Mr. William Curtis, my great-granduncle, was a pioneer from New
England. He came to this section of Illinois when he was nine years old. He had
a great many adventures with the wolves, which lived in the country then. These
are two of his experiences:
One gray, bleak morning in January, a lean,
hungry timber wolf crept in through the gate of Mr. Curtis' chicken yard.
Stealthily it crawled towards the roost where the chickens sat with their heads
under their wings. When Mr. Curtis came out it made for the woods with a chicken
between its strong jaws.
"Here, Bill! here, Tom!" he shouted to the dogs
as he ran for a horse. Jumping on a horse without saddle or bridle he dashed
after the dogs, which were pursuing the wolf. Tearing through the forest in the
gray of dawn after a timber wolf with no rifle was nothing less than what one
would call excitement. He ducked as many branches as he could without losing his
balance and bravely faced the ones he could not escape. Suddenly the horse's
ears went up and his nostrils began to quiver. He began slowing down, despite
the blows Mr. Curtis gave him. Suddenly they came to an opening in the forest
where on a sheet of ice the wolf stood snarling at the barking dogs. The
frightened horse shied clear of the ice, leaving Mr. Curtis sprawling in the
snow. Thinking he could help the dogs, he grabbed the wolf by the tail, but
instead the dogs engaged in a fight of their own. "Now I'm in a pretty fix," Mr.
Curtis thought as he pulled the growling wolf about the ice. "My only chance is
to crack his head on the ice." So doing so he swung the wolf above his head and
brought him down with tremendous force, letting them down into three feet of ice
water. Struggling desperately he tried to get a strangle hold on the wolf but
failed. Then seeing his chance he grasped the wolf's head and shoved it under
the water. Two minutes later he crawled out of the cold water, leaving the dead
wolf under the freezing surface of the pond.
Another incident of Mr.
Curtis' was with wolves also. He was returning home after a friendly visit with
neighbors who lived more than a mile away, when the faint howl of a wolf drifted
to him on the cold, bracing air. He walked on, not thinking much about it until
the howl grew closer. How ghostly the moon made everything look. It seemed to
make everything look like an animal getting ready to jump at him. On he trudged
through the cold, black forest. Suddenly, as he came out of a clearing, he felt
as though something was following him. Turning, he peered into the black forest
and saw many green balls glowing at him. He turned to continue on his way, but
found it was blocked by more green balls. Then out of the forest emerged the
lithe, gray bodies of ten or more timber wolves. Casually taking off one of his
heavy leather boots he began slowly advancing at one of the wolves. Swinging the
boot left and right he scattered the hungry wolves and ran back to the neighbors
where he spent the remainder of the night.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 86.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
 |
Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
