Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-08-05
A WILD WOxAN's HISTORY,

Toe slayer o. uunore0e 81 Iueato and
Wiidcsss..rsrady that Drevs her % shs
Weeds.
There" said Sheriff Mallory spen-
Ger, a. he pushed open tho ponderous
door OF ono OF tho cells OF the county
Jail In Honesdale, Pa, TO o Sun report.
or. "There Ia woman with history.
On O low chair In tho cell sat O most
singular looking person. A round,
wrinkled. sunburned face; small head
crowned with thick, shaggy gray hair,
that fell down over and almost concealed
the BLACKLIST and sharpest OF eyes; q
slender body, clothed In scant and
shabby female garb, aud lower limbs on
cased In tattered trousers-this was the
occupant OF the cell-Lucy Ann Lob
dell Slater, better known az "the Fe'
male Hunter OF Long Eddy"
About forty.ave years ago family
named Lobdell lived in Delaware county.
N. Y, at what Ia now the village Of
Long Eddy, on tho Delaware river and
the Erie railway. The locality was very
sparsely settled then. LAUNDERING was
the calling OF the people Of the vicinity.
The Lobdells dwelt in cabin in the
woods, where daughter, to whom they
gave the namo Of Lucy Ann, was born.
From the time this child was old enough
TO walk she was great favOrite among
the hardy woodchoppers and raftsmen,
They often took her of to the logging
camp and kept her days at time, and
she carly became Injured to the hard
ships and privations OF their life. The
lumbermen in those days were oil good
hunters, and always carried their rifles
with them. Before Lucy Ann was eight
years old they had taught her the use Of
the rife, aud she soon became as good
q shot as there was in tho settlement.
Al the age OF twelve she could outshoot
any of the men, aud handled the ax
with the dexterity Of an old chopper.
Before she had reached the ogo OF six
teen she had killed several deer, and
for her to 60 away into the forest alone
and remain over night was not IN un-
common thing. She once slew pan
ther on one OF her hunting exploits, and
the skin of the animal is still in the pos
session OF q former sheriff Of Wayne
county, Pennsylvania.
In spite OF her masculine tastes, Lucy
Ann Lobdell's name rs girl and woman
was free from reproach, and she could
have had her choice of husband from
the best young men in that or the ad-
joining settlements. But she had no in
clination to marry, and she rejected all
offers.
A raftsman named Henry Slater came,
about the year 1850, to work at the
Basket, as the settlement was called.
He formed the acquaintance of Lucy
Ann, and to the surprise of everybody
they were married. Slater had proposed
to the girl, and shc told him that they
would shoot at mark with the rifle. If
he beat her shots, she would marry him
If not, she would remain with her pa
rents. The trial of skill took place, and
the raftsman was victorious. Slater
proved worthless husband, and neg
lected and abused his wife. A year after
they were married Mrs. Slater gave
birth to daughter. Before it was two
weeks old Slater deserted tho child and
its mother, leaving them in destitute
circumstances. He never returned, and
no one knows what BECAME of him.
The unhappy young woman went back
to her parents, and to work. After she
had for two years tried to get along by
doing woman's labor with poor success,
she laid aside the apparel of her sex,
donned mems clothing, and taking her
rifle, went into the woods to earn liv-
ing for herself and child. For eight
years she roamed the forests OF Sullivan
and Delaware counties. New York State,
and Wayne and Pike, in Pennsylvania.
She had cabins in various places, and
would return homo not more than once
year, and only appeared in the settle.
ments and villages to sell her game and
skins, and to procure ammunition. On
one of her visits to her child, when it
was about six years old, her parents
complained of having its care on their
hands. She took it away and placed il
in tho almshouse at Delhi, and returned
to the woods. During her long Greer
as hunter she was exposed to fearful
hardships and perils. In the severe
winter of 1867, when the snow was over
four feet deep on the level in the woods,
and lasted four months, she never saw a
human face, nor heard any voice but her
own. She was snowbound in one of her
cabins in the depth of Sullivan county
wilderness, where she had fortunately
stored the proceeds Of few weeks sue
cessful hunt.
In 1850, shattered physically and men.
tally, she appeared at the Basket, and
resumed woman's clothing. She at times
would recount her experiences in the for
est, and asserted that in the eight years
she had killed $50 deer, eleven bears,
numerous wildcats and foxes, besides
trapping hundreds of mink and other
fur bearing animals. She had hand-to-
hand contests with both wounded deer
and bear, as ugly scars upon her body
amply testified. For two or three years
after her return she led a mendicant sort
of life through tho valley, and finally
entered the poorhouse at Delhi, to which
she had sent her child several years pre-
viously. This child, however, had some
time before been taken ont of the insti-
tuition by farmer of Damascus town
ship, Wayne county, Pa, named David
Fortman, and given home at his house.
In 1865 Lucy Ann Slater was still an
inmate OF the almshouse, and a singular
attachment sprung up between her and
O new conner, Mrs. Wilson. The follow
ing year both OF them left tho comfy
house, and nothing was heard of either
of them for two years. In the summer
of 1868 party of fishermen dis covered
two strange persons living in a cave in
Barrett township, Monroe county, Pa.
They were II man and women. Soon
thereafter there appeared in one of the
villages tall, gaunt man, carrying a
rifle and leading u half-grown bear cub
by string tied about his neck. The
man was bare headed, and his clothing
was torn and dirty. Accom- panying him
was woman about twenty-five years old,
stability dressed, but giving evidence
of more intelligence than the man, who
called himself the Rev. Joseph Lobdell,
and said that the woman was his wife.
As they walked about the man delivered
noisy and meaningless sermons" de-
claring that he was prophet of the new
dispensation, and that the bear had been
sent him by the Lord to guard him in
the wilderness. For two years these va.
grants wandered about that part of the
county, living in caves and subsisting
on roots, berries, and game killed by
the man. At last they were arrested and
lodged in Jail at Stroudsburg, where