Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1891 — A DETERMINED WOMAN. [ARTICLE]

A DETERMINED WOMAN.

New York Weekly. In one of the back settlements of South Carolina, in the days which rendered the names of Marion and other heroes forever glorious in the annuls of their country, dwelt a brave and devoted family of patriots named Hart 1 Abijah and Abigail Hart were cancel y past the prime of life, although they had been blessed with a large family of children, only three of whom, however —two boys and a girl —had survived the common ills incident to childhood. The elder son would have been two and twenty bad his life been spared but, eight months before, he had fallen an innocent victimto the rage and ' malice of the tories. who swarmed in predatory bands througout this section. ** Upon these wretches, | who had thus wantonly deprived them of their Tides: born at a time when he might have been of-inestimable : service to them, tthe father and mother and only remaining son Silas, ,now in his ninteenth year—after the celebrated Indian fighter of Hardin county. Kentucky—swore to be revenged whenever and wherever an opportunity offered to wreak their vengeance, Leah, their second remaining offspring, was a beautiful and warmhearted maiden of 17, and the affianced bride of Randolph Darell, a brave young officer, at one time upon the staff of Gen. Marion. Young Darell was in the habit now and then, whenever he could make in excuse to obtain a furlough, of paying a visit to-Gum-Tree farm, the humble though comfortable home of the Barts. On one of these occasions a party of seven mounted tories pursued him nearly the entire distance from the American camp to the residence fifths Harts, he, however, contriving. to elude them in a piece of woods just before reaching the farm. An abrupt bend in the road had favored him, and the tory ranges, not dreaming of this adroit move on the part of the flying fugitive, dashed furiously on till they came to the farm-house, where they tumultuousiy demanded of Mrs. ffart, who was standing in the doorway, if she had leen a horseman pass by who wore the uniform of an American officer. , The woman shrewdly surmised who the officer might be who would be soming alone in that direction, and promptly inquired if the horse he rode was a sorrel one. To her seemngly careless question the tories promptly gave an affirmative reply. “Then he has rid into the swamp yonder, by a cart-path that leads on So the Beech-knoll road.” answered the quick-witted woman, with an admirable presence, of mind and an apparently cool indifference to the subject which carried instant conviction the minds of the tories, who again spurred on in supposed pursuit of the fugitive; but to their great disappointment the cart-road presently terminated in a bog, and on careful examination they discovered that no i>ther horse tracts had been left there out those of their own animals. “He must have taken to the thicket.” said the leader after fully satisfying his mind on thesubjoct. “There no use at all in beating the ground farther, for he has had ample time already to escape. We may as well make a virtue of necessity and go aack and see what is to be got of the (quint eyed old woman at the farmhouse mthe way of eatables. But isn’t she a big one in size, though?” “And uglier-looking than sin, a thunderin’ sight,” added one of the men. The tory horsemen now wheeled kbout and retraced their way to the farm house, which was only a short iistance, just as Randolph Darrell was on the point of emerging from the wood, but -luckily he discovered them in season to escape their notice by abruptly retreating back again under cover. Alighting once more at the door of the farm-house, the tory leader ordered Mrs. Hart to prepare dinner for the party, and bestir herself. “How can I give you dinner when I’ve nothing to cook?" retorted the resolute-looking woman, angrily. “I should need a full larder to satisfy a half-dozen such dirty rascals as you are.” , "Silence, woman!” thundered the tory in a commanding voice, “and do our bidding. I’ll soon give you something to cook," he added, leveling his carbine as he spoke, and bringing down a plump turkey-gobbler that was strutting along under cover of the garden wall. “There, now. go and p uck tnat fine fellow, my beauty, and don’t be long about it or we might be tempted to serve you in the same way.” Leah, who had shrunk timidly into a corner, started up in alarm "when she heard this threat, and made her way out to the spot where the bird had fallen. Randolph Darrell, alarmed at the shot, was just on the point of dashing out of h : s cover to go to the rescue of the females when he saw his affianced rush out and bear the turkey hastily to the house. In a moment he divined the cause bf the firing, and, riot apprehending tny immediate danger to his sweetheart so- long as the tories were only tnxious to appease their appetites, je went back to his cover. The quick eye of the’ tory leader cook in the graceful outlines of the Fair girl’s figure as she rushed from the house, and on her hasty return his brutal passions were instantly 3red by a single glance at her lovely, Anxious face. “By f.a beard sis King George!" -eexclaimaJ admiringly, “who'ould

