The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1878-10-17
A Night with a Panther.

So much has been said about Smith't
adventure with the moose in June, neal
jocks Lake, and no little Of which APP
proXimates the truth, that the writer
who was one Of the party, deems it best
to give the details in as few words ~
possible.
The party consisted of seven men, all
experienced in wood life, and member
Of the Norway Foresters," ms follows
Charles Hail, NJ, d., Hiram Austin,
Walter Servis, Xenas Smith, and Willis
Kelley Of Norway, and j, Delevan and
George II, Worden, of Prospect, They
organized at the house Of Ed, WiIkin-
son, Mt WiImurt, June 8, and proceeded
10 the mouth Of Indian River, which
makes into the West branch Of the West
Canada Creek, about fifteen miles above
Ed. WiIkinsOn's on the east side. Here
we went into camp and stayed until
after dinner, when Smiths adventure
began.
Xenas Smith is rather below medium
height, with sandy complexion, clear
gray eyes, and withaI a fne-Iooking,
frank, easy appearing young man Of
twenty-five years, He and myself were
to take oar rods and baskets and 90 to
the "FOur Mile Saltwater" on the
West Branch, and if we found the fish
ing good, were to camp there and fish
the next day a distance Of about five
miles from where we were. We left
camp about twelve m, and kept along
the creek trail for over mile, when we
came to the marked birch for the cutoff,
saving about q mile tramp from the
bend Of the creek. Taking, as we sup.
posed the right direction, we Travelled
for three hours, and, not reaching our
destination, concluded we had been
bearing too much west, 50 made a
sharp turn to the right, expecting to
strike the stream in half an hour at
most.
While we were cIambcring along in
this manner, we were suddenly startled
by the appearance directly in front Of
W., not more than twenty rods distant,
Of u large moose, probably eighteen
hands high, or more, making directly
FOR Us. I'm the same breath Saith
caught me hy the shoulder and pointed
to a tree near the moose, where bchcld
the glittcring eyes Of panther. We
we're without arms or ammunition OF any
kind, the only offensive or defensive
weapons we possessed being our pocket
knives ! confess to being more than
frightened at the time, but seeing
the coolnCss Of Smith, ! determined
not to let him see my knees rattle
by this time thcmoose was upon us; at
glance we knew that he came for pro-
lection, but the huge panther stitl
Ioomcd upon Us, but had ,tOpUed in his
hcadlOng course.
"Smith," said |, chow is this%
81 believe we are all right" said
smith "This moose has come TO us
for protection, consequently he is not
beIIigcrcnt; the panther is undoubtedly
cowcd by our numbers, or dare not
tackle man. Let us build fire, and
| will stay here while you 90 back to
camp and bring the rifle, and have one
OF the other boys come back with YOU"
TO this | dcmurrcd for Il long time,
but finally concluded to 20, leaving all
my traps with Smith to make the more
rapid progress. This part of the story
can be told very shortly, got
lost, wandered around till after dark,
built fire, slept some, got up next day,
and travelled till dark again, built IL fire,
and started next morning and trampcd
until about ten Il. m, when came to Il
stream, and, following it down, came to
Jocks Lake outlet shanty, and from
there went back to the Indian River
shanty, where the first man to meet me
was Smith, whom supposed had been
converted into panthcr's meat before
this time. was nearI y starved, but
asked, "Smith, how is itY
"After you left, +" said Smith, / got
all the wood together | could and kept
up the fire, the moose standing back II
little, but keeping me between itself and
the panther, which kept his position in
the tree. We kept this up all night, the
moose one side of me, the panther glar.
ing with his eyebaIls of fire upon the
other, and you may imagine | acted my
part rs middlcman without getting very
sleepy. About sunrise, Thursday morn
ing, the panther gave terrific growl,
Sprang from the tree, and rapidly dis
appeared in the forest While | was
watching the panther had not thought
anything about the moose, and finally,
when | turned my head, he was gone.
| Immediately came to camp ard found
you gone. some went to look for you,
some went back with me, but we found
no further trace of either moose or