Part 16 (1/2)
”After a lapse of tian to be alar their propertyback Several faone down the river were never heard of, and the losses becath, a cry of individual distress and general dise rewards were offered for the discovery of the perpetrators of such unparalleled crianized party of forty-five men, was the cause of such waste of blood and treasure; that he had a station at Hurricane Island to arrest every boat that passed by the ents at Natchez and New-Orleans, of presunoods to be stolen or obtained by the commission of murder
”The publicity of Wilson's transactions soon broke up his party; some dispersed, others were taken prisoners, and he himself was killed by one of his associates, as tempted by the reward offered for the head of the captain of the gang
”This cavern th and five in width; its entrance presents a width of eighty feet at its base and twenty-five feet high The interior walls are sh the whole length of its centre, the sides rising in stony grades, in the ent scrutiny of the walls, it is plainly discerned that the ancient inhabitants at a very remote period had made use of the cave as a house of deliberation and council The walls bear lyphics well executed, and some of them represent animals which have no resemblance to any non to natural history
”This cavern is a great natural curiosity, as it is connected with another still loomy, which is situated exactly above, united by an aperture of about fourteen feet, which, to ascend, is like passing up a chi after the dispersion and arrest of the robbers who had infested it, in the upper vault were found the skeletons of about sixty persons, who had beenof Wilson, as was supposed
”But the tokens of antiquity are still more curious and important than a description of the raved on the sides within, an account of which we proceed to give:
”The sun in different stages of rise and declension; theits tail, and representing an orb or circle; a viper; a vulture; buzzards tearing out the heart of a prostrate man; a panther held by the ears by a child; a crocodile; several trees and shrubs; a fox; a curious kind of hydra serpent; two doves; several bears; two scorpions; an eagle; an owl; soht_ representations of aniht are like the elephant in all respects except the tusk and the tail Two er; one a wild boar; another a sloth; and the last appears a creature of fancy, being a quadru alike before and behind, and in the act of conveying so to the mouth, which lay in the centre of the monster Besides these were several fine representations of men and women, _not naked_, but clothed; not as the Indians, but much in the costume of Greece and Roiven by Collins (_op cit_, in note 40), and is probably true
[42] Hurricane Island, four th The ”Wilson gang” for some time used this island for a seat of operation--ED
[43] Golconda is the seat of Pope County, Illinois See Woods's _English Prairie_, in our volume x, p 327, note 77
On or just before Christmas, 1806, Aaron Burr came down the cumberland River from Nashville and joined Blennerhasset, Davis Floyd, and others aiting for hiether they started on Burr's ill-fated expedition (December 28, 1806) Their united forces numbered only nine batteaux and sixty men See W F
McCaleb, _Aaron Burr's Conspiracy_ (New York, 1903), p 254 ff
For a short account of Paducah, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxii, p 203, note 110--ED
[44] It has since been nearly destroyed by fire--FLAGG
[45] On Fort Massac, see A Michaux's _Travels_, in our volume iii, p
73, note 139--ED
[46] Wilkinsonville, named for General James Wilkinson, was a small hamlet located on the site of the Fort Wilkinson of 1812, twenty-two miles above Cairo Two or three farm houses are today the sole relics of this place; see Thwaites, _On the Storied Ohio_, p 291
Caledonia is still a se in Pulaski County, Illinois Its post-office is Olmstead--ED
[47] For account of the attempt at settlements at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our voluden's _Letters_, our volulish Prairie_, our volume x, p 327, note 77
The scheme known as the ”Internal Iovernor's veto by the Illinois general assembly on February 27, 1837, in response to the popular clamor for its adoption The object was to open the country for i railroads and canals as yet not needed commercially Ten million two hundred thousand dollars were appropriated by the act, including two hundred thousand dollars to be given directly to the counties not favored Surveys were made, and speculation was rife Then followed a collapse, and six million five hundred thousand dollars were added to the state debt The scheme was later referred to as the General Insanity Bill--ED
[49] The English Island of 1836 is probably the Power's Island of today It is three , and forms a part of Scott County, Missouri, more than twenty miles above Cairo--ED
[50] Herbert--FLAGG
[51] For a sketch of Cape Girardeau, see A Michaux's _Travels_, in our volume iii, p 80, note 154--ED
[52] A superior quality of kaolin, or china clay, is e quantities in Cape Girardeau County Marble ninety-nine per cent pure, is procured in abundance--ED
[53] ”Muddy River,” usually called ”Big Muddy,” is the English translation of the French _Riviere au Vase_, or _Vaseux_ For in Jefferson County, Illinois, it flows in a southwesterly direction and empties into the Mississippi about twenty-five miles above Cape Girardeau It is one hundred and forty --ED
[54] Fountain Bluff is six 's descriptions are in the main accurate--ED