The Squaw’s Miraculous Escape from Her Enraged Husband

“One day, while a dinner was being given to the Indians at Parowan, one of them, in a fit of gambling, staked and lost his wife. The woman, who was present, did not like the arrangement, and slipping away from the crowd, quickly entered our house—the one nearest at hand—and hid, first behind the door and under some clothing which hung there; then in a moment crept under the bed, the next minute crawling out and running out the back door and down into a small cellar, the door of which was open. Scarcely was she thus concealed when in rushed an Indian, knife in hand, his face like a demon’s. Without a word to us he looked behind the door, then under the bed, then he tumbled the bedding to see if she could be hidden there. Not finding her, but certain she had entered our house, he rushed out the back way and went to the doorway of the cellar. Seeing the place was empty, he did not enter. Had he done so he would have seen the woman, who stood behind the door, and killed her. She was a woman of remarkable sagacity, and after the Indian left, she followed him from corral to corral, hiding in places he had just searched, and was never found or harmed by him.”

— Susan E. J. Martineau, 'Almost an Indian Bride'