Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-06-11
A wild woman--story Of her Capture.

p0rtS the ARRIVAL tnere Oh INC "hu "omau
the Wachita Mountains" She was captured il
the Wachita Mountains in March, by Mr.. North
colt and several others, who had. visited TIM
locality gold hunting He had seen her go ou
of cave, and formed party to watch for her
having first closed the entrance ofthe cave.
After few hours she returned, and took q
lsrm on, observing that her door in the rock
was closed against her. He had two dogs,whicf
he set upon her, and after running about ONT
hundred and fifty years she turned about, as j
confused in her fright, and fled towards tb'
cave. He ran to meet her with lasso in hi
hand, and as she approached, worried by tn.
dogs, be threw it over her neck, and called OF
the dogs, and she, giving spring, jerked him t
the ground, and at the second leap threw her
self, the moose having by that time fastened o.
bout her throat and choked her. He then tiee
her, during which operation she uttered suct
horrid screams that the hair stood upon nj!
head, and he had the most singular and awfu
feelings he ever experienced.
After securing the girl, he entered her den
and found there large quantities of nuts anc
berries and roots, such as could be gathered and
digged in that vicinity. The principal fruit was
kind of large red haws, which was thereabout
very abundant; and she had kind OF nest to
sleep in while everything indicated her utter
solitude. The garment which she wore was ol
skins, oueerly tied together with bits of leather
and also with kind of grass. The skins were
those.of large animal, neither bear nor buffalo,
Mr.. Northcott says, and the hunters could not
tell exactly from what manner OF beast they
were taken. It was his opinion that she had
found an animal dead, or that she might have
been attacked by and mastered some beast.
But there is an air of improbability about this
that the strange and almost terrible reality Of
the woman herself does not dispel and we have
not room here and now to argue the point
The garments were so strong, says Mr.. N, that
they protected the female from the teeth OF his
dogs. For five days after her capture, his pet
refused to take food. but then partook of red
haws. She was taken the three hundred miles
intervening between her den and the nearest
civilized settlements in Grayson county, Texas,
with rope about her waist, the ends of which
were in the hands of himself and his comrade,
while the dogs followed after. AS soon as he
could procure it, he had hack so fixed as to
make of the body kind of cage, in which ne
confined her. and conveyed her safely, until he
finally got her on steamboat. She arrived
here on the steamer Hickman.
For time she rejected all prepared food, but
now she will eat almost anything that is offered
that is not very salt or very sweet.
The editor of the Commercial describes o
visit that he paid to this savage curiosity:
We saw tall, gracefully formed, young white
girl, scantily but neatly clothed, standing with
stout rope about her waist and attached to o
bed post. The first impression was similar to
that of being in the presence of fierce maniac.
She stood at the foot of the bed, partially hid
ing behind it, and rocking slowly but with ner-
yous uneasiness, from one foot to the other, and
staring fixedly upon us with great, bright, un-
winking eyes, so widely opened that ring OF
white surrounded the pupil, which, with the
wild and intense glare of the orb, gave it o
strange and frightful expression. Beneath the
ewes were deep circles, showing long continued
and excessive excitement or exertion, mental or
| physical.
Her hair was long and thick, hanging in heavy
matted masses and wiry tangles about her face,
neck and shoulders, and in color dark brown
Her complexion was fair, even delicate, and her
features decidedly handsome. Her mouth is
small and finely formed, her lips thin and red,
but tightly compressed, and her teeth even ana
white. But there was not, that We could dis
cover, any trace of humor in her face, and we
are informed by her captor that he had never
seen her smile. We need hardly say that she
does not talk. The only sign she makes with
her mouth is inumbling, moaning grumbling,
with which, when hungry and thirsty, she ex-
presses desire to eat or drink. ~.
There is nothing like timidty in her looks,
only the discomposure mingled with defiance
which CLEANS in the eye,of panther. The ap-
pearance of a maniac which, to our glance, she
wore when we entered her apartment, gradual
ly passed away, and there was softer express
sion, and something like gentle glow OF intelli-
gence in her still vivid eye. Becoming more
composed, she sat down, and her nurse, at our
request, brushed back the tangles OF her hair,
showing her cheeks and forehead.
These were fair. The cheek was think but
its outlines quite womanly, and her brow and
temples show intellectually of no mean or COM
mon order. Whatever she is or may have been,
she was by nature gifted with capacities for
higher intelligence
WATERPROOF CLoTHING.-Twenty thousand
tunics now being prepared for the French army
are, according to recent statement OF M. Payer
chemist of some note, rendered waterproof
by the aid of alumni and sugar Of lead, without
the aid of India rubber or gutta percha or any
other gums or oils. The process given is very
simple, and is claimed to render any species ol
tissue, waterproof Dissolve two pounds and
half of alum in four gallons of water; dissolve
also, in separate vessel, the same weight OF a.
cetate of lead in the same quantity of water
When both are thoroughly dissolved. mix the
solutions together, and when the sulphate Of
lead resulting from this mixture has been pre-
cipitated to the bottom of the vessel in the form
of powder, pour off the solution, and plunge
into it the tissue to be rendered waterproof
Wash and rub it well during few minutes, ane
hang it in the air to dry. - .o as-.i
HoRRIp SIeHT.-The London correspondent
of the Toronto Globe, gives an episode OF the
war which we have not encountered elsewhere
According to the latest news from the Crimea
the Russian officers are delighted at the. termi
nation of the war. They have suffered enor
mously during the siege. Their boats crowded
with men, while crossing from the North wer.
frequently sunk. An English diver discoveret
at the bottom of the harbor, battery OF flelt
artillery, horses and men, all entangled in the
harness, their skeleton hanging together in the
net work of leather. On the skeleton OF one o.
the horses there were the bones. of a driver
held together by the rags of his uniform, anc
with his foot still in the stirrups. Such arr
some of the horrors of war.
Gosse in his history of the birds of Jamaica
gives an amusing account Of the mocklng-blrd
The hogs are, it seems, the creatures that gi.yV'
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