A GRAVE IN THE FOREST. 237 



water but once, the whole distance, and then only 

 to pass over some five hundred yards. 



Near the foot of the first lake, (or last in the 

 route,) is "murderer's point," where a white man, 

 some ten years since, shot an Indian. The latter, 

 who was trapping around these waters, in some way 

 gave offence to the white hunter, whose name was 

 Johnson. A quarrel ensued, and the Indian was 

 killed. Whether the murder was committed in the 

 heat of a sudden fight, or in cold blood, is not known 

 — the forest alone witnessed the bloody transaction : 

 yet there, on the shore of that lonely river, sleeps the 

 poor savage. A simple wooden cross, erected by some 

 of his tribe, stands over the grave, awakening sad 

 emotions in the breast of the wanderer. If it were 

 on an open bank it would not seem so solitary, 

 but surrounded as it is by an interminable forest, it 

 looks fearfully forlorn. 



By one of those singular discoveries which so often 

 detect the murderer, Johnson was convicted of the 

 crime. The people of Herkimer County, however, 

 claiming him as their criminal, he was tried there 

 and acquitted, and carried about the town on men's 

 shoulders. The good Dutchmen of that county had 



