Kidnapped Girl Returns to Visit Lincoln County
Lincoln Sentinel, Oct. 26, 1911
Mr. and Mrs. Woodward, of Miltonvale, visited Lincoln. Mrs. Woodward (nee Bell) was a Lincoln visitor just one day last week. She was one of the girls picked up by Ferdinand Erhardt and Uncle Mart Hendrickson in 1868.
The girls were taken prisoners by a band of Indians over on Solomon near the townsite of the present location of Beloit, and carried over here and dropped about 4 1/2 miles northwest of Lincoln. The reason why they were dropped was that the Indians knew there were some soldiers in the neighborhood and the girls were in such a pitiable condition from their long horseback ride, so the Indians were afraid they would be overtaken and the girls found in their possession in such a horrible condition.
They wandered about for two days without food and stayed in a couple of abandoned dugouts until the two men found them; they were taken to Uncle Mart Hendrickson's brother's house and fed, and the next day turned over to a detachment of soldiers who took them to Fort Arickaree, where they were cleaned up and well cared for until their father could come and get them back home. They were treated kindly and well by the Indians. They stayed with them one night only, but they got so full of vermin so they had a job to get clean again. Mr. Woodward hired a livery rig and took his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Mart Hendrickson out over the old trail of 1868 and Mrs. Woodward was able to point out two places where she and her sister tramped at that time. She was able to give a fair account of how the Indians did their business.
It was a real pleasure to have Mr. and Mrs. Woodward here as they are above the average in intelligence. Mr. Woodward is an everyday farmer, but he has a library that would be a credit to many professional men. We were too busy trying to induce our renter to cut hay and finally had to do it ourself, that is the reason I could not be with them. They saw our pioneer monument and were very much pleased with it, and wished to see a like monument erected in Beloit; and it will come over there if all signs are right, and the writer hereof is willing to help along to make it a success. ' Christian Bernhardt