Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-07-06
tcoPYRfGHr SECURED.
CIEARFIELD COUNTY:
OR, "REMINISCENCES OF THE PAST


OR, "REMINISCENCES OF THE PAST
Turner is represented q remarkable man
powerfully built, bold, daring and quick at
corceiving and carrying his projects into ex-
ecutfon. Hunting near John Fergusou's in
1913, he was convinced that his dog. 'sHun-
ter" had treed either a panther ld-cas,
from the peculiar noise which he made. Pro-
ceeding in the direction of the noise, he soon
observed panther in tree. As he approach
ed, the beast let &C its hold, dropped upon the
dog, and seized it. Turner's gun missing
fire, he threw it down, and went to the assist
ance of the dog. Grasping the panther by the
tail, the animal gave mp its hold upon the dog
and turned towards Turner. sIIunter,' fright
cned By the first encounter, refused to lay
hold again. 1t did not take Dan. long to de-
termine whether he or the panther were
caught. Hlving great muscular strength,
Dan, on Strengthening himself up, was able to
raise the hind legs of the panther off the
ground, and keeping it at arms length, pre-
vent itdoing him any harm. His situation was
extremely critical, yet he dared not let go his
hold, neither could he calculate what would
be the termination of the adventure. The pam
wards the right to reach its eaptor, when Dan
would thrust its posteriors into its face, caus-
ing it to take to the left, where it would meet
with similar treatment and reverse its course.
Thus Turner struggled for near quarter of
an hour, when his son, Joseph, who had been
attracted to the spot by the shouts of his faith
cr, relieved him from his perilous situation by
sinking tomahawk into the skull of the pan
thcr.
On another of his numerous hunting excur-
sions, he wounded large panther, which took
refuge in a cave in the rocks. Having a short
sword, which he carried on such occasions,
and which could be screwed on to the muzzle
Of his rifle and used as bay onet, he boldly
followed the panther into the cave and de-
spatched him with this weapon. Here was
courage equal to Putnam's in the wolf story.
Speaking of the wolf, brings to mind night
he passed with the wolves in the Alleghenies.
lie had followed an Elk, which he had wound
ed, until evening, when he reached 1t far up
in the mountains. While dressing the dead
Elk, the wolves began to howl around him, and
feeling that it would be unsafe to remain on
the ground, he ascended tree. The wolves
soon collected in large numbers, and began to
devour the elk. Turner fired away at them
until he had exhausted his stock of bullets.
All blight long he was obliged to listen to the
howls of these beasts, to their snarls and fight
ing over tho remains of the elk, and the
craunchiug of the bones between their jaws
told him too plainly what would have been his
fate had he remained on the ground. With
ctyf lo1o
way, when he got down, and on hunting a
round, found seven dead ones. How many
more had been killed, or wounded, he had no
means of ascertaining.
Once, when going out to a "bear wallow,''
his attention was attracted by panther acting
in a strange manner. He soon large
bear approaching it. With hair erect and eyes
giaring, the panther CRASHED his teeth, and
waiting until Bruia came convcnt<atly near,
sprang upon her. A mortal struggle ensued.
Turner watched with much interest the fight,
which lasted some ten minutes or more. AT
length the growls of the fierce combatants be-
came faint, and the struggle ceased. The
panther slowly dIsengaged himself from his
dead enemy, and took position upon the car
cass. 1t was now Turner's time, and raising
his rife he shot the panther in the head. After
examining it. he was of the opinion that it
could have lived but very few minutes Ion
ger. Nearly every bone in its body was bro
ken, and its flesh was almost reduced to pulp
by the blows and hugs of the bear
Daniel Turner died in this county, in bis
80th year. and was buried at Mount Pleasant
He was very poor during the latter part of his
hfe' his main means of subsistence being
pension which he received from the Govern
ment- His sons have followed him to the
grave, and but one of his grandsons still lin
gers around the spot where this pioneer spent
the latter years of his life.
In 1908 or 4, Samuel Ewing settled mile
and half below the mouth of Muddy Run, a,
aplaee known as Ewing's Bottom, but did no,