Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-07-21
A Strange Incident Little Girl car
ried off by Bear.
The Ludington (Nieh.) Record has this


The Ludington (Mich.) Record has this
| story:
''We have to record very singular de-
liverance of girl about three years old to
its parents, after being carried off by black
bear, and q search of about thirty six hours
through the forest by the excited parents
The facts. as near as we can gather them, are
substantially as follows: Mr.. Henry Fiynn
lives about forty miles east of this place, at
or near the logging camps OF Mr.. Lndingtou,
and has charge of one of the camps He
started one morning to take horse to pasture.
about two miles distant from the house, and
as he was ready to start his little girl appeared
aud seemed very anxious to go with her
father, who, in order to please the child, put
her upon the horses back and let her ride
short distance, perhaps forty rods from the
house, but in plain view of it where he put
her down and told her to run home. He
noticed that the child was standing where he
left her, and on looking back after going a
little further, saw her playing in the sand
He soon passed out of sight, and was gone
about an hour, expecting of course that the
child would return to the house after playing
q few moments.
"On returning home he made inquiry about
the child, of its mother, who said she had
not seen the child, and supposed he had
taken her along with him. On going to the
spot where he left her, he saw huge bear
tracks in the sand, and at once came to the
conclusion that the child had been carried off
by the bear"
1.-The family Immediately made search
through the forest, which was grown up to
almost jungle, rendering their search very
slow. All day these anxious parents searched
for some trace of their child, nor did they
stop VIXEN darkness came on, but remained
in the woods calling the child by her name,
and with aching hearts would listen with
almost breathless fear to catch some sound
by which they could discover their lost darling
Morning came and their search was fruitless
"Two gentlemen looking at land came to
the house, and being informed of the cir
cumstance, Immediately set out to help to
find the child. No doubt existed as to the
fate of the little one by all, and if they could
only find where the bear had despatched his
victim they might then go home with the
assurance that they were never to see their
child again, but until some trace of her was
found there was hope.
"The gentleman alluded to had wandered
about, and as they were passing swampy
spot where tho underground was very thick,
they either called the child or else were
child's voice. He then called the child by
name and told her to come out of the bushes.
She replied that the bear would not let her.
The men then crept through the brush, and
when near the spot where the child and bear
were, they heard splash in the water, which
the child said was the bear On going to her
they found her standing upon log extend
ing about half way across the river
'.The bear had undertaken to cross the river
on the log, and being closely pursued, left
the child and swan away. She had received
some scratches about her face, arms and legs,
and her clothes were almost torn from her
body, but the bear had not bitten her to hurt
her, only the marks of his teeth being found
on her back, where, in taking hold of her
clothes to carry her, he had taken the flesh also.
The little one says the bear would put her
down occasionally to rest and would put his
nose up to her face, when she would slap
him, and then the bear would hang his head
by her side and purr and rub against her like
n cat. The men asked her if she was cold in
the night and she told them the old bear lay
down beside her and put his arms around
her and hugged her to him and Kept her warm,
though she did not like his long hair. She
was taken home to her parents"