The Hillsborough Recorder

FEMALE ROBINSON CRUSOE

Racine, April 15, 1859.

The usual quiet and dullness of this city was to day most agreeably dissipated by the arrival here of the schooner Ozelle, Marvin master, having on board a young lady, Miss Sophia Richardson, formerly of Cleveland, Ohio, who for the last three years has been living in solitude and unwilling seclusion upon a desolate and uninhabited island in Lake Superior, near the British coast and in a northwesterly direction from Isle Royal.

A detailed narrative of the adventures of Miss Richardson appears in the New York Times of yesterday, from which we take the following extracts:

"When cast ashore I found that I had eight barrels of pork, two kegs of lard, twelve barrels flour, two of sugar, several boxes of candy, candles, raisins, and dried herrings, a box of sardines, a bale of buffalo robes a box of dry goods, needles, pins, thread, yarn, etc., a box of mining hatchets, a box of heavy clothing. and a bale of blankets.

I knew I had provisions sufficient for three or four years. I had already learned to catch fish, and cook my pork and flour without the aid of dishes or stoves. With the fragments of the wreck, and some of my empty barrels and boxes. I made a low hut. which I covered with sand to the depth of a foot. One end of this was closed. the other was fitted with a door made from the lids of my two trunks, over my barrels and boxes of goods I stretched a sail, fastening it down by means of stakes. As the winter approached I fabricated from my buffalo robes a dress, which I fancied would be impervious to the cold. My shoes, gloves, and hat were made of the same material. The forest supplied me with fuel. and I soon learned to chop it with considerable ease. During the early part of the first winter I suffered terribly, but I managed to live through it, and the next season I was inured to hardship..

In this manner I passed three long and lonely years. I kept a journal during this unhappy period, and this was my only recreation. My books, and even my Bible, were left in the vessel. During these three years I saw but 7 vessels, They either did not see or would not regard my signals; my anguish on these occasions was indescribable. The thoughts of home, and of the friends who were now mourning me as with the dead. would rush upon me with overpowering force, and my misery seemed too heavy for me to bear.

At length, I know not on what day, but by my calculations on the 25th of February, my island was visited by six Menominee Indians. They had crossed from the shore, partly in their canoes and partly on the ice. They were as much surprised to find me upon the Island as I was delighted to see a human face again. We could not understand each other, but they made signs that I should go with them. I was in their power, but I was willing to go, as I conceived that by their means I might finally obtain my release and restoration. They returned with me to the British coast. which I think is not more than twenty or twenty-five miles from my Island. They conducted me in a two days' journey, to a French trading post, where, for the first time in three years. I found myself in the company of civilized men. I was received with kindness, and soon forwarded to Fort William."