USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Gilsum > History of the town of Gilsum, New Hampshire, from 1752 to 1879 > Part 23
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In 1874, Mrs. Sarah G. Wood had one leg amputated on aeeount of a fever sore of long standing.
While Fred F. Willard was swinging in a barn at Keene, Nov. 13, 1879, a pistol in his pocket was accidentally discharged, wounding his left leg severely.
Jan. 21, 1880, Timothy O'Leary, in attempting to put a band on a drum of the main driving shaft in Collins's Factory, was caught by his arm, and whirled around the shaft several times, before it could be stopped. His arm was amputated above the elbow.
About 1781, a violent tornado passed over Gilsum. The principal cffeet now remembered was the sweeping down of the heavy growth of pines on Surry mountain and the hill east of Hammond Hollow. Many hundreds of those old pines rotted and were burned on the ground. Some still remember the huge logs which lay on thesc hills, and which would now be worth thousands of dollars for lumber. They have been mostly burned by hunters' fires.
On Sunday afternoon, July 1, 1877, between five and six o'clock, occurred another tornado or whirlwind. At the village there was a very blaek cloud with a great amount of sharp light- ning and a heavy shower of rain, lasting about an hour. But the report of what had taken place in the south part of the town was hardly believed at first. Apparently beginning on the erown of the hill just south of where the original Pease house stood, it took a general course a little south of cast. Striking the Webster barn on the east of the road it left a mass of ruins mingled with farm utensils broken under the falling timber. Tcaring up part of the sugar and apple orchards of B. H. Britton and Calvin Wright, it lifted the School House from its foun- dation and turned the front from the south to east, scarcely disturbing even the plastering upon the walls. Crescit eundo. Rending from the ground ncarly the whole of the Woodward orchard, it tore the barns and sheds into kindling wood, and partly unroofcd the house. Onc building was swept clean from the foundations and shivered to splinters, scattered for many rods in the path of the whirlwind, while the grindstone and ploughs that were stored under it, were entirely undisturbed. Only the heavy oaken frame of the old Wilcox house on the hill, saved it from utter demolition. Standing in the path of the tempest, it was unroofed and rendered uninhabitable, while the barns and other buildings were mostly destroyed. Pouring over the hill with redoubled fury, large trees were twisted off like twigs in its path. Ncarly the whole of the maples and apple-trees on Lansing Wilder's place were destroyed. His house was partially unroofed, the windows broken, the cll part ruined, and all but one of his out-buildings demol- ished. Heavy pieces of timber were carried long distances, boards were driven in some instances several feet into the ground, and left standing in the track. A shingle was observed driven into the bark of a maple-trce and standing firmly there. After destroying full twenty buildings in Gilsum it passed on through Sullivan, Nelson, and Hancock.
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CHAPTER XXVII.
HUNTING STORIES.
BEARS, wolves and deer were frequently killed by the first settlers. Only a few anecdotes remain. Moose were very rarely seen. I remember hearing the story of a moose hunt some- where in this vicinity, when the man who discovered him was so excited that he forgot to shoot, but cried out, " I see the moose ! I see the moose !" who of course spcedily got out of the way. At certain seasons of the year, deer were protected by law. Hence the early records of Surry show the appointment of " deer-riefs," who were officers to enforce the laws against the hunters.
Bears were often seen even by the children. Horace Hayward and his younger brother Amherst out berrying when quite small boys, saw a bear on a burnt log, picking blackberries. They shouted at him and he ran off. Benjamin Corey remembers going home from the neigh- bors, when he was about 12 years old, and running against a bear in the dark, felt him bruslı against him. He ran back and got some one to go home with him. That it was a bear was known from the tracks found therc in the morning. He also remembers that Paul Farnsworth caught a bear in a log-trap Another log-trap set for a bear caught Thomas Powell's " big hog."
Zenas Bingham and his two sisters were frightened home from berry-picking by a bear, about the beginning of the century.
A bear took a shote from Samucl Mark's pen. Mr. Mark pursucd him with an ax, but the bear showing fight, he ran across to Capt. Holdridge's for a gun. When he got back, the bear had got so far away that pursuit was useless.
