The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-02-11
LEON0RA BROWN.
A spoHv OF A HEROIC GIRL.

On the border of Green Lake. in
Minnesota, there lived a sturdy, white
! haired frontiersman named Walter Brown.
He was one of those adventurous spirits
ever to be found in the van Of advancing
civilization, always eourting the free, wild
air of the prairie, and rejoicing in the pro-
| found 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 headu'aters Of the
St. Croix, whom he called Leonora. She
was good girl, and the idol Of her father
He purchased rifle for her when she
was bat twelve years old, and took the ut
most pains in teaching her the use of it.
She was brave and steady of nerve, and
soon acquired wonderful skill as shot,
and the number of prairie chickens, par
tridges, wild water fowls, and other small
game, she managed TO Shoot each day was
really large. Occasionally she would
shoot deer, and one eyentful morning,
by lucky shot through the eye into the
brain, she killed bear.
When she came home with the news,
her father could scarcely credit her. Bat
knowing her perfectly truthful nature, he
danced around the room for JOY, and seiz-
ing the sturdy little maid, ho mounted her
on his shoulders, and insisted on carrying
her all the way TO the spot whore the dead
bruin lay.
Thicker and thicker flowed the tide of
emigration into Minnesota and Wisconsin,
following the navigable rivers as matter
of course. and more and more uneasy and
crowded" felt Walter Brown. AT
length his wlfe died. Leonora was then
sixteen, and engaged to be married to a
handsome young trapper by the namo of
Watson, who had joined her father in bus
| iness.
Tho death of the mother had made it
| necessary to postpone the wedding, and
in the interim old Walter decided to move
into northwest Minnesota. Neighbors
| were getting too near, and hunting and
trapping were bad AS the young man
had proved up and pre- e-empted quarter
section of land near Taylors Fall, then
beginning to grow rapidly, lie did not
wish to either abandon or sell it just then,
and persuading Leonora to agree to write
to him when they got settled, he bade her
an affec;ionate 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 re-
newed the proposal of marriage with Leo
nora. The old man had about determin~
ed to move no more, and had accordingly
located and pre-empted several thousand
acres of land about him and learning
| from Watson that he had money enough
| to do likewise, proposed that he should 60
down to St. Paul and buy land warrants
| viii. IIf1 money, and take up all the land
around he could ''swing." lie might then
marry Loonora, and they two would go
to work, and after they built plenty of
| stabling, ETC., would get good stock of
cattle and sheep, and try and lead pas
toral life the rest of their days:
To this proposition the young man
heartily assented, and after returning
from ST. Paul, went bravely TO work iu
the woods, telling trees for building pur-
poses. 1t was agreed first that they build
new hewed log house, for the united
family, as Walter had only got up small
| single~roomed cabin. Then the wedding
was to take place, and the two men
would resume their work.
While thus busily engaged the Sioux
war broke out. 1t was the habit of Leo
nora 10 take her rifle out every morning
and shoot prairie chickens for the table,
while her lover and father were hard at
work on the new house. Watson had
| brought her a present from St. Paul, a
| light and handsome revolving rife, Of
which she was immensely fond, and with
which she. became so expert she could
! shoot duck or prairie chicken on the
wing with almost absolute certainty.
One morning as she was strolling
around the lake, rife in hand, she noticed
three canoe loads of Indians padding
along the opposite side of the water,
| steadily and stealthily approaching the
spot where her frather and lover were at
work She did not Immediately appre~
hend any tragedy, but in some unac-
countable way she felt impelIed to remain
and watch their motions. She, therefore,
concealed herself behind the top of fall
en- tree, and observed their movements,
which grew more and more suspicious. =
! There were two Indians in each canoe,
and after pulling steadily to a point where
thick, overhanging birch tree afforded
concealment for their canoes, they disem-
barked, and crept carefully and noiseless-
ly along until they were within few
feet of where the two unsuspecting men
we're chopping. Suddenly, with a yell
that made the forest ring, and which
echoed and re-echoed across the broad
still lake, they sprang upon their victims
and bore them to the earth.
Leonora trembled with excitement and
apprehension, expecting nothing less than
to witness the horrible butchery of her
father and lover at once.
But this did not seem to be the purpose
| of tho Indians for tvinp the arms oI