Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1892 — Page 8 Advertisements Column 1 [ADVERTISEMENT]

limijsgi IR.WAYS WESraHEgES * V»tt Ihieago^ fen^ianplistT eiiwinaati- * LouisviileSS^S^^^ PULL MAN SLEEPING CARS ELEGANT PARLOR CARS ILLTRAINS BON THROUGH SOLID Tickets Seed and Baggage Cheeked to Destination. frm*t Mr*" and Time Tables it you war.t to be gun folly ktftonaed—all Ticket Agents at Coupon •ta&ons Lave them—or address

• A BAD COUNTRY. Kotnd for Being the Birthplace of Foil Bobber banco All 1b not quiet as yet inCo oyvilh, Kan., ao,d vicinity, where the ftunouDalton gang was exterui ua ed re ent.v. The looality is surra.uded by toughs who seem to be seeking revenge i r the billing of the robbers, ihe end of this desperate gang recalls the famous rni . of the James and Younger boys into Northville, Minn., yean- ago. Then the people were aroused .'n time and the ro - hers were deieated, uut the bloodshed was not so gTeat. The “Cracker-Neck” region, which lies on the north side of th Missouri Kiver in Missouri, near the Kansas line, is notorious for having be' n tin birthplace of the Jameses, i ouugers, and Daltons, ail of whom were related to one another. From this region, to . came the Ford boys, who liually compassed the death of -'esse James. The "Cracker-Neck” regon is beautiful enough by nature. I. is ono of th se regions where “every prospect please-, an i only man is vile. “ It has been ion : settled, though not cultivated with mueh skill, and is a land pink with p. ach-blossoms in the season. But the people, at least a great proportion of them, have not ' hanged mm h since they came from the Carolines. Tney are not much addicted to newspaper reading, hate Northerners, and like a good horse ridden by a desperado. After -Jesse James had been killed by Bob Ford and his body lay in state in St. Joseph. Mo., the “ Cracker-Neck' people came to view the body. They gazed sullenly at all that was mortal of the famous desperado, and as sullenly turned away. They did not believe in killing train and bank robbers. Frank James is in Kansas City, and his eldest son —if he have more than one is not now borne in mind—is a decent young fellow enough. The skulking, murderous lot.who were i rotocted for so long by one class in Missouri and portions of the South are practically exterminated.

Was It l)e Soto’s Skeleton? I believe that I helped to bury Don Fernando de Soto, says a native Louisianian. In 1853 I was living in Baton Kouge, and in company with a couple cf other young men, named Davis an 1 Hurin, went up the river on a hunting expedition. We went up above the present site of Port Hudson, where thriver makes a sharp bend to the west . There had been a big rise in the river c month before—one of the greatest over known. We landed on a lot of rubbish that, had been swept down by the river, and used some of it to cook our supper. Hurin sat down on an old log that appeared to have been washed up from tbcbottom of the stream, and tapped on it with a hatchet. It gave out a hollow sound, and he began to chip into i;. The wood was soft and spongy, and It soon cut through the outer crust, an i, putting his hand inside, drew forrii ;c msty sword. We quickly demolish ’d the log and found it to contain a helmet badly corroded, and a human skeleton, that of a man, apparently six feet tali. On one of the bony lingers was a laire seal ring, and about the neck w,s :• s all chain, to which was suspende ; bronze crucifix. We carried the skeleton inland a quinter of a mile and buried It on a lit: i knoll between two large live oak trees. Hurin kept the sword and Davis appropriated the crucifix. It is said that Di .Soto’s body was incased in u hollow tree and sunk in. the Mississippi iliver in 1542. Whether the skeleton we found was his or not I do not know, but it had every appearance of having lain in the river for centuries.

Barbecues of Karly Bay*. The barbecue of to-day bears li.tl resemblance to the outdoor love-least of half a century ago. In tho e days they were not such monster gatherings, were more orderly and had a distinct political end. There were no sideshows to distract the attention of the crowd, no noisy fakirs to disturb the speakers, and no such confusion and general cussedness as distinguish the general character of to-day’s gatherings. In early days it was much different. Then the barbecues were given by both parties in every county in the .State. There were no great crowds, for there were no railroads to bring ibem. The farmers drove in with their .families, for miles around, and in those days a crowd of 1,500 or 2,000 was a bin one. The farmers chipped in and contributed the beeves, the sheep and the hard cider; the county committee took charge of the arrangements, and when the feast was on there was nothin e thought of or discussed but politics. After the provender had disappeared eagle the speaking. There was only one stand and usually only one or two distinguished speakers from abroad. Home talent supplied the rest. Everything was quiet and orderly, and y sundown the grounds wore deserted an the happy farmers were driving h ;; ftw with oethuaiaem end hard elder