The Burlap Bag

This is my version of my Great-Grandmother Martha Emaline Stacy Butler’s story.
There are a few true episodes, but most of the tale is a fabrication. My thinking is that this would pretty much be Martha Emaline’s life at the time she lived and under those circumstances.
In one true segment, Clarence tied Martha Emaline into a chair in their home, spread hay about the house and set it afire. Neighboring men rescued her.
In another true segment, Clarence beat a fellow farmer, Lee Beck (fictitious name), because when the two met on the road, Lee nodded to Clarence but didn’t speak.
In yet one more, Clarence trades Martha Emaline and Little Audd to the Cheyenne Indians. This is a true event, but it happened to another woman. I took the liberty of including it in Martha Emaline’s story.
Credit goes to my aunt, Nellie Nelson, for the true episodes.
At the end of this story I’ve included in photocopies a detailed factual accounting of the Nelson/Butler family history, the results of my Aunt Nellie’s genealogy research.
According to family history, Martha Emaline was a schoolteacher and Clarence was an army scout during the Civil War.
Though children were born to Martha Emaline and Clarence, they are not present in my version of her life. Little Audd, the child who is included, is a creation of my imagination, as is Martha Emaline’s brother Austin.
I used the names of several present-day relatives in this story; however, their circumstances in the story are fictitious so far as I know.
The Cheyenne words, lifestyle, and so on are authentic and obtained through much research.