Capt. David Fuller had an encounter with a bear on Surry mountain. The versions of the story differ greatly. One says it was when he was a young man, and was going home from his clearing without any gun. The bear had been previously wounded and was lame, so that lie thought he might overtake and dispatch her with his ax. Others say it was after his marriage, and while living with his first wife, that he had a gun and shot the bear who at once fell down. Thinking her dead, he neglected to reload, but on approaching the bear, she suddenly turned and attacked lıim. He fled for his life and climbed a trec, where the bear guarded him a long time before he could raisc help by his cries. His brother Levi in Surry, and others in the Ham- mond Hollow, and some who were at work on the Hendce place, heard him and started to his assistance. Twenty or thirty came from Surry. Squire Blish was at work clearing, and had an ax in his hand. Seeing the bear close by, lic absent-mindedly dropped his ax, and looked around for a club. It was just at night, and the bear got away. It was very dark, and the company lighted pine torches to get home by.
The rocky hill known from the earliest times as " Bearden," was evidently a great resort for bears, and was doubtless well-known to the Indian hunters. It is related of Peter Hayward that he and John Borden chased a bear into a den in this mountain. The place is well-known, under a projecting rock a little south of the overhanging cliff at the north end of the ledge. Mr. Hayward undauntedly followed the bear, leaving Mr. Borden to shoot him as he came out. Having come to a narrow place between two parts of the den, the bear was alarmed and squeezed out between his legs. Mr. Borden snapped his gun at the bear, but it flashed in the pan, and he got away. To the early settlers this would be quite a serious loss. They were often brought to very close straits for provisions, and had to depend almost entirely on success in hunting. It is
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related of this same Peter Hayward that one Friday noon he found their meat and meal were all used up, and they hadn't bread to last till Monday, nor had he any money with which to buy. About four o'clock, leaving his boys to go on with their work, he took his gun, (a very long one, now owned by N. O. Hayward,) and went over west on the hills about a mile. As he was look- ing about, he saw a fine bnek rubbing his horns against a tree. The distance was thirty or forty rods, but he feared to try to get nearer, and putting an extra bullet in his gun, and in the extremity of his need, lifting a prayer for success, he fired and killed him. He hung up three of the quarters out of the way of wolves, and carried the hide and one quarter home. It was after dark, when he took his horse and started for Northfield, Mass., a distance of 30 miles ; where he sold the Buekskin, (then in great demand for military uniforms,) bought three bushels of corn, and after getting it ground, started for home, where he arrived Saturday night. He was a great hunter of both wild beasts and Indians, by whom he was well-known, and greatly feared. (Page 16.)
Early in June, 1777, Eleazer Wilcox, Senior, had a noted fight with a bear. The story is told with many variations, and the exact truth is difficult to get at. The locality has been claimed for Keene, but the best authority asserts that it was very near the line in Gilsum, east of Lansing . Wilder's meadow. Mr. Wilcox had previously wounded the bear, and sent for Joshua Osgood of Sullivan to come and help him. After hunting a good while, they were sepa- rated some thirty or forty rods, when the bear disturbed by the dog, suddenly came at Mr. Wil- cox from behind the root of a tree. His gun missed fire, and the bear rising on her hind legs struck it with such foree as to bend back the guard and made a heavy dent, still to be seen in the stock .* The man and bear then clinched. Mr. Wilcox was a large, powerful man, noted for his strength in wrestling. He seized the bear's tongue and held on with all his might. The dog kept attacking the bear from behind, and his barking and the shouts of Mr. Wilcox soon brought Mr. Osgood. He feared to fire at first, lest he should kill the man, but seeing that the bear would soon dispatch him, if let alone, he watched his chance and fired. The bear dropped her hold and ran away. She was found dead the next day near a little pool of water. Mr. Osgood went immediately for assistance and they carried Mr. Wilcox home on a litter of boughs. He had forty-two wounds on him, some say sixty. It was a wonder that he recovered. He said his worst hurt was in his back, by struggling to hold up against the bear, who, with her paws on his shoulders, was trying to push him over backwards. He was never as well as before, and occasionally had ill turns, that he called his " bear fits."
Moses Farnsworth going home through the woods one night was chased by a bear, and was obliged to climb a tree, where the bear watched him for some time. Finally she went off with her eubs, and he hurried home greatly frightened. A company gathered and went in pursuit, and at length shot her in the woods " up the river."
Capt. Solomon Maek with some of his neighbors went coon-hunting in the woods on the hill in what is now Smith's pasture, over east of the Stone Bridge. Having treed their game, they built a fire, and began chopping down the tree, when a huge bear came backing down the trunk. In their astonishment, they failed to use either ax or gun, and the bear " cleared out."
