The Winchester appeal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1856-1856, 1856-06-21
A Wild Woman-Story Of Her Capture.

the arrival there of the "Wild Woman
ofthe Wachita Mountains" She was
captured in the Wachita Mountains
in March, by Mr. Northcott and sew
eral others, who had visited the local
ity as gold hunters. He had seen her
90 out of cave, and formed q party
to watch for her, having first closed the
cave.
After few hours she returned, and
took alarm on observing that the door
in the rocks was closed against her.
He had two dogs which he set upon
her, and after running about one hun
drcd and fifty yards she turned about,
as if confused in her fright, and fled
towards the cave. He ran to meet her
with lasso in his hand, and as she
approached, worried by the dogs, he
threw it over her neck, and called of
the dogs, and she, giving a spring,
jerkcd him to the ground, and at the
second leap threw herself, the moose
having by that time fastened about her
throat and checked her. He then tied
her, during which operation she ut
tered such horriI screams that the
hair stood upon his head, and he had
the most singular and awful feelings
he ever experienced.
After securing the girl, he entered
her den, and found there large guam
titles of nuts and berries and roots,
such as could be gathered and digged
in that vicinity. The principal fruit
was kind of large red haws, which
were thereabout very abundant; and
she had a kind of nest to sleep in,
while everything indicated her soil
tude. The garment which she wore
was Of skins, queerly tied together
with bits of leather, and also with a
kind of grass The skins were those
of large animal, neither bear nor
buffalo, Mr. Northcott says, and the
hunters could not tell from what kind
of beast they were taken. 1t was
his opinion that she had found an an
imal dead, or that she might have
been attaked by and mastered some
beast
But it is an air ofimprobability about
this that the strange and almost terri
BILE reality of the woman herself does
not quite dispel; and we have not
room here and now to argue the point.
The garments were so strong, says
Mr. ~, 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 hun
dred miles intervening between her
den and the nearest civilized settle
ments, in Grayson county, Texas. with
a rope about her waist, the ends of
which were in the hands of himself
and his comrade, while the dogs fol-
lowed after. As soon as he could pro-
cure it, he had hack so fixed as to
make of the body a kind of cage, in
which he confined her. and conveyed
her safely, untilhe 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 any
thing that is offered, that is not very
salt or very sweet.
The editor Of the Commercial de-
scribes visit that he paid to this say
age curiosity:
We saw a tall, gracefully formed,
young white girl, scantily but neatly
clothed, standing with a stout rope
about her waist and attached to bed
post. The first impression was SINH
lar to that of being in the presence of
a fierce maniac. She stood at the
foot of the bed, partially hiding be-
hind it, and rocking slowly but with
nervous uneasinesss, from one foot to
the other, and starring fixedly upon us
with great, bright, unwnking eyes,
so widely opened that a ring of white
surrounded the pupil, which, with the
wild and intense glare of the orb,
gave it strange and frightful express
sion. Beneath the the eyes were deep
circles, showing long continued and
excessive excitement or exertion, men,
tai orphysical. 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 and white. But there
was not, that we could discover, any
trace ofhumor in her face; and we are
informed by her captor that he had
never snen her smile We mood b,rJ