Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1890 — A WOLF FOSTER-MOTHER. [ARTICLE]

A WOLF FOSTER-MOTHER.

Capture of * Child with AU the Instinct* df an Animal. Some twenty months ago a negrs woman living on the banks of the Brazos, says a letter from Sandy Point. Tex., missed her 3-months old baby from the pallet where she had left it lying during an absence of a few min■tes. Search was made for the infant, but no trace of it could be discovered, and the whole affair was wrapped ft profound mystery until a few days ago. A party of gentlemen were recently riding through a somewhat unfrequented portion of thick woods that border the river, when they were etartled by seeing a strange object run across the toad. Thinking at first sight that it was a wild animal, several of the party Were about to fire on it, when the one who had been nearest it called to them not to shoot, but to ride it down instead. This was done with difficulty, for the underbrush was thick, but at last the creature was overtaken in a dense copse. It was half running, half leaping, first on all fours and then nearly upright. The gentlemen dismounted and attempted to lay hands upon it, but chattering frightfully and savagely biting and scratching it broke away from them. They could see that it had a human face, though the brown body was covered with long tangled hair, and the nails ol thefeetand hands so long and curved as to be cl&ws. It ran with incredible swiftness, getting over fallen trees and dense masses of creepers at a rate that obliged its pursuers to exert themselves to the utmost to keep in view. It finally ran into an immense oak tree that lay uprooted in the ground and the hollow trunk of which formed a yawning cavern. By dint of poking in the tree with sticks the party succeeded in driving out an old wolf, which immediately took to its heels. It was not pursued, as it was not the object sought. This, too, was finally dislodged and lassoed with a lariat made of hides. It bit and scratched so fiercely that it was thought advisable not to approach it. so it was half dragged, and led home with the lariat about its neck, howling and yelling like a wolf.

The fact of the negro woman’s child having disappeared was well known to all, and it was decided that this must be the child. The old wolf had evidently stolen it and for some reason adopted it as its own. The mother declared that this conjecture was correct, claiming that her child had had a malformation of one ear, which peculiarity was found in the moster. It is kept tied up in a cabin, suffering no one to lay hands upon it, and is fed on raw meat, as it refuses to touch any other food. The woman has hopes that she may yet reawaken the human in it, but in the meantime she is reaping a harvest from the crowds who come daily from all parts of the ♦ounty to inspect the strange creature.