The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-10-03
NUMBER 26.
A Night With a Panther.

Adirondack Letter to Utica IN. " Republican
So much has been said about Smith S
adventure with the moose in June, near
Jocks Lake, and so little of which ap-
proximates the truth, that the writer,
who was one of the party, deems it best
to give the details in as few words as
possible.
The party consisted of seven men, all
experienced in wood life, and members
of the Norway Foresters," as follows:
Charles Hail, nj. D., Hiram Austin,
Walter Servis, Zenas Smith, and Willis
George II. Worden, of Prospect. They
organized at the house of Ed. Wilkin-
son, at Wilmurt, June 5, and proceeded
to the mouth of Indian River, which
makes into the West branch of the West
Canada Greek, about fifteen miles above
Ed. Wilkinson's on the east side. Here
we went into camp and stayed until
after diaBsr, when Smiths adventure
began.
Zenas Smithis rather below medium
height, with sandy complexion, clear
gray eyes, and wfthal fne-looking,
frank, easy appearing young man of
twenty-five years. He and myself were
to take oar rods and baskets and go to
the "Four Mile Saltwater" on the
West Branch, and if we foundsthe 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 a mile, when we
came to the marked birch for the cutoff,
saving about 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, made a
sharp turn to the right, expecting to
strike the stream in half an hour at
most. f,i-s sdi Hi taa .a.asa
While we were clambering along in
this manner, we were, suddenly startled
by the appearance directly in front of
us, not more than twenty rods distant,
of large moose, probably eighteen
hands high, or more, making directly
for us. In the same breath Smith
caught me by the shoulder and pointed
to tree near the moose, where beheld
the glittering eyes of panther. We
were without arms or ammunition of any
kind, the only offensive or defensive
weapons we possessed being our pocket
knives. 1 confess to being more than
frightened at the time, but seeing
the GOODNESS of Smith, I determined
not to let him see my knees rattle.
By this time the moose was upon us at
a glance we knew that he came for pro-
lection, but the huge panther still
| loomed upon us, but had stopped in his
headlong course.
| "Smith," said I, chow is thisF'
"I believe we are all right" said
Smith. "This moose has come to us
for protection, consequently he is not
belligerent; the panther is undoubtedly
cowed by our numbers, or dare not
tackle man. Let us build a fire, and
will stay here while you 60 back te
camp and bring the rifle, and have one
of the other boys come back with you.
To this demurred for long time,
but finally concluded to go, leaving al
my traps with Smith to make the more
rapid progress. This part of the story
can be told very shortly. 1 go
lost, wandered around till after dark
built a fire, slept some, got up next day
4 and travelled till dark again, built a fire
4 and started next morning and trampet
until about ten a. M, when l came to
stream, and, following it down, came tt
Jocks Lake outlet shanty, and from
there went back to the Indian Rive
shanty, where the first man to meet m,
was Smith, whom I supposed had beel
converted into panther's meat befor
this time. I was nearly starved, bu
asked, "Smith, how is it?'
"After you left" said Smith, Il go
all the wood together l could and KEEP
up the fire, the moose standing back
little, but keeping me between itself an
the panther. which kept his position il
the tree. We kept this up all night, tn
moose one side of me, the panther glal
ing with his eyeballs of fire upon tn
other, and you may imagine acted m
part as middleman without getting yer
sleepy. About sunrise, Thursday morn
ing, the panther gave terrific grow
, sprang from the tree, and rapidly di:
appeared in the forest. While [ wa
watching the panther had not though
anything about the moose, and fnall!
when 1 turned my head, he was gon'
: 1 Immediately came to camp and foun
!, you gone. Some went to look for yol
some went back with me, but we foun
! no further trace of either moose {
: panther" f tt-aes- =