When Solomon Maek and his brother Daniel were boiling sap by night in the woods, the one whose turn it was to watch, got asleep. Solomon happening to awake, saw a large bear sitting
* This gun is now in possession of Edwin C. Ware of Milford. It weighs 6 1-2 pounds, and is 5 feet in length. The barrel is 44 3-8 inches long, with 5-8 inch bore. The stock is cherry of an ancient pattern, trimmed with brass. Six marks of the bear's teeth are plainly visible near the breech.
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up between him and the fire. In his fright he called out, " Dan, Dan, here's a moose ! " The bear hastily made off.
Old Mr. Jesse Dart and Capt. David Fuller are said to have killed eight bears one Fall.
The last and most noted bear hunt in Gilsum, occurred in December, 1816. Authorities dis- agree so radically, that I have sometimes almost thought there must have been two. But they agree in many peculiar points that could have happened but once. Dates vary from 1815 to 1822, but investigation fixes the date as above. Belding Dart says that he and Levi Dort had been fishing at " Becket pond " in Alstead, and finding a bear track followed it down through the village across where the Cuthbert and Minor pond now is. It being then night, people were notified and had the hunt the next day. Alvin White says he followed the bear three days. First day tracked her to Bearden ledges, and got there just at night, and while talking about what they should do the next day, the bear all at once jumped out of a bunch of spruces near by, and leaped more than 20 feet down the ledges and escaped. The next day " five of us," Alvin White, Israel Plumley, Asa Bond, James Locke, and Truman Miller, followed her all day, going over Boynton Hill to Stoddard woods. There being some crust, her tracks were bloody. At sun- down they came to the Stoddard woods, and concluded to go to Capt. Phelps of Stoddard who was a noted bear hunter. When he came to the door, he started back to see five men with guns and asked them what they were there for. After they told him, he kept them all night, and started early in the morning, telling them if it was a bear she would go right back on her track towards Bearden. When he examined the track he was excited and pleased as a boy, shouting, " It's a bear, it's a bear !" He sent as quickly as possible to notify men in Stoddard and Sul- livan. Then mounting his horse he rode to Gilsum village and directed about forming a ring around the hill, the signal of a complete line to be given by blowing a horn. and then the ring was gradually to close up. Benjamin Thompson first saw the bear just escaping from the ring. Having no weapon, he jumped up and down and shouted till he drove her back. Edmund Wilcox first hit her, breaking her jaw. More than 100 shots were fired, some striking the trees 30 feet above the ground, the men were so excited. Hosca Foster says Jacob Spaulding first shot the bear. Belding Dart says three men were sent into the ring to shoot her, Capt. Solomon Mack, Joshua Osgood, and one other whose name is forgotten, and that she was hit with nine balls before she fell. Alvin White says only four balls hit her, and after that, as she was crawl- ing over the ledges to get out of the ring, almost dead, two Proctors caught her by the hind legs and Samuel Locke stabbed her with a large butcher knife, the only weapon he had. Capt. Phelps ordered three cheers. They withed up her legs and carried her on a pole to Stephen White's. The men were tired and cold, hungry and dry. They eat up all Mrs. White had cooked, and sold the bear to Dudley Smith for eight gallons of rum. It was said as many as forty got more or less intoxicated. Some men were drunk then, who never were before or after. The bear was killed on the ledges southeast of Mr. White's. This was the last bear killed in this town or immediate vicinity. Bears have however been seen a few times since, on the hills in the neighborhood of Bearden.
Horace Hayward at the time Sullivan Meeting House was built, on which he was at work, came home Saturday night, and having been " sparking," was going back late Sunday night. When he got a short way into the woods, he saw a bear and two cubs. The cubs climbed a tree. He came back on the run and got Stephen White and Nathan. The cubs had come down when they got there, but quickly ran up again. Nathan White then went for help. Men came from the Hammond Hollow and Dart Corner. It was towards morning before they got there. Simon
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Carpenter happened to catch his gun in the brush so that it went off, and the old bear became frightened and " cleared ont." They thought they would take the cubs alive. Theophilus Eveleth undertook to catch them in a great coat, while Titus Dart climbed the tree to shake them down. When Eveleth started for the first one, he stepped on the coat and fell over the cub who bit his hand through ; but after a time they were both captured, and led down to the house with cords. Mr. White took them into the old kitchen and his wife gave them some milk which they immediately " lapped up like dogs." One of the Darts took one cub, but it got away as he was going home. It was heard for some time after crying by night in the woods, and people fancied it said " ma'am " almost like a child. Lemuel Bingham took the other cub and kept it tied in his shop on the Bond place, where he made window sash. One Sunday when they were away at meeting, he got loose and tore and gnawed a whole week's work.
