St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-01-21
A Vermont Town Absorbed.

By recent vote of the freemen of
the town of Salem, Orleans county, in
accordance with an act of the legisla
ture, the town is annexed to and be-
comes a part of Derby. The Newport
Express has some interesting facts con-
nected with the early settlement of this
town, from which we Gull the following {:
Salem furnished three soldiers for the
war of 1912. Asa Lathe and his two
sons; and in the war of 1861 she was
ahead of her quota. William johnson,
a drummer boy, was the only drummer
in the Vermont brigade who brought
off his drum during the seven days re-
treat of Mcclellan before Richmond !;
and for his bravery the secretary of
war henored him with a special medal.
The population increased very slowly
and in 1870 amounted to only eighty.
1t was not organized until 1922.
Before the town was inhabited, but
after the highway had been built from
Derby through to Bloomington, a man
by the name of Carr was found frozen
stiff near the HOpkinson place. He had
been observed il short time before pass
ing through Derby on foot; a rum bot
tie in his pocket seemed to show the
cause of his death. He apparently had
no relatives in this region and his body
was taken to Derby and buried. This
is the most tragic event that Salem has
given rise to.
AN EXCITING WOLF HUNT.
The most exciting story was that
about Ephraim Blake and the wolves.
1t appears from =. II. Whites history
of this town-from which most of these
facts are taken-that a pack of wolves,
8 in number, had made great havoc
among sheep in this and adjoining
towns. After four of them had been
killed Blake set several traps in which
he found two wolves, while the third
trap was missing. 1t had evidently
been dragged away by wolf. Blake
| followed the track but it was not till
the third day that he was able to trace
the wolf to his hiding place, a den in
the woods. AS it was so surrounded by
ledge that he could not dig it out readi-
! ly, he resolved to go into the den him
self, and having procured gun, one
/ tined pitchfork and some candles, he
| Mr.. Whites narrative then goes on to
say armed only with the pitchfork and
| followed bv his son with a candle he en-
tered the den. He crawled on his
| hands and knees, until the roof of the
den became so low that he was obliged
to lie down and drag himself along
nearly as much farther. Here he en-
countered the wolf and inflicted many
severe wounds upon him but not severe
enough to disable him, till at length he
thrust him quite through the gambrel
joint of the leg; then bending the end
of the handle so as to insert it under a
projecting rock and prevent the wolf
from coming forward, he withdrew from
the den quite exhausted with exertion
and almost stitled with fetid air. After
resting awhile he re-entered the den
with his gun, shot the wolf, and drag
ged him out perforated with 10 pitch
fork holes, bullet, and three buck
shot. The distance from the mouth of
the den to where the wolf lay was ascer-
| tanned by measurement to be 42 feet
The old ''queen's arm" used in his dar-
ing exploits still remains in the posses
sion of his son, Capt. +. II. Blake, now
of Topeka, Kansas. Where Salem got
her name is not known. 1t means
peace" but her history shows any
thing else but peace. Her surface is
exceedingly broken and rough, the
north half covered with granite bould-
ers and ledge, the southern half by
ledge of a different character; the soil
however, is strong and rich, and farms
as productive as any in the county, car
be counted by the dozen.