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Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 738, 15 May 1894, Page 4

The following story is related regarding Israel Putnam’s adventure with a wolf. When Putnam, in 1739, moved from Salem to Pomfret, long before he was a General, or had made himself one of the most interesting figures in American history, he settled down to farming. The district was raided by an old she wolf, who, despite all efforts to capture her, committed endless damage upon the flocks of sheep and goats. One night she killed no fewer than seventy-eight belonging to Putnam, and the next day a determined party set out to effect her capture. They tracked the miscreant down to a lair among the rocks, and, after trying to smoko her out in vain, Putnam ordered his black servant to go in and forage. The man refused, so Pntnam himself, with a rope tied round one of his legs, and a torch that he had constructed of birch bark in his hand, went head foremost into the hole. Presently he reached the creature, who began to growl furiously ; whereupon the hero was ignominiously dragged to light, suffering- many bruises in the process* He armed himself with a gun and went down again. This time, when the wolf growled, he shot it dead, and then was dragged out again with his trophy. The fag-end of the torch which Putnam had made was preserved, and its appearance created much interest among American visitors to the late exhibition.