Alvin White says, " Onc Sunday night my father thought he heard something in the corn, and went out about nine o'clock with his little dog. The dog ran right against a bear who turned and chased them both most home."
" When I was 14 or 15 years old, the dog barked at something when I was stirring hay. I thought he had got a woodchuck, and went and found a bear and cubs. Ran for father, but wlien we came back they had gone. We followed them most to Stoddard woods."
" About 30 years ago my wife saw a bear and cubs when she went for the cows. Two of my children saw a bear when they went for the oxen to get in hay. I found next day where the bear lay all night."
When Squire Whitney lived at the old place he had an oven outdoors. One day when Mrs. Whitney was getting ready to bake a leg of mutton, she set the pan on the ground while she went into the house. When she came out, a bear was just carrying off the leg of mutton. Catching up the oven broom, she chased him away, and saved her dinner.
Of wolves there are not many stories extant. Capt. David Fuller returning from Surry one winter night, heard and saw a pack of wolves who followed him up the river as far as the Love- land mill, but kept on the other side all the way.
In March or April, 1828, occurred what is still remembered as " the wolf hunt." The first known of the wolf was in killing some early lambs close by Ebenezer Bill's barn. They thought it was a wild cat, but a man who saw the track said it was a wolf. Willard Bill followed the track till dark, into the woods southwest of the barn. The next morning he went after Amasa Miller and his hounds. Mr. Miller said the only way was to get men and surround the woods. They sent to Keene and through Gilsum. But for the lack of leadership everything went " hap- hazard," the ring was broke and the wolf escaped, having been seen once near Goose Pond by Marvin Gates. Some men kept after him for 3 or 4 days but didn't see him again. About ten days after, he killed some sheep for Stephen Foster in Sullivan. People rallied from Alstead and Sullivan and Gilsum, and formed a ring around the hills where he was supposed to be. Not long after it was found he had broken the ring. James Bolster, then belonging to Sullivan, saw him pass out, but didn't shoot, supposing him to be a great yellow dog. The company was called together to consult. Amasa Miller directed a part to take their stand across the Scripture pasture, and lines were formed on the north and east, to close in around by the west. He was seen not long after by James Osgood, and word went round that he was in the ring. No one saw him again, till they had nearly closed the ring and began to talk of giving him up. A. R. Livermore walking along on a log saw him crawl out of an old spruce top close by, and shot him. He was carried up to Dea. Mark's and bid off by Gilsum for $25. Aaron Loveland took him and carried
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him about for a show, giving the Gilsum company half the profits. He took $50. The hunters got 18 cts. apiece. The Sullivan men got each a pistareen. The skin of the wolf was made into the head of a bass-drum, now owned by A. B. Nash.
The last wolf seen in this town was in the winter of 1847-8. He was seen in various places and killed some sheep. He lay all night on a rock near where Mrs. S. F. Hayward now lives. Several persons saw him and thought it was a large dog. Old Mr. Huntoon then living in Herbert Adams's house by the river, saw him come to the river and drink. He recognized a wolf at once, and several persons started after him and chased him nearly over to Bearden. March 1, a large company were collected from Alstead and Gilsum and some from Marlow, and without much leadership went after him to Alstead and Marlow. He was tracked to the woods north of Daniel Downing's, which was surrounded, but the ring got broken, and when we came together no wolf was found. He was known however to be in the woods and his track out was found the next day, so that if the ring had been again more carefully formed he must have been captured, but the snow was deep and all were very tired and hurried home about the middle of the afternoon. He was afterwards shot in Washington.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SALMAGUNDI.
" And cooks us up on every Monday A horrid dish of salmagundi."
IN 1773, the Selectmen of Gilsum were appointed to take, and did take, an Inventory of the property in Limerick (or Limbrick as they call it, now Stoddard) for which they charged $2 each. It was done by Ebenezer Dewey, Jr., and Samuel Church, who express themselves as dissatisfied with the job, and recommend the appointment of "Isaac Temple & Oliver Parker of sd Limbrick " to do the business in the future.
