Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-11-11
A PANTHER STORY.
A Hunt In the Mountains for
Bears, and What Came Of It.
a Kcntucl1ian shot in the Arm.

Courier-Journal, o.l
Mr.. George Daniel, of Lexington,
Ky, arrived in this city yesterday
morning on his way home, after spend
ing three months in New Mexico aud
other Territories and States in the far
West. Mr.. Daniel is in excellent
health, and save an arm which he
carries in a sling, he is physically much
better than before. A reporter Of the
Courier journal met Mr.. Daniel in
the Office Of the Louisville Hotel yes
terday afternoon, and after a few
minutes conversation about the trip,
asked him about his arm, "This arm,
as you see," replied Mr.. Daniel, lis
badly broken and somewhat torn up,
and there is quite an adventure con-
nected with the time in which i. was
broken, and if you would like to hear
it | will tell you about it" The re-
porter EXPRESSED his willingness to
hear the incident, and after lighting a
cigar he commenced:
II Lad been in Denver City for some
time, and l thought l would take a
run down into New Mexico, and
started in a few days. The travelling
was very slow, and it took up consid
cradle amount of time to reach Santa
Fe, where l proposed to stop for a
week or two. | had been in the city
but a few weeks when some gentlemen
whom | knew proposed that we take
a trip TO the mountains, which lay to
the west ofthe city, and have a good
hunt. [ accepted the proposition i'm.
m~ediately, and the next morning we
made up a party of five, and getting
into an old fashioned emigrant wagon
we started, after supplying ourselves
with enough to eat on the way aud
some tolerably fair whisky, which we
were fortunate enough to procure.
w we're in no particular hurry to
arrive at our destination, and managed
to spend about two days on the
route, camping out at night, and hav-
ing q generally good time. |
had been informed we could find some
bear in the mountains if we looked
for them, and nothing would satisfy
me but to look for them. My com
panions were not so large in their aims
as | was, and were contented to hunt
smaller game, but | had read so much
about the fun of hunting bears in the
mountains that nothing else would do
me, so we started out about 3 o'clock
one afternoon to see what We could
scare up. Our camp was at the foot
of tolerably high mountain, and on
the north side was some very broken
ground covered with a scrubby growth
of trees. At some places the under
growth was SO thick that it was with
difficulty we could make our way
through it, but | was looking forward
with true Kentucky bloodthirstiness
to the time when | should tackle"
my first bear, and | did not mind torn
clothes aud scratched hands and
face. After about an hours work
ing we got into a short stretch
of country where the underground
was somewhat thinner and the trees a
little larger. Three of the party had
gone around some distance from us
and left me in company with Man
Mon, who had even less experience as
a hunter than me. We sat down to-
gether at the foot of a rather large
sized tree, and having a flask in my
pocket | proposed that we regale our
selves by taking a drink. We had
been sitting at the foot of the tree for
some time waiting for the rest of the
party to come up, when by accident l
cast my eyes up into the tree, and to
my surprise saw a beast which, at the
first glance, | took TO be a bear, but
which turned out to be a small species
of the panther, which is found 10
several parts of the mountains. |
instantly told my companion to look
up, and, after taking a look at the
animal, which did not appear to be
very aggressive, | took courage and
said | would kill it with my rifle.
Mannion was inclined TO be a little
more careful, ard said that we had
better get out from under the tree, as
the beast might jump on us. This
was very good advice, and l got up
very carefully 50 as not to frighten it
away, and retiring to about two yards
from the tree, cooked my rifle and
took good aim, Mannion having agreed
~ reserve his fire in case my bullet
did not take effect. After aiming for
a considerable length Of time l fred,
and the bullet, instead of striking the
animal, struck the limb upon which
he was sitting, and the only effect
which it had was to make the animal
jump out Of the tree. Mannion saw
the body coming down and started to
run, but stopped when be got about
three yards off and prepared to shoot.
Meanwhile the animal struck the
ground on all tours and made a charge
at me. Mannion thought that this was
the time for him TO shoot, and such a
thought as stopping because | was
directly between him and the animal
did not occur TO him, so he blazed
away and struck me 10 the arm, break
ing it Just above the elbow, where you
see this bandage. The bullet was not
TO be stopped by my arm, however
but passed by and struck the panther
in the side of the shoulder, making a
deep flesh wound. The shot had the
effect, much to my joy, of causing the
animal to turn around and run away.
This satisfied me with hunting for
years, and we returned home the next
dag. | remained in Santa Fe for a
few days longer and then started on
my journey for Kentucky. | arrived
here last night from st. Louis, and in
the future am willing to stay here"
Dyspeptic symptoms, such as retast-
ing Of the food, belchiDg, heat in The
stomach, heartburn, etc, promptly
ourad ~ Dromwt- H. D..4