Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-04-21
LEONORA BROWN.
A STORY OF A HEROIC GIRL.

A STORY OF A HEROIC GIRL.
On the border of Green Lake, in Min
nesOta, there lived a sturdy, white hair
ed frOntiers-man named Walter Brown.
He was one of those adventurous spirits
ever to be found in the van of advan-
cling civilization, always cOUrting the
free, wild air of the prairie, and rejoicing
in the profound depths of uninhabited
forests.
But the country became more and
more thickly settled, and Walter Brown
became uneasy. His wife had borne
him a daughter the third or fourth year
Of their residence at the head waters of
the st CrOix, whom he called LeOnOra.
She was a good girl, and the idol of her
father. He purchased rife for her
when she was but twelve years old, and
took the utmost pains in teaching her
the use of it. She was brave and steady
of nerve, and soon acquired wonderful
skill as a shot, and the number Of prairie
chickens, paTtridges, wild water fowls,
and other small game she managed to
shoot each day, was really large. Occa-
siOnaIIy she would shoot deer, and one
eventfuI morning, by a lucky shot
through the eye into the brain, she kill
ed a bear.
When she came home with the news,
her father could scarcely credit her.
But, knowing her perfectly truthful ma
ture, he danced about the room for joy,
and seizing the sturdy little maid, he
mounted her upon his shoulders and in
sisted upon carrying her all the way to
the spot where the dead bruin lay.
Thicker and thicker flowed the tide Of
emigration into Minnesota and WiscOn-
sin, following the navigable rivers as a
matter of course, and more and more
uneasy and Crowded" felt Walter
Brown. At length his wife died: Leo
nora was sixteen, and engaged to be
married to a handsome young trapper
| by the name of Watson, who had joined
her father in business.
The death of her mother had made it
necessary to postpone the wedding, and
! in the interim old Walter decided to
move into Northwest Minnesota. Neigh
bOrs were getting too near, and hunting
and trapping were bad. AS the young
man had proved up and pre-empted
quarter section of land near TaylOr's
I Falls, he did not wish to either abandon
or sell it lust then, and persuading Leo
nora to write to him, he bade her an af-
| fectiOnate goodbye.
Brown lived in Minnesota for three or
four years in peace and quiet, finding
good trapping and hunting grounds,
when all at once young Watson arrived,
and renewed the proposition of marriage
with LeOnOra. The old man had about
! determined to move no more, and had
accordingly located and pre-empted sew
| eraI acres of land about him, and learn
ing from Watson that he had money
enough to do likewise, proposed that he
should go down to Sr. Paul and buy
! land warrants with his money, and take
uD all the land he could "swing." He
might then marry LeOnOra, and they
| two would go to work, and after building
plenty of stabling, etc, would get good
stock of cattle and sheep, and try and
lead a pastoral life for the rest Of their
days.
To this proposition the young man
heartily assenfed, and after returning to
| st. Paul, went bravely to work in the
woods, telling trees for building purpOs-
| es. It was agreed first that they should
build a new hewed log house for the
united family, as Watson had only got
UD a small, single room cabin. Then
! the wedding was to take place, and the
| two men would again resume thelT
work.
While thus busily engaged the Sioux
war broke out. 1t was the habit OF Leo
nora to take her rifle out every morning
and shoot prairie chickens for the table
while her lover and father were hard al
work on the new house. Watson had
brought her a present from st. Paul, g
light and handsome revolving rifle, O.
which she was immensely fond, anC
with which she became so expert thai
she could shoot a duck or praire CHECKER
on the wing with almost absolute Ger
tainty. -.
One morning, as she was strOllinG
around the lake, rifle in hand, she no
ticed three canoe loads of Indians pad
ding carefully along the opposite side
of the water, steadily and stealthiiy ap
DrOaChing the spot where her father anC
lover were at work. She did not imme
diateIy apprehend any tragedy, but il
some unaCcOUntable way she felt i'm
peIled to remain and watch their mo
tiOns. She therefore concealed hersel
behind the top of fallen tree, and OBJ
served their movements, which grew
: more and more suspicious. There wert
two indians in each canoe, and afte
milling steadily to q point where a thicE
Overhanging birch tree afforded conceal
ment for their canoes, they disembark
ed. and crept carefully and nOiselessly
along until they were within few fee
of where the two UnsuspectiRg mel
we're chOpping. Suddenly, with a yel
that made the forest ring, and whicl
echoed and re-echOed across the broad
still lake, they sprang upon their vic
TINS and bore them to the earth.
Leonora trembled with excitement
and apprehension, expecting nothing
less than to witness the horrible butch
ery of her father and lover at once.
But this did not seem to be the pun
pose of the Indians, for, tying the arm
! of their captives, they took to the canoe
L where taking the old man into one, an
the Young man into the other, the
showed boldly into the lake, and paddle
rapidly down toward where the hOus
stood. LeOnOra OWNED their inten
instantly.
'GHa?i1 she said to herself, "they de
sign capturing me, too. They deer
that an easy job, perhapsW and her eye
flashed and her face flushed with anger
HSee! there is a fourth canoe, whic
they no doubt suppose will carry me
This villainOus work has been well cal
}, cuIated; but ha! you bad saVages! yO
have mistaken your girl this time
LeOnOra Brown has been taught NOR
Oh, dear, dear father, your LeOnOra wi
soon show you how bTavely she can SUE
cor you, and how your instructing he
in the use of this rifle has saved you th
day. And you, too, darling Henry Wa
son, have won a longer lease of you
precious life by presenting me with tn
splendid revolving rifle. Six bullets f
six ruffians! Miss one of them! ah, if
sh0uld-there's my knife, No LeOQOr;
you must not miss one of them"
The girl now crept steaIthily up to til
bank through the Underbrush to til
prairie above. She knew that to reac
I the house the Indians would have
cross a broad, fiat field, where there W;
no shelter for their persons. She di
not think they would hesitate to do tn
because, having taken the two mel
they would hardly expect any resistant
from single girl. About thirty rods
. the right of the path a cattle yard Ina
been erected by her father, and in IL
corner of the fence stood an immen!
elm tree. Inside of this yard climbe
n LeOnOra, and behind the big elm 81
- concealed herself