In September, 1791, " Voted to Build A Sign post which David Fuler Undtook to make For one Dollar." It seems he failed to accomplish the undertaking, for in October following " Struck off the Signpost to Turner White to Build For ten Shillings." It was probably not built even then, for in December, 1794, " Voted to Reconsider the Vote for Building a Sign post," and in 1800 " Voted to discharge Ebenezer Bill as Bondsman for Building a Sine post." What this " Signpost " was for, or where to be placed, is not evident. No record or tradition serves to clear up the matter.
Before the establishment of Post Offices in the smaller towns, people could hear from their friends only at long intervals, by private means. Whenever a person took a journey, he carried letters and messages for all his neighbors who had friends in the parts to which he was traveling. Persons, now called tramps, were in those days among the most useful members of society. They were not generally ill-disposed, but simply shiftless vagabonds, who preferred roaming from place to place, living on the hospitality of the then open houses, rather than to live by the sweat of their brow. They were generally thoroughly trustworthy in the matter of letters and
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messages, and a letter intrusted to their eare, was sure in time to reach its destination, and receive its reward in a comfortable lodging and the abundant though coarse fare of the times. Such persons were expected to return at nearly regular intervals, and seldom failed of punctu- ality. They frequently had beats, so to speak, of several hundred miles. Even after the establishment of postal facilities this ruder system continued its benign operations for many years. There are probably some families even now, who would take pains to send a letter in this way, in preference to the mail. In 1789, Uzzel Hurd advertised to supply Gilsum and other towns north to Plainfield, once a fortnight with the " New Hampshire Recorder," then published at Keenc.
The first Post Office in Gilsumn was established in 1828. The following is the list of Post Masters with dates of appointment : -
Chilion Mack, Dec. 20, 1828; Ezra Webster, Oct. 8, 1842 ; John B. Otis, July 6, 1852; Ezra Webster, Feb. 19, 1853; Davis H. Wilson, May 11, 1859; Aaron D. Hammond, Jan. 31, 1861 ; Francis A. Howard, June 19, 1861 ; John A. Smith, Nov. 14, 1877.
Before 1828, the mail was usually obtained from the Kcene Post Office. At first the mail was brought only onee a week, by John H. Priest of Alstead, who continued to carry the inail for 27 years. A large part of the time he went on horseback.
Before 1789, the annual meetings of the town were doubtless held at the Meeting House, when they had one, - at other times in some dwelling, generally a tavern. In 1789, the meet- ing was called " at the Dwelling house of Lieut Daniel Wright's." The next year, the special meetings were at the Meeting House, but the annual meetings were at " Lieut. Wright's " till 1793. From that time, the annual, and most of the special meetings were held at the old Meeting House near Dudley Smith's tavern, till 1849, when " Dort's Hall " became the place for assembling. This same Hall was used for this purpose for twenty-eight years. Efforts were made at various times to have some more suitable place provided, but artieles on the subject were dismissed no less than six times. In 1876, the Meeting House belonging to the Methodist Society was bought for $700. It has since been fitted up at an expense of nearly $500, and the town, for the first time in its history, owns a good Hall.
Capt. Elisha Maek, who was building the first bridge across the Ashuelot where the Stone Bridge now stands, was the hero of the notorious Keene Raid, which took place May 31, 1779. Gilsum had no Tories, while Keene had a considerable number. Thirteen refused to sign the Association Test, and others fled for a season. But there were still enough left to exeite the suspicion and wrath of the zealous patriots of that day. Capt. Mack assembled a company at " Partridge's Tavern near Wright's Mills," that is near the Holbrook mills of later times. He sent several men in the night to guard the houses where the Tories were known to reside. "At sunrise he rode into Keene at the head of his party with a drawn sword; and when he came to the house of a Tory, he ordered the sentinel, standing at the door, to 'turn out the prisoner.' The prisoner being brought out, and placed in the midst of his party, he proceeded onward." Their houses were searched for provisions and ammunition, as they were suspected of making collections of supplies for the British, but nothing of importance was found. He took the prisoners to Hall's tavern, which stood just below the railroad on the east side of Main Street, " and confined them in a chamber." Capt. Davis Howlett quickly summoned his company with " arms and ammunition," and " about the middle of the forenoon " had them drawn up facing the south across the Square " on a line with the north line of West Street," with their muskets loaded. Capt. Mack's company was drawn up opposite. An express had been sent to Winches-
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