News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-05-09

| Yielding to his unpOYernabIe temper,
the Norwegian at length caught the
nearest horse by the bit and began tc
kick him with his heavy boot in a most
brutal manner.
FerrOn, who was not working fan
away, called to him to stop, bu he paid
no attention whatever to the command.
The Welshman then caught heavy OK
goad from the hands of one of the men
and bounding to the spot, dealt Big
Olaf terrific blow across the should
ers.
With yell of pain the enraged giant
left the horses and turned upon FerrOn,
who followed up his first blow with
others, backing away as the Norwe-
gian advanced.
The encounter caused the most in
tense excitement among the men who
came hurrying to the spot. The affair
might have ended differently had not
| the Welshman caught his foot in pro-
truding root, and fallen back ward to the
! ground. Before he could recover him
self the enraged Norwegian seized him,
| and lifting him as though he had been
q child, hurled him with tremendous
! force against the trunk of an adjacent
tree.
The unfortunate man dropped limp
and lifeless to the ground and never
spoke again; he was borne to the camp
and died at eight o'clock the same even
ing.
SO great was the excitement caused
by this unfortunate affair that no one
thought of securing the perpetrator of
the deed until some time af ser its occur
renee, and then it was too late.
He had disappeared, and although
the most strenuous effor, were put forth
to ascertain his whereabouts, and a re-
ward was offered for his arrest, no trace
could be found of Big Olaf. Where
/ or how he spent the interval between
that February day and that on which he
/ reappeared to perform heroic deed no
one never knew.
The period of greatest interest and ac
tivity in a lumber camp is the floating
of its logs down small streams to the
rivers during the spring freshet, and
much skill and daring are required to
keep the logs moving and prevent jams.
Especially was this the case with Rapid
Run, which, for much of its course, ran
between precipitous and rocky banks.
The most troublesome point was about
one mile below the camp. Here the
banks rose perpendicular twenty five
feet, and converged so that the passage
was hardly twenty feet in width at the
narrowest part For about one-fourth
of n mile above this point the bed of the
stream descended rapidly
During the first week of March long
period of cold weather was succeeded by
thaw, which soon released the stream
from its bonds of ice. Swollen by the
melting SHOWS, it attained the dignity
of a river, bearing on its bosom fallen
limbs and forest debris which had accu-
mulated in its course since the previous
spring.
On the third day of the thaw the water
was SO high that Mr.. White determined
to begin the running of the logs on the
following day. Accordingly most of the |
hands were set to rolling the logs into |
the stream, while the rest, armed with
long pixies, were stationed at various
points below to keep the current clear. |
All went web until the second day,
when a large tree with upturned roots
came down the current, and lodged in
the narrowest part of the chasm. A
formidable jam ensuel; the foremost
logs, driven on by those behind, were
piled up between the narrow banks of
the gorge for long distance back from
the point where the jam occurred.
Above the gully, where the stream
widened, the logs, in single layer, ex-
tended from bank to bank to a point
some distance above the camp.
To cut away the tree and start jam
of such proportions was job attended
with no little trouble and danger, and
not much progress had been made when
Irrh4 h.. ICrl,f
weather became intensely cold, and
continued SO several days, during which
the logs above the jam froze firmly
together.
Across the run and nearly opposite
the camp was low, swampy tracS of
land about hundred acres in extent,
which was overfowed several feet deep
with water damned back by the jam.
The morning following the freeze, this
overflow presented a smooth, glistening
expanse of ice, and on several succeed
ing evenings it was the scene of much
merriment among the hands, who could
cross in perfect safety upon a bridge of
logs sOlidly frozen in. Little Wilton,
the foreman's son, was sometimes al
lowed by his parents to join them,
The cold weather was followed by
thaw and it was soon evident that the
spring breakup had arrived in earnest.
The water rose and in some places a
strong current appeared, bearing along
now and then log that had become
detached from the main mass.
On the third morning all hands were
summoned below to assist in starting
the jam. Wilton accompanied them
about half way and then turned back to
go with his mother, who had expressed
desire to see the jam start. No one
suspected that the boy might venture
upon the run.
But the glistening ice on the over
flowed swamp was too great tempta-
tion TO be resisted. He would have one
more slide. He climbed down the steep
bank at a place where the ice looked
firm, leaped lightly from log to log and
was soon across the run enjoying him
self on the smooth ice beyond.
For long time the boy played on the
ice all alone, but as the time passed, the
encroaching current, re-enforced by tiny
rivulets from every declivity, widened
and heightened. Still no thought of
danger came to him.
At last he was aroused by an ominous
cracking of the ice and thin film of
water creeping over the surface toward
his feet. A dull, grinding sound com
ing from the direction of the run in
creased his alarm.
With all speed he could command he
hastened to re-cross the stream, but to
his terror found that where little time
before he had crossed in safety an angry
torrent now swept, bearing along de-
tached masses of logs and ice.
Mrs. White had started to walk to the
scene of the jam. She was proceeding
leisurely along the bank of the swelling
stream, enjoying the warm sunshine,
when above the rising tumult of the
waters and the grinding of the tossing
logs and ice there fell upon her ear
well-known voice calling mamma
mamma :"
With a start she turned and looked
in the direction of the sound, over the
gurgling ice-plain beyond the run.
Again, rising almost from her feet, came
that terrified call, mamma! o mamma!
Save me save me!
From the high bank on which she
stood she had looked over the object of
her search. Now she looked downward,
and was Mortified to see her child stand
ing close to the treacherous edge of the
crumbling ice. His hands were out
stretched to her and a look of terror was