The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1885-07-16
HIS MOST SKlLLFUL SHOT
How a Virginia Patriarch
Won His Bride.
Shooting Big Catamount That Was
Clinging to Her Horses Neck.

NoISl dtc oinOhcI. llo tiCNCt iouO oii a
steamboat or railway train, and has
DOT been three miles from home since
1861. He was the father of five chill
1ren, three boys and two girls. Both
daughters are dead. Two of his sons
were killed in the Confederate and the
other in the Union service, He listen
with the profoundest interest to the
story of Bogardus and Carver, and
with smile he shrugged his shoulders,
saying:
"Thar. strangers, you're comm to
the pint now. Why, when l was
young" and he stopped to think;
when was young, about 20, ! guess,
[ could outshoot any man in the val
ley. We used to swing an apple on a
string, an mountin' our horses, gallop
like mad and fire at it. | could hit it
every time. l could knock an apple
off post nine times outn ten fifty
yards away, an could take the bill
off bird in a tree as clear as a whistle
an never disturb feather. That's a
fact"
"What do you regard as the most
,killful shot you ever made?' we ask
ed.
"You mean the best ! ever made;
yes, an mought say, the happiest o
my life
We nodded in the Affirmative.
"Well, strangers" he began, "l'll
tell you all about it. 1t war years
ago, though; l was twenty-one then,
an but few people lived hereabouts,
an what did war a good ways apart.
Down in the tother end O the valley
lived John Angleford, who had dar-
ter, an | loved her like mad, but,
some way or other, she didn't kinder
want to hitch to me. About three
miles away lived another man who
had a son, an she tux to that boy.
This made me kind of jealous like. an
him an me used 70 fight often. But l
didn't Civ in; I'd made up my mind to
git that gal eff could. One day, in
the fall O the year-l'll never forgit
l that clay i shonldered '0ld Faithful
| that's my musket, an went up inter
| the mountains to see what kind O
game was abroad. Well, | reckon I'd
been trudgin' around in the thicket
for nigh on to three hours. without
, seein' of a thing, when all Of sudden
=. | heard ii scream that almost friz my
| blood. / heard it again, and | know
ed it whar woman's holler; SO | ies'
cocks Old Faithful an starts through
the bushes. But afore | got to the
openin' ! heard horses hoots a-clank-
ing an a-clatterin' over the stones.
hurried right on to the openin, an
. thar | seed wat it war all about. |
seed it at Il glance. Old Angleford's S
morse whas a-tearin' along like as if
the old boy war arter him, an thar
war Sary Jane, her face as white as
chalk, a-clingin' to his back for dear
life, an right betwiX' her an the
norse's head, his claws driv into the
flesh of the horses neck, a-tryin' to
reach the gal, war the biggest cata-
mount ever seed.
Your times come. John says l tC
myself. Steady, now; aim right, an
you'll win the gal Jes' as thar al
hoss with the screamin' gal got oppo
site to me | blazed away for the
catamounts head. | knew it war life
or death to one of the three on 'em
bnt | didn't miscalculate; l never did
The load went into that ar cata
mounts head, an he rolled over dead
on the ground; the hoss stumbled, an
as he disappeared over the prccipice
cotched the faintin' gal in my arm!
an hurried down the road with her tt
her home. For a long time she had {
ragin' fever, and kept a-callin': is ht
come? Is he Gomez Nobody coult
tell what it meant. You see, mer
them days would go off an stay fol
days a-huntin, so the absence O ole
Struthers's boy didn't make anybody
think strange. Well, one day she cum
to, an the first thing she axed abou
war if Al Struthers had cum home
Thinks /, thar's somethin' quar-
somethin' wrong about this, so II
see. ! shouldered old Faithful an
started out. Away up war the cata
mount had jumped on Sary James hos
/ found him--ugh. what sight
s ed. Thar he war, stark dead, a
stickin' on an oak limb, that had gon
clar through his body, an his hoss wa
dead, away down on the sharp -pointe'
rocks below. We Civ the poor fellow
decent burial. The only way l coul,
account for his death war that Sar,
James screamin' frightened his hoss
an runnin' in among the trees he go
caught on.the sharp pint o the low
down limb"
Here he refilled his pipe, and said
"Come in, strangers. an I'll snow yo'
suthin'."
We followed him into the cabin.
"This are old Faithful. " he said
taking down an ancient-looking gul
from the rack and patting it affection
ately, "what done the business for me
An this" he continued, unrOlling
musty looking parcel, ear the skin