Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1876-12-23
Colorado Heroine.


the nearest neighbor sat a woman, sur
rounded by her family Of seven child
rem, and watching the dead body o.
her husband. a large fire, which sht
and her Oldest boy, LAD Of fourteen
had built, threw a CHASTITY glare over
the lonely landscape, The broad sky
hove and the high hills around made
mo, intense the sense of desolation and
fhs Ia. 'leness Of humanity, aud the muir
49, ~. lie stream near by and the bark
If the fox in the distance were the only
ntterances :, solitude to grief. Her hus-
hand w n os.. -om, had come to Colo
RADIO from AlsbarD> ana on account oil
the depredatious Of the grass-hoppers
had not been vsTy prOsl 'erous; lie mad
prepared aew nome for n Is iamliy I'D
park on North Platte, and >, ~ OUT tnat
morning from Pine Grove Gugch Tor the
journey Of twenty miles, in a We tern
wagon, drawn by team Of mules, alad
loaded with his household and house,
hold goods. Toward evening as he was
crossing small stream at rough part
of the road, one Of the mules SHE'D and
the wagon was overturned. 1t is prob
able that Ostrom was walking beside it,
and flung himself in the way to try
and save bis wife and children. They
were thrown violently out and he was
caught under the overturned wagon and
borne to the ground with the cross-bar
of the wagon-bed across him aud
weight of /, 500 pounds crushing him.
His terrified wife found hin lying in
this way. cecil ard considerate, but very
pale. He dire ted her in her vain eff
forts to ply the wagon over, and died
within five minutes, even while assuring
her that he was not dangerously hurt
The oldest boy was on foot, driving a
COW, and came up only in time to join
his mother in her attempts to release his
fathers dead body With true pioneer
readiness and sternness. the team was
unhitched and put to drag off the wag-
on, the corpse was rolled 10 sheet,
fire was huilt, the mules were corralled
and the widow and orphans sat down
in their dismal bivouac.
We think picture of this night
watch OF Mrs Ostrum would be as char
acteristic Of q great phase of American
life as any scene that the imagination
would conceive of. In her bitter exper-
fence, giving us glimpse of the suffer-
ings of the woman of the Western 'front.'
Ter, we have something to suggest the
trials ond labors of all that hardy gen.
Grafton which pushed slowly on from
the Atlantic to the Mississippi, before
whom the wilderness receded like the |
horizon. 1t is the fault of our time to
undsrrate the rough virtues of the pio-
neers, and forget the value of their
achievements. We are losing sight of |
the romantic and heroic aspects Of their
life, in the refinement end luxuries of |
our own. Her story should bring back |
old memories to those in the heart of |
civilization, and teach them what it |
cost.
1t was not by enchantment that the |
log-cabin was changed to the brown
stone mansion, the home-spun dresses
to silks, the emlgrant wagons to family !
The metamorphosis was
rapid, but it was the result of the sacri-
flee and endeavor Of ages heaped into q
few years ago. The Colorado woman,
sitting all night in her mournful bivou-
&C, with her seven children around her
and the corpse of her husband just out
side of the glare of the fire, stffening in
the irost--this penniless widow arous-
ing herself in the morning, taking the
dead body on the wagon and retracing
her steps toward civilization, is as dis
tinct type OF American womanhood as
the gayest lady that attends church in
New York to-day. They have different
missions but neither of them should !
forget that they are sisters.