Sketcher. CHARMED WHITE DEER.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1613, 4 November 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sketcher. CHARMED WHITE DEER.

A LOVE BTORY OF THE INDIANS WHO LIVED IN THE DELAWARE VALLEY. One of the popular superstitions of the hunters of Pike county is that the killing of a white deer will inevitably be followed by evil results to the one who foes the fatal shot. It is singular how deep the belief in this .superstition is rooted, not only in the minds of the uneducated backwoodsmen, but among residents of the highest intelligence. The Indian tribes that once inhabited the Delaware Valley believed that white deer, which were very rare, were protected by a charm, and that their lives were sacred. There is a legend that a young Indian loved the daughter of his chief, and sought her as the Queen of his wigwam. The Indian maiden returned his love. Her lover was one of the bravest of braves, and the hero of many a battle. He was a leader among the young men of the tribe, and more popular than the chief. The latter was jealous of the warrior, and, though hating him bitterly, feared the consequences of having him removed from his path. The great love of the young brave, for the daughter of the chief, was seized upon by the latter, as a probable means of destroying his rival in the affections of the tribe, The chief gave his consent to the wedding of the pair, on one condition. This was, that the young warrior should bring to the wigwam of his chief, the dead body of a white deer as an offering. The lover, believing this to be a delicate but emphatic rejection of his suit, returned without hope to his wigwam — for was it not as "easy to pierce the hunter's moon with an arrow, as to send a fatal shot within a white deer's heart ? But, one day, the chief summoned the warrior to his presence. The sorcerer of the tribe, an aged Indian, to whom all the mysteries of nature were deemed by the tribe to be as an open book, was with the chief. The sorcerer handed the young brave an arrow tipped with a silver head, and told him that if he was courageous enough to slay a white deer, the silver arrow would break the charm of its life and lay it dead at his feet. The warrior grasped the arrow, and declared that he was eager to show his love for the Indian maiden by firing the charmed arrow and offering the dead white deer at the wigwam of his chief. High on the hills overlooking the Valley of the Lackawaxen is a lake as clear as crystal. In the Indians days, as now, it was a favourite resort for deer. The young Indian launched his birch canoe on the waters of the lake, and anxiously awaited the coming of deer at nightfall, hoping that among them might be one of the charmed members of the herd. His hopes were realised. Just as the last rays of the sun were glinting the surface of the lake, five deer stole from the wood and stood knee-deep in the cold waters. Among them was a pure white deer. Quick as a lightning flash the silver-tipped arrow leaped from his bow. It gleamed for an instant in the air, and then sank into the white deer's heart. With a cry that resounded far among the hills the white deer fell dead, and its companions fled in terror to the wood. While the deathcry of the white deer was echoing about the^ lake the young brave's arms fell powerless to his sides. His tongue refused to give voice. For days he drifted upon the lake. No succour came. He was powerless to end his sufferings by throwing himself in the lake. His dead and wasted body was found upright in the canoe by members of his tribe, after two " moons " had passed. But other misfortunes followed the white deer's death. At sunset on the day the young brave fired the fatal arrow, the chief was found dead in his wigwam. An arrow projected from his breast. It was taken from his heart. It's tip was silver. The sorcerer was never seen again. The maiden, when her dead lover was found, leaped into the lake and found a grave beneath its waters. The tribe was never after able to cope with its enemies in battle, and was gradually destroyed. The lake is known to this day as White Deer Lake. The superstition as to the white deer, no doubt, was received from the Indians by the early white settlers of the valley, and has been preserved by their descendants. Among those who believe in the fatality that attends the killing^of a white deer is the Hon. William Weatfall of Lackawaxen. He was formerly Associate Judge of Pike county, and is the present representative of the county in the Legislature. Mr. Westfall disclaims being in any way