The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-07-08
A BABE IN THE WOODS.
rHE ON STORY wITH VARIATIONS.

WITHOUT FOOD oR wATER-THE WHIP
POWELL SUNG HIM TO SLEEP
The story of the babes in the woods, ike
history, still repeats itself semi-occasionaly
but with variation. The latest version OF 1t
is subjoined from the New York sun OF
Thursday: Sixteen miles from the mountain
hamlet of LackawsxaD, over a rougher and
tougher forest road than the tabled highway
to Jordan, is the little Dutch settlement OF
Blooming Grove. Three miles further is
another and nameless Dutch neighborhood,
that lies like beautiful picture, In the
center of a limitless forest, and
guarded by lofty, symmetricallv rounded
mountains. A half mile from the beaten
track of the turnpike, and on the edge of the
famed Blooming Grove Hunting Park, is
the little log cabin of Charles Darling. Mr..
Durlling's house is on the base line OF
gloomy divide OF the bills, aud three or four
cabins similar to his own, complete the set
Element. On every side, as far as the hoIi-
zon, is the unbroken expanse of the wilder
ness. and the black pine and hemlock woods
glover above his very door
sill. About half past past three 4tb % on
Duriling's eight children were playing about
the door yard and in the barn, a few rods
from the house. The eldest of the number
proposed that they go hunting for May ap-
pies, which grow wild in the swamps at this
season of the year. Four of the little ones,
John, Lima, Louisa and Herman, started up
a steep path that leads up the mountains,
and all were soon eagerly at work in gather
ing the apples. The elders became so inter
ested in their sport that they forgot to look
out tor their little brother Herman, who, at
tracted by the unusual freedom that was
given him, gradually
WANDERED AWAY FROM THE PARTY.
He followed the little bush lined track that
leads into a broad, open cart road, about
one hundred rods from the house. The
path, blooming with rhododendrons, the
sailors cap, and other beautiful woodland
flowers, beguiled the little fellow on, and he
went deeper and deeper into the heart of
the forest, picking wild Strawberries and the
fruit of the swamp apple tree as he went.
He was not missed by his companions under
half an hour or more, until, tired with
their play, they set out for their home, and
then they thought that he had gone back
alone. st the house they asked their mother
If Herman had come home, and
when she told them that he had not,
they began to cry, and said that he
must be lost in the woods. The whole
family set off to find the little fellow, but
after searching about the edge of the woods
in vain, they started for a neighbours, at
u
call. In twenty minutes alter the disap-
peara nee of the boy Mr.. Durlling was upon
the trail, with mis- children and his immed-
late nsig hDors, with their wives and chill
dren. All the afternoon they hunted, call
ing again and again the name of the little
wsndsrer in vain. At nightfall the whole
neigh borhood had been alarmed, and Is or
20 men, women and children with lanterns
and torches searched all the c0pses
of the forest until 8 o'clock the next morn
ing. Again and again they shouted to the
little castaway, calling him by name, but
only The cries of night birds, the voices Of
wild animals, and the moan of the sway ing
pines gave back an answer. The next day
dawned gray and chilly, but saw an unusual
sight in the neighborhood. The news of the
loss OF the little child had spread for miles
around, and forty or fifty persons were scat
tered about the yard OF Mr.. Durlling at the
break of day. At Blooming Grove, three
miles below. the large tanneries were
stopped,
THE FARMERS FLoCKED IN
from Tod's Valley and from the ''Knob,'
and the whole country tor miles wore the
quiet appearance of a Sabbath. All Joined
in the search through Tuesday, marching
forty abreast, threading every wooded aisle,
and securing every defile and nook. At
night the last hope of finding the boy alive
sisted in. Late in the evening one of the
men, hardening to his cry of alarm,
thought that be detected the voice of a
child, but the noise of his companions
drowned the notes, and he con-
Guided that he had been misled by the
screech of wild cat or a catamount. On
Monday the party stumbled upon and killed
two rsttlesnskes, and on Tuesday the only
fruit Of the days work was the destruction
OF three more OF those reptiles. The mother
of Herman. who was sick at home and una
bic TO join in the search for her child, was
distracted by untold terrors of Imagination.
She at once gave up all hope, through her
knowledge of the perils of the woods, and
concluded that her boy had either been bit
ten by a rattlesnake or had been destroyed
by wild beasts. Her fears of bears,
which are unusually plentiful in Pike
county this year, one of them being en-
counSered recently in the open road near
Blooming Grove by a farmers daughter as
she was coming home from milking, made
her wild with despair. All Tuesday night
lanterns flashed among the gloomy pines,
and groups OF men and women searched fol
miles in every direction, making the Hills
echo with their cries. 1t is estimated that
the different bands travelled over 5000 acres
ola wilderness, in which, frequently, the
most experienced woodsmen are at fault in
traversing. On Wednesday morning the
people were still traversing the forest, anx'
1OuS only 10 recover the Oead DOOy
of the little wauderer, for all hops
of finding him alive had long since
vanished. About IL o'clock on "Wednesday
forty or fifty men were following a narrow
and devious rabbit path in an almost
impenetrable jungle, two or three miles
from the settlement, when Levi Lozey anC
Jim Smith, workmen in the tannery, who
were in advance, sent up a joyful shout
The whole party, though hall dead will
fatigue and inanition, made an enthusiastic
rush to the front.
IN THE CENTER OF A TANGLED THICKEr
of birch and under6rush, lying upon hi
side on long, black shelving rock, was lit
tie Herman. fast asleep. He was bareheade'
and oarefooted, as he went away, and b.
had taken of his short coat and pants a
though going to sleep in lis trundle-bed a
home. The father sprang forward ant
clasped his son in his arms, but as the littl
fellow awoke he was startled at the Qrea