Last Monday two boys and a little girl, children of a gentleman by the name of DAVIS, who resides about 7 miles south of this place, on the waters of Spring Creek, and near where J. D. USSERY, esq., is erecting a large mill, went out into the bottom for the purpose of gathering muscadines. The evening was as beautiful and calm as the children were joyous and happy.
While wandering through the low grounds that skirt the creek, they found a somewhat stunted bush that contained a number of delicious fruit that they had been seeking. Gaily they talked and laughed, never dreaming for a moment that an awful scene was soon to be enacted. Not far from the spot where the children were standing, a large dead tree loomed up over the surrounding undergrowth of various kinds.
Without any apparent cause, for the air was still and the sun was shining as bright as it ever did in Indian summer, the old tree fell to the ground with a terrible crash. In its fall it struck one of the boys, a smart, intelligent youth of eleven years and literally mashed him to pieces. The poor little fellow’s heart was forced from his breast and his body so mutilated that fragments of the dead timber were intermixed with his quivering flesh. The little girl had her face badly hurt and was otherwise injured. The third child received no injury whatever, save the effects of the concussion occasioned by the fall of the tree.
The scene must have been terrible to behold. One body crushed to atoms, on lacerated and bleeding, the other almost stupefied with horror and dismay. We sincerely hope that we will never have to record anything of this kind again, for while we were penning the facts above, as they were given to us by a highly responsible gentleman, an undefinable feeling of sickness pervaded us; we could not but think of the desolated home, weeping parents and mourning relatives, the stilled voice of the unfortunate youth and the painful wounds of the little girl. Although strangers to us, the grieved family have our sincere smypathy as well as that of this entire community.
The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.), 19 Oct. 1867, Page 3. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
