Fears for the safety of our children in wolf country may be put in perspective by this true story.
From the Duluth News-Tribune, October 4, 1906 CHILD FOUND IN WOLF’S DEN
Lost Infant playing With Cubs When Discovered by Searchers A. M. –
a commercial traveler from St. Cloud, was in the city yesterday coming straight from St. Joseph, a small town in Stearns County, where he said the people were all talking about a most extraordinary case of a lost child, who after two days of constant search in the woods was found unharmed at a wolf’s burrow in the dense forest of Brockway Township.
The child was Margaret, aged 4, the daughter of Nick Schweitzer, a well-to-do farmer in Brockway Township. The little girl was lost Sunday forenoon, while all the adults of the family were attending church. Accompanied by her ten-year-old brother, and eight-year-old sister, and some children from the neighborhood, who were spending the day at the Schweitzer home, the little girl strayed away in search of nuts.
Little Time is Lost.
The children roamed through the forest for a few hours, when they noticed that the smallest member of the party was lost. Fearing punishment, the children did not return to tell their parents until they had searched for several hours through the woods. About three o’clock in the afternoon the alarm was spread through the neighborhood that all of the children were lost.
A searching party of about 20 farmers was at once organized to scour the woods, and all night the forest resounded with the cries of the searchers. The next day, a party of ditch workers who were employed in the vicinity joined in the hunt, and it was not until Tuesday forenoon that one of the scouts came to a small hill, covered with pine and thick underbrush. He found a path leading in through the thicket, and by the side of the trail was lying a small blue sunbonnet.
Played With Young Wolves
The man followed the trail, and had to go on all fours. He soon reached the wolf’s lair. In the cleared space around it were strewn picked bones, feathers, and parts of sheep pelts. An awful suspicion of the child’s fate flared across the mind of the searcher, and he was about to leave when he noticed the girl at the mouth of the den.
He expected to find her half dead with hunger and cold, but little Margaret rose to greet the visitor, and told him that she had just been playing with some “nice little doggies,” which ran away when the man arrived.
Was She “Adopted.”
The girl was none too willing to go with her rescuer. She said that she had not been cold at all, and that she had eaten nuts when she was hungry. Although it may sound incredible, it is s believed by the people of Brockway that the child had been playing with the wolf cubs, and that she had been adopted by the savage animals, which every season make inroads on the live stock of the Brockway farmers. The child was none the worse for her outing, and she said that she had had a good time, playing with the “nice little doggies.” She explained that she strayed from her companions and reached the wolf den accidentally.
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