Beacon Hills County Ledger
September 21st,1866
Strange Tales from the town of Beacon Hills!
By Richard E. Burke
On the evening of the fifteenth of this month, the mystery of the missing Henderson party took on a new twist. Many people will remember the tale of this party from the east that went missing a year ago
Andrew Atler, a well renowned trapper and man of good standing in this region, wandered into a saloon in Beacon Hills with a nasty bite wound on his hand. After being attended by the town Doctor, Mister Atler began to tell a tale of a most grisly, and unusual nature.
While deep in the woods of the Tall Pines region, Mister Atler came across the remains of a caravan train, believed to be the remains of the Henderson Party, reported missing more than a year ago. According to Atler, the bodies of both man and animal were strewn around, badly mauled, as if attacked by some wild beast. The flesh was stripped from the bone of many bodies, and teeth marks were visible on those corpses not entirely eaten. Cannibalism was not likely, as, according to Mister Atler, there were enough supplies for another six months, though much of the ammunition the party carried was used up, as the ground was littered with spent bullet casings and the wagons had bullet holes. Footprints from the woods suggest that three people made their way out of the woods and into the camp.
As he explored the blood soaked scene, Mister Atler noted that all animals, from wolves to ants, avoided the flesh of the slain. After searching the camp for survivors, Mister Atler stated that instead of finding all forty members of the party, there were only thirty two bodies, with only footprints leading away from the scene, indicating that eleven injured people staggered away from the camp site.
Mister Atler was preparing to leave and search for the injured people when a figure staggered out from the woods, wearing the uniform of a Major of the Confederate Army. This unidentified Major ignored all hails from Mister Atler, even ignoring a call intended to incite anger, when Mister Atler indicating that he was a former Sergeant of the Union Army. According to Mister Atler, all he got was a deep, guttural moan, and he feared that the Major may have been suffering head wounds. When he came within arm's reach, the Major lunged forward and bit the hand Mister Atler raised in self defence. Mister Atler claims to have shot the Major in the stomach in self defence. The Major dropped to the ground and hadn't moved when Mister Atler made his escape in search of medical help.
This journalist accompanied a rescue party to the location provided by Mister Atler. We found everything as described, with the exception of the Major. Evidence suggests that a figure which had fallen down got up and walked away.
On our return to Beacon Hills, we found that Mister Atler had wandered from his house in a daze from fever brought on by his wound, attacked a child and was shot in the head and killed by the child's father.
The mystery of the Henderson Party has now taken on a new aspect—that of the strange Confederate Officer, the missing settlers and the fever maddened trapper. We will keep an eye on this story.