The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-01-29
HUMAN" WOLVES.
Startling Experience with Them in
the Great Florida Swamp.

the Great Florida Swamp.
had been employed by the Great
Improvement and Reclaim Company of
Mobile to explore and map certain
lands in Florida lying well down on the
edge of the great Cypress Swamp. The
company had purchased nearly one mil
lion acres of wild land in the location I
have mentioned, and it was necessary
for some one to visit it and walk over
most of the ground before it could be
put into the market in the manner con-
templated. I had been on the ground
three weeks, having two men with me,
when the adventure happened which /
am about to relate.
One morning the three of us left our
cabin beside one of the lakes on the
upper st. Johns for tramp, intending
to return by evening. While / made
notes and kept the topography the men
noted the varieties of woods, nature of
the soil and other details of interest.
encountered white men in the dense
and lonely forest, and knew from their
looks and surroundings that they were
renegades from civilization. Twice we
had stumbled upon rude camps occu-
pied by negroes, and they were tough
looking lot.
We. had travelled distance of per-
haps three miles when | was stunl on
the back of the right hand by an insect
resembling a hornet, although much
larger In fifteen minutes the pain
brought me to a halt, and my hand was
swollen like pul-ball. After con-
sultation, it was decided that | should
return to camp, and the men would
push on by compass and cover certain
area, and come in toward night Be-
fore had covered the distance to camp
was near screaming out with the pain,
and my arm was putting up with the
poison.
There was remedy in the medicine
chest, but it was a full hour before the
pain was relieved. Then I began to
feel sleepy, and bunked down ard
was soon fast asleep. At about noon,
after nap of two hours, 1 was awak-
ened by Che sound of human voice.
"Say, your
! opened my eyes to find white
renegade standing over me, holding
ono of my revolvers in his hand.
"Git up!n
l. sat up. All our goodsin camp had
been packed up and taken away The
man who confronted me was the wick
edest-looking fellow we had yet met in
the swamps. His hair and whiskers
were so long and unkempt that little of
his face except his ugly black eyes and
yellow teeth could be seen. His cloth
ing "as pert cloth and part skins, and
it was plain that he had avoided CIV
ilization for years.
"Git up and COME" he .rowled.
'WhO ere you and what do you
want?" l demanded as l reached my
feet
Walk" he commanded, pointing
to the west.
AT that moment third actor ap-
peared. 1t w9s woman tall, gaunt,
ferocious and dressed in the same nom
descript costume as the man. She
came out of the jungle to the west, and
as soon as nvar enough to make her
words understood she said:
''If he won't move down him and tie
his hands and feet. We can tote two
SIGH as him. ,"
Sh had the other revolver in her
hand, and | noticed that both had
hunting-knives. was unarmed, still
weak from the effects of the poisonous
sting and entirely in their power. The
woman struck into the Jungle, fol-
lowed and the man brought up the
rear.
After walk of about quarter of q
mile we reached the bank of the lake.
Tied to tree by q rawhide rope was a
floating cabin. The foundation '. as a
rough-made scow, and the upper
works, as they may be termed, con-
sisted of long, narrow and stoutly-
made hut of logs, There was CHM
ney of mud and sticks, from which
smoke issued, and two persons were on
the bank to receive us. One was a boy
OF twelve or thirteen, and the other q
girl two or three years older. They
looked more like wild animals than
human beings, and talked in Ian
guage so strange that | could not I'M
derStand q word.
''Go ahead, said the man, as | halt
ed on the bank; and / followed the
woman aboard of the scow and into the
cabin. 1t was a house in which there
was but one room, with the hides of
cattle thrown over the wild Southern
moss for bedS Thara Voc n n croya b,,t n
sort OF fireplace made of stones, with
two or three iron kettles ON the hearth
as kitchen furniture.
All our camp equipage had been re-
moved to the cabin, and my Winches-
ter rifle stood in the corner. AS this
was then a new arm / did not believe
they knew how to use it, but my re-
volvers were Colts old pattern and
loaded with powder and used percus-
sion caps.
''Sot thar" said the woman, as she
pointed TO a corner.
wentover and sat down on the bed
1t was not the corner in which my rifle
stood, but tho weapon was not more
than ten feet away The woman then
said something to the children in their
own mongrel dialect, and both of them
sat down facing me and only three or
four feet away. Then man and wife
cast off the rope, seized long poles, and
presently the boat slowly moved down
the lake to the north. The lake ap-
peared to be about three miles wide BY
live long, and was shut in by a dense
forest.