Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-06-18
THE WILD WOMAN.

| TO sec the "W lld w oman OF W acnlta MouH
tains. Mr.. J. W. C. Northcott, her captor, in
| troduced us into the room where she is pris-
oner. We saw tall, gracefully formed, young
white girl, scantily but neatly clothed, stand
| ing with stout rope about her waist and at
tached TO 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 hiding behind it, and rocking
| slowly, but with nervous uneasincss, from one
| foot to the other, and staring fxcdly upon us
| with great, bright, unwinking eyes, so widely
opened that ring of white surrounded the
pupils, which, with the wild and intense glare
of the orb, gave it a strange and frightful ex-
preston. Beneath the eyes were deep circles,
showing long continued and excessive excite
| mcnt or exertion, mental or physical. Her
| hair was long and thick, hanging in heavy
matted masses and wiry tangles about the 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, the lips thin and
red, but tightly compressed, and her teeth
even and white. But there was not, that we
could discover, any trace of humor in her
face, and we were informed by her captor that
he had never seen her smile. There is not a
line in her face to indicate any human pas.
sion, the only organ of expression being her
eye, and that does not seem 10 seek or even
to have known human sympathy. The woman
employed by Mr.. Northcott to be the attend
ant of his 'pct," as he calls her, says that she
has seen the girl look pleased, even seem to be
amused, but her lips never curled in smile,
and nothing like a laugh ever found utterance
We need hardly say that she does not talk.
The only sound she makes with her mouth is
kind Of mumbling, moaning, grumbling, with
which, when hungry or thirsty, she expresses
4 desire to cat or drink. But sometimes, her
mated curiosity at her, (the attendant, } and
Mr.. Northcott, when they are talking in her
presence, and seems to wonder how they make
such noises with their mouths; but they have
not succeeded in inducing herto initiate them
Her nose is handsome. and her profile we'll cut
and striking, but the only indication of char
acter in it is kind of untamed audacity.-
There is nothing like timidity in her looks,
only the discomposure mingled with defiance
which CLEANS in the eye of panther. The
appearance of a maniac, which, to our glance,
she wore when we entered her apartment, grad
ually passed away, and there was a softer ex-
preston, and something like gentle glow of
intelligence 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 thin but its outlines
quite womanly, and her brow and temples
show intellectually of no mean OF common
order. Whatever she is or may have been,
she is by nature gifted with capacities of high
intelligence.
The story of her capture, related by Mr..
Northcott, is quite remarkable. In the spring
Of 1855, Mr.. N, with a party of eight gold
hunters, was sojourning in the Wachita noun
tains, on q branch of the false Wachita river,
camped near an extensive and almost impene-
trable thicket. They were gold seekers. hay-
ing been attracted thither by false alarm that
there was gold in that region, which our read
ers will remember, had much newspaper cir
culation, and nearly as could be calculated,
their camp was three hundred miles distant
from the frontier settlements of Texas, and in
what is familiarly called the Camanche couu-
try. One night in March, it was his turn to
watch, and there was bright unclouded moon
light. In the middle of the night he saw a
figure approaching that seemed to him to be
Camanche, and he lay close and at full length
on the ground. The figure approached, walk
ing briskly, and passing within twenty yards
of him, entered the thicket, and be saw by the
L. Al. T.
woman, dressed in robe of skins. He was
amazed beyond conception, and told his COM
panions of his discovery, but they hooted at
the idea, and contended that he had seen Ca
manche, and that they would no longer be safe
in that locality; and SO next day they packed
their mules and hurried off for Texas, in spite
of entreaties. They were all green in the lore
OF backwoodsmen, but he had spent twenty
years on the frontiers, and knew what he was
about. So strong an impression did this incl
dent make on his mind, that late this winter
he enlisted half dozen hardy follows to ac-
company him, and set forth on trip to the
Wachita Mountains, on hunt after the Wild
woman. So many difficulties were encounter
ed, and the weather so severe, that all Of
his companious but one backed out. He pres
sed forward, however, and early in March
reached the encampment where he had seen
the woman enter the thicket. The first thing
in order was to search the thcket, and they
were not long in finding kind of den, a little
cave, or rather long and narrow aperture a.
mong the rocks, which he was convinced must
be her hiding place. With this conviction, be
waited and watched for her two days and