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| Old Can-hook |
An incident that vividly portrays the condition of Auglaize township (Paulding Co.) of the mother of Henry White. She lived in Defiance township. Running out of coffee she crossed the county line to the Philip Stork home by the simple expedient of leaping from log to log across the water covered earth. On her way home, she slipped from a log. As a result she suffered a severe chill before she reached home, The accident resulted in her death a few days later.
Sam Stork recalls hearing his mother tell of the day when a fox invaded the wilderness farmyard, and seizing a big gander by the neck, dashed away to the forest leaving the barnyard fowls in an uproar and his mother in tears.
Another interesting story of the skill of Jonathan Weller, the pioneer doctor who resided on Powell's Creek in Putnam county, just south of the Defiance county line is an experience of Mr. Stork.
While working in the timber he slightly cut his hand, infection developed, and he walk to Defiance for aid. The doctor lanced the swelling, but from the time Sam left Defiance the pain increased steadily. The hand was swollen to twice its natural size and sleep or rest was impossible.
While he walked the floor in agony one midnight he recalled hearing of this German doctor, whose fame was rapidly spreading. He sent two of his brothers to Powell Creek for the doctor. They left at 3 am and arrived at 10 o'clock. The doctor opened his office, listened to the description and history of the case, and and said that he would not need to go, as he knew exactly what remedies to send.
The brothers arrived home at sunset; the hand was treated, within a few hours Sam was enjoying the first sleep in a week. As soon as he was able, he rode horseback to Dr. Weller to ask advice about future care of the hand. The doctor, according to Mr. Stork, said that it was the worst case he had ever seen but with proper treatment the flesh would again grow on the member which had lost nearly all the flesh down to the wrist. Sam carried his hand in a sling for seven months and was unable to husk corn for two years; but at the time exhibited a hand that except for one stiff finger was apparently as good as the other.
Cornered by starving and blood thirsty wolves within less than a mile of the present city of Defiance and escaping a terrible death by what seemed to be a prank of fate; was the experience of Philip Stork who was engaged in cutting and hauling logs to the crude old water power sawmills that operated along the Maumee in the 1850s.
Back in the woods in what is now section 13, Noble township lived an old bachelor who frequently chatted with the log hauler and invited him to spend an evening in his cabin. So one moonlight night, after work. Philip set out to pay his visit; when he decided to return at 11:30, his host urged him to stay. The snow had been on the ground for a long time and it was considered dangerous to be out alone because the starving wolves had been heard in the distance night after night.
Philip paid little heed to the warning until, just as he was passing the scene of the day's toll he saw ahead what appeared to be a number of sparks glowing in the moonlight. His hair began to rise as he longed for his host's cabin. The wolves went about in a narrowing circle until Philip estimated their number to be between 40 and 50.
He recalled that he had left a heavy cant hook standing beside a tree the day before and began to edge gradually to this tree. The wolves were very close. He misjudge the position of the hook and backing against the hood knocked it into the snow; knowing that the foremost wolves would leap if he took his eyes from them, he gradually lifted the long tool to his hand with his foot just as the leader crouched to spring.
He stood beneath a huge hickory with the bark hanging in streamers from the trunk. Facing what appeared to be a losing battle, Philip Stork swung the heavy implement above his head with all his might; the can-hook struck a streamer of frozen bark with a report like that of a shotgun and instantly the wolves were gone.
Sam Stork recalls hearing his mother tell of the day when a fox invaded the wilderness farmyard, and seizing a big gander by the neck, dashed away to the forest leaving the barnyard fowls in an uproar and his mother in tears.
Another interesting story of the skill of Jonathan Weller, the pioneer doctor who resided on Powell's Creek in Putnam county, just south of the Defiance county line is an experience of Mr. Stork.
While working in the timber he slightly cut his hand, infection developed, and he walk to Defiance for aid. The doctor lanced the swelling, but from the time Sam left Defiance the pain increased steadily. The hand was swollen to twice its natural size and sleep or rest was impossible.
While he walked the floor in agony one midnight he recalled hearing of this German doctor, whose fame was rapidly spreading. He sent two of his brothers to Powell Creek for the doctor. They left at 3 am and arrived at 10 o'clock. The doctor opened his office, listened to the description and history of the case, and and said that he would not need to go, as he knew exactly what remedies to send.
The brothers arrived home at sunset; the hand was treated, within a few hours Sam was enjoying the first sleep in a week. As soon as he was able, he rode horseback to Dr. Weller to ask advice about future care of the hand. The doctor, according to Mr. Stork, said that it was the worst case he had ever seen but with proper treatment the flesh would again grow on the member which had lost nearly all the flesh down to the wrist. Sam carried his hand in a sling for seven months and was unable to husk corn for two years; but at the time exhibited a hand that except for one stiff finger was apparently as good as the other.
Cornered by starving and blood thirsty wolves within less than a mile of the present city of Defiance and escaping a terrible death by what seemed to be a prank of fate; was the experience of Philip Stork who was engaged in cutting and hauling logs to the crude old water power sawmills that operated along the Maumee in the 1850s.
Back in the woods in what is now section 13, Noble township lived an old bachelor who frequently chatted with the log hauler and invited him to spend an evening in his cabin. So one moonlight night, after work. Philip set out to pay his visit; when he decided to return at 11:30, his host urged him to stay. The snow had been on the ground for a long time and it was considered dangerous to be out alone because the starving wolves had been heard in the distance night after night.
Philip paid little heed to the warning until, just as he was passing the scene of the day's toll he saw ahead what appeared to be a number of sparks glowing in the moonlight. His hair began to rise as he longed for his host's cabin. The wolves went about in a narrowing circle until Philip estimated their number to be between 40 and 50.
He recalled that he had left a heavy cant hook standing beside a tree the day before and began to edge gradually to this tree. The wolves were very close. He misjudge the position of the hook and backing against the hood knocked it into the snow; knowing that the foremost wolves would leap if he took his eyes from them, he gradually lifted the long tool to his hand with his foot just as the leader crouched to spring.
He stood beneath a huge hickory with the bark hanging in streamers from the trunk. Facing what appeared to be a losing battle, Philip Stork swung the heavy implement above his head with all his might; the can-hook struck a streamer of frozen bark with a report like that of a shotgun and instantly the wolves were gone.
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