Thursday, September 24, 1897
TUESDAY morning, the ground was covered with frost. Ice a quarter of an inch thick was formed on water pails. The vegetation was frozen stiff, yet for some reason, it was not blasted. Most are of the opinion that this was due to the extreme dryness of the air.
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THE frost Wednesday morning completed what the frost of Tuesday began. We have frosts every fall, and in fact every month in the year at this altitude, so while some corn has been caught uncut, still we should congratulate ourselves that we have had a reasonably long season.
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FORTY squirrels were killed in one cornfield in the Levels in one day recently. It has ceased to be a laughing matter. One man reports that from a five-acre field, he doesn’t believe there will be gathered a hundred undamaged ears. In this town is a small hickory tree which has some nuts on it, and two squirrels were killed there Monday morning, right in the heart of the town, so to speak.
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NOW WHEN squirrels are so plentiful that many persons are killing them and not using them, a recipe for a squirrel ragout may be in order. Boil the squirrel until done. Let it cool. Strip the meat from the bones and stew with onions and either cooked or uncooked potatoes. Season to taste. Break dry bread in it and serve hot.
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SEVERAL months since, an old farmer and his wife, living in Indiana, were tortured by masked men by putting coals to their feet until they told where their money was kept. The farmers met quietly at the courthouse one court day and talked the matter over, and came to the conclusion that a certain gang had to be wiped out. The matter was judiciously kept a secret, and when five of the suspected gang were arrested last week for a fresh offense, the jail was entered by overwhelming numbers, and five men were taken to a tree, that had been selected months previously, and hung until dead. Their names were Bert Andrews, Cliff Gordan, Henry Shuter, Bill Jenkins and Lyle Levi…
The act is justified by the citizens to such an extent that no jury can be had to convict any one, even if it should clearly be ascertained who the lynchers were. Thieving and systematic robbery had become a business and the criminals had not been promptly dealt with is the plea. Governor Mount avows his purpose, however, to bring all the powers at his command, civil and military, to ferret out and punish the lynchers at all hazards. “No matter what the pretext is, men who take the enforcement of the law into their own hands and lynch men shall be punished in Indiana,” the governor most emphatically declares.
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IN New York there is a law against killing rabbits and squirrels. In Broome County, the rabbits have become a great pest. A farmer whose cabbage was being destroyed squirted poison on a portion of his cabbages and the next morning counted 228 rabbits sitting on their haunches dead. The question is now whether the game law was violated.
BIOGRAPHIC NOTES
The Brown relationship trace their ancestry to Joseph Brown. He was of Scotch-Irish stock. His wife was Hannah M’Afferty. They lived a few years in Bath County on the Bull Pasture, thence removed and settled on lands now owned by William C. Mann near Edray. Some fruit trees and a fine spring indicate the place where they lived, about three-fourths of a mile east of Mr. Mann’s residence.
Mr. Brown died a few years after settling here, but was survived by his widow for many years. She became suddenly blind and remained so for twenty years. She spent her time knitting and taught many of her granddaughters to knit. Among them was the late Mrs. Thomas Nicholas. Mrs. Nicholas would often tell how her grandmother would take her little hands into her own and put them through the motions until she learned to knit herself. A few years later, Mrs. Brown recovered her sight as quickly as she had lost it, and could count chickens and geese forty yards away.
The widow Brown’s daughters, Polly and Hannah, lived and died at the old home.
Rachel Brown was married to William Brock, and settled on the homestead.
Ann Brown became the wife of Jeremiah Friel, progenitor of the Friel relationship, and lived on the Greenbrier where Jasper Friel now lives.
Elizabeth married a Mr. McGuire, and lived in Nicholas…
Joseph Brown’s history is one of humble toil and self-sacrifice for the good of his family. In the course of his life, he endured great personal suffering and afflictions. He was bitten twice by rattlesnakes when in the ranges looking after his livestock. Once he was with his neighbor, the late William Sharp, who cared for him and helped him home. The second time he was alone, and it is believed he saved his life by putting his lips to the punctures and thus extracted the poison…
Sad and pathetic memories of his brother, John Brown, seemed to be ever haunting his mind, and the tears seemed to be ever ready to flow at the mention of his name.
In the War of 1812, Josiah Brown was drafted for service at Norfolk, Virginia. John Brown, a younger brother, being unmarried, volunteered in his brother’s place, and was accepted and was ordered to report for service at Warm Springs…
This is the last that was ever seen or heard of him by his brother Josiah’s family, as he never came back from the war. His remains are somewhere near Norfolk or perhaps most probably at Craney Island…