The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-22

| Her ldenuty n Mystery.
From theaCincinnati Enquirer.
Kyger, O., March 1L-Years ago when
the furnaces were in their palmy days.
the forests for miles on every side were
| converted into cordwood to be used in
the furnaces. For miles tributary to the
furnaces there was not a tree six inches
in diameter left standing. with the single
exception of small tract that was not
accessible of few acres. situated on
small tributary of Raccoon. 1t escaped
because it was so rocky that it was i'm
| possible to get wagons on the tract to
| haul the timber out
The furnaces all ceased operations
years ago. and to-day dense growth of
shrub oaks covers that entire region.
Save an occasional hunter or trapper the
region knows no inhabitants. as the land
/ Is poor. The leaves cling to the shrub
oaks all winter, giving to the section the
| name of the Red Brush Country"
! When the furnaces shut down" the in
habitants mostly left the region What
! few remained cultivated the most fertile
spots during the summer. and pursued
| the capture of fur-bearing animals in
! winter Sam Little and his partner were
among the few that remained.
] IL was in the spring, when Sam Little
! was one morning returning from some
muskrat traps that he had set along the
stream, that he came upon womans
! footprints recently made in the soft
! earth ON reaching camp he informed his
! partner, and together they went back to
! reconnoiter, and learn, If possible, where
/ the woman had gone. AS there was no
! one living within several miles known to
the trappers, they were anxious to
! know what a woman all alone was doing
/ there in the forest.
They found the place where Sam had
seen the footprints without trouble. and
IA 10 tan tfavar ard he.
| timber (as the tract that had not been cut
| over was KNOWN, but lost il entirely after
! following 1t FOR more than a mile. From
! the size of the track the trappers thought
that the woman wore about a No.
shoe. The trappers remained in the woods
| seNeral weeks longer, but saw nothing
| OF the woman or any more of her tracks
| The trappers locked their cabin and re-
turned to the settlement to spend the
1t was near the first of November when
the trappers returned. There had been a
i ifes animals were getting prime again.
| Each winter for half dozen years they
had come to this lonely place to carry on
| their operations, and return to the settle
| ment during the summer to return again
IN the fail. They had always left in the
! caDln their bedding, small stove cooking
utensils, etc, which on returning they
| had always found as they had left them.
| On approaching the cabin they noticed
that the door was standing open and or,
entering they found that everything Of
value was missing; even their stove was
whether to give up their territory or re-
| turn TO the settlement for supplies hut as
| they had always been successful in catch
| ing good lot of furs they decided to
return to get supplies. "
Having returned with supplies the
| trappers turned their attention 10 bnsI
| ness, setting up all of their old dead
rails, making new ones and putting ont
steel traps. The first fortnight passed
| without anything out of the ordinary oc-
| curing. They were catching DIenfv Of
| game, and had their hands full in ar
tending to the traps and stretching the
But one morning, after Sam returned
from one round of his traps, he told his
partner that some one had taken game
out or at least two of his traps and on
examining he had found a track which
was about the size of that seen the
spring. before. What could a woman
mean by roaming the forest and stealing
from their traps?
Surely Sam was mistaken this time,
thought his partner, and together they
went to examine the tracks. But there
they were plain enough, and they fol-
lowed them for some distance. until they
lost them where the ground became more
solid, and outwitted once more. they re-
turned to the cabin
For week their traps were not molest-
ed again but one morning Sam ran
across the No. track and knew what
TO expect Three traps had contained
game, but every one had been robbed
He followed the tracks for more Than
a mile in the direction of the timber
but lost them and could find no further
matter over that evening and came to
the conclusion that to watch for the thief
was the best plan. 1t was thought that
there would be no danger for another
week from the thief So on the seventh
morning, after the last robbery, Sam took
ms gun, ana gong to where he, could
the traps, began watching for the thief.
From o'clock in the morning until near
~ in the evening Sam saw nor heard
nothing, and was on the eve of denart-
ing, when he caught glimpse of some
thing through the brush. He stood still
gun in hand, watching for the object to
appear again. Probably twenty feet
away stood one of the strangest objects
in the shape of a woman that Sam had
ever SEEN Her hair hung to her heels
and had not been combed for months;
her dress was made of pieces of bed
| quilts; on her head she wore a hood of
undressed opossum skins. She was about
30 years of age Her hight was about )
feet, and her weight not far from 100
pounds In one hand she carried mink
which she had stolen from the traps
For some little time Sam was so sur
prised that he could do nothing but stand
and gaze at the strengthening woman
who seemed now to be examining one of
his traps very closely.
You thiefN' yelled Sam. At this the
woman looked up and saw him making at
her. She gave an unearthly scream that
nearly caused the trapper to lose his
senses, and bounded away. The trapper
pursued her for some distance but the
gathering darkness helped her in effectiDas
her escape in the direction of the timbeT
CURED to his partner and that they were
both greatly surprised goes witout saving
I After talking the matter over they came
TO the conclusion that the woman lived in
a cave near the timber that they knew of
In the morning they would set off early
and find her habitation if possible ShortIv
after sunrise the next morning the two
trappers were off for the timber They
We're familiar with all of the caves and
rocky bluffs for miles around and if the
woman was hiding in any of these they
| intended to find her.
! HfNr, .f.,e~
found a number of tracks i'm the loose
earth; some apparently but a few hours
Old, others had been made for months
J Sausned that they were now on the right
course they carefully examined every CON
| celVaple place in the vicinity where there
vas any chance Tor the woman to be- But
/ their search revealed nothing save tracks
I at many places. no
| Ihey mad spent greater part of the dav
IN ana near the timber. and were startinr
Tor the cabin when Sam happened to LOOK