Attacked By Wolves

ANDERSON, GRIFFIN

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 2/16/2013 at 06:50:02

Jackson Sentinel, March 11, 1883

ATTACKED BY WOLVES

On Sunday evening last, Lewis Anderson, of Maquoketa, traveling salesman for H. G. French & Son, music dealers, found himself at Delmar at 9 o'clock. His children were sick and he wanted to get to his home in Maquoketa, so he set out on foot up the railroad track. After going a mile or two he heard the howling of a pack of wolves, but paid little attention to it as he had often seen and heard wolves before in the timber where he was brought up and considered them no danger to him. He continued his journey along the railroad tracks until he reached the Daniel Stephens Crossing, when he turned off onto the highway with intention of following the wagon road the rest of the way to town. Shortly after turning the corner which is directly south of H. B. Griffin's house, he heard a breathing and rustling sound and saw in the bright moonlight three wolves bounding along through an adjacent field directly toward him. They jumped the fence and in a flash Lou pulled his overcoat off and shaking it and yelling at them backed up the hill toward Mr. Griffin's house. The wolves plunged against the coat and Lou said he was so badly frightened he hardly knew what he was doing. However, as he got near Mr. Griffin's house the wolves turned and ran back in the direction they came. The folks at the house heard the noise and as they were about to come out and see what it meant, they met Lou at the door, who was so exhausted with fright that he nearly fainted. Thinking the incident a very strange one, Mr. Griffin went to the place of attack to investigate and found the wolf tracks in the snow as Lou had said. There are wolves, plenty of them along the creek and river bottoms, but we never knew of their attacking a man before. No doubt these wolves were maddened with hunger and Lou's overcoat, the only weapon he had, was all that prevented them from attacking him.