The following letter appeared in the January 8, 1904, issue of the MAINE WOODS newspaper. It shares the harrowing experiences of two lost boys, their rescue party, as well as the residents of Berlin (located just south of Rangeley and west of Phillips) during the winter of 1841.  

Contemporary commentary appears in italics. The original text has been slightly redacted. We hope you enjoy it! 

LOST IN NO. 6 WOODS 

A Thrilling Adventure with Wolves.  

To the Editor of Maine Woods, 

My story is a tale of long ago when the westerly portion of Phillips was organized into a town and took the name of Berlin. It contained about 30 families and the majority of them were large families. The town contained one sawmill and no other machinery; consequently the main occupation of the inhabitants was farming. Hundreds of tons of hay were then cut on lands where birch and poplar is being cut at present. The scene of my present narrative occurred March 22nd, 1841. The winter had been unusually severe and the depth of snow was around five feet. After a severe thaw the top of the snow had frozen, forming a very hard crust, which enabled the inhabitants to go even with their teams on the thick crust and anywhere in the woods without snowshoes. Lewis Fish and son were bringing home daily large packs full of spruce gum. The large number of boys that were in the neighborhood soon caught on and resolved to take up the old gum hunters’ trade to earn an honest dollar. So, on this memorable day quite a large party was formed and started from my father’s house for a long tramp into the great woods to return the same night. I was but a small boy at that time but I distinctly remember the party as they sallied forth on that glorious clear March morning and wishing I could be one of the party.  

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That night, all of the boys came back together but two Jonathan and Moses Berry were missing. The party had not seen them since noon. Moses Berry, Jr., was deaf and dumb, which was very much against him as he could not hear the signals that are usually given in the woods, which is to strike the poll of the ax on a large spruce tree. The sound can be heard a mile in the woods. As usual after a cloudless morning, clouds began to obscure the sun and at 2 o’clock the sun could not be seen and Moses wandered away. His brother became aware of the fact and went in the direction he was last seen, but at dark neither of the boys came home and it was soon noised about that the two Berry boys were lost in the woods.  

As two of my brothers were part of the party out that day, the rest of the boys stopped at our house for a while in the evening to hear if the missing boys came home. About 8 o’clock in the evening Uncle Mose Berry (as he was familiarly called), the father of the missing boys, came galloping down the road on his coal black horse and was very much excited and said his wife was about crazy and wanted to get a party to go and find his boys. In two hours’ time, twelve men were found who volunteered to go. Among the number was Lewis Fish. the veteran woodsman and was at once chosen leader. Each man carried a tin lantern and most of them an ax and a tin horn. There was a moon but it was obscured at the time and did not aid them but little in their trackless search on the crust. The party thought that the two brothers were together and that they could make Jonathan hear them, and thus the party started after assuring the boys’ mother that they would bring back her boys safe and sound by morning. It appears that woodsman Fish was not of the party the day before, but he saw one of the lost boys the day before and learned from him who was in the woods and the direction they were going. Consequently, he had an idea of the direction they had taken and he led his search party to the place they last saw them. As soon as they had got into the woods Fish with four men on each side of him, told them to sound their tin horns often and then listen for an answer. They had not been in the woods more than two hours when one of the party called to the man next to him that he heard an answer. The men were stationed about ten rods apart, so the word was passed along the line and every man was instantly listening. Yes, they all heard a faraway sound and for a moment all were sure that the lost were found. “But hark,” said one, “I heard another answer in another direction.” “Answer them, boys” said Fish, “on your horns and let’s move on in their direction for half an hour and then stop to listen.” Instead of two there were a dozen sounds. One of the men said the woods were full of lost men. “Boys,” said the leader, “men don’t make such sounds as that. We are surrounded by wolves and they are fast closing in around us. Make a fire as soon as you can.” These demands were quickly obeyed and the party occupied a very small space of ground. The wolves came within the light of the fire and growled and howled fearfully and as Fish said in after years, if it had not been for our fire the wolves would have devoured the whole of us. He said that night that the lost boys would be torn in pieces. 

Winter wolves (Submitted)

That night was a sad one for this company. As part of the men chopped wood and kept a rousing fire, others blew their horns while some threw firebrands into the surrounding darkness, where the wolves were circling around and sending forth their dismal howls. The howling echoed for miles among the adjacent hills and through the great valleys. “Come boys,” said Fish, “you must work and keep up the fire or those devils will be in upon us.”  

Two daring fellows, Owen Hewey and Eben Orr, took their axes and said that they were going out to make hash of some of them. The boss told them they had better hash up some wood and stoke a bigger fire, for nothing else would keep them at a distance. But the two boys wanted to be brave, so they started out and they kept close together. They had not gotten far beyond the firelight before Orr said, “I’ve gotten as far as I want to,” and both were glad to stop. A huge wolf faced them and others came up, mingling their fearful growls and snarls and defying them to a battle. Hewey glanced towards the fire and saw a huge wolf creeping between them and the fire. “See,” said Hewey, ” retreat, run for your life.” Both boys made a dash for the fire and four wolves followed them into the full light, so that all had a fair look at them. Fish said that they were Gray Canadian Timber Wolves, the biggest he ever saw and the most ferocious kind living. Nothing could tempt Orr and Hewey to leave the fire again that night. The wolves circled around the fire for about two hours and then began to work off farther into the woods. Soon it was evident that the pack were headed towards the settlement, but the town of Berlin had been awake all night. Many were the events that happened that eventful night in that quiet little town. One man had a flock of sheep on a back farm. He had repaired in haste to the barn and had but just succeeded in fastening them in, when the wolves circled the barn and the man to save himself climbed to the hayloft and stayed there till daylight. 

