HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY. . 
 
pied by the miller and his family, which con- 
sisted of a mail by the name of Curtis and him- 
self.' The other was occupied by a man and his 
family, by the name of Hastings, who kept en- 
tertainment and bad whisky. After supper I 
went over to the mill (which was located on the 
opposite side of the stream from the tavern) to 
take a-look at its working machinery, which I 
found to be of the most primitive order. In 
conversation with the miller, he told me he had 
bargained his mill to a man from the east whom 
- he expected to take possession next June, and 
in case he sold, he intended to erect, in company 
with a man by the name of Gillet, a more pre- 
tentious one on Richland creek, a stream that 
heads in Green county, near Monroe, this mill 
site being at a point on said creek where Or- 
rangeville, in Stephenson Co., Ill., is now 
located. At the mill was a customer from 
Rock Grove, having" a grist to grind, who 
who said he was going to return home next day 
if the mill could get his grist ground out by 
morning, and we could accompany him as-he 
had to go the same route, an invitation wvhich 
we gladly accepted. At this place an incident 
occurred which for a short time affrighted us 
badly. On my return to the tavern from the 
mill I found an acquisition of some three or fou'r 
to our company, who were drinking and playing 
cards, and I made up my mind that the place 
was a tough one. Chadwick being tired and 
unwell, had retired early. Among the guests 
was a man by the name of Armstrong, who-re- 
sided near Wiota. Though somewhat set up, ho 
was not taking part in their card playing. With 
him I soon got into conversation. He had come 
into the country prior to the Black Hawk War; 
had taken quite an active part in the war; was 
very communicative and inquisitive. In reply 
to his questions I told him  where we were 
from; where we were going to; what 'our pro- 
fessions were; and that we had come to the 
country to build mills and houses, but, I con- 
tinued,from the appearance of the country and 
the quality of the timber, (which up to this 
 
place we found to consist only of the veriest 
scrub burr and white oak varieties) we had a 
good show of starving in that line. He replied 
that he expected that we would have to rough 
it for a few years at least. As the conversation 
began to lag, I retired to bed, but not to sleep, 
for I must confess that if I ever bad the blues 
it was at this time; but in time tired nature 
succumbed and I fell into a sound sleep, to be 
awakened by Chadwick punching me in the 
ribs with his elbow and whispering my atten- 
tion to the fact that a person was removing the 
clabboards from the roof near where our bed 
stood. In a few moments I was completely 
awake. I silently raised myself on one elbow 
to watch the movements of the man, who, by 
this time, had got through into our room; and, 
after standing awhile and looking around, ap- 
parently in an amazed condition, he started a few 
steps in the direction of our bed, stopped, 
looked around, finally turned and walked to the 
other end of the room and threw himself down 
on some old clothes that lay in the corner of 
the room. By this time I was in a profuse 
sweat, having nothing in our possession with 
which to ward off an attack if the man had in- 
tended one, but I soon came to the conclusion 
that the man meant us no harm, as in a few 
minutes he was in a sound sleep and snoring 
loud enough to wake the seven sleepers. In the 
morning we told the landlord of the circum- 
stance. He immediately went up stairs, waked 
the man up and brought him down. The man 
proved to be one of the parties of the night be- 
fore, who, having filled up with bad whisky, 
had started for his shanty some three or four 
miles away; had got bewildered, and had 
wandered around the greater part of the night; 
had finally in his wanderings got back to the 
tavern, where (he said) he had thumped on the 
door to wake up the landlord, and not succeed- 
ing, concluded to gain an entrance in the man- 
ner above described. In the morning we started 
in company with our guide, traveling some fif- 
teen miles or more to Brewster ferry, on the 
 
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