Louisiana capitolian., 1880-01-10
A Terrible Struggle.

One of the most muscular, power
full ul-limbcd settlers on the old New
York frontier century since, was
Henreich Kaupman. His arms were
like piston-rods, and he could drive
his huge, mallet-fst with tremend-
GUS momentum as to fell an OK as it
stricken by y thunderbolt. 1t Is said
that he was once caught by two IRON
muscled Mohawks, each armed with
knives, while Henrcich had neither; ;
yet ut the firstsonsct tie fractured the
skull of the foremost Indian. and bore
the second one to the earth rs if he
was nothing but an infant. That In.
dian never resumed the peipcndicu-
lar again. All this is BY way of intro
duction to an adventure tliht Kaup
man once had with pack Of wolves,
and which came fearfnl!y nigh hav-
ing fatal result for him.
The wintcrof Twas All unusually
severe one throughout the Northern
States, and many deaths from expo.
sure and starvation occurred before
the opening of spring. The wolves,
bears and other wild animals became
nearly furnished from hunger, and as
u consequence, were unusually fierce
and courageous. They came down
from the mountains, and woe to the
sheep-fold that was left unprotected
during the night. They were sure to
he invaded by the starving animals,
and not u sheep would live to tell tho
tale. There were tracks around the
barns where the wolves had trotted
all nightin their search forsome means
Of entrance; their howls could be
heard through the still, cold hours,
and more than one housewife had been
chased to her very door by i'm
prhdcntly venturing forth after night
fall. Many of the settlers sat in the
upper stories of their homes, and
amused themselvesb by shooting wolves
for whose scalps the Government had
a standing bounty ofseveral shi]lings.
Henreich Kaupman remained at
home, only venturing forth to attend
to his dumb animals and to see that
they were properly protected during
the night. But after while his stock
of groceries became low, and gave out
altogether. True, he and his family
could live upon the poultry, sheep,
and animals they owned, but it was
rather unpleasant to be without tea,
coffee, sugar, salt, and many other
articles that were more necessities than
they wcreluxuries. By this time, too,
the roads had been travcrscd 50 much
that they were thoroughly broken,
and Henrcich concluded 70 harness up
his mare to his sled and go to the vii
lage, about four miles distant, and
procure the articles he 50 much need
ed. With want of foresight whicl,
he could never explain, he started Oh
lis journey without a weapon, except
a keen-edged hatchet, which was car
ried in case the sled should give out.
In his house hung his trusty rife, but
neither he nor his wife seemed to I'M
agine that there would be any call for
it, and he drove cheerily away, bid
ding lis wife merry good-by as the
mare went at n spanking gait down
the road toward the village
The latter place--which more pro-
pcrly might be termed a settlement
was reached in good time, the groce-
ries all bought, and everything was in
readiness to start hOmeward. Hen
reich had been storm bound so long
in his house that he found the COM
panionship of his friends at tho vii
lage tavern extremely agreeable.
There was SO much to talk about, so
much news to listen to, such q guam
tity of gossip regarding the affairs of
the neighborlIood, that the time slip
ped unconsciously by, until, when he
arose to go, he found it was almost
dark. Still he had no fears, as his
wife would understand that he had
remained in the village, and there
was no necessity Of his immediate re-
turn. AS he turned hOmeward and
left the village behind him, and no.
ticed that the dim light by which he
was travelling belonged to the moon,
it flashed upon him that perhaps he
would encounter danger before reach
iur home and he rerr.fted fnr &he