David quietly His
lace had become suddenly aged with
siidering “Is It known what course
they took?”
"To the north" gnsped Ike “There
was not a rnuger in the country to
follow they are all here in Vincennes
with Spencer’s company but the
Frenchman Pierre Devnn followed
them and overtook them at their cuuip
thnt night There were eight of them
and he could do nothing but he
crawled close enough to hear their
tulk They are taking her to the
Prophet’s town at a creek cnlled Tip-
pecanoe She Is to be sold to the Brit-
ish at Maiden They will take the
trace on the east bank of the Wa-
bush” Ike tottered In sheer exhaustion
"You must rest” said David “I
shall start at daybreak”
But Blackford shook his bead
“I go with you David" he said sim-
ply The two young men gripped
hands In silence
They entered the tavern and David
begun to make his husty preparations
Benjamin Parke the Judge of the gen-
eral court an especial friend of Gov-
ernor Harrison sat at his dinner In
the tavern he heard tho story that
spread from lip to lip and setting
down his glass hastily be strode over
to the young men
“Do you actually Intend to follow
these Indians?” he demanded
“We shall Bet out at dawn" said Da-
vid Judge Parke looked at him In
amuzement
"Great God Larrence I” he ex-
claimed "this Is sheer madness I"
“I must ask you to procure my tem-
porary discharge from Captain Har-
grove’s company judge Parke” an
twered David quietly “Inasmuch ufl
the militia has not yet been ordered
Into active sendee—”
"I will do what I can with General
Harrison” assured the Judge hastily
"Gcd be with you"
The woodsmen who crowded about
them at the news warned them against
the quest To all objections they re-
turned the same disregard their duty
lay plain before them Those who
bade them goodby looked on them as
men going to certain death
It was an hour before sunrise but
the sky was paling with the light pre-
ceding dawn They drew deep breaths
and set off at a trot They went on at
a steady shuffle their eyes alert for
any signs their ears strained for any
sound At noon they stopped long
enough to eat a little of the smoked
venison in their packs then went on
at the same pace By night they had
covered more than thirty miles the'
Indians whom they pursued had prob-
ably made forty miles with no mors
difficulty than they had put behind
them twenty
The two knew that it was a losing
game If one factor was not taken
Into consideration — the probability
that sooner or later Tolnette’s captors
would consider themselves beyond the
possibility of pursuit wonld make
camp In the woods for two or three
days while they hanted game It was
on this off-chance that the two young
men hung doggedly to the chase
They dared not travel by night At
dark they made camp In a ravine
where their campfire would be tn
seen One of the two kept guard con-
stantly At dawn they were np again
made their breakfast of cold "Johnny-
cakes” tightened their belts and sei
off silent grim as hounds
So passed two days of the forlorn
chase In the afternoon the clouds
heaped up before a northerly wind
growing blacker and blacker hout
upon hour At nightfall the gals
broke The rain wrapped them la
gray garments of water drenching
them to the skin Instantly blinding
them with its resistless rush They
plunged wretchedly along through the
blinding downpour forcing their way
through the hollows Their deerskin
clothing hnd long ceased to be any
more than a sort of mere coheslvs
fluid Everything except the powder
In their bonis was water The world
was water And growing colder
It rained all night long The two
half-drowned men chilled to the bona
finally gave up all effort to find pro-
tection from the deluge and lay prone
In the grass with the flood rustling all
around them Their heads alone pil-
lowed on their arms were above the
sluicing streams Once or twice so
utter was their exhaustion they slept
It rained In showers In the morn-
ing There was no sun no opportu-
nity to dry their clothing They ate
a morsel of rain-soaked venison plod-
ded on and on through the dripping
wilderness in dogged silence too weary
to speak David turned once to look
at Ike and was startled at the sight
of Blackford’s drawn blue lips and the
suffering lines of his face When he
caught David's eyes on him Ike forced
n smile that shone through the pour-
lug rain
"Shouldn’t he surprised If It rains
before the dny Is over” he grinned
"I’m getting tired of this drought"
But the mortal weariness came back
to his face as David turned forward
again All through the day he forced
himself forward summoning every re-
serve of strength to compel his limbs
to persist In the relentless struggle on-
ward A sudden pnln shot through
his side almost making him cry out
Ills head began to feel strangely light
and his pulses throbbed In his ears
Ho wanted to cry out to David to stop
The rulu ceased and the breeze which
drove some early-yellowing leaves
downward was chilly but he burned
with a heat that made him dizzy
Finnlly he began to stagger from
side to side as he walked and then
with a pitiful tnnrtlculate moan which
David barely heard he pitched for-
ward and fainted
Do you think this Is tho end
for Blackford? What chance J
has David to rescue tho girl
’ with the vlck man on hs hand !
