The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-04-16
MY NARROW ESCAPE.
An Awkward Scrape, and How ]
Got Out Of It.

: "You want a story Of frontier life, ehsn
said Captain Thomas Watson, in reply to
the opportunities of q company of Eastern
friends who were visiting him at his home
in Wisconsin. "Well really, I would like
to oblige you, but I am afraid you will be
disappointed If I undertake to tell a story,
for the fact is, I was never scalped by In
dams nor chased by wolves; never Rugged
by a grizzly bear, nor even SO much as run
over by a herd of buffalo.
"No doubt you think it strange" contin-
ned the Captain, "to hear an old pioneer
nal such an admission, but it is true,
strictly true. However, I did have a little
adventure one time when the country was
new. / suppose I might tell you some
thing Of that, though it is an occurrence I
seldom allude to. The fact is I got myself
into q very awkward scrape, through my
own foolishness, and never tell the
ut all creditable to myself.
"But whether creditable or not, it was
certainly exciting enough, for to tell the
truth, I was mistaken-and taken, too-for
near getting a taste of that sort of Justice
which Judge Lynch SO often administers to
the luckless individuals b are forced to
go to trial in his court. I, by the merest
chance, happened to escape; but many a
poor fellow, less fortunate though Just as
innocent, has been tried, condemned and
executed in less than an hours time.
The affair happened thirty years ago,
here in Western Wisconsin, not more than
twenty miles from the Mississippi River.
"My father emigrated from Ohio with
his family in the summer of 1858. I was
eighteen years old in July of that year,
strong and able-bodied; but the other
children-four of them-were considerably
younger, and all of them girls. Father,
however, was hard to be suited with q
place to settle, and after looking around
awhile here in Western Wisconsin, he
pushed on across the Mississippi and To-
Gated In Southeastern Minnesota. The
claim he selected was on a high prairie,
about forty miles bac from the river, and
seven or eight miles from any timber.
at was late in the season when we de-
cided upon a location, and began making a
home. But all hands went at it in earnest,
and we had soon put up a comfortable little
house, and had cut and stacked a sufficient
quantity of hay to winter our stock-a
span of horses and two cows. For the ami
mails a temporary stable was constructed,
which afforded excellent shelter. 1t was
simply a framework of poles, covered and
enclosed with prairie hay.
although it was now the middle of No
vember, we had been too busy as yet to get
any wood, except just enough for present
use. We were about to set about that work
when an accident occurred. Father fell
from the roof of the house one morning and
broke his right leg. Fortunately, it was
not a bad fracture; mother and /, with the
help of q neighbor, were able to set it
without much difficulty.
"But 'misfortunes never come singly,
says the proverb. The very next morning
when I went out to the stable to feed the
as stiff as an Egyptian mummy n a.
dead as Julius Cesar. This was a seriou,
loss to us at that time, for we must have
fuel and a team of some kind to get it.
Father was at first completely discour'
aged. With only a broken leg, he had beer
inclined to take a hopeful view of the situa'
ton, thinking I would be able to keep tn
family supplied with wood. But thi
secon misfortune was too much for hi
philosophy, and he at once resigned him
self to the blues. Mother tried to appea
cheerful, but her cheerfulness was evi
IDENTIFY assumed, and did not altogethe
hide the anxiety she strove to conceal.
"Our neighbors-at that time there wer
only three families within ten miles of u
came in occasionally and tried to chez
could. But their friendly, well-mean
offers of assistance failed to a an,
definite shape, while the wood-pile rapid,
dwindled away.
'The prospect was certainly a cherries
one. don't much wonder that the folk
grew down-hearted and Respondent, a
they unquestionably did. At the end of
week mother was two-thirds sick from los
of sleep and o~verwork, while father ha
been u~ndeniably irritable and cross fror
the first. I suppose he had a right to b.
considering his aches and pains, and tn
weight of care and responsibility restin
upon him; but altogether it made a yer
dismal household. I worked outdoors an
stayed outside as much as possible, partl
from q desire to be doing something, an
DorfIu IN occano tho unn1aac 40 nflu-6o1of
indoor atmosphere.
SIT run along in this way about ten day
before father made up his mind what I
do. 1t must ave been near the end of th
one day and talked with him q long time
and as soon as he was gone, mother calle
"sWeli, Tom,' said father, as l entere
the room and sat down by the fire, 'pv
about made up my mind to send you of I
buy a horse. Perhaps we might depend o
our n%eighbors, or by fixing up a one-hors
rig, get along with only one; but I thin
the best plan will be to buy q horse. W
m nave another in the spring any wa,
and we might as well have theu use of it tn
winter.
"tI'm going to trust you to make tt
purchase. Neighbor Gordon offered to
for me, but Id rather send you. 1 hay
engaged him to haul a load of wood to la
while you are gone SO you car start fl
Wisconsin tomorrow morning; that is,
you are willing to go. What do you thinl
Can you buy a horse and not get cheated
"'Trust me for that, father said 1, COZ
fdently. 'And I think it's the best thin
we can do, under the circumstances The
stopped, as 1 happened to think it woul
be better for me not to appear over-anxio,
IL I really wanted to go, which was I'll
case. I'm truth, my desire for a horse W,
only exceeded by my eagerness to assun
thS responsibility Of Its purchsse,