Waterbury Democrat., 1901-04-19
HAS LOTS OF NERVE.
Daring Illinois Girl to Build a
 Home on Pike's Peak.
Miss Lizzie Wallace, of Adair. H., Is Chuck Full of Romantic No- tfons and Fully Determined to
 Become . Mountain RecIuse.

Miss Lizzie G. Wallace, a pretty
 young woman of Adair, IL, is going to
 make herself home on Pike's peak,
 Rnd brave all the terrors and horrors
 of life so far above the ordinary nor tal She seems to be possessed of lots
 Dffnerye as we'll as goodly amount of
 muscle, gained especially for this un-
 usual undertaking by q years rigid
 training in an eastern gymnasium. Just now that is her particular stock in trade, coupled with short bicycle
 suit, wheel and small amount of money left her by an old aunt who raised this aspiring young woman to the height she deemed necessary both n stature and social standing, but the
 Aesire to live a whole summer on the top of the peak in house built by her own hands shows that the ward wants to be raised still further.
 She proposes to have sort of roughly constructed dwelling of huge, irregular stones, piled together heter- ogeneously, and, of course, made with an eye for sufficient comfort and protection from the fierce storms which sweep the sides of the peak. The experience is not MSeQut an element of danger, for the reco>s $ of the Unit ed States signal service tell of hor- rible week spent by Sergt. O'Keefe while holding the station in the capac- fly of observer. Mountain rats, great, huge, bristly things, the size of porcu- pines are said to haunt these rocks, and, if the veracious chronicler is to be believed, these mountain denizens carRied off the body of his dead child. This monster rodent only issues forth at night time, and sSergt. O'Keefe's life was only saved by turning day into night, sleeping while his prosecutors slept and getting up with the dark ana 1ighting them for 1a hours, suc- ceeding in keeping them at bay for a week, until the storm abated and his heiograph signals of distress brought him relief from Colorado Springs. The gallant sergeant estimates that he killed at-least 200 of these ferocious mountain rats, and that alone saved him. For, like pack of wolves, the sharp-toothed assailants fell upon the dead bodies and satisfied their crav- ings for blood.
 @ If the ordinary twoman trembles at the sight of 3 mouse, she may well draw her skirts closer and shiver in horfor as she thinks of the courageous attempts of Miss Wallace to hold the fort againststhe rats.
 W Speaking of her plans, Miss Wallace told the Chicago Times-Herald her reason for leaving Chicago. .'I am just 23 and am my own boss since Aunt Lizzie Prescott died. I lived on a farm with her seven miles out from Adair. The dear old soul left me everything she had. was an orphan and was everything to her that she was to me- The estate is all settled up now, and have got enough to bring me in nice little income and make me feel independent. always was inde- pendent, and that is why I left Chicago againststhe wishes of Uncle Ed. went to live with him when Aunt Lizzie died. I left against his wishes, and here I am going down to Colorado Springs. As soon as the snow gets off I am go- ing up tke peak to stay all summer.
 T am going to build my own house, Miss Wallace continued, as she stretched forth an arm for the writer to feel. "You see have a little mus cle, and what's the reason I can't pile 1 one rock on another and build myself just the sort of romantic grotto I have dreamed about for years? Then I can get carpet and cot and little l camp stool, and provisions and cat, and, with my trusty rifle and revolver, r xsyi11 f3 3of fx, haI