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Theresa, Sept. 21
When it was discovered that Robert Sixberry, hunter and trapper, had burned his foot and leg very badly while alone in his home in Dutch Settlement, there was a hurried call for a doctor. A young man was put on a horse and told to go with all speed to Watertown and secure a doctor who could amputate the leg at once, if need be.
When Mr. Sixberry could reason out and recall the evening before in his home, he told how he had come in from a hunting trip cold and tired. He had started a roaring fire and taken several helpings from his little brown jug to refresh him so he could do his evening's work and get his supper. He had dropped down from to rest from the day's tramping, he reported, and placed his feet to the fire. He must have miscalculated the distance and went to sleep too near the blaze so that his boot caught fire.
When the doctor arrived, driving by horse and buggy from Watertown to the Sixberry home, it was found to be a young man who had but recently opened his office in the city. His name was Dr. Grafton and he was sure he could give proper aid to the suffering man. He advised amputation at once, taking his leg off just below the knee. He wondered if the elderly man could withstand such an operation and got a response at once from Mr. Sixberry to go ahead and be quick about it. He would take nothing and said he would hold his own leg while the doctor worked. And sure enough he did, flinching only when the saw got into the nerves in the center of the bone. When the operation was over and the young doctor was about to leave, he paused to see if his patient was exhausted and found the old gentleman ready to talk and joke.
"You did first rate, Doc," he said. "You did first rate and I am sure I will come on fine now."
The doctor thanked him for his kind words and again started out of the door when Sixberry called him back.
"I was thinking, doctor," he said, "that maybe I ought to tell you to get that saw filed a little before you do much more cutting. I thought there was one or two teeth in it that sort of dragged a little when you was working on me. Better get it sharpened."
Gets Wooden Leg.
It was surprising how quickly the leg healed and soon Sixberry was about with a wooden leg and just as active and ready as ever to go on the hunting trips. The older people of the present generation who can remember Sixberry at all, remember him always with the wooden leg with which he got about as if he always had such an outfit.
Soon after this mishap in the fireplace which resulted in the loss of his leg, Sixberry laid aside his little brown jug, never to return to it. "Tall Charlie" Sixberry tells that the old gentleman in his early days used to make his own products, but when the government made a close watch of such manufacturers the old man gave up its use with the putting aside of the making of the whiskey. Robert Sixberry claimed that the new product was not up in quality with the old, home made kind and he would have nothing to do with the new and poisoned stuff.
Young and Old in Company
After Robert Sixberry had passed the active years of his life and was nearing the centurey mark of his age, "Tall Charlie", then a mere youngster, used to cross the road about every day and sit down with his great grandfather and listen to his many stories.These daily stories continued until near the day of the elderly man's death, and "Tall Charlie" often says that if he had only given more attention to the stories told by the pioneer of days before and after the coming of the white man in the north, he would have a basket full of stories. Like every elderly person, Sixberry beagn to relive the past and his stories were much of the days of the old hunters and the coming of the pioneer.
That the section in northern Jefferson county had some skilled and famous hunters there can be no doubt. Sixberry himself was one and a sure-kill shot. "Tall Charlie" tells how his parent had allowed him the use of a gun when he was very young and how he took time off day after day to perfect his markmanship so as to show off to his great grandfather and hear the admiration of the old man. It was at a time when the old man was past 105 years that "Tall Charlie" the boy went over to tell the old man that he, too, was a hunter now. He could shoot and hit a bullseye and would like to do a little shooting with the aged man.
Robert Sixberry was willing and delighted. He got a piece of paper, made a target and told the boy to get his gun and shoot. Carefully the boy got down to a saw-buck standing near, rested the gun upon it, took long and carefull aim and fired. The old man hurried down on his wooden leg to see how near the boy had come to the center. The shot had entered near the edge but the old man called it a good shot and complimented the boy. Going into his home he brought out his old flint lock, loaded it, and pulled up with easy aim and no rest and fired. Very near the center the shot had entered. The old man continued the shooting with a little talk on the manner of his shooting. He told how, if in going though the woods when a youth he saw a deer, bear or wolf, he could hardly take time to go and look up a saw-buck to rest his gun upon. He must aim and shoot quickly and so the boy began to learn to shoot in that manner.
Some Famous Hunters
In his talk and story telling with the boy Sixberry name some famous hunters he used to hunt with in his younger days and considered them real heroes. At least they were expert hunters. One was Gilman Vrooman, one of the first to hunt in and around Vrooman Lake. (Vrooman Lake is now known as Payne's Lake). On some of these hunting trips, Vrooman and Sixberry would hunt in company and camp together. And the stories that were told of these happy days would make a small book. A very honorable man and early pioneer was the opinion of Sixberry of Vrooman.
Another hunter was "old man Adams" who hunted mostly around Perch Lake, not so far across the forest from Sixberry's home. "Old Adams" as he was always called, frequently got over on the Indian river and the lakes in that section and he and Sixberry would be out days at a time and always with success. Sixberry stated that the Adams potato of early days was named from the old hunter.
Still another hunter who won much favor with Sixberry was Jarius Rich. He was among the first to hunt and trap after Sixberry came into the woods to live. Rich hunted and trapped much about Hyde, Clear, Crystal and other lakes of that region. Sixberry often repeated the story to the youth of Jarius Rich's adventure with the panther. It is the story that was told and retold by many a pioneer in the family circle in the dusk of the evening as the family sat about the lighted fire in the fireplace. Maybe there would come through the stillness of the night the far-away scream of the panther which would start the parent on the story that ended in the children hurrying to bed and covering their heads, lest the beast come and get them. The fact that Rich came off victor in his hand-to-hand struggle with the wild beast did not lessen the fear of the children who heard the story. Sixberry thought him a great hunter.
And soon came the time of Sixberry's last, brief illness. "Tall Charlie" remembers it well.
(To be concluded.) |
