[4V50 Gary]

The following account is from an eyewitness. It's a rather slim book, but took me several nights to read as it had to be read aloud to be understood. The spelling is the author's and the editor choose to leave it as it was. He did insert in brackets some corrections so we can understand this account of a man almost killed by a buffalo.

One of the men we had with us was a young Irishman who was constant contending and disputeing with the other young men that was from old Virginia about words and customs, etc. So some time that morning I shot a Buffelo bull and he fell down. We all went up to him. Some of the men had never seen one before this one. I soon Discovered I had shot this buffelo too high and I told some of the boys to shoot him again.

This young Irishman said, "No"; he would kill him and Jumed at him with his tomerhock and strikeing him in the forehead.

I told him it would not Do, he could not hurt him, the wool and mud and skin and skull was so thick it would not Do. But he kept up his licks, a nocking a way.

The buffelo Jumped up. The man run, the buffelo after him. It was opin woods, no bushes, and the way this young Irishman run was rather Desending ground and every Jump he cryed out, "O lard! O lard! O lard! O lard!"

The buffelo was close to his heels. The man Jumed behind a beech tree. The bufflo fell Down, his head againt the tree, the tuckeyho boys laughing, "Ha! Ha! Ha!"

One of them went up and shot the buffelo again and killed him. The Irishmain exclaimed againt them, saying this was no laughing Matter but that these boys or young [men] (he said) was such fools they would laugh at it if the buffelo had killed him.

The young men would Mimmick him, "O lard! O l[ard]!" etc. and breack out in big laughter.

This Irishman said he would go no further with such fools. He said he had nothing against me but he would not go with such fools as these boys weare.

When I saw he would go back, that I could not persuid [persuade] him to go further, I advised him to take a load of this buffelo meet as it was very fat and he was welcome to it, to which he agreed to it as we Did not need it. We took a little of of it and bid him a Due [adieu], leaveing him a buchering his buffelo.

A tuckeyho boy is an Eastern Virginian. I had to look that up in the endnotes to figure it out.