The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-05-30
CORRESPONDENCE.



EAST WOODSTOCK, CT, May 20, 1889.
To the Editor of the Banner DEAR
SIR IL am not surprised that there were
several mistakes IN the Indian orlhogTa-
ply of my last letter, however / will
trouble you with only one correction,
that is the name of the principal river
here, the Quinebaug. IL unites with
the Shetucket and Yantic rivers near
Norwich to form the Thames.
never visited a more beautiful sec
ton of the country than this. l have
heard II spoken of as The garden of the
world" OF course that is an exaggerat-
ed estimate, hut the people here are very
justly proud Of the beauty and neatness
Of the towns, and the general air of
thrift which pervades the scene Of
meadow, orchard, farm land, aud in
general, even pastures and woods.
Probably white birch outnumbers every
other variety Of trees here, but the apple
trees are the more noticeable from their
number and size everywhere except in
the woods, 1t seems little strange TO
hear the hickory called walnut, but / RS
member il used to be so in Vermont, and
| know that butternut is called white
walnut, and also that this, and the black
and the English walnut, and the hickory
are classed as the walnut family, but in
Mississippi the black walnut is the only
one that goes by that name.
Since writing last have been to the
den where Putnam killed the wolf. Il
is in the heart of an unreclaimed wilder.
ness-a wild and rocky deli The den
itself is a square hole about two feet in
siz', running straight INTO the hillside,
not quite horizontally, but sloping down
a few degrees. OF course got down on
all tours and crawled in little way. /
found il the same as far as l went, My
sisters boys, Ned and John, followed me
into the entrance. They had been talk
ing so much about the wolf, wondering
il It travelled the same road we came,
and how many sheep 1t had killed at
each farm yard as we passed alongII
tried to make it seem as natural to them
as possible by initiating the growing OF
the wolf in the den. They said it scared
them. Thus we passed an hour or two
very pleasantly in rambling around the
entrance. The rocks in the vic nifty
bear many names of travellers. Thou
sands visit it every summer. Sister
Mary, who was with us, spoke of our
trip that day as "Our wolf hunt"
find Putnam is the hero of pioneering
times i'll Pomfret, which is the name OF
the town, saw his original tombstone
in a glass Gaze in the Capitol Hartford
1t is nicked by relic hunters, and names
are carved all over it 30 as nearly to OBJ
lIterate the original inscription.
Before going down there to the scene
of his adventure | read very good &C
count of it, and l will copy from it a
few notes 80 that your readers may re-
we the old story Gas expect every one
has read it at some time) and accompany
Us on our excursion.
Our author says ut was no mythical
phantom. like the she-wolf of Roman
tradition, but veritabe flesh and blood
denizen of Windham County. Wolves
had abounded in all the neighboring
towns, but at the time of our story all
the rest seem to have disappeared before
the advancement of civil cation. Here
in POmfret was its favorite haunt, where
for years it reposed in seclusion aud
safety, making it's raid to the rich farms
of the country around. There was not
farm or door yard safe from her in
cursions. lnnumerable sheep, lambs,
kids and fowls had fallen into her clutch
es. Little children were scared by her
out of sleep and senses boys and girls
feared to go to school or drive the cows
home, and lonely women at night trem-
bled for absent husbands and children.
"In summer she was wont to repair to
wilder regions nOrthward, re'utning in
autumn, with a young fumIly, to her
favOrIte hauHtS in Pumfret, These cubs
were soon shot by watchful hunters, but
I'm. l,n,-
effort She evaded traps, outwitted dogs
and made herself, in tie words of her
biographer, AN intolerable nuisance
Israel Putnam's farm was only separ-
ated from her favOrite hull side by deep,
narrow valley. Just as he was begin
ming TO reap the reward of his industry,
by good crops of fruit and grain, and
many valuable cattle and sheep growing
up around him, the lat er caught the ey e
of his appreciitive neighbor, and one
morning 20 sh, ep and goats were report
ed killed, besides IS many lambs N
k DIS torn and wounded. Putnam. v h 9,
had from youth been noted for courrg,
and reckless daring, was much exasper-
ated and resolved that he would not
tamely submit to such an infection. He
was bold rider, a practiced and success
full hunter and hid blood hound of su-
perior strength and sagacty. With five
of his neighbors he agreed to hunt the
wolf continually by turns TIL they had
caught and killed it. How long the
hunt continued is not known, but the
final hunt was probably IN the winter of
1923. A light snow had fallen, 80 the
wolf was easily tracked, and they found
out her hiding place. John Sharp,
lad II years old, pushed on ahead and
was the first to make the discovery OF the
cave. His joyful shout sooh brought
others to the place, and the news spread
through the neighborhood that the wolf
was trapped. But how could size be
taken The day was spent in fruitless
efforts to force her from her strong hold.
Hounds were sent in but came back
cowed and wounded. Straw and brim-
stone were burned at the entrance, but
without avail. She felt her security and
disdained 10 surrender. Night brought
with it new fears and anxietIes. The
cave might have another opening by
which she might escape. Itwould seem
that Putnam was not present at the be-
ginning of the siege, but at this crisis
those who were there thought of his su-
perior hound, and remembered his dar.
ing disposition. So they sent for him.
and with dog and gun he was soon on
hand. His coming changed the aspect
of affairs, for he soon declared his inten-
ton of going into the cave himself if
the dogs could not be made to bring her
out. His friends protested in vain,
speaking Of the danger.
Fastening a rope around his body so
his friends could help him in case of
emergency, he crawled on down the in
clined passage of the cave. His friends
drew him out once before he was ready,
but he again crawled in to where his
torch revealed the glaring eyes of the
beast, which was getting ready to ad-
vance on him. He shot the wolf and
they were both drawn out tOgeih her amid
the exultqtion Of the crowd. Pomfret's
last wolf was destroyed and her most
famous hero brought to light"
But | have exceeded my limits, so l
will close. Yours truly.
G. E. BRECKENRIDGE.