Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-07-30
THE fseesry

~ correspondent Virtues. 1cAao mas
within her borders beast inte whose
narrow skull fear never enters. 1t is
the peccary-the Havilinah of the
Aexicans, the Dicotyles torQuatus of
biologists. Bravery is a notable attri-
butte Of man, and it is discovered in
birds, beasts and fishes. / don't claim
the quality for the brute l am about to
describe. believe bravery cannot be
said TO exist in senses devoid of fear.
conceive that al appreciation Of danger
Is 4 necessary Dlenstruum TO the nObler
courage. 1t Is not the man of dogped
indifference l admire, it is the man
who refuses TO fly when duty bids him
stand, and though he fears death, fears
dishonor more.
Now the peccary has no particle of
fear on account OF any show Of odds,
and appears to live only for the purpose
of madly dying when opportunity
offers. The game cock fights with
heroic valor, but one sees in his SWIM
ming eyes, when gaffed and bleeding
in the pit, glances of regret and name
less fear. He shudders out his life
beneath his Growing conQueror, and his
tiny heart, perhaps, swells with woe at
its last throbs. At least he looks that
way TO me. The dying pachyderm of
the Texas forests dies in "a matter of
course" manner as if he was meant to
end that way and was glad of it. He
looks Up in the tree where the man sits
who shot him few men of experience
ever slot them from any other stand
rOint) and anon he holds up his cloven
hoof and glances at it. If the peccary
regrets anything in the hour of disso-
luton it is that he was not made like
sduirrel-to climb.
Roaming the glade, searching for
mast, drove of peccaries resemble
drove of tame hogs. They never begin
war, but when one is assailed the
entire drove rush to the attack as men
rush when martial valOr urges them.
Each bead-like eve is fire-spark;
tusks are protruded, the echinated spine
Strengthened, and woe to the wretch
who falls in their path. Gored, bitten,
torn, trampled upon, and eaten up, TO
the last shred of his clOthing-such is
the fate of the man caught by a drove
of angry peccaries. With the same
fury they assail wolf or attack a bull;
and neither the wolf nor the bull can
stand up against charge of half a
dozen peccaries. Both know this and
flv in terror from the field.
Lately, on the Wichita River, I at
tackled a drove of peccaries. l was
safely perched in a tree, armed with
Winchester rife and accompanied by
Sergeant Platt, OF the Frontier Bat
TALON, who occupied bough beneath |
me.
We waited until the drove approach |
ed within thirty yards of our tree and |
then We fired simultaneously, killing |
one and wOunding another. The roar |
of our caTbInes brought them upon Us |
with that strange alacTity that suggest |
ell their having awaited from |
Sucklings for just that occasion and |
kept perfectly ready for it. When they |
arrived at the tree they bit it each in
turn, and then glancing up, squatted |
and fixed upon us dozen PAIR of eyes |
small as peas and blazing with fierce |
purpose, and fury intense.
One by one We shot them. and they
fell, one by one. and died; each willing /
and ready 10 go, and accepting his fate
as pleasantly aS school boys accept ap-
pies. Not a gruan or a squeal betrayed
pain or dismay. Squatting on their
hams they gaZed at US and took the /
bullets as If We were tossing them
ac0Tns. Presently only one was left
alive amid a dozen coTpses, and there !
he sat brown. bristling, furious, foam
ing with raging life, counting death; ]
unmndful of the blood that damped
the grass about him; Indifferent of the
fate Of cUmT3des-a very epitOme of
hate.
Don't shoot YETI said to Sergeant
Platt. i want to study him"
Grim, yoIceiess. hOTrible-the hog sat
and gave me back glance for glance.
The spot he squatted upon was within
the radius OF a led ant bcd. The :
insects crawled over him and stung his
thick hide; they wasted their f0rmic
acid. bluuted their laucets in vain. As b,
well might they have stULg the cactus
plant growing beside their bed. After =,
a time the Old boar grew weary of the
task Of gazing and he got up and went
around. smelling the bodies of his late !
Then he ate few acpTns :
that had fallen from the live oak tree I
We were perched lu. and after that he I
stretched himself at the ,
root OF the tree intending 10 remain ,
sentry and prevent our slipping away r
without bis permission; or without do n
ug by him as We had done by ths /
others.
We aid not keep him waiting much |
longer. Piatt aimed at his heart and v
pierced 10 with a f0rty-f0uT caliber bull /
let; with single glance upward from I
3 sinister eye, the hog died gently, ami t
Sith his life ended his ole emotion j
nate. L
Texas and Pacific and Fort Worth and I 4
lenver City locomotive engineers often b
encountered dr0ves Of peccariss. as 1 o
suppose. do al engineers who operate o
iu the esteIu Texas railroads. No
whistle IS sounded 10 frighten them.
The engineers know that peccaries can q
BOT b. frightened. The engine ruShes b
nto the iaIdst Of the drove and those 2
lot killed outright die madIy. charg- Z
~ and biting az the wheels that crush i
hem. Il
4 peccary is Iu al respects a hog. "
ie looks, smells. tastes Ike a h0g-and Z
s a bog, but for q thing Of ind0mitabie
ouraEe 81 the lover type, for a hater q,
4 quenehiess fury, and for fighter to :,
be las, throb of his heart, commend :
ne % thr fierce DicOtyles toTquatus, T
De Indigenous Texas hos. a brute that :
sould, II be- could. while riding III the ).
lidsi of 4 cyclone, bite at the Zlg-zag r
ashes Of the death-dealIng lightning. :
Lzadiu= Of the Furitans al salem.
On tie 5l.h 0f June. I6J9. the Rev.
rates. HiEgius0R. with 20O men, :,