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these bloody deeds, was not wreaked on the helpless companions of the perpetrators.

A person named Meason, was also conspicuous in the early history of this region, as an audacious depredator. At that period, vast regions along the shores of the Ohio and Mississippi were still unsettled, through which, boats navigating those rivers, must necessarily pass; and the traders, who, after selling their produce at New Orleans, attempted to return by land, had to cross immense tracts of country totally destitute of inhabitants. Meason, who was a man above the ordinary stamp, in talents, manners, and stature, was both a land and a water pirate, infesting the rivers and the woods, seldom committing murder, but robbing all who fell in his way. Sometimes he plundered the descending boats; but more frequently he allowed these to pass, preferring to plunder the owners of their money as they returned; and pleasantly remarking, that "these people were taking produce to market for him."

At a later period, the celebrated counterfeiter, Sturdevant, fixed his residence on the shore of the Ohio, in Illinois; and for several years set the laws at defiance. He was a man of talent and address. He was possessed of much mechanical genius, was an expert artist, and was skilled in some of the sciences. As an engraver, he was said to have few superiors; and he excelled in some other branches of art. For several years, he resided at a secluded spot in Illinois, where all his immediate neighbors were his confederates, or persons whose friendship he had conciliated. He could, at any time, by the

blowing of a horn, summon from fifty to a hundred armed men to his defence; while the few quiet farmers around, who lived near enough to get their feelings enlisted, and who were really not at all implicated in his crimes, rejoiced in the impunity with which he practised his schemes. He was a grave, quiet, inoffensive man in his manners, who commanded the obedience of his comrades and the respect of his neighbors. He had a very excellent farm; his house was one of the best in the country; his domestic arrangements were liberal and well ordered. Yet this man was the most notorious counterfeiter that ever infested our country, and carried on his nefarious art to an extent which no other person has ever attempted. His confederates were scattered over the whole western country, receiving through regular channels of intercourse, their supplies of counterfeit bank notes, for which they paid him a stipulated price-sixteen dollars in cash for a hundred dollars in counterfeit bills. His security arose, partly from his caution in not allowing his subordinates to pass a counterfeit bill, or do any other unlawful act in the state in which he lived, and in his obliging them to be especially careful of their deportment in the county of his residence; measures which effectually protected him from the civil authority; for although all the counterfeit bank notes, with which a vast region was inundated, were made in his house, that fact could never be proved by legal evidence. But he secured himself further, by having a band of his lawless dependents settled around him, who were ready at all times to fight in his defence;

and by his conciliatory conduct, which prevented his having any violent enemies, and even enlisted the sympathies of many reputable people in his favor. But he became a great nuisance, from the immense quantity of spurious paper which he threw into circulation; and although he never committed any acts of violence himself, and is not known to have sanctioned any, the unprincipled felons by whom he was surrounded, were guilty of many acts of desperate atrocity; and Studevant, though he escaped the arm of the law, was at last, with all his confederates, driven from the country by the enraged people, who rose, almost in mass, to rid themselves of one, whose presence they had long considered an evil as well as a disgrace.

Among the early settlers, there was a way of trying causes, which may, perhaps, be new to some of my readers. No commentator has taken any notice of Linch's law, which was once the lex loci of the frontiers. Its operation was as follows: When a horse-thief, a counterfeiter, or any other desperate vagabond, infested a neighborhood, evading justice by cunning, or by a strong arm, or by the number of his confederates, the citizens formed themselves into a "regulating company," a kind of holy brotherhood, whose duty it was to purge the community of its unruly members. Mounted, armed, and commanded by a leader, they proceeded to arrest such notorious offenders as were deemed fit subjects of exemplary justice; their operations were generally carried on in the night. Squire Birch, who was personated by one of the party, established his tribunal under a tree

in the woods; the culprit was brought before him, tried, and generally convicted; he was then tied to a tree, lashed without mercy, and ordered to leave the country within a given time, under pain of a second visitation. It seldom happened, that more than one or two were thus punished; their confederates took the hint and fled, or were admonished to quit the neighborhood. Neither the justice nor the policy of this practice can be defended; but it was often resorted to from necesity, and its operation was salutary, in ridding the country of miscreants whom the law was not strong enough to punish. It was liable to abuse, and was sometimes abused; but in general, it was conducted with moderation, and only exerted upon the basest and most lawless men. Sometimes the sufferers resorted to courts of justice for remuneration, and there have been instances of heavy damages being recovered of the regulators. Whenever a county became strong enough to enforce the laws, these high-handed doings ceased to be tolerated.

CHAPTER XII.

THE CHARACTER OF THE PIONEERS.

Ar the close of the revolution, the state of Virginia rewarded her military officers, by donations of land, in the then district of Kentucky. Many of these gentlemen, with others, who, at the close of the war, found themselves without employment, emigrated to that country, carrying with them the courage, skill, and lofty notions incident to military command. They became the leaders in the Indian wars; and as bravery is necessarily held in the highest estimation among people who are exposed to danger, they soon became the popular men of the country, and filled many of the civil offices. A number of these gentlemen had been active and distinguished soldiers, who had reaped the laurels of successful valor, and earned the gratitude of their country; while they were, at the same time, men of education and refinement. They had all the high tone of Virginia feeling, together with the military pride and the knowledge of the world, acquired in several years of service. Seldom has a new community enjoyed the rare advantage of numbering among the founders of her institutions, men in whom were united such rare and happy endowments. They had the polish and elegance of gentlemen, with the mus‐ cular strength and courage of the backwoodsman. They were accustomed to war and to all the athletic exercises of the forest. They rode well and wielded

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