The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1866-12-04
A Hunter Shot by "a Deer.

Devoted as all the English race is to
/ field sports, and general as the pursuit OF
them has grown the shooting season can
never pass without accidents. Most of
these, however distressing, are ordinary
enough in character. But in Scotland a
calamity has befallen frst-rate and we'll
tried forester which is really one of the
most extraordinary ever told in the annals
Of the rifle. There are curious stories by
dozens in the records Of flood and f,ld."
Every book Of hunting and shooting con
tains some wonderful tale, and every old
shot can spin yarn after yarn Of "wild adj
ventures that befell." Some that are not
believed are none the less true; for travel.
ers and hunters do strange things" as we'll
as ''see" them, and are often shy of relating
all they know, because truth is so often less
probable than fiction. Who would credit,
for example, that a wild Australian bull, ia
full charge, had been felIed to the ground
and slain by pebble thrown from the
hand. Yet that is on record. And in the
long lists Of the accidents that have befall-
en- the disciples of St. Hubert we find tie
oldest of tales 1t is Hsrris, we believe,
who parrates in his "Highlands of Ethio4
.Pia" that a dying antelope pushed into the
pursuer the hunting knife which was drawn
TO slay it, well nigh "gralloching" the man
instead Of suffering that process itself.
Something Of the same character, but more
extraordinary still, Is the unfortunate acc-
dent which occurred in Mar Forest. 1t is
not very uncommon for deer to kill their
hunters. The brow anters Of "stag OF
ten are ike bayonets, and the old song
says "If thou be hurt with horn of hart it
brings thee to thy grave" But who ever
heard of a stag shooting the man who shot
lit? Nobody would dare invent such an
incident in volume of sport. Yet the
thing has really happened this year in the
Grampians, and right good forester Was
buried among the mountains last Wedn"s-
/ day, who was shot through the heart by Il
bullet fired by a stag of which he had made
sure, and which was itself at the point uf
! death.
The unlucky sportsman was named Geo.
. Urquhart and was frst-rate and success
ful deerstalker, one of the best Of Mr.. Pow
ellis foresters at Brennan. When out with
his master and some others on the face Of
Cairntoul, fine stag was staiked and sur
rounded by the party. Urquhart was sent
to keep the animal from escaping by the
head Of the glen, and firing at it, he wound
ed it again. Another forester then Joined
him, and the two followed the stag out OF
the main pass into a very deep glen, with
broken ground and precipitous sides, and
fOaming burn below. The deer was SO tad.
Iy hurt that the men came up with him;
and Urquhart tried to drive him down with
the butt-end of the rifle before dealing the
finishing blow. In despair and pain, the
stag lashed out, and striking the hammers
OF the piece, knocked one off and brought
the other down on the cap so that the
charge exploded, and drove the bullet
straight through the forester's body. He
stood for moment, and then said, quietly,
Il am shot" and fell into the arms of his
companion Grant, who laid him down and
tried to stop the bleeding Seeing the poor
fellow was SO much hurt, Grant hastened
up the glen, and found his master with the
others wondering what had become of the
two men. On hearing the melancholy
news, Mr.. Powell and the Others immelis
ateIy went down to Urquhart, while his
comrade ran over the hills to shieling,
seven or eight miles off, for further assist.
ance, and thence to Braemar, sixteen miles
further, for doctors. But the forester was
as fatally hit as the stag, which had drop
ped dead little way below; and although
he could tell how the accident happened
when his master first came up, by-snd- bye
he grew weaker and weaker, and died ~
the twilight began to fall. At about
o'clock the men came back, AMI, placing
the body on hiI pony, they carried it out
Of the pass. But by this time the darkness
was 50 dense that in the wilderness and
iesoIation the mournful party utterly Io,t
their way. At midnight they were obIig.
d to lay the corpse on the heather, and sit
Down to wait for the morning, but just cti
stopping they saw the fire in the shieling
% which Urquharts companion had first
zone, and then the lanthorns Of the men
ent out to look for them. So at last they
sot shelter. The doctors had also come,
1ut tie deerstaIker was long past their
lelp-dead and cold like bis slayer, ths
'ntered king Of the hills which lay in the
Wild mountain burn. The stag hal posi-
lively shot the forester with his own rifle,
Il its dying agony, avenging the death of
many "heart of grea e." and its own fate
'eside.-Lond0n Transcript, o.! II, Sc.
An lrlshman was directed by a ! dy OF
arSe size to secure and pay for two seats
0 stage, as she wanted comfortable room
4 riding. The fellow returned and said,
| We mid for thnsa Two seats Yni tod NE