The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-03-26

For the Aqfs Dc Intelligencer::,
Hunting .z6srentures or VIII.
barn Ty'afcrs,

THE HERMIT OF WHITE TOP MOUNTAIN
MEssRs. EDITORS My last communica-
ton closed with an imperfect but truthful
description of this remarkable man, and
with the intination that might, if accep-
table to you and your readers, give you u
few of the thrilling incidents with which
his wild and adventurous life has been
checkered. I shall proceed to redeem that
implied promise, which you can dispose of
in the manner your better Judgment may
dictate, with the assurance that I will be
content, whatever that decision may be.
On the head waters of New River, large
and turbid but useless stream, having its
sources in the Biue Ridge sometimes call
ed the backbone Of the United States
and flowing through several ofthe counties
in Southwestern Virginia as well as o
number in West Virginia, and taking the
name of Kanawha before it empties into
the Ohio, is q vast jungle in Grayson
county, some so miles from Abingdon,
known as the "Wilson Laurel" This wild
tract, some Is miles in length and about
half as broad, is covered with an almost
impenetrable mass of laurel and ivy, woven
together with an immense network of
vines, with here and there a giant juniper
or hemlock, all festooncd with long and
sombre moss, which sways to and fro in
the shrieking winds that chant their SOL
emn requiem in that vast solitude.
Occasionally rugged and beetling cliff
arises from the tangled mass of wild wood,
in the caverns of which the bear, the wolf
and the panther find their lairs, and upon
the surfaces Of which.the rattie-snake and
| hISQJUV - t..
sunshine. So dangerous is it to traverse, OF
even enter, this counterpart of the Great
Dismal Swamp, that but few men amongst
our most hardy and fearless hunters, have
ever dared to explore it. 1t was into this
gloomy and trackless waste, in the winter
OF 1878 that Wilburn Waters followed
the trail of very large and ferocious [ ear,
rendered frantic by tlesh-wound from his
rifle, and driven to madness by the unfag-
ing and annoying pursuit of his two cour-
ageous and well-trained dogs. As I said
in my last, he never lost or forsook trail
and regardless of the difficulties and dan
gers that lay before him, he plunged into
the tangled wilderness, intent only upon
the capture of his game.
A deep snow had fallen the day before,
which was still driving fast and furious,
rendering his footing very precarious, and
so lading the limbs and underground, that
he accomplished but mile or two when
night fell upon the scene. AS the dogs
were holding the bear at bay but a short
distance from him, he scraped away the
snow, gathered some dead wood, struck q
fre, partook OF small portion of parched
corn and jirked venison which he carried
IN his pouch, and lay down to rest. All
night long the signing night wind bore to
his ears the grunts of the worried bear, the
shrieks of a distant panther, and the still
more dismal and ominous shrieks of the
huge owls as they tapped their broad
wings above his dark and uncomfortable
resting place. AT the dawn of day, the
bear again began his retreat, but not until
one Of the dogs, in his eagerness to end
the long conflict, ventured little too near
and was left lacerated and bleeding upon
the spot where he fell, from Bruins terri.
BILE hug. Wilburn, with his remaining
dog, bis rifle, and tomahawk, followed on
sometimes within sight Of the game and
again far in the rear. He thus followed
another cold day and spent another
cherries night in the snow.
The third day was but repetition
OF the two preceding, except that, at its
close, he had passed out of the jungle,
which the foot of man had never trodden
before, and found himself in the open woods
and among large timber. The snow hav.
ing again commenced falling, and dark
approaching, be started up a fire and lay
down to rest, his only dog sharing his sup
per and his fire.
AS soon as the snow upon the surround
ing peaks began to glisten in the rays Of
the rising sun, he arose, shook the fake