The details of this story have no doubt been coloured, but there is a foundation in fact. The man in question did tie a servant to a rope, to make her return to his home, from which she had escaped; but he tied the other end of the rope to his own body and was himself dragged to the ground w^hen the horse ran awa}'. He gave himself up to the authorities, who, it is said, acquitted him and let him go free. The history of Catskill has shown an industrial decline during some years of the past century. The town had a great deal of trade, particularly with Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania, but the building of the Erie Canal and the establishment of the railroads u]3on the o])posite sides of the river served successiveh' to rob it of its advantages of position for trade. , Back of Catskill village, a dozen or more miles away, rise the most imj^ressive peaks on the outer wall of the movmtain range that gives it its name. Not as lofty as many of the famous chains that are celebrated by travellers, the Catskills have a rare beauty of their own and are fully worthy of the admiration of the artist or the poet. Irving says:

Of all the scenery of the Hudson, the Kaatskill ^Mountains had the most witching effect on my boyish imagination. Never shall I forget the effect upon me of the first view of them predominating over a wide extent of country, part wild, woody, and