Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-07-08
TWO STRANGE LIVES.
The Story of Two Women Who Insisted
That They Were Man and Wife.

1n6L AA0y NOIC 2aA0A 1870
Lucy Ann Slater died in a New York
state insane asylum on Saturday.
She was so years old, and a few years
ago was famous all through the Della
ware River counties as the female
hunter Of Long Eddy. She was born,
writes a Stroudsburg, Pa, CORE
spondent of the New York Sun, at
Long Eddy, Delaware County, n. Y.
Her father was a lumberman. At the
age of 10 years she was noted for her
skill with the rifle. She killed q
panther, after following it ten miles
through the woods, when she was -
years old. At the age of IT she was q
handsome and intelligent girl. She
was an excellent violinist and good
singer. Her maiden name was Lob
dell. She was married to q raftsman
named George Slater when she was Is.
He deserted her and her 2-months-old
baby a year afterward, leaving her in
destitute circumstances. Her parents
were unable to give her a home. She
left her baby in their charge and went
away. She went to Bethany, Pa, dis
guised as man, and, under the name
of Joseph |. Lobdell, opened a singing
school. She carried out her assumed
character so we'll that in the fall of
1855 she became engaged to be mar
ried to one Of her pupils, the daughter
OF a leading citizen of Bethany.
A few days before the day set for the
wedding arrived Lobdelfs identity
was discovered by young man who
had been a rival OF the music teacher
for the hand of the young woman. He
al NTH ~ +n tho
teacher, tar and feather her, and drive
her out of town. The young woman
who was to have married the singing
master was let into the secret, and she
warned Lucy Ann of her danger, and
she escaped. Returning to Long Eddy,
she resumed the apparel of her own
sex and remained in the vicinity some
months. Desiring to find employ
ment, she cast aside women's clothing,
and, donning a hunting-suit, entered
the woods. For eight years she led a
wild life in the upper Delaware Valley
wilderness, coming into the settlements
only when she desired to exchange her
furs or game for ammunition and nee
essary supplies. Her eight years in
the woods were a constant struggle
with hardships, prlvations and danger.
She had many narrow escapes from
wild animals, and, as she recorded it,
she ''killed 1913 deer, rs bears, 1 pam
ther, and numberless quantities Of
small game of the glade, and fur-bear-
ers of the stream and lake. When she
returned to Long Eddy she put on
women's clothing again. She had
grown prematurely old, and was but
a. wreck of the former dashing back
woods favorite. Her parents were
dead, and her child was in the poor
house. After wandering about the
valley for some time thefemale hunter
entered the poor-house also. Soon
afterward the child, Mary Slater, was
adopted by a rich farmerin Damascus
Township, Wayne County, this state.
The mother remained in the poor
house, ard became yearly more miser
able and wretched.
In the winter of 1868, Maria Louise
Perry, the 19-year-old daughter of a
Well-to-do Massachusetts, family and
a graduate of a Boston school, ran
away from her nativep place with a man
named James Wilson. The couple
went to Jersey City, where they were
married. In the spring of the same.
year Wilson eloped with the daughter
of the landlady where he and his wife
were boarding. His wife traced the
runaways along the Erie Railway, and
at Lordville, Delaware County, was
taken sick with fever. She was placed
IN the county house, where she soon
recovered. AS she made no move
toward returning home after regaining
her strength the poor-house authorl-
ties finally notified her father of her
whereabouts and condition. In the
meantime the young woman had
formed the acquaintance OF Lucy Ann
Slater, and, inexplicable as it seems,
the two formed mutual affection SO
strong that they refused to be sep
arated, and when the girls father ar
rived at Delhi to take her back to
Massachusetts,, she and Lucy Ann
Slater had left the poor-house, and no
trace of them could be found. 1t was
subsequently learned that Lucy Ann
had again assumed the character of a
man, and, under the name of Joseph
Israel Lobdell, had been married by
a Wayne County Justice of the
peace to Maria Louise Perry, a few
days after they ran away from the
poor-house
In the summer Of 1869 acouple call
ing themselves the Rev. Joseph Israel
Lobdell and wife appeared in the
mountain villages in the western part
of this Monroe County. For two
years they roamed about in the region,
living IN caves in the woods, and sub
sisting on berries and roots, such game
as the long rife which the man carried
might provide, and the charity of the
people. In 1871 they became such a
nuisance that they were arrested on
the charge OF vagrancy, and lodged in
the Stroudsburg jail. Nothing was
known of their history, and nothing
could be obtained from the couple that |
would throw any light on their ante
.cedents.
On the very night that the mysteri-
Gus couple were placed in jail here,