Firebrands drove the wolves away. The next day they found
the sack of meal, which had been torn open, but the contents
not destroyed.
Such incidents did not often occur, and the people did not
seem to apprehend much danger. Women and children often
went through the woods, hunting servis berries and grapes, or
frequently to hunt the cows, that would often stray from
home, and were seldom molested.
A BRAVE BOY
An account given by Mrs. Sarah Torrence of an incident
worthy of note was read at the pioneer meeting in August,
1879, by Mr. A. Garner. Mrs. Torrence was a daughter of Mr.
John Knight, who came to Meigs county in 1818. A Mr.
John Harris, who lived in Bedford township, got Mr. Knight's
son Daniel, a lad of only eleven years, to stay with Mrs. Har-
ris while he made a trip to New Orleans. There were few
families in Bedford township, and it was very lonesome for
the young wife in the small cabin in the woods, where the
wolves were heard nightly. So Mrs. Harris concluded to go
down to her father's, Mr. John Smith, above the mouth of
Leading creek, and a son of Mr. Bissell, who was younger
than Daniel, was engaged to stay and care for the stock. One
night early in March, as these boys were getting in a log to
build a fire in the morning, young Knight slipped, and the log
fell on him, breaking his thigh bone about the middle. Daniel
told the Bissel boy to pull their straw bed down before the
fire. Then he lay flat on his back, with one hand on each side
and the fingers of each hand thrust through the cracks of the
puncheon floor, directing the other boy to pull at his foot
while he held on to the floor, until they actually set the bone
in its place. He had buckskin pants and took some buckskin
thongs and tied above and below the break, the pants serving
as splints. Fortunately, Major Higley had gone out that day
