Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-10-14
JNterestlllp t0fa.
THE PIONEERS 81
OF THE Y
W II Ri I SIS
Oid Myers and the PANTHER.

w IN ID Ii III " LII ID !.
Old Myers and the panther.
In a country like ours, Of boundless
forests, rapidly filing up with a growing
and widely spreading population, the pi.
oneers Of the wilderness. those hardy and
daring spirits who take their lives in
their hands and march, in advance Of
civilization, into the Wild woods, to en-
dare privations AMONG the wild animals,
and run the hazard Of wild warfare among
the savage tribes. form q very peculiar
and Interesting class. Whetheritis nat
ural hardihood and boldness, and love of
adventure, or a desire for retirement, or
a wish to be free from the restraints of
civilized society, That thus leads this pee
H%culiar class of people into the WILDERNESS
1t matters not now to inquire. Probably
all these motives, in a greater or less do.
gree, go to make up the moving prinei.
pie. teq ish saf
AT the head of this class was the re
nowned Daniel Boone, whose name will
live as long as his Old Kentucky shall
ind a place on the page of history. He
was tn, great Napoleon among tic, bio
neers Of the wilderness. But there are
many others Of less note, whose lives were
also filled with remarkable adventures,
and curious and interesting incidents.
Indeed, every State III the Union has had
more or less Of these characters, which
go to make up the class. One Of these
VAS Old Myers, the Panther !" a man
OF iron constitution, of great power of
6ouv aI1G muscle, anu an IhdosHifa6ie cour
age that knew no mixture Of fear. a
Four times i'll four different states, had
Myers pitched his lonely tent in the will
derness, among savage tribes, and waited
for the tide of white population to over
take him and four times he had g pulled
up stakes" aud marched still deeper into.
the forest where he might epjoy more 81,
bow room, and exclaim, with Selkirk,
am monarch of all / survey
My right there's none to dispute"
And nov at the time Of which we
speak, he had q fifth time pitched his tent
and struck his fire GU the banks Of the
Illinois river, in the territory which after
ward grew up to a State of the same name.
Having lived SO much in the wilderness,
and associated so much with the aborig
ines, he had acquired much Of their hab-
It's and mode of life, and by his location
on the Illinois River, he O became
rather a favorite among the Indian tribes
around him. His skill with The rife and
the bow, end his personal feats of
strength and agility were well calculated
to excite admiration aud applause. He
often took the lead among them in their
games OF sport. 1t was on one Of these
occasions that he acqired the additional
name Of the Panther.
A party Of eight or ten Indians, accom-
panied by Myers, had been out On a hunt
ing excursions, and were returning, laden
With the spoils Of the chase, consisting of
various kinds of wild fowl, squirrels, rae
coons and buffalo skins. They had us d
up their ammunition except q single charge,
which was reserved in the rife of the
chief for any emergency, OF choice game
which might present itself on the wsy
home. a river lay in the way, which
could be crossed only at one point, with
out subjecting them to an extra Journey
Of some ten miles round. When they ar.
rived at this point, they suddenly came
upon 8 huge panther, which had taken
possession Of the pass, and like q skillful
general, confident of his strong position,
seemed determined to hold it. The bar.
ty retreated a little and stood at bay for
a while, and consulted what shonld be
done.
Various methods were attempted to
decoy or brighten the creature from his
position, but without success. He erowI,
ed defiance whenever they came in sight,
as much as to say, "If you want this
stronghold come and takeiti" The ami
NAL appeared to lie very powerful and
fierce. The trembling Indians hardly
dared to come in sight Of him, and all the
re~conoitering had to be done by Myers.
The majosir3 Were in favor of r~etreating,
as fast as posslo1c, and taking the long
journey oil ten miles round for home but
Myers r%esolutely resisted. He urged the
chief, whose rife was loaded, to march up
to the panther, take good aim and shoot
him down +; promising that the rest Of the
party would back him up Closely with
their knives and tomahawks, in case Of a
miss-fre. But the chief refused he knew
too well the nature and power of the an
imal. The creature, be contended, was
exceedingly hard to kill. Not one shot
in twenty, however, we'll aimed, would
dispatch him and if one shot failed, it
was sure death to the shooter. Tor the in.
furiated animal would spring upon him
IN an instant, and tear him % pieces
For similar reasons every Indian in the
party declined to hazard q battle with
the enemy in any shape.