’are hexpected to see such a hangel in petticoate 'ere. Come, my lass, • give us one kiss from that rosebud of a mouth.” “You dare lay your cowardly hand on my Leah,''' cried the enraged mother, doubling up her great, bony fist, “and I will -strangle you like a cur!” - ; ' ■ ;; ;’ - .; • 1 “Why you squint-eyed old beauty," retorted the tory mockingly, “I took you for a hangel, but I find that you are wickeder than a she wolf with whelps!” 1 The rest of the gang laughed boisterously at this weak attempt at wit. , Then turning to Leah with a gallant smile, the tory inquired how long it would take her to pluck and cook the fowl. , I Leah answered in a modest tone of womanly anxiety that it would require at least three hours to serve it ito their liking, “But,” she added, in a tone of conciliation, “we have a piece of roast pork and some cold potatoes and corn • cake in the pantry, if they will answer.” The hungry party, who had been some hours fasting, declared that the articles named were good enough and that they would forego turkey on this occasion for her sake. With alacrity but with anxiously beating heart Leah spread the homely board and brought forth the promised viands, which she laid out temptingly before them. She then placet! what chairs and stools the house afforded around the table and politely invited the unwelcome visitors to be seated. Complying with her invitation the tories carelessly stacked their carbines near an open window and seating themselves at the table fell to, greedily devouring the repast. Mrs. Hart in the meantime, with a heroism superior to her sex, had watched her hungry guests till she saw she was not observed by them, when she slipped out slyly from their midst, and noiselessly approaching the open window she succeeded in drawing out three of the carbines before her little game was discovered. The moment the tories perceived the deadly purpose of the giantess the th ree nearest the window sprang to their feet in terrified astonish inent. “Stand back!” she cried in a threatening tone, presenting one of the loaded carbines with an air of resolute determination. “The first villian of you that stirs a step I’ll shoot and the first one that touches another mite of that pork I’ll blow his brains out!” Without heeding her blazing eye or her stern verbal warning the tory leader sprang fearlessly toward the stack of arms, but before he could reach them there was a report of a carbine and the advancing ruffian fell to the floor, while the slug, which had passed entirely through his body, struck another in the temple, who was seated at the table, killing him instantly. A third, rendered desperate by the trying situation, made a reckless attempt to get possession of one of the carbines, and instantly paid the penalty with his life. Throwing the second empty carbine aside, Mrs. Hart caught up the third one, with which she now covered what remained of the terrified party. were but four left, and not one of the four dared to move a finger. “Leah, blow the dinner-horn!” cried the mother in a otone of resolute triumph. “It is safe now to call in Silar and your father." The young girl, half terrified out of her wits, promptly obeyed the maternal command, and a long, winding blast echoed and re-echoed through the intervening woods. She had left the house and joined her mother on the outside before she essayed to blow it, and as she lowered the horn from her lips, now rendered colorless from her recent fright, her anxious eyes were bent in the direction of the distant cornfield, where a father and brother and faithful negro servant were at work, although a naprow belt of timber stretched between them. She uttered a quick exclamation of i joyous pleasure, for at that moment ’ she saw all three strike out of the ! wood and start on a rapid run to the ihouse. | Hearing the first shot that had been fired, and then alarmed by the other two which had followed in such rapid succession, they caught up . their loaded carbines and started on a run from the field where they were then at work. | The moment they had quitted the : timber they saw at a glance by the ’ several horses hitched to the fence and the belligerent attitude of the i heroic giantess at the window pretty | nearly how matters stood at the house, and they all three sent up an encouraging shout to the women. Just al this point they heard the ringing sound of a horses hoofs in an opposite direction, and, turning suddenly, Leah beheld her lover dashing fifriously toward the house. This additional reinforcement, coming so opportunely yet s 6 unexpectedly, filled the heart Of the timid maiden with increased confidence. “Oh. mother!” she burst out excitedly, “Randolph is- coming—see! He is "just leaving the wood. Isn’t it lucky jor him to come just at this time when we had no reason to expect him. “I expected him," said Mrs. Hart, with quiet assurance, “I knew it was he the tories were in pursuit of. and I was determined to outwit them if it lay in the power of a woman to do it Every thing has (turned out for the best for had Lieut Darell ridden straight here instead of lingering in the woods as he did, he

would doubtless have been captured, and perhaps murdered’ before our eyes. So you see, my girl, the ways of providence are better than our ways, for they always turn out for the best in the end. In another moment Randolph Darell had alighted at their side, and in the next the blushing and happy Leah was enfolded in his manly embrace. While the lovers wfera, thus preoccupied Abijah, Silas and the negro arrived, fearfully excited afid wholly out of breath. Silas recovered first and was about to shoot down one of the tories, when his mother resolutdly interfered. “Don’t shoot them! Leave them to me, Silas. I will meet out their punishment to them. We haven’t forgot Ejjen’s murder’"yet, and shooting is to good for them. We will just hang them like a pack of dogs, the whole cowardly kit of t&em. Get the clothes line, Leah; we can afford to cut it on such a ,righteous arid heaven-sent Randolph shuddered, for he understood the determined character of the woman and knew that sh'e would not be long in putting her terrible threat into execution. Nor, indeed, was she; for within the ensuing hour in spite of their prayers and protestations, the bodies of four tories went dangling from the nearest tree. And thus at the hand of a resolute and heroic mother was the death of a beloved son simply and satisfactorily avenged. * After the tories had hung a sufficient time they were cut down and tumbled indiscriminately with the other three into one common grave. Shortly after this event Leah and Randolph Darell were hapily united in wedlock, and soon after the close of our glorious revolution the whole family emigrated to Hardin county, Kentucky, where they could have, as Mrs. Hart expressed it, more “elbowroom,” if less civilization.