superstitious, but relates several instances that have come under his personal observation^ He says he never knew of more than three white deer being in the vicinity of this place, and two of them were killed. White deer are always does. What freak of 'nature makes them white he does not know. The first white deer was killed in Lackawaxen many years ago by a hunter named James Van Gorden. This deer had roamed the ridges for years, and the superstition had protected her. She was often seen, and was " as white as the driven snow." Van Gorden did 'not believe that so valuable a lot of venison should be allowed to waste, and, not sharing in the popular feeling in favor of white deer, determined to bring her down. He hunted the deer season after season. He obtained many shots at her, but without effect. Then he made up his mind to try the charm alleged to be in the firing of a silver bullet. He moulded a bullet out of silver, and with his rifle loaded with it, started on the white deer's trail. He came upon her as she was feeding, and sent the silver crashing into her. heart. He killed the white deer, but, says Judge Westfall, it was his last shot. A wasting disease attacked him, and not long afterwards he died. The second white deer remembered by Judge Westfall was killed by a hunter named Moses Brink. He was hunting in company with Alamanzor Griswold, a well-known resident of the valley, and a Commissioner of the county, and with Judge Westfall. Brink was heard to fire. The other hunters joined him. He said he had shot at a deer as it ran by him. The party walked on in the direction indicated, and a few steps away found a'wbite deer dead. Brink declared it was not the deer he fired at, but it was evident that he must have done so. A few steps further on another deer of a grayish, color was found. It had been killed with the same bullet that had killed the white deer, being directly in range. The Judge says that not one of the party was able to kill a deer afterward, "although each had been a successful hunter before/ Brink, at the time, was 'one of f the>most Hardy and "healthy of "men; but'he died ■of consumption atJew xnopths ■ after* wards. '"» Commissioner Griswold was subie-' quently killed by a load of- stonewalling upori him. l•' " < < V- \ " >:! "' ,/ £'',* ' "The -third white eleerj" says ; thVJudge,'. '" was ne r ver,killed to, my knowledge. '^I'fo&'nd* the deer 'onV'iMrrdngi qri <a' fayiquiiiiej'ffedilig-. grounds Km. rioffipShy.;\?itli<%' Jptlr^roiiged/ buck. '■ She'wap as r largefas ( a;^wo-yeafipld' 'colt, and' ! her earrwere 'asflonglaa'ainme's., I The jdeer^ waet/'not - oy,er^ten^sag*: aWay/ "$& bucfcWfoi;th&'nei^ ! at'the^uok,%uV6h»n^

she finally disappeared. After iriy Experience, with her, I sold-my fayourite'tnfty'ifcjje companion of years, and purchased a more costly one. But luck was against me. I had scores of the' finest shots a hunter could wish for, but I could never kill another } deer.' I gave my gun away,' and have not been in; the woods for years'. I know lam not superstitious, but I would not fire aJEatal shot at a' white* deer, for the entire gold* fields' 1 of California." The white deer which was proof against Judge WestfalPs bullets may have been the ono which had no charm .against the pirn of Hornbeck, Shimer and his companions,' Bevans and Frank, in 1872. Shimer was a native of the Lackawaxen Valley. He made a fortune during the war*. He had, for some 1 time been proprietor, in the Exchange Hotel in Wilkesbarre, Pa., and was a well-known politician and sportsman. In the above year, Lyman A. Bevans was a prosperous merchant of Port Jervis, N.Y. Henry Frank was a leading business man of 'the coal regions. In the fall of 1872 the three were camped in the mountains, a few miles back of Lackawaxen, deer hunting. They started a white deer, and all three succeeded in getting a shot at it and killed it. El luck attended every one of the party afterward. Shimer became an invalid, and died a miserable death two or three years afterward. His affairs were badly involved, and his property j dissipated. Henry Frank failed in business in 1875, and died of small-pox. Bevans became a bankrupt in 1878, and last fall committed suicide in an out house of his residence in Port Jervis by blowing his brains out. These misfortunes wonld have, no doubt, overtaken the men if they had not flown in the face of superstition, but it would be impossible to make the old-time Pike county hunter believe that they were not directly due to the killing of the white deer on the Shohola hills. — Lackawaxen Perm., Con. New York Times,