In the wilderness? '
!
TO Big CON VlNUED)
' Her Way
”1 hope” said the advocate of moral
uplift "that you do not rastlgate
your children as a means of develop-
ment" "No ma’am” said the practical
mother "I’m a-brlngin’ up of ’em by
hand”
What girl or woman hasn’t heard of
lemon juice to remove complexion
blemishes to bleach the skin and to
bring out the roses the freshness and
the hidden beauty? But lemon juice
alone Is acid therefore irritating and
should be mixed with orchard white
this way Strain through a fine cloth
the Juice of two fresh lemons Into a
bottle containing about three ounces
of orchard white then shake well and
yon have a whole quarter pint of skin
and complexion lotion at about the
cost one usually pays for a small Jar
of ordinary cold cream Be sure to
strain the lemon juice so no pulp gets
Into the bottle then this lotion will
remain pure and fresh for months
When applied dally to the face neck
arms and hands It should ' help to
bleach clear smoothen and beautify
the skin
Any druggist will supply three
ounces of orchard white at very little
cost and the grocer has the lemons
Adv
New Weather Word
The esteemed weather bureau has
sprung a new one It Is the word
“smog” and It means smoke or fog
The bureau explains that very fre-
quently there are times when the mix-
ture Is apparent In the atmosphere
and It considers the new word a great
little idea
Very well “smog” let It be But why
end there? Let’s call a mixture of
snow and mud "smug” a mixture of
snow and soot “snoot” and a mixture
of snow and hall "snail” Thns we
might have a weather forecast:
"Snail today turning to snoot to-
night tomorrow snoggy with smud”
— Builder’s Guide
SKIN-TORTURED BABIES
Sleep Mother Reet After Treatment
With Cutleura— Trial Free
Send today for free samples of Cutl-
cura Soap and Ointment and learn how
quickly they relieve itching burning
skin troubles and point to speedy heal-
ment of baby rashes eczema and Itch-
lngs Having cleared baby’s skin keep
it dear by using Cutlcnra exclusively
Free sample each by mall with Book
Address postcard Cutleura Dept L
Boston Sold everywhere — Adv
Up-to-Date Walls
A row of villas in suburbia were go-
ing up apace and when they were al-
most finished the builder and hts fore-
man made a tour of Inspection The
former left his assistant In one house
and went into the house adjoining
“Can you hear me?" called the build-
er tupping on the dividing wall
“Yes"
"Can you see me?"
"No”
The builder rejoined the foreman
beaming with satisfaction
"Now them's what you can call
walls!” he said
To Drive Out Malaria
And Build Up The System
Take the Old Standard GROVE’S
TASTELESS chill TONIC You know
what you are taking as the formula is
printed on every label showing it is
Quinine and Iron in a tasteless form The
Quinine drives out malaria the Iron
builds up the system 6o cent
The Egg in Transit
In all this economic discussion of
the egg In transit no humanitarian
has arisen to suggest thnt this distin-
guished citizen should be permitted to
travel hereafter In a lower berth—
Boston Transcript
DEATH LURK8 IN A WEAK HEART
so on first symptoms use “Renovlne"
and be cured Delay and pay the awful
penalty "Itenovlne” Is the heart’s
remedy Price $100 and 50c — Adv
Sure She Did Love Him
June — Did she love him much?
Tell — Why she married him In spit
of her parents’ urging! — Life
Adruco Liquid
Screw Worm Killer
kills the worm
and heals the wound— Adv
Hat Another Think Coming
The man who thinks he knows It all
generally marries a woman who
teaches him a lot more
There are 480 Irrigation companies
operating In the state of Grllfornln
When Your Eyes Need Care
Try Murine Eye Remedy
do Smarting - Just Sr Comfort M Mot S
B-nmlxta or mall Wrlta for Vroe Bra Book
L KIN KEYK BEklEBI CO CU1C AUO
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The Davis News (Davis, Okla.), Vol. 24, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 4, 1917, newspaper, October 4, 1917; Davis, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1712965/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.