be worthy of
remark that all the country for forty miles around where these banditti
have taken possession belongs to the United States. For the convenience
of travelers, a new road has been made through this country, instead of
going by Shawneetown, and those villains have posted themselves along
the road under the name of tavernkeepers, watching for their prey
whenever it may pass. Indeed, I conceive it impossible for any man who
has cash enough to make him worth killing to travel this road alone.
Called to see Gatewood, the first man on the list of cutthroats. He was
from home. Saw his wife, a handsome, young dejected-looking woman, who
appeared very uneasy at her husband's being inquired for by a man almost
as well armed and not much out of the style of Robinson Crusoe. Saw a
bloody cravat on the end of the log of which his house was built. We
intend to call and see the balance of the fraternity out of curiosity.
Traveled over prairies just burned and through woods on fire. Smoke and
dust, together with the want of water, almost produced suffocation,
families sending miles for water to drink. The prairies extend for
miles, indeed, as far as the eye can reach, level as a plank floor. The
soil generally is a bed of manure, the land uncultivated and without any
person to claim it. The few inhabitants found in this part of the
country are impolite, lazy and disobliging. Passed many families
traveling to the west, and met a few bound to the east. There has been
no rain in this part of the country for near seven months. Many of the
farmers have lost stock in consequence of the drought. A few years ago
this part of Illinois was inhabited only by the rude and uncivilized
savage. The scalping knife and tomahawk, graced their bark dwellings and
were often used in the most inhuman manner. The murdering of women and
children whom they viewed as their enemies was not an uncommon
occurrence. But who could have believed that when the red men of the
forest had retired from this beautiful country their places would have
been supplied by persons whose characters would be softened by the
appellation of savage--penitentiary outcasts and murderers? Who could
believe that a human being could be so depraved as to fall upon a
defenseless and unoffending traveler and murder him under the pretence
of sheltering him from the storm and giving him a hearty welcome at his
table? Who could believe that even devils in human shape could cut the
thro