The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1860-06-14
A Thrilling Story.

"A 1hHAHklMs story.
The following is an occurrence which
actually took place in Vermont some
forty years ago. The facts are almost
literally related as tollows:1
Ny brother Hiram liked to carry the
mail better than did and so / went
to work in new clearing had com.
menced, about mile and half from
home, and not quite so far from my
brother-in-law. l used to stay as of.
ten at one place as at the other. II
was bad arrangement, as, in case Of
accident, neither family would be al
armed or go to look out for me, if l
should not come home. felt the
force Of this in the course of the winter,
as you will see directly.
There had fallen one of our old-fash-
toned northern New York SHOWS, crus,
ted over hard enough to bear man. ]
was getting on famousiy with my clear
ing, getting ready to build house in
the spring. | was ambitious. and wor.
ked rly and late, going without my
dinD some days, when the bread and
mea, i had broght in my pocket was
frozen so hard that I could not masti-
cate it without taking up too much OF
my time. One day it was Intensely
cold, with the prospect of storm that
might hinder my work the next day,
and so | worked on as long as l could
see, and after twilight I felled tree,
which, in its descent, lodged against an
other. could not bear the idea OF
leaving the job half finished; / mount
ed the almost PROSTATE body to cut a
limb to let it down.
The bole of the tree forked, about
forty feet up, into two equal parts, with
largesprojecting limbs from both. 1t
was one Of these l had to cut away to
bring the tree to the ground. In my
haste perhaps was not so careful as |
should have been; at any rate the first
blow eased the lodge ment, so that the
tree began to settle, and I was jus
going to jump off, when the fork split,
and as it did so one foot dropped into
the space so that / could not extricate
it for moment, but | felt no alarm, fol-
knew that | could cut away in a min.
ute, or perhaps draw my foot out of the
boot, as the pressure was not severe.
At the first blow of the axe the tree
took another start, rolled over, and
the split closed with all its force of its
giant strength crushing my foot till
the very bones mere fattened, and
there / hung suspended, just able to
touch the tips of my fingers in the snow
with nothing to rest upon for mo-
ment-the air at ZERO and growing
colder-the nearest house a mile away,
no friends to feel alarmed at my alb.
sence, for one would suppose me safe
with the other.
My axe, in its fall, rested upon the
snow crust about ten feet-off. If could
get that, | might yet save myself. | did
not think how | was to cut myself loose
from the body OF that great tree, sus-
pended as | was, head down, and suf.
ering from the rush of disordered blood;
but | thought in that keen blade my
only hope Of life was fixed. just for
ward of me grew slim bush, which /
thought, if could obtain, could form
a hook by twisting the limbs together,
and draw the axe within my reach.
Although the bush was out Of my
reach, | at last succeeded in getting
hold of it by means of loop which ]
made by tying my suspenders together
| then drew it toward me and cut it of
with my pocket knife-one of that sort
known as ''Barlow knives,' having a
single blade about two and half inches
long and three Fights of an inch wide
with equal width all its length, set in a
handle Of peculiar form, half its length
iron and half horn or bone. succeed
ed admirably fashioning my hook, and
almost felt the handle of the axe with
in my grasp, so certain was | Of sue.
cess. From the tree that imprisoned
me the ground decended rapidly for q
dozen rods or more to creek My
axe lay on the brow of the hill. The
first movement made toward twisting
the loop of my stick around the handle
of the axe, so as to draw it within my
reach, 10 osened it from its icy rest, and
away it went down the hill, crushing
through the little frost bitten bushes
down upon the ice of the creek, to lit
tie fallofa few rods below, and over that
into the unfrozen pool, with gurgling
sound as it fell into the water that
seemed to send an icy chill through
every vain and artery of my whole bo-
dy.
/ still had my knife. True, it was a
rough surgical instrument, but hope
and the love Of life gave me strength
to climb up by my fastened leg and cut
away the boot and stocking, and then
with that knife l unjointed my ankle
and fell to the ground-my left leg a
footless, bleeding stump, The inten-
sity of the cold saved me from bleed
ing to death. ] tore off part of my
coat, and with my handkerchief and
suspenders managed to bind my leg
with handful of snow, and started to
crawl home. 1 succeeded in getting