Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-16
A M o D E R N r O c
West Virginia Mou,taineers Terrorized by
aGigantic Bird.
A Ten-Year-Old Child Carried on by
the Fenthercd Monster-A Hunt
er's Terrible Battle.

West Virginia Correspondence Globe-Democrat.
Not since the treacherous Gauley river
rose suddenly in the night and swept
scores of the mountaineers living along
it's banks to death in its icy waters, has
Webster county been so excited as it is at
present. From away down on Cherry river
to the remotest settlements on Sugar run.
in the upper part of the county, the noun
taineers are talking of the gigantic bird
which has been terrorizing this section for
the past week or ten days.
About two weeks ago a child Of Dan
Junkins, who lives over on Bergoo, some
fifteen miles from this place, suddenly dis
appeared in manner which for a time
puzzled the oldest hunters and woodsmen
of the county. 1t Is now regarded as an
absolute certainty that the child, a little
girl of ten years, fell a prey to the winged
monstrosity which for want of a better
name the mountaineers call an eagle.
Little Landy was sent by her mother one
Friday afternoon to the cabin Of Joe Warn
lex. a mile and half south of that of
Junkns. to ask after Mrs. Warwick, who
had been sick. The girl started soon after
noon for the Warwick cabin, but never
reached there, and vanished as completely
as If she had been spirited away by super
natural power. AS Landy did not return
by or o'clock Mrs. Junkins grew I'M
easy and sent her husband to look for her.
He thought perhaps. she had remained
with the Warnicks, and went straight to
the cabin. There he learned that the child
had not been there By that time it had
become dark, and, assisted by the War
hicks, Junkins started to hunt his daugh-
ter. Nothing could be seen of her, and the
whole party returned to the Junkins cabin.
As there were several inches of snow on
,o1-r,
plainly followed. They were followed to a
point within half a mile of the Warwick
cabin, where they suddenly disappeared,
and could not be seen any further. The
point where they stopped was in a cleared
field, where buckwheat had been grown last
season.
The child must evidently have been
frightened at something, for the tracks
left the path, and where they stopped were
some 10 or 20 feet away from it. There
were a number of her tracks together, as
If she had turned around and around, while
trying to avoid something. Beyond this
point the footprints disappeared. The
search was continued far into the night,
and the surrounding forest was secured as
far as possible, as it was thought the child
might have wandered from the path. The
searchers were compelled to return to the
almost distracted mother with the news
that the missing child had not been found
The next day the search was continued
by number Of others. who had heard the
story, and come to volunteer their services
Search as closely as they could, beyond
the footprints in the snow at the point near
the path. they could not he followed fur
Their. How the child could have vanished
and left no farther trace puzzled every one.
If she had been seized by a wild animal
its tracks would surely have been left in
the snow, but there was nothing of the
kind. There was no explanation to be Of
fered. and the mystery of the disappearance
was not revealed until several days later.
A Strnnne RATTLE
Peter Swadley, a noted bear hunter of
Webster is now in the village being treated
for the wounds he received from the huge
bird over on Laurel creek day before yes
terday. He is still in precarious condi-
ton from the encounter. Swadley was
brought to Addison by Abe Kitsmiller on
the afternoon of the day it happened.
Swadley was hunting bear over on Piney