Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1894 — BESIEGED BY WOLVES. [ARTICLE]

BESIEGED BY WOLVES.

$ ..y..n - W**hinfvm Po*t. ; v r There resides in Washington a lady whp years ago was the benwne of a night among wolves in a Rock/ mountain State where she had accompanied her husband, with three small children, in a mining venture. She Vas Tiardly twenty-five years old, and though in excellent physical condition did not weigh much more than 100 pounds. She was all pluck, a fact she was not aware of until she was told. Affluently reared, and knowing nothing about “roughing it,” she fell at once into a life the reverse of this. Her fiusbahd having located on what appeared and in time proved—to be a productive mining section, she determined to go and share life with him.

It was miles and miles away from habitation an'J civilization —far upon the mountains. It was a huge task to reach the spot, and when she did winter was coming on. To make her and the small children as comfortable as possible, the husband and had erected a log hiit of two or three rooms, inserted on one side of the mountain, and in every respect as good and complete as such houses are ever made to be. Though when he began it the house was only on the outskirts of the mining camp, yet changes that were made left it between four and five ! miles away. It was thought better to occupy it for the winter, which would shortly set in, than build another, »|n this log hut the little wife and the young children were made comfortable in all the ways possible under the circumstances. Nearly everything that was attainable to this end was procured, and the husband was away from his family not longer than three days at a time. One day while he was thus 9 absent a furious snowstorm—a regular blizzard of the mountains—came up as night approached, For several days snow had been falling, and it al rearly lay on the ground at an unusual depth. On the day in question it came down in a short time to an unparalleled depth, and the wind blew with extraordinary fury. This was the state of things when the day closed. Of firewood the house was well supplied, and of food, there was plenty, if the siege did not last too long. _• There was only one small window to the house, and the door was strong and capable of being barricaded on the inside.

The little woman, as the* blizzard began to howl and lhc snow threatened to bury the hut, took a survey and. rather brought herself to comprehend the situation of herself and her family, cut off as they were for a time at least from human aid. She comprehended it might be days before any one eould come to her, though she felt sure her husband would do all He could. She was not greatly alarmed yet, but soon was, by the shricking and other manifestations that told her that wolves in considerable numbers were around and on the house. Built as it was so that the, roof on one side was almost even with the surface of the ground, it was not difficult, but a perfectly natural thing for the animals, under the circumstances, to swarm upon the roof, attracted as they were by the light that came from the chimney. They swarmed around the house; also, attracted by the light that shone -through chinks and crevices; where the batten ing between the iogs was not complete arid on the roof and around the house on all sides the wolves howled and shrieked fiercely, made savage by the intensity of the eoid, the fierceness of the blasts and the blinding snow. Before going into the mining district this little woman was not wholly unused to firearms. After she went there she had practiced with them so as to render her fairly equal to the emergency. Of these arms there were in the cabin two rifles and two pistols, all of the most effectual description. She early collected all these, loaded the rifles and pistols and with something like engineering skill a military rnan would summon, prepared to defend herself and her three small children, whp were too young to understand the dangers with which they were menaced. On the roof the wolves snarled and scratched in their endeavors to find an opening. On one side of the hut was a spot where the battening was torn off and through which the light from the inside shown as it did from no other place. Around this spot or crack the wolves congregated and howled in great numbers. Occasionally one would insert his nose through the opening. The heroic little woman had scarcely the strength to handle a rifle to use it effectually. She placed one >so that the muzzle would point directly to the opening, and stationed herself so as to pull the trigger at the right' moment. Watching her opportunity she slugged away. The report was responded to on the outside by howls and shrieks fiercer thau ever, and then for some time there was silence, followed by attacks on the roof and In different quarters, especially at the door, against which the animals.threw themßolvos as with human instinct. The fire on the great hearth was kept blazing. The little woman rose equal to the occasion and not for a moment lost her head. Hours thus passed. The children were put to bed after a hasty repast, the cooking of which seemed to cause the wolves to he more fierce. Ac If bj* concert the

assault on the opening where ti» shot bad been fired was renewed and one animal inserted through it a paw. so it was not difficult for the woman to chop it off on the inside by, the expert use of an ax. A shrink fiercer than anv before told her how well she had used the instrument. Then foLowed other nos-s through the hole, which fared no better than those that at first tried It, followed as before bv bowls'and shrieks that told the shot which our heroine let fly hail done the intended work. As time went on the number of wolves seemed to increase and every time they. made an attack it was with greater fierceness and determination than before. Those that swarmed on the root were more numerous than before, and the little woman hardly stopped to think what would be her fate and that of her children in ease the maddened animals effected an entrance.

All night this went on. Toward morning there was an abatement of the storm and of the wolves, but the cold grew in intensity. The latter, however, gave her no alarm as things were. The dawn of morning began to show through the cracks, and with this carne faint sounds of human voices—howls in the distance. One peculiar shout or call she recognized as from her husband. She responded with a shout of triumph, and repeated it a dozen times, but it went not beyond the cabin barricades. But what triumph; what relief? Again and again the shouts were repeated in the distance, responded to every lime by the wife, who knew a relief party, led by her husband, was near. The wolves retired —those to whom the shots of the defender rendered such a thing possible. As the morning advanced the relief party was heard nearing the house. The wife stirred the fire and sent the blaze nearly out of the chimney top. She believed that it would be interpreted as meaning she heard the shouts and that all was well inside. And so they did; for it was not long before the beleagured hut was surrounded by friends. She removed the fastenings that held the door, which she threw open at the instant her husband was about to enter. “I leave you. my friends, to imagine the rest. It was my first and last, night among wolves,” she said, in telling her story.