Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-05-02
A PANTHER FIGHT.
A Lite and Death Struggle In the Wilds
of New York State.
Cleveland Herald.

of New York State.
Cleveland Herald.
Colonel Seth A. Abbey. the veteran
printer who in 1881 issued 10000 copies
of the old-Eng 'ish Reader, has just re-
turned from California, Oregon and
Washington Territory. He is full Of
those hunting "reminiscences now SO
rare. and favors the Herald with the
following: went to Wntertown, Jefer-
son county, New York, in January,
1919, with my printing establishment
and commenced publishing q news
paper. Jarius Rich was kind Of half
way lawyer; he had STATED a newspa-
per a year or Two before and failed.
lie and his wife then started q little
whisky tavern near the courthouse, and
they did not succeed In that very well.
He said to me one day: ~ think can
get better living with my rifle and
traps in the woods than can by hang
ing around here in tho village" Rich
was Vermonter by birth; a small,
muscular man. The north portion of
Jefferson county, Mt that time, was an
almost unbroken wilderness, and thither
Rich, with his wife and traps, bent his
way. A number Of months elapsed
before heard anything from him. At
length rumOr came mat he had been
killed by panther. Nearly month
after this / got letter from him de-
scribing his encounter with apanther; he
was hardly able 10 write then. His
story ran thus: ~ had fastcied one Of
my traps TO the root Of u large hem
lock tree and near by was y dense
thicket Of low hemlocks OF about half
an acre When visited my trap this
morning discovered one panther fast
in the trap and another near 10y. !
fired ut the one outside of the trap and
wounded him, aud he made immedi-
ately for this tIicket. had II little
whilfet dog with me, and | put the
little dog into the thicket wherc the
panther entered, and ] ran around the
ihicket where ! thought the panther
would come on, and met him just rs
he came ont Of the thickct. ]
tried TO shoot him, but my
gun missed fire, and there
we were, face to face, and had to run
or fight threw down my rifle and
drew my Ratchet from my belt ald
made pass Mt him and no Knocked
my hntchet more thnn twenty feet
from me. We then clinchcd in and
wo were up and down in every shape;
he tearing away with his claws and
chewing my hands. lie would some
times have one hand in his mouth and
sometimes the other. We were wrest-
ling and tearing in this way until WIS
nearly done for. In one Of tho falls he
happened 10 come under, and clapped
my knee right in his flank, forward OF
his hind leg, with my left hnnd in his
mouth. ] then slipped my right hand
into my pocket and pulled out my jnck.
knife and opened il with my teeth, and
made very short work of it then. lay
there by the side of my victim long,
long time. My clothes were torn Off
from me or hung in shreds; my face
md limbs II gore OF blood. The near
est settler wns two miles. came to
myself after time, 30 thnt | killed the
other pnnther. 1t took all the rest of
the day To make the house of tho near
est settler" knew this man for many
years after THIS encounter, and strange
To say, no still continued To hunt pnnth-
ers and wolves. ! saw N panther skin
TINT wns green, killed by him md lu5,
taken from tho body, that measured,
from tho nose to tho end of tho tail,
nine feet. would like to tell you one
of Richs wolf stories. lle did not tell
IL for several years after it occurred
the reason why, you will probably guess
ut after hearing the story. llo sud he
was out among the rocks mud discovered
WOLF he shot and killed il. Upon cx-
nmining it he found it To DO II she wolf,
and sucking young ones. lilo finally
found her den and crnwled into il, and
found ten young pups. llo took them
to hs shanty and built ~ log pcn for
them and reared them ON deer meat
they were to young to get the bounty
on. There WINS then bounty on Cncn
grown-up wolf offered 10y town, county
and state, III all amounting TO about
500 for ench wolf. They were tho large
gray wolf, one Of them nearly black.
This ono, he said, he used to tnko out
and play with 1t the same M n dog.
He said he regretted TO kill this one
very much, but $50 was too great il
temptation. Az these wolves grew up
he would take them into different sec
tions, kill them. take their scalps oil,
and get tho bounty.