Beadle's Pocket Library No. 229

# Old Hickory's Grit

Old Hickory's Grit: A Tale of Early Kentucky by John J. Marshall is a frontier adventure serial. The narrative opens at Coon's Tavern in northern Kentucky during a storm, where hunters and travelers gather. Among them are rough backwoods hunters and a well-dressed Connecticut land-agent named Smith. The hunters exchange tall tales; one recounts an absurd fishing expedition where a giant catfish drags him downriver from Cincinnati to New Orleans. Smith proves tactful and gains their respect. Tensions briefly surface when a bush-ranger mentions thrashing an easterner over a toothbrush incident—Smith reveals the man was his friend and disputes the account. As the evening progresses, a woman's terrified face suddenly appears at the window, then vanishes with a shriek. A massive enslaved man named Brutus emerges from the darkness, and Smith, identifying himself as Colonel Smith, rushes into the storm alongside Brutus and Old Hickory to pursue the fleeing figures down the road.