The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-11-10
SHE SHOT WOLVES.
REMARKABLE EXPERIENCES OF A
BRAVE PENNSYLVANIA WOMAN.

Her Husband Managed the Affairs of Ole
Bulls Scandinavian Colony-When lie
Diod She Pluckily Assumed Controi-IIcr
Adventures in the Wilderness.
Living with her son on small farm
in the heart of Potter County
Pennsylvania, woman whose
life story is strange and in
teresting. This woman is Mrs. Mary
Andreason, widow of the former secre-
tary of the famous Ole Bull-the his
tory of whose colony at Oleona is an
interesting chapter in the history OF
Pennsylvania. Mrs Andreason was a
widow when wooed and won by An
dreason. Her name then was French,
she having been the wife of one of the
early settlers and trappers of Potter
County. To-day her bones are racked
with rheumatism as a result OF her
pioneer experience, when she hunted
and trapped at her husbands side. II
is said that during one winter Mrs.
French, unaidcd. trapped sixty-fve
gray wolves, knocking them in tho
head with a Ratchet which she al
ways carried. flung from a belt around
her waist Besides hunting and trap
ping, Mrs. French distinguished her
self by going with her husband and a
crew Of men to drive logs on Kettle
Creek. With pike-pole or cant-hook
this powerful woman waded the
stream with the men, whirling a dere-
lict log into the stream or breaking a
jam at the creeks bend. 1t required
supreme nerve for q woman to under
take to drive logs for it is nightly
dangerous business; yet Mrs. French
did this more than one spring, earning
from Sc to SIS per day. Even now, at
the age OF eighty-four years she re-
fers with considerable pride to the
time when she was young and strong
enough to pitch logs in famous Kettle
Creek.
Mrs. Andreason is said to have been
handsome woman. Even now.
though her face is wrinkled and her
hair turned gray, one sees traces of
former beauty. She was yet quite
young woman when Ole Bulls colony
of Norwegians came into Potter Coun-
ty and took up the twelve-thousand-
acre tract. She then had been a wild
ow for two years. She was employed
as cook at the Norwegian headQuart-
ers, and it was there that she met and
married Henry Andreason, who came
into that country to manage the affairs
..
dreason was not in love with the colo
nists. She says they danced and car
ried on too high for her. Many a
time, she declares, the Norwegians
would dance all night, to the tune of
squeaky fiddle, instead of resting for
their next days work at clearing new
ground for their little farms
But Mrs. Andreason's most exciting
time of life was the first years of her
residence in Potter county. Then deer
were as plentiful as lambs In q mead
ow; elk inhabited the region in mon
ster droves; panthers prowled in ev-
cry ravine. and wolves in ravenous
Groves made the night hideous with a
GLORIOUS of monotonous howls Mrs.
French las was the case them was an
e$rert rifle shot, and has slain scores
OF black bear, catamounts and deer. But
wolves were her specially for the bounty
on these animals was large enough
to make thsir hunting profitable Mrs.
French was once delayed on a home
ward journey, and darkness overlook
her. She was travelling O footpath
leading from Kettle Creek to her home
when she heard wolves approaching
her. She concluded that they were on
her trail. and strapping her rife to hey
pHNh' oHC ClilllDcu HGIlllOCk tree, KNOW
ing that If she could but get doz-
en- feet above ground she would be safe
from the wolves sharp teeth and
claws. In less than ten minutes the
pack of wolves had overtaken her and
surrounded the tree upon which she
had taken refuge. She could see the
green eyes of the animals simmer In
the darkness, and directing her rifle
at the dark objects at the foot of the
Tree she fired as fast as she could re-
road Every shot was answered by q
growl OF pain as a wolf keeled over.
she was within a mile of her home,
and the repeated firing OF the rifle soon
Drought her husband upon the scene.
He came bearing a rifle in one hand
and a flaming torch Of piny fagots in
the other. The fro frightened the
wolves. and long L 'ore French had
reached the tree wi re his wife was
captive, the bowling pack went scam
pering over the bro u of the hill into
the valley beyond.
When Mrs. French had taken inyen-
tory of her rifles work she found that
Eve wolves lay dead at the foot of the
rec. The hides and bounty from
these were worth go0d round sum.
So she never regretted being freed by
the pack.
Her early life was full of such in
cidents, but she is getting so old that
she cares but little to relate them now
adays. Her time is spent in a big arm
chair, built from beechwood saplings.
in which She rocks and signs and
nurses her rheumatic joints.
WhistlinS for Seals.
The Well-knOWn love of seals for