The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-06-15
a STORY OF A HEROIC GIRL.

ed frOntier8ma9 named w after DTO"u.
He was on. os those adventurous spirits
ever to be found in the van of advancing
ciyiliza tion. aiways courting the free,
wild ais % the prairie, and rejoicing in
the profound depths Of uninhabited for
ests. .-.-r s- .fea1 80
But the county became more and more
Tricky settled, and Walter Brown. be-
came uneasy. His wife had borne him
q daughter the third or fourth years of
their residence at the backwaters OF the
Croix, whom he called Leonora.. She
was good girl, and the idol of her
father. He purchased rife FOR her
when she was but twelve years oit,and
took the utmost pains to teach her the
use of it. Ste was brave aud steady OF
nerve, and soon acquired wonderful skill
as shot, aud the number Of prairie
chickens, cartridges, Wild water fowls
and other small game she managed to
shoot every day, was really large. Oc'
casionally she would shoot deer, and
one eventful morning, by lucky shot
through the eye into the brain she killed
q bear. EHa ~zl ~ it0F
When che 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 q
matter of course, and more and more
uneasy and crowded felt Water Brown
At lcng;h his wife died. Leonora was
then sixteen, and engaged to be married
to handsome young trapper by the
name of Watson, who had joined her
father in business.
The death Of the mother had made it
necessary to postpone the wedding, and
in the interim old Walter decided to
move to northwest Minnesota. NeiGhbors
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 Falls, he
did not wish to either abandon or sell it
just then. and persuading Leonora to
agree to write him, he bade her an af-
fectionate good-by.
Brown lived in Minnesota for three or
four years in PEACE and quiet, finding
good trapping and hunting grounds,
when ali at once young Watson, arrived
| and renewed lie proposition OF marriage
| with Laorora. The old man had about
deter mined TO move no more, and had
| accordingly located and pre- empted sew
| erai thousand acres of land about him,
and learning from Watson that he had
money enough TO dc likewise, proposed
! that he should go down to st. Paul and
bny land warrants with his money, and
take up all tt e lsnd he could ewing
He might then marry Leonorc and they
. too would 60 to ~ orig, and try AMI lead
pastoral lite for tie rest OF ti,.ir days
To this proportion the young man
! heartily as:ented, and after returning
from S.. Paol went bra vely To work, in
the woods, telling t-ees for building pur-
poses. 1t was agreed fi.st that they
should build Il new hewea log house for
the united family, as Watson had got up
| small single room cabin. Then the
/ wedding was to take place, and the two
men would again resume their work.
While thus busily engaged the Sioux
war broke out. Itwas 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 house. Watson had brought
her as present from ST. Paul light
and revolving rifle. of which she was
immensely fond, aud with which she be
came SO expert that she could shoot 8
duck or prairie chicken on the wins
with absolute certainty.
!, One morning as she was strolline
} around the lake, rife in hand. she no
ticed three canoe loads, of Indians pad
OllnS careIuily alOpS tue Opposite SiOt
of the water, steadily and steathily ap-
} preaching the spot whore her father ant
lover were at work. She did not imme
mediately apprehend any tragedy, but il
some unaccountable way she felt impell
) ed to remain and watch thier motions
She therefore concealed herself behint
the top Of a fallen tree, and observed
their movements, which grew more and
more suspicious. There were tw'
Indians in each canoe, and after pulling
steadily to point where a thick, over.
, banging birch tree afforded concealmen
for their canoes, they disembarked, an,
crept carefully and noislessly along un
E ill they we're within q few feet of Wher