The Appeal., 1900-11-17
NEVER 70 LOOK At A MAN
vow TAKEN BY THREE SISTERS
WHO INHABITED A SPOT In
IT. as=.~ ALABAMA
THEY WORKED ON A FARM
Lived Alone. Made Their Own Cof.
fins and Refused to Ac-
cept Aid When
Dying.

The story of the wild woman" is
| familiar one in Tuscaloosa, Ala, where
Tor many years they lived and were the
terror of umid women and children.
They were three sisters No knew
| whence they came nor when they arxiv-
| ed. When first seen they were living
/ like foxes in hole, and the hole was q
shelter they had made by placing planks
| against the huge trunk of a fallen tree.
They were white women, the New
York Journal says, decently clad, but
so wild that no word from an outsider
could elicit a reply. They scurried away
IT approached by man or women, though
| it afterwards became known that their
| especial abomina ton was man.
| Soon after their arrival they began
| the erection of log hut in the outskirts
| Of the town. They chose a site where
! the pine trees and brush hid them from
| the observation of travellers In the "big
road They went about their work ST.
| lently and swiftly and Vouch6afed nc
reply when help was offered. They laid
in logs and built the house, and If the
ines were not straight and the doorway
| so low that they had to stoop to enter
it they at least had shelter for which
they were beholden to no one but them
selves.
AS near as could be learned they had
suffered a great wrong from some man
or men in their former home and they
had made a vow to go among strangers
nd never aenin speak or look at man
or accept anything whatsoever from
member of the male sex. And they never
did.
AVOIDED ALL MEN.
| They plowed their own land and pick
| ed their own cotton and spun their own
| cloth, and even made their own shoes,
such as they were. They approached
| the habitatjons OF the people in town
| when they had produce to sell, but never
! when a man was known to he about, and
they were openly partial to old maids
and widows.
| they derived their only source of in
come. were In great demand by the
| housekeepers' of Tuscaloosa Personally
| the wild women were scrupUlously neat
IN blue homespun dresses, white neck
erchiefs and blue sunbSnncts, and no.
! COOLERS We're White as theirs nor
sweet potatoes SO clean. Their chickens
were ali white, and the hens nests were
| neatly arranged III the house on the:
! mantelpiece. Each as 1t was laid was
izcarefu1ly washed. and dried, placed ina
little separate, bag, with the laSge< -ezshr
down and hung out III the fresh air f1, a.
| tree until it was taken to town and sod. /,
Now, being women, there We're Ger
tain store' articles which from time to
| time they felt were necessary to their
well being and happiness, such as
mouse trap, for Instance, and it would
seem that they must have broken their
solemn VOW of never speaking to a man
But when such ali emergency arose the
wild women were equal to the occasion.
Two of them entering a store together
one of them would say to the other in
the hearing Of the clerk:
sister, the mice are very bad ut
home. Don't you think We need a mouse
trap?'
''Yes,' the other would reply, II think
we do and when the shopkeeper with
surprising intelligence would place a trap
within their reach, they would leave the
money on the counter and take the par
CO.. with profound Unconsciousness of his
presence.
DYING SISTER REFUSED AID.
After several years Of such hermit life,
Il became noised about one winter that
tia eldest, Elizabeth, was seriously i'll
with pneumonia, and some of the more
courageous of the good women in town
took it upon themselves to drive out and
proffer assistance. They took with them
| delicacieS such as w;Ee, tea and sugar,
and even more substantial comforts III
the way of warm clothing. 1 remember
| hearing that one Of the latter articles
| was striped balmoral
The good women went and they caH!s
back. To this day their interest reviveS
when asked to tell about that visit.
| Elizabeth, poor creature, was really i'll
unto death, but she was sitting bolt up
right with set, tragic face, before the fire,
and i'll as she was she still resented the
! offer of help
Take back your gifts,' she cried,
! shaking her horny finger. 'Take back
your gifts! They are gifts from men
and I'll have them mott!
No words could persuade her that the
11yv md
| in tine face of death the wild woman
! kept her VOW.
| The visitors, chagrined attempted TO
! leave at least the balmoral, but as they
| We're driving homeward they heard call
| and, looking back, saw its gay stripes
| Tapping in the wind on the rail fence
| where one of the sisters had thrown 1t.
Elizabeth died and was buried. But
| she was not buried by men. The two
/! surviving sisters made her shroud and
likewise made her coffin. r.
| Beneath a group of pines at a short
distance from the hut they dug a grave,
and the body Of Elizabeth was laid away
/ without the desecrating presence Of a
man. f." =. g. F I'LL
! When the next of the wild women died
| she, too, was buried by her sister, as
Elizabeth had been. And when Dorcas,
| the youngest, passed away, 1T is said that
! she was found dead lying in the rude
coffin which she herself had prepared.
AS far as she was able she kept her
| vow, and if after death she suffered the
touch Of g. man she was not conscious
! of the desecration. At least I suppose
! not.
The story Of the wild women was never
| known. There have been many surmises
/ as to their secret and the reason OF ths1r
vow. but the truth was never revealed.
/ In death, as in life. they are apart from
! their fellows and three unmarked graves
on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa are point
/ ed out as those OF the wild women
/ Largest Toy Factory.
The largest toy factory in the world