Milford chronicle., 1883-11-16
AQUEER MARRIED COUPLE
THE STORY OF TWO WOMEN WHO
PRETENDED TO BE MAN AND WIFE.
One Once Famous Hu9tress of the New
York and Pennsy lvania Woods and the
Other a Graduate of Boston school
Their WanderinRs and Adventures.

The singular case reported from Wau-
pun, Wis, of the marriage of one woman
to another, has parallel in a case which
was discovered in Stroudsburg, Pa,
some years ago. A local correspondent
writes to the San as follows:
In the spring of 1869 there appeared in
the town of Barrett, in the western part
of Monroe county, couple calling them
selves the Rev. Joseph Israel Lobdell
and wife. The man was of medium
height, dressed in tattered hunting garb,
and carried q long single-barrel rifle. He
wore no hat, and his head was covered
with thick black curly hair, streaked
with gray. The woman was taller than
the man, and was meanly clad. She
was fine looking, wore spectacles, and
her conversation showed that she was
educated and intelligent. For two years
the strange couple roamed about the
township, living most of the time in the
woods, but frequently making their ap-
pearance in the village, where the man
would deliver wild and incoherent
harangues on religion, and both would
beg for food and shelter. In 1871 they
had become such a nuisance to the in
habitants that they were arrested on a
charge of vagrancy, and committed to
jail in Stroudsburg. While in prison
the discovery was made that they were
both women. Soon afterward it was
learned that they had together left the
almshouse of Delaware county, N. T.,
short time before their appearance in
this county. The poorhouse authorities
of Barrett thereupon took them back to
Delhi, where the following straight his
tory of the pair was learned:
In 1854, Lucy Ann Lobdell, the IT.
year-old daughter of an old lumberman
living at Long Eddy, on the Delaware
river, was married to George Slater.
She was known far and wide as an ex-
pert shot with the rife, not only at the
target, but in hunting the wild game
for which that part of the valley was
then famous. After a year of married
life, Slater deserted his wife, leaving her
in destitute circumstances, with an in
FAINT two months old. Her parents were
very poor, and unable to give her a
home. They were willing to relieve her
of the care of her child, however, and
she finally placed itin their charge. She
then dressed herself in male attire and
disappeared.
Soon afterward, young man OF pre-
appearance opened a singing
school in the village of Bethany, Wayne
county, Pa. He gave his name as
Joseph Lobdell, and became a great
favorite among the young women Of the
village, nearly all of whom joined his !
singing class. He was good singer !
and violinist, and had fair knowledge |
of music. Before the term of his school |
was over he became engaged to one of his |
pupils, the daughter of a leading citizen
of Bethany. The day was set for the
wedding. News of the presence of the |
young singing master in Bethany reached |
Long Eddy, and suspicion was aroused |
there that he was the missing Lucy Ann
Slater, whose musical accomplishments
were well known in her native place. In
proved that the suspicion
was correct. The information was OBJ
tanned by a young man of Bethany,
who had been a rival of the music
teacher for the hand of the young lady.
He told the secret to a few companions,
and they planned to capture the teacher
on a certain night and tar and feather
her. This became known in some way
to the girl Lobdell was to marry, and,
her modification, she
warned the teacher of her danger so
that she escaped from the town by
night and returned to Long Eddy,
where she assumed female attire for
short time.
Early in 1856 she again put on male
attire, and for eight years lived the life
Of hunter, roaming the forest of Sulli-
van, Delaware, Wayne, and Pike coun-
ties. She rarely came into the settle
nents, and then to exchange game and
iurs for ammunition and necessary sup
plies. According to her subsequent
her wild life was one Of
thrilling adventure and privatiOn. Her
narrow escapes in contests with wild an
mails and her suf6erings from cold,
hunger, and sickness during her career
n the woods she recorded in a book en-
tiled ''The Life and Adventures Of Lucy
Ann Lobdell, the Female Hunter of
Long Eddy" She returned to Long
7dd1 in 1894 brolreY in mind and hodv-