Straight Texas Page: 79

                                
THE LOBO GIRL OF DEVIL'S RIVER
BY L. D. BERTILLION
In the fall of 1830 John Dent and Will Marlo went
in partners to trap fur along the headwaters of Chicka-
mauga River in Georgia. Pelts were plentiful, and they
got along harmoniously enough until the spring of 1833,
when they fell out over a division of the winter's catch.
A woman was at the bottom of the quarrel. She was
Mollie Pertul, daughter of a mountaineer. While trap-
ping in the vicinity of the Pertul cabin, John Dent had
fallen in love with her and the two had engaged to be
married. In forming their partnership the two trappers
had agreed to sell jointly all pelts they took and to divide
the money equally. Through two seasons this agreement
they had carried out, but now Dent insisted on taking
half the hides and disposing of them in his own way. He
had a notion that he could get more money, to start
married life on, by selling his fur separately.
After a bitter quarrel the division was made as Dent
wanted it. Immediately almost, Marlo began telling
around that he had been cheated. The quarrel went on
for about two weeks; then there was a fight in which
Dent stabbed Marlo to death. Public opinion was
against him, and there was nothing for him to do but
skip the country. Before leaving, however, he managed
to see his love and tell her that he was going to locate a
place in which they could live together and that he would
return and steal her away.