Vermont daily transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1868-1870, 1869-01-16
An ErcitinD chase.
\ CHILD TAKEN OFF BY AN EAGLE
AND CARRIED TWO MILES.

"a BcutleIlaH Huulcu bOWcIS, iIolll
Meigsyille, Jackson County, now in
town, informs us that on Christmas
eve, about 3 o'clock pm, the farm of
Mr.. Whiteside, about five miles from
Meigsville, was the scene of most ex-
citing and nearly fatal event. 1t is
briefly thus:
Mr.. Whiteside was in the little town,
doing some business his wife was away
at neighbours where sick child was
struggling with cholera intantum; and
the only indoor servant they had was
out in the barn looking after some cat
tie, when their child-a bright little
boy just learning to toddle round on its
little feet and prattle the name of pa"
-tumbled or crawled out of its cradle,
in which it was left asleep by the SER
want few moments before, and man.
aged somehow to get to the door, which
was open t the time, although the girl
left in charge of the place AYERS that she
closed it ON going out The child tum-
bled into the front yard, as it is supposed,
and was crying and sprawling around,
when great grey eagle, seen by the
girl she was leaving the barn, came
down and fastened its immense and
cruel talons in the clothing of the boy,
rose up, apparently with much difficult
ty, as high as it could, which was not
very high, and sailed off across the adj
JAG ut woods; just skimming, as the SER
want says, the tops OF the trees. When
the servant saw the eagle coming down,
as she was leaving the barn, she had a
presentiment of the strangest kind, anu
says that she felt that the child was out
of doors, and that the fierce bird of prey
nj ~ h1It wi
ment after, she beheid the great tyrant
of the air rise above the hOuse-tOp with
the child in it's claws, she grew dizzy and
fell to the ground.
Her weakn ess however, did not con-
tinue long the cold air blowing across
her lace revived her quickly, and jump
ing up she saw the eagle disappearing
over the woods in the direction of the
Cumberland River. She was filed with
but one impulse, to rescue the boy. She
became almost frantic, for she had a re-
markable affection for the boy. She
rushed forward, over the fence as if she
were endowed with the lightness and
agility of deer; dashed into the wood,
dark and tangled as it was, not taking
time to hunt out footpaths or cow
tracks, She instinctively felt that the
thieving bird would keep in straight
line also. With the strength of a person
who has become suddenly deranged she
dashed the underground aside, crossing
ravlnes as if she were on the level plain,
spurned the fallen trees and jagged
rocks as if they were the smoothest and
softest moss. The patch of wood was
fully a mile and half through, but
the girl made the run to the other
edge of it without feeling in the
least fatigued. Beyond the wood, and
hnfxx nd nj loxr IN ota1 Of
cleared ground, partly marshy aid part
ly cornfield, iull of old stumps. When
she left the wood and had clear view,
she saw the eagle as if he were inclined
to alight with his burden somewhere in
the LeighbOrhood ofthe river. This gave
her new courage and fresh hope, and
she ran forward with increased speed.
1t luckily happened at that time there
was a nan in the neighboring marshes,
and jl.st at the PARTICULAR moment when
the eagle reached the ground with his
burden, shot went off so dangerously
and alarmingly near him (for the hun
ter was behind a clump of bushes, about
TWEEN " yards off, and had his back to-
ward the spot where the eagle and child
were), that he mOunte In the air again,
but this time without tie burden. The
pursuipg girl was filled with joy when
she beheld the bird arise without the
child. But fearing he would return, as
he seemed inclined to do, she set UP a
a vigor, us shouting as she ran, which
attracted the hunters attention in
that direction, who, seeing the eagle
quite near him, and a lady rushing
down the slope with streaming hair
and garments, and wildly shouting,
concluded at once that there was some
thing strange and perhaps dreadful in
his immediate vicinity; and he also set
up vigorous hall DING, and proceeded
to reload his gun with much preoipita-
ton, forgetting to 20 after the game he
had just shot.
The eagle soon became aware of the
formidable opposition he would meet if