The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-02-25

For tie 4Egis d Mtelligenccr.
HUNTING ADVENTURES OF wI1BvRN
WATERS,
THE HERMIT OF WHITE TOP MOUNTAIN.

THE HERMIT OF WHITE TOP MOUNTAIN.
MEssRs. EDITORS My last communi-
cation closed with an imperfect but truth
full description of this remarkable man,
and with the intimation that l might, ii
acceptable to you and your readers, give
you few of the thrilling incidents with
which his wild and adventurous life has
been checkered. l shall proceed to redeem
that implied promise, which you can dis
pose of in the manner your better judg-
ment may dictate, with the assurance that
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 Blue Ridge-sometime call
ed the backbone of the United States
and flowing through several OF the coun-
ties in Southwestern Virginia as well as q
number in West Virginia, and taking the
name of Kanawha before it empties into
the Ohio, is vast Jungle in Grason coun-
ty, 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 impene-
trable mass of laurel and ivy, woven to-
gether with an immense network ofvines,
with here and there giant juniper or
hemlock, all festooned with long and SOM
bre moss, which sways to and fro in the
shrieking winds that chant their solemn re-
QUEEN in that vast solitude.
Occasionally a 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 rattle-snake and
the Kissing moccasin bask in the warm
sunshine. SO dangerous is it to traverse,
or 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 a very large and ferocious bear,
rendered frantic by a tlesh-wound from his
rifle, and driven to madness by the unfag-
ging and annoying pursuit of his two cour-
ageous and well-trained dogs. ASH said
in my last, he never lost or forsook trail,
and regardless of the difficulties and dam
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 short
distance from him, he scraped away the
snow, gathered some dead wood, struck a
fire, partook of a 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 ola 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, his 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 cheer
less night in the snow.
The third day was but a 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 argetimber. The snow
having again commenced falling, and dark
approaching, he started up 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 flakes
from his locks, and started out with his
rifle to find the tracks Of the bear. The
snow of the preceding night had entirely
obliterated the trail, but be had gone but .
short distance, till he saw lying upon thu
snow what he supposed to be bear skin
which he concluded some hunter had roll
ed up and left there. Looking at it intent
ly for moment, he saw it move, and at ono,
concluded that it was cub, or small
! yearling bear, Having left his dog an(