When it was fully light the party in the woods commenced their search. They had not been out but a short time and had proceeded about one mile, when they heard a faint sound. Going in the direction of the sound for about half a mile they distinctly heard a man’s voice and the party answered back with thankful hearts. In a few moments they had the younger boy by the hand while tears ran down his cheeks. He said he had tracked his brother Moses the night before. Then dark came and he heard an awful sound and was afraid. He crawled under an upturned tree, broke a few boughs and laid there all night. He said he came “near freezing to death but dared not stir those dogs that made such a noise.” He wanted to know whose dogs they all were. He said that one of them went so near him that he heard him run off. But where was his deaf-mute brother? The leader of the party said, “We can’t hear him, he can’t hear us. He must be tracked.” There had come a squall of snow during the night, which was favorable. “He has probably gone toward the big lake and is lost. Now boys look sharp, he must be found, dead or alive.”  

The search party went as directed and had got in the vicinity of the Four Ponds (Near present day Height of Land), when one of the men spied a man’s track in the light snow that had fallen fresh that morning. A halt was made and Fish asked if anyone could lead all but two back out to home, while he and another man go on and rescue the lost one. But none out of nine dared to undertake it. Young Jonathan said that the track was made by his brother. He knew this by the tap on the toe of the shoe, and said, “Do go and get him”. “A dollar to the man who overtakes him first, cried Fish.”  

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Away they dashed like sleuth hounds on a trail, not to secure the meager reward but to restore the poor lost boy to his distressed mother. William D. Kempton and Geo. W. Hewey were foremost in the chase. They were natural woodsmen and they were on the track.  

And outstepped all the others in trailing. As they went into the great valley near the Four Ponds, the boy’s trail swung to the left and was going for Byron. They had not gone more than one-half mile when Wash Hewey sighted him. He was standing by a tree as if exhausted. As they came near him, as he could not hear them, the two boys approached within a rod of him and watching his movements. They had not long to wait, for as the boy turned his head and saw them, he was as wild as a hawk as they approach him and tried to make signs to him. But he was perfectly insane and appeared afraid of them. “Let us wait,” said Kempton, “till his brother comes up and perhaps he will know him’.” But the deaf boy was too much for them. He turned and ran like a wild deer through the woods. “Catch the wild devil,” said Wash, “or we shall lose him.” Away bounded the pursued and the pursuers. 

It is doubtful what the result would have been had not the boy, in leaping a little brook, not broken through and fell. Before he could recover himself, the boys were upon him. The boy struggled fearfully but the two boys held him fast. In a few moments, the rest of the party came up and were greatly rejoiced, but the poor mute did not know any of them, not even his own brother. 

Now the whole party were tired and hungry, some had not even a biscuit, but Fish had a good supply of tea and his teakettle, which was soon steaming over a good fire and the whole party made a good dinner of bread and pork fried in the blaze of the fire. But not one of the party, not even his brother, could tempt the deaf boy to taste the food or drink any of the tea.  

Mr. Fish reminded them that if they got home that night they must be on the move. At 11 o’clock they took up the homeward march, Hewey and Kempton leading their captive, for if Moses could slip them, he would run. He did try to get away from them as he did not appear to know any of them. About 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the deaf boy showed signs of fatigue and in a short time could not walk. Fish called to a halt and ordered a fire to be built. He got out the tin kettle and soon had it on the fire. Jonathan induced his brother to eat a little and drink some tea, which greatly revived him. It appeared that the boy was nearly famished having taken only his dinner for the day before, and the great mental strain on his mind proved altogether too much for his weakened mind. He would not eat or drink anything unless given to him by his brother. Mr. Fish detailed two men to go on ahead and reach home as quickly as possible and tell the news to the anxious ones there. “For we are liable to be out after dark with the boy said Fish.”  

They reached home late in the evening being grateful that the wolves had moved on. The poor boy did not seem to realize anything until his almost heartbroken mother took him in her arms. How those boys passed that fearful night without being torn into pieces has been a wonderment ever since. How that deaf and dumb boy survived the night has been a question that has never been answered. But it is pleasant to think that ‘He that Noticeth the Sparrow’s Fall’ sent His Guardian Angels and protected them in their great danger. 

There are many incidents connected with the events of that night, but time and space will not permit at present. The deaf boy was 17 years old at the time of his perilous adventure and his brother 16. I was 11 years of age at the time this narrative occurred. As I stood by my mother’s side as she sat by the great kitchen fire, the fearful howl of wolves seemed far back in the great woods. Later we learned they were within one-half mile of our own doors. Such blood curdling howls I have never heard since. 

 According to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, wolves are now extirpated from the Pine Tree State. Occasionally sightings are reported by the public. However, these sightings are attributed by IFW as either; escaped wolf hybrids kept as domestic pets or misidentified large coyotes. There are some Mainers ( I won’t call them Maniacs) who are convinced wolves have indeed returned to Maine. I’ll only add that about 20 years ago, I saw one very large, long snouted, long legged, light tan & white wolf (definitely not a coyote) run right through my backyard! We live on the slopes of the New Vineyard mountains. He appeared to me as wild as all get-out were it not for the red bandana tied around ‘Big Bad’s’ neck!  

Have a wonderful week and be sure that you don’t get lost as you venture forth to create some terrific Maine Outdoor History of your own. 

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