Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1877 — A Mountain Romance—Singular Family History. [ARTICLE]

A Mountain Romance—Singular Family History.

Tne discovery of two former inmates of the Delaware County Poor-House living together ia the woods of Wayne County, Penn., has recalled one of the most singular family histories ever recorded. In 1854, Lucy Ann Lobdell, daughter of an old lumberman living on the Delaware in the vicinity of Long Eddy, was married to a raftanan named Henry Slater. Mrs. Slater was seventeen years old, and was known far and wide for her wonderful skill in shooting the rifle, not only at the target, but at deer and other game, for which the Delaware Valley was then famous. After a year of married life Slater deserted his wife and babe a few weeks old, and has never been heard of since. Mrs.. Slater’s parents were very poor, and objected to her making her home with them. She accordingly placed her child in their charge, and laying aside the habiliments of her sex, donned male apparel, and adopted the life of a hunter. The mountains of Delaware, Sullivan and Ulster Counties, in this State, and the Delaware River counties of Pennsylvania, were at that time almost unbroken wildernesses. For eight years Mrs. Slater made her home in their midst, roaming alone over the vast territory, and finding shelter only in rude cabins which she erected here and these. She made her appearance at the settlements only when in need of ammunition or supplies, exchanging skins and game tor what she required. Her wild life was one of thrilling adventure and privation, and it was not until she was broken down in body and mind by its hardships that she returned to the haunts of civilization. Her narrow escapes from death by wounded bear, panther and deer, and her sufferings from cold, hunger and sickness. during her eight years’ life in the woods, she recorded in a book entitled “ The Life and Adventures of Lucy Ann Lobdell, the Female Hunter of Long Eddy.” She also records in this book that site "killed 168 deer, seventythree bears, one panther and numberless quantities of small game of the glade,” in toe time noted. When she returned to Long Eddy she pnt cm woman's clothing. She had grown prematurely old, and was but a wreck of toe young backswoods favorite of a few years before. Her child had been placed in toe workhouse at this place, and after wandering about toe valley for some months she became an inmate of that institution also. Hot long afterward toe child was adopted into the family of a Wayne County (Pa.) farmer. The mother remained in toe poor-house, and became yearly more miserable and wretched. In the winter of 1888 Marie Louise Perry, daughter of a well-to-do and respectable family living near Boston, eloped with a young man named James Wilaoo. The young lady bad bat recently graduated from one of toe Boston schools, and was about nineteen years old. Wilson

was a rallied employe. The couple went to Jersey City, and were married. In the spring of the same year Wilson deserted his wife, and went to parts unknown in company with a Mins Hall, daughter of his landlady. His wife learned that they had taken the Erie Railway west, and she resolved to follow them, hoping to dia cover their whereabouts. She stopped at towns slong the road, and when she reached Lordville, in this county, her money was exhausted, and she was taken sick with fever, and was removed to tbe poor-house at this place at her own request. The above Wss substantially her story. Having recovered her health at this place, it was supposed that Mrs. Wilson would at once communicate to her relatives and return to her home in Massachusetts ; but she had made the acquaintance of Lucy Ann Slater, and, inexplicable as it may seem, the two formed a mutual aflection so strong that they refused to be separated, notwithstanding the great difference in their character, habits and antecedents. In the spring of 1889 both Lucy Ann and Mrs. Wilson disappeared from the County House, and were not heard of in two years. During that year a couple calling*themselves the Rev. Joseph Israel Lobdell and wife appeared in the mountain villages of the western part of Monroe County, Pa.* For two years they roamed about that region, living in caves in the woods, and subsisting on berries, roots, and the charity of the people, until they became so great a nuisance that they were arrested in Jackson township, and committed to Stroudsburg jail. While in jail the discovery that the Rev. Mr. Lobdell was a woman was made, and soon afterward a raftsman from this section chanced to be in Stroudsburg, and informed the authorities that their prisoners were the missing paupers from Delhi. The Penn sylvania authorities returned them to their old quarters in this place forthwith. They remained here some time, when they again ran away, and have since been roaming about in Pennsylvania, living ini huts ana juxdL iaihi aml county houses. A gentleman from this place being at Aldenville, Wayne County, Pa., a few days since found the pair domiciled in a bark hut near that place, and were known as man and wife. When their identity became known, the straDge fact was developed that a lady who had been particularly charitable to the couple was years ago engaged to be married to Lucy Ann, the latter having spent some months near Bethany dressed as a man. Her sex was discovered accidentally, and she had to fly the place in the night to escape being tarred and feathered. This was a short time before she entered the poor-house at Delhi. There is on record now in the courts of Wayne County a document that was drawn by Mrs. Wilson, the companion of Lucy Ann, it being a petition for the release of her “ husband, Joseph L. Lobdell,” from jail, on account of his” failing health. The pen used by the writer was a stick whittled to a point and split: the ink was pokeberry juice. The writing is faultless, and the language used a model of clear, correct and argumentative English—a really superior piece of composition, showing that the writer, now a voluntary outcast and the associate of an insane woman, is highly educated, and capable of adorning the best circles. Mary Slater, the daughter of the strange being whose history has been briefly given, has not escaped her share of misfortune. Growing to attractive womanhood in the family of the kind farmer who rescued her from the life of a pauper, she incurred the hatred of a young man named Kent, who sought her hand in marriage and was refused for another. In August, 1871, he planned and accomplished ben abduction, one dark, stormy night. She was drugged, grossly maltreated, and thrown into the Delaware River, near Coshocton. She was washed ashore on an island, where she was found in a semiconscious state, by a river man, next day. Taken to his house, she was restored to fife, but not to reason, and, unknown, she wandered into the woods, where she was found a raving maniac, and nearly dead from exposure and hunger, three days afterward, and restored to her friends.. She in time recovered her mental and bodily health, only to learn that the young man she was to marry was her half-broth-er, being the illegitimate son of her father, Heniy Slater, according to the testimony of people who professed to know. Kent, the fieadish abductor, although arrested and lodged in jail, managed to escape the justice he deserved. —Delhi (N. T.) Cop. N. T. Time*.