The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-05-22
A Panther Fight.
A LIFE-AND-DEATH STRUGGLE IN THE WILDs
.r.,. OF NEW YORK STATE.

ALIFE-AND-DEATH STRUGGLE IN THE WILDs
OF NEW YORK STATE.
from the Cleveland Herald.l
Colonel Seth A. Abbey, the veteran
printer who in 1921 issued 10000 copies Of
the old Englhh Reader, has just returned
from California, Oregon, and Washington
Territory. He is full Of those hunting
"reminiscences now so rare, and fayors tie
Herald with the following: went to Wa
tertown, Jefferson county, n. T., in JaDu-
airy, 1919, with my printing establishment,
and commenced publishing newspaper.
Jairus Rich was kind Of halfway lawyer;
he had started newspaper q year OF
two before and failed. He and his
wife then started little whiskey
tavern near the courthouse, and they
did not succeed in that very well. He said
to me one day 'sI think can get better
living with my rifle and traps in the woods
than can by hanging around here in the
Vllage.'' Rich was Yermonter by birth;
a small, muscular man. The north portion
of jefferson county at that time was an al
most unbroken wilderness, and thither
Rich, with his wife aud traps, bent his way.
A number OF months elapsed before heard
anything from him. at length rumor
came that he had been killed by panther.
Nearly q month after this got q letter from
him describing his encounter with pan
Their. He was hardly able to write then.
His story ran thus:
81 bad fastened one OF my traps to the
root Of a large hemlock tree, and near by
was a dense thicket Of low hemlocks OF
about half an acre. When / visited my
trap this morning discovered one panther
fast in tue trap, and another near oy.
fired at the one outside OF the trap anu
wounded him, and he made immedlatels lef
this thiekct. l had little whiffet dog VIA
me, and put the little dog ipto the thicket
where the panther entered, ana l ran
around the thicket where tnouSnt the
napther x,o,,Id come out, and met him Just
sc he ess,e out Of the thicket. tried to
sboot him. but my gun missed Gre, and there
ave we're. face to face, and bad 10 run or
fight. threw down my rife, and drew
nv hatehet from my belt and made pass
than twenty feet from me. We then
ciinehed in, and we were up and down in
every shape he tearing away with his
claws and chewing my hands. He would
sometimes have one hand in his mouth and
sometimes the other. We were wrest-
iing and tearing in this way until
I was nearly done tor. III one OF
The falls be happened to come under, and
i elapped my knee right in his flank.
forward Of his hind leg, with my left hand
in his moutb. 1tben slipped my right hand
int my pocket aad pulled out my jack
knife and opened it with my teeth, and
made very short amsrk of it then. ] lay
theme by the side Of any victim long, long
tiuse. My clothes were torn Off from me or
hung in shreds; asy face and limbs gore
OF bleed. The nearest settler was two miles.
1eameto myself after atime, s. that killed
the otherpanther. it took all the rest OF
the day 10 make the house OF the nearest
settler. y %3 80 q
knew4his man for many years afterthis
enesnnter and, strange TO say, he still con-
tinued to hunt panthers and wolves. /
sass pantheE-slin that was green, killed
by him and lust taken trala the body, that
measured from the nose to the end OF the
tall nine feet. would like to ten you one
OF Riehss vol stories. He did not tell it
Tor several years after IL occurred-the rea.
son why sou VIII probably guess at after
bearing the story. He said he was out
among the rocks and discovered wolf; he
shot and killed it. Upon examining il ,hg
found 1t TO be she vol. and suckiingyoung
ones. He finally found her den and crawied
into u, and found ten young pups. he
TOOK them TO his shanty and built log pen
Tor them ind reared them on deer meat
asey were tor young to get the bounty on.
IaeTe was then q bounty on each gEoYn-np