Blue-grass and Rhododendron: Out-doors in Old Kentucky

The Red Fox of the Mountains

The Red Fox of the Mountains I f ! The Red Fox of the Mountains T HE Red Fox of the Mountains was going to be hanged. Being a preacher, as well as herbdoctor , revenue-officer, detective, crank, and assassin, he was going to preach his own funeral sermon on the Sunday before the day set for his passing. He was going to wear a suit of white and a death-cap of white, both made of damask tablecloth by his little old wife, and both emblems of the purple and fine linen that he was to put on above. Moreover, he would have his body kept unburied for three days-saying that, on the third day, he would arise and go about preaching. How he reconciled such a dual life at one and the same time, over and under the stars, was known only to his twisted brain, and is no concern of mine-I state the facts. But had such a life been possible, it would have been quite consistent with the Red Fox's strange dual way on earth. For, on Sundays he preached the Word; other days, he was a walking arsenal, with a huge 50 x 75 Winchester over one 259 Blue-grass and Rhododendron shoulder, two belts of gleaming cartridges about his waist, and a great pistol swung to either hip. In the woods, he would wear moccasins with the heels forward , so that no man could tell which way he had gone. You might be walking along a lonely path in the mountains and the Red Fox-or" old Doc "-as he was usually called, would step mysteriously from the bushes at your side, ask a few questions and, a few hundred yards farther, would disappear again-to be heard of again-a few hours later-at some incredible distance away. Credited thus with superhuman powers of locomotion and wearing those mysterious moccasins -and, as a tribute to his infernal shrewdnesshe came to be known, by and by, as " The Red Fox of the Mountains." Sometimes he would even carry a huge spy-glass, five feet long, with which he watched his enemies from the mountain-tops. When he had " located" them, he would slip down and take a pot shot at them. And yet, day or night, he would, as " yarb-doctor," walk a dozen miles to see a sick friend, and charge not a cent for his services. And day and night he would dream dreams and have visions and talk his faith by the hour. One other dark deed had been laid to his door-unproven-but now, caught in his own toils, at last, the Red Fox was going to be hanged. 260 The Red Fox of the Mountains The scene of that death-sentence was a strange one. The town was a little mountain-village-a county-seat -down in. the southwestern corner of Virginia, and not far from the Kentucky line. The court-house was of brick, but rudely built. The court-room was crowded and still, and the Judge shifted uneasily in his chair-for it was his first death-sentence-and leaned forward on his elbowsspeaking slowly: "Have you anything to say whereby sentence of death should not be pronounced on you? " The Red Fox rose calmly, shifted his white tie, cleared his throat, and stood a moment, steady and silent, with his strange dual character showing in his face-kindness and benevolence on one side, a wolfish snarl on the other, and both plain to any eye that looked. " No," he said, clearly, " but I have one friend here who I would like to speak for me." Again the Judge shifted in his chair. He looked at the little old woman who sat near, in black-wife to the Red Fox and mother of his children. "vVhy," he said, "why-yes-but who is your friend? " "Jesus Christ! " said the Red Fox, sharply. The whole house shivered, and the Judge reverently bowed his head. 26r Blue-grass and Rhododendron Only a few months before, I had seen the Red Fox in that same court-room. But, then, he had a huge pistol in each hand and bore himself like a conqueror, as he guarded his old enemy, Talton Hall, to and fro from court-house to jail, and stood over him...