Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1874 — An Eagle Tries to Carry Off a Girl. [ARTICLE]

An Eagle Tries to Carry Off a Girl.

On Saturday a girl named Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Albert Moore, living in the northeast corner of Cleburne County, was returning home from a neighbor’s house, whither she had been sent on an errand, when she felt something heavy strike upon her shoulder and the next instant she was borne to the ground. She says that her first impression was that she had been seized by a panther or some other wild beast, but soon felt the talons of what proved to be an eagle clutching her sides and arms, lacerating the flesh in a fearful manner; and, with its beak pecking on her head, she was dragged some distance on the ground. Pretty, soon, the eagle having secured his prize, with claws and bill firmly fixed, raised her from the ground and sailed along at from three to four feet above the earth for some distance. Occasionally she was dropped on the ground, but the eagle would as often raise her again, making new and serious wounds with his talons in her body and his beak in her head, till at last he reached the height of ten feet, and attempted to alight on the limb of a red oak tree on the roadside, when his hold gave way and the girl fell to the earth seriously stunned and hurt. She was unconscious for a time, then clambered over the fence near by into her father’s orchard and began making the best of her way to the house, near which she was met by her mother, who had been attracted by her screams and was hastening to her relief. The most remarkable part of the matter is that the girl did not see the eagle at all. A shawl which had been securely fastened about her head, so as to project overher face, hid her rude antagonist froth her view. The track along which she was dragged, however, was plainly visible in the road. The girl Elizabeth is fourteen years of age, and weighs between eighty and ninety pounds. Her father is a very reliable and worthy man. He is a son-in-law of Mr. Hatfield, in the same section of country, and lives about five miles from Tecumseh Iron Works. The girl Was not seriously hurt and is doing well. The eagle has been twice seen since by the hunters, Who are making every effort to kill or capture him.—Jacktonville (Ato) ZJepuhJwaa,