The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-11-17
.lEV[R 70 LOOK At A NAN
VOW TAKEN BY THREE SISTERS
+ WHO INHABITED A SPOT In
II ALABAMA
THEY WORKED ON A FARM
Lived Alone. Made Their Own COT.
fms and Refused to Ac.
cept Aid When
Dying.

The story Of the wild woman" is a
familiar one in Tuscaloosa, Ala, where
Tor many years they lived and were the
terror of tmid women and children.
They were three sisters. No one knew
whence they came nor when they arxiv-
ed: When first seen they were living
| like foxes In a hole, and the hole was o
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 reply They scurried away
| If approached by man or women, though
1t afterwards became known that their
especial abomination was man.
Soon after their arrival they began
the erection of a 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 TN the "big
road They went about their work ST.
.ently and swiftly and vouchsafed 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
1t they at least had shelter for which
| they were beEolden to no one but them
| selves.
AS near as could be learned they had
suffered great wrong from some man
Or men in their former home and they
lad mage vow TO go among strangers
| nd never aerin speak or look at man
or accept anything whatsoever from a
member of the male sex. And they never
| did
AVOIDED ALL MEN
They plowed their own land and pick
ed their own Gotten 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 man was known to he about, and
they were openly partial to old maids
and widows.
Their wares, from the sale Of which
they derived their only source of in
come. were. in great demand by the
housekeepers of Tuscaloosa Personally
| the wild women were scrupulously neat.
| N blue homespun, dresses, white neck
erchiefs and blue sunbonncts, and no.
COOLERS were as White as theirs nor
sweet potatoes SO clean. Their chickens
were all white and the hens nests were
neatly arranged in The house on the
mantelpiece. Each as 1t was laid wa5
/ zcarefully washed. and dried, placed ina
4 little separate, bag, with the Large -ezsH
down and hung out III the fresh air In 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
| wen OS1ilS anu lldppiIleSS, SQcn DIS 4
| mouse trap, for Instance, and it would
| seem that they must have broken h3ir
| solemn VOW Of never speaking to man.
| But when such All 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 Inconsistencies 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 moro
courageous of the good women in town
| took it upon themselves to drive out and
proffer assistance. They took with them
delicacies such vine, 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 cana
back. TO this day their interest revives
| WIcH dSheu 10 tell ABOUT llldC VlSlt
| 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 not!'
No words could persuade her that the
| gifts were not sent by men, and even
| in the face Of death the wild woman
! kept her VOW.
The visitors, chagrined attempted TO
! leave at least the balmoral, but as they
| were driving homeward they heard call
| and, looking back, saw it's gay stripes
! Tapping in the wind on the rail fence
where one Of the sisters had thrown it.
Elizabeth died and was buried. But
| she was not buried by men. The two
! surviving sisters made her shroud and
| likewise made her coffin. --@ ........ J.
| Beneath a group Of pines at short
distance from the hut they dug a grave,
| and the body of Elizabeth was laid away
I without the desecrating presence Of
( man. H. 81. .. ..-T -
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 vas 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 a man she was not conscious
! of the dissertation. At least I suppose
J not. 3.
The story Of the wild women was never
/ known There have been many surmises
/ as to their secret and the reason OF thei"
i VOW, but the truth was never revealed.
1 In death. as in life, they are apart s1roHl
! their fellows, and three unmarked graves
! on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa are point
ed out as those OF the wild women.