28 DISAPPOINTED PLACE-HUNTER. [CHAP. XXI. 



seek excitement in gambling and drink. The wars 

 in Texas relieved us of many of these dare-devils.&quot; 



One of our fellow-travellers seemed to be a disap 

 pointed place-hunter, who had been lobbying the 

 Houses of Legislature in vain for the whole session. 

 He was taking his revenge by telling many a story 

 against an assembly, which had been so obtuse as not 

 to discover his merits. Twelve of them, he said, 

 from the upper country, could not even read, and 

 one of these happening, when in the House, to receive 

 an invitation to the Governor s annual dinner, rose, 

 and, holding the card in his hand, with the writing 

 upside down, said, &quot; Mr. Speaker, I am determined 

 to oppose this resolution.&quot; Another, when they 

 were debating whether they should move the Capitol, 

 or seat of legislature, from Milledgeville to Macon, 

 went out, and, on resuming his seat, declared they were 

 wasting their time, for he had measured, and made a 

 rough estimate of the weight of the building (which 

 was of stone), and found, on calculation, that all the 

 oxen in Georgia could not drag it a single mile ! 



There was much talk here of a recent exhibition 

 on the frontiers of Georgia, of what is commonly 

 called Lynch Law/ which invalidated the assertion 

 of my companion in regard to the absence of robbers. 

 Many people having been plundered of their pro 

 perty, especially their negroes, organised a private 

 association for putting down the thieves, who came 

 from Florida, and having arrested one of them, 

 named Yoermans, they appointed a committee of 

 twelve to try him. Witnesses having been sworn, a 

 verdict of guilty was returned, and the punishment 



