Damsels in Distress

The November 24, 1905 Drummond Call carried an article of adventure for two Philipsburg ladies that mistakenly ended up in Bearmouth:”The two [ladies] had started for their home in Philipsburg from Drummond. They were unacquainted with the road, but depended on their horses to take them to their destination. Night fell and no evidence of the ‘burg’ hove in sight. To make their situation more serious, no lights were visible in any direction and no on was encountered who could apprise them of the right direction to take. There was but one thing to do and that was to keep driving. 

At this critical moment a heavy storm began and the last hope fled from the minds of the two luckless wayfarers. Finally the ladies discerned a house in the darkness, alongside of the road. They sought its shadows for shelter. On examination it was found that the house was locked and no one was living there and their newborn hope took the same speedy flight as previous ones. While debating what the next best step to be taken should be, the shrill whistle of a locomotive was heard a short distance away and the ladies concluded that they were not far from Hall, but could not account for the ‘burg’ train going down the valley at that hour on Sunday. 

They finally concluded however, to unhitch the horse and proceed with it to Hall, leaving the carriage at the deserted farm house, it being now altogether too dark to keep the road by driving. They had proceeding but a short distance in this manner when the horse showed a fright at a dark object a short distance ahead and refused to be led further in that direction. Now alarmed to the last degree by the fear that the dark object was a lone grizzly, the ladies hastily beat their retreat to where the carriage had been left. 

After another brief counsel of war the hapless women saw safety in no other direction than that in which lay the dreaded bear and again they proceeded, determined to crawl upon the back of the horse and urge him on to safety. Their second venture proved more successful and it was but a short time before they pulled up, not at Hall, as they confidently believed, but in front of the hotel at Bearmouth. 

Miss Stuart, the proprietor, furnishing them with dry clothing and in other ways administering to their comfort. The ladies spent the night at the hotel and the following morning were given the right direction and they started home again, arriving safely later in the day. 

That their fears regarding the presence of a wild animal was not unfounded, was proven the next day when Mr. Lannen visited the field through which the ladies had passed and found that during the night a young calf had been killed by a mountain lion. Mr. Lannen and his men are now making a thorough search for the beast.” 

Research has failed to disclose the names of these damsel’s that went west instead of south.