Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-03-08
For the Chronicle.
LETTER FROM ASHLAND CITY.

Mr.. EDITOR: In the last Leaf,
"Pondy Woods" gets on quite a ram
page about an account of what was
considered at the time a successful
raid on coons, made in this locality
and published in the CHRONICLE of
the Sth ult., and pleads set off, and
consequently expects a judgment for
eighteen coons against Anon, y as he
claims that thirty-three coons were
killed by his party, while Anon party
only killed fifteen.
For several reasons we think his
claim cannot be sustained First, he
says Pat and Mark brought in, after
an absence of an hour and half. thir-
ty-three varmints with tails all ringed
around Now, our largest coon after
being dressed weighed fifteen pounds,
and put this as the gross average of
his thirty-three, we have an aggregate
of four hundred and ninety-fve.
pounds. which divided equally between
the two successful Nimrods, would
give to each two hundred and forty
seven and half pounds. Now does
anybody who knows Pat, believe that
he would have carried that much
weight just for the fun of the thing?
! Now, Pondy Woods, don't it look
little too thick to make Judgment in
any sane mans understanding" But
put them at twelve pounds average, and
you have, with their guns included,
over two hundred pounds to each hun
ter 1t seems thar that sounds rather
fishy.
Another reason why Anon doubts
Pondy Woods yarn, is that he has al
ways been taught that in the presiden-
tial canvass of 1874, certain political
company, yclept The Independent
Coon Killers. did for the coon in Pondy
Woods, what ST Patrick did for snakes
in Ireland-e xtirpated them, and since
that time they have been unknown in
that locality. Anon has passed thro'
POndy Woods great many times. and
to the best of his recollection has
never seen coon skin hanging up or
nailed up against wall or gable of a
single house in Pondy Woods, and ev-
erybOdy knows when negroes were
ringers, " that if there were any coons
about, coon skins could occasionally
be seen hung around as evidence of
their successful hunting excursions.
Another reason why his claim should
not be allowed is that the coon is a
nocturnal 'varmint, rarely ever leav-
ing his den in daylight, and yet We are
told that thirty three of these animals
were killed in ninety minutes in day
light. 1t is true that our fifteen were
killed in daylight, but they were follow
ed up to their dens by the tracks they
had make in the snow the night before
Dad Hale says he don't believe the
story, at all, for this reason: He says,
''Pondy Woods is too fiat a country
for coons: there are no caves for them,
and if they 20 into the ground, the
water from the ponds will drown them
out, and the trees are too small to af-
ford them shelter in their hollow
trunks.
Pondy Woods says, if there is any
thing this section boasts of, tits coons.
There are some other things of which
it can boast. For instance, ponds and
frogs. And thereby hangs a tale, y
for we conclude Pondy' whole story is
the result of getting two tales mixed.
and it came about in this way: Mark
and Pat have at some time made sue
cessful raid on the aforesaid little frogs
with heads green all around, and Pondy
Woods having heard of it, and then
having read of our big coon hunt, and
(Which is not impossible) having taken
the bait from Jim Marshall's crate
trap, and his mind thereby becoming
mixed, there is nothing more natural
than that he should mix two tales
Tell Pondy Woods not to draw so
heavy on his Imagination next time,
and when he writes about game again,
let it be about such as is indigenous to
the soil of his scction-frogs. Upon
that subject he can write advisedly,
and can give us something interesting.
Up here We have game worth talk
ing about. We can tell him how +. B.
Carney killed four deer at one shot,
and how Matthew Harris killed four
Wild turkeys at one shot with rife,
and how Robert Pennington killed
nine wild turkeys at one shot, and va
rious exploits of hunting and fishing
equaled only by Boone and Walton.
ANON.
The McMinnville New Era propo-
ses constitutional amendment limit