A Modern Diana, Abbeville Press and Banner (Article, 1879)
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A MODERN DIANA
The Strange Life-History of Lucy Slater--Her Career as a Huntress, a Pauper, a Minister and Vagrant--Dressed in Man's Clothing She Wings a Girl's Love.
A letter from Delhi, N.Y., to a New York paper tells this story of Lucy Slater's strange and romantic career: News of the death of Lucy Ann Lobdell Slater, known throughout the Delaware valley as the "Female Hunter of Long Eddy," has been received here, and it recalls a most singular life-history. In 1851, Lucy Ann Lobdell, daughter of a lumberman living on the Delaware, near the boundary line of this county and Sullivan, was married to a raftsman named George Slater. She was then seventeen years old, and was known far and wide for her wonderful skill with the rifle, not only in target-shooting, but in hunting deer and other game, for which the valley was then noted. After a year of married life, Slater deserted his wife and a babe a few weeks old, and has never been heard from since. Mrs. Slater's parents were poor, and she left her child in their charge, laid aside the habit of her sex, donned male attire and adopted the life of a hunter. The mountains of Delaware, Sullivan and Ulster counties, in this State, and the Delaware river counties in Pennsylvania, were then filled with game. For eight years the unfortunate wife and mother roamed the woods of that section, making her home in the wilderness, where she erected rude cabins for her shelter. She never appeared at the settlements except to procure ammunition and needed supplies, for which she exchanged skins and game. Her wild life was one of thrilling adventure and privation, and it was not until she was broken down by the exposure and hardships of it that she returned to the haunts of civilization. She wrote a book detailing her adventures in the woods and giving an account of her sufferings from cold, hunger, and sickness. She recorded in this book that she had killed one hundred and sixty-eight deer, seventy-seven bears, one panther and numberless wild-cats and foxes. When she returned to Long Eddy she, for a time, resumed the clothing of her sex, but after recruiting her health she again put on male attire and disappeared. She did not return to the woods, but, assuming the name of Joseph Lobdell, she went about the country making a living as a music teacher. While engaged in teaching a singing school at Bethany, Penn., where she was not known, she won the love of a young lady scholar, a member of one of the leading families of the village. The two were engaged to be married, but the sex of the teacher was accidentally discovered, and she was forced to fly from the place in the night to escape being tarred and feathered. Shortly after this she returned to Long Eddy, put on women's clothing, and, being again in failing health, applied for admittance to the almshouse in this place, where her child had been placed some years before. When the child, a bright little girl, was ten years old, it was adopted into the family of a farmer in Damascus, Penn. The mother remained in the poorhouse.
In the spring of 1868 a woman about twenty-five years of age applied to the poor authorities of Delaware county for admittance to the almshouse. She was in miserable health, but was apparently of more than ordinary intelligence, and to all appearances respectable. She said her name was Mary Louise Perry Wilson. She was from Massachusetts, where her parents lived. She had eloped from home with a man named Wilson, to whom she was married in Jersey City, but who had deserted her, leaving her destitute. She had too much pride to return home. Having heard that her husband, who was a railroad man, was in Susquehanna, she had started out to find him, but was taken sick in the cars, and not having money enough to pay her way out, was put off at Lordville. No other alternative presenting, she was forced to enter the poorhouse. She was taken into the almshouse with the understanding that as soon as she was able to, she should communicate with her family and have them remove her. She recovered her health, but in the meantime had made the acquaintance of Lucy Ann Slater. A strong affection sprang up between the two women, notwithstanding the difference in their habits, character and intellect. They refused to be separated, and in the spring of 1869 they left the poorhouse together and for two years they were not heard from in Delhi. In the summer of the above year a couple calling themselves the Rev. Joseph Israel Lobdell and wife appeared in the mountain villages of Monroe county, Penn. For two years they roamed about that section, living in caves and cabins in the woods, subsisting on game, berried, and on the charity of the lumbering foresters scattered about this region. They generally appeared at the settlements leading a bear which they had tamed. The man delivered meaningless harangues on religious subjects, and proclaimed himself a prophet. Finally they became public nuisances, and were arrested as vagrants in Jackson township and lodged in Stroudsburg jail. While they were in the jail the discovery was made, and soon afterward the prisoners were recognized by a raftsman from the Upper Delaware as Lucy Ann Slater and Marie Louise Perry, the paupers of Delhi. They were returned to this place. They remained here some time, when they again left, and until 1876 roamed the woods of Northern Pennsylvania, leading their vagrant life, and insisting that they were man and wife. In 1876 they were living in a cave in the Moosic Mountains, near Waymart, Penn. Lucy Ann continued her use of male garments. She was arrested one day while preaching in the above village, and lodged in the Wayne county jail. She was kept there several weeks. Her companion finally prepared a petition to the court for the release of her "husband" from jail on account of "his" failing health. This document was a remarkable one, and is still in the records of Wayne County Court. It was couched in language which was a model of clear and correct English, and was powerful in its argument. It was written with a pen made from a split stick, the ink being the juice of pokeberries. Lucy Ann Lobdell was released from jail. The two went to Damascus township, and in 1877 purchased a farm, which they occupied and worked together until a few days since, when Lucy Ann Slater, or Joseph Israel Lobdell, as she insisted on being known, died after a brief illness. She was nearly fifty years of age.
The child that was born to Lucy Ann Lobdell and George Slater was a girl. She found a good home in the family of the former, into which she was adopted, and grew up to be a handsome and intelligent girl. A young man, named Kent, sought her hand in marriage, but his character was not good, and she rejected him. Shortly afterward, in August 1871, Miss Slater went from her home to a neighbor's on an errand. When she started home it was dark, and a thunder-storm was coming up. As she was hurrying along the road she was seized by three men, drugged, grossly maltreated, and taken to the Delaware river, and thrown into the stream. She was washed up on an island, where she regained consciousness. She was discovered by a man who lived opposite the island, and taken to his house. She left there, supposing she could find her way home. She wandered out into the woods, and although parties were out searching for her, she was not found until three days afterward. She was insane, and nearly dead from hunger. She was returned home, but it was a long time before she regained her reason. Kent and two others were arrested on suspicion of being the parties guilty of the outrage, but nothing could be proved against them. Most people, however, believed that they were the criminals, and they finally disappeared from the place.
