Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-03-27
TnE sACRED vAWN o. ruE DELA.
WARE

II has been a superstition for time out
Of mind, among the hunters Of the Del
aware Valley that white deer Ii sacred,
and that misfortune, IL not death, Is
sure 20 follow any person who may Kill
one of these rare aulAais. Not more
than a half dozen are known to have
been killed in the woods of this re-
gion. sil4s Kohroacher has lived for
some months In clearing at Hunters
Range, a xIld region on the boIde Of
Luzerne county, Penn. On tuesday of
last week, IN company of bis son, be
was on his way to his work IN tue woods,
when a large dos suddenly spran2 out
Of a tEIcket hundred feet or 50 distant.
lie snow was cJsefed Nth a thick and
lev crust. and, a. son as the deer
alIgttod upon 1t, lis feat slipped and 1t
fell. The animal -tru lgled IN VAIN to
regain It's feet and koarbacher and tie
boy ran 70 the spot 70 Kill the doe with
their axes.
Before reaching the deer Rohrb acher
ssx that II was a white one. WIKI the
supers,If tous belief a. to the sacredDrss
oil tie animal COMMON among his class,
Ronrbachsr determined to rescue the
deer sl.4 place II sbere IL would De
secure. he hurried his son back 20
tie house TO get 4 rops and An empty
bsg. The latter be DIRE y over the Il 5er
head, and. Il. spite y! IS struggles, tied
its feet with the rope. 1he tso then
carried II ~ tue clearing aud released II
Ill the cattle SHE'D. Bot roachers lnteIi-
ZION Wa to keep 1t there until the snos
went OF, and then let II re- urn 10 c
woods.
Last Thursday Rohrbacher went to
the shed 10 throw down hay to the Cat
tie. As be opened tue door the wind
| caught II ana blew II wide open. The
deer had retired to the farthest part of
| the shed At the entrance VI Rohrb ech
or. bot, seeing the door open, sprang
| toward It. As IT passed Rohrbasnor tie
| hastily raised the hay fork he had IN hi.
| hapd DIS and mechanically thrust II at the
deer. The three long tines were buried
| deep in the animals side, and, as the
| deer jumped out of the door. they broke
off ia its body The deer jumped the
| io9 fence to the CIV yard, ran few
| yards and fell IN the snow. Rohrbacher
| hurried TO the spot and fOnnd the deer
dead. He had evidently driven the fork
| tines into its heart. About noon on
| Thursday kohfbacher went to where
some lumbermen were chopping IN the
| woods. tie was nearly eraZsd. he told
the men of ths capture and death of the
| deer, and begged some one Of them ID
20 to his clearing and remove the body.
lie declared that he would not remain
in the neighbour hood, and that. having
killed white deer. his doom WAS sealed.
A chopper took the deer into the woods,
and, removing the skin, threw the car
cass into a swamp. he subsequently,
sold the skin for $40 to a commercial
traveller in one of the numbering VII
lagos. kshrbacher has sold his person al
goods and removed ~ another county,
and il i'll constant dread of impending
peril.
The last one killed in Northern Penn
sylvania previous to the one mentioned
above WAS shot by three hunters iii 1872.
and the believers III the white deer So
perstition refer to that killing a. a pos
tive proof of their bell (. the hunters
were Hornbeck Sinner of Wilkesbarre;
Charles Haney of Luzerne coun y, and
Lyman s. Bevans of Port jarvis. n. Y.
They started the white deer on Shohola
Creek, and each shot ut it and hit IL,
killing 1t. Sinner ut that time was
proprietor of the Exchange Hotel in
Wilkesbarre, wealthy and the picture
OF health. Bevans was = prominen,
merchant in his town and Haney was
largely Interested in coal mining. Shi
mer died bankrupt, after a painful
and lingering SICKNESS, about year
afterward; Bevans failed in business
and blew out his brains; aud Haney
died from smallpox, a poor man and
alone.