The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-11
A TREE FULL OF cooNs.
And 1t Might Have Been Full Again If
fhA Ellntara HADN'T In. -aStirrn.ad

And It Might Have Been Full Again If
the Hunters Hadn't Investigated.
NEWPORT, PA, Dec. 1.-Sam Greeley,
George Crane and Phil Kroll of Brady's
weat coon hunting the other night on Jim's
mountain, mile distant The dogs treed a
coon. Sam Greeley climbed the tree to
shake it down. Tae coon was soon jolted
of the branch. and, after good fight, the
dogs killed it.
Hold on" Sam shouted down. There's
another one up here. Jiminetty. There's
two! Jerusalem. The trees full of em,n
Then Sam proceeded to shake down coons.
After he had shaken down nine, one after
another, all fat ones, and the dogs had
killed them. Sam said
There's more up here; but hain't we got
enough n
The other two members said they thought
| nine coons we're enough to gather fl of one
tree, and not very big tree at that, and
Sam came down.
II don't know how many there's up there
yet. ne said, but there's six certain
The dogs refused to leave the tree, but the
hunters carried their nine coons home. On
the way in they met Bill Grover and Jerry
Knapp, whl were also out cooning, but
hadn't killed any.
You might as well go home" said Sam
Greeley, unless you go over in Ginn's
IN those woods are freed in one tree over
there. You'll hear the dogs yelping at 'em
if YOU go that way"
Grover and Knapp went over to the hol-
low, and the noise made by the dogs took
them to the tree.
There's coon here. that's sure" said
Grover, and he climbed the tree. He shook
down six.
"There's two or three moro here" said
Grover, ''but they're way up in the top
branches, and / can't get to en-"
so the two hunters went away with their
six eoons. The dogs remained Next
morning Charley Cradle went to the Hol-
low with his gun. The dogs were still
under the tree. Charley popped three
coons out OF the tree top, and shouldered
them. Then the dogs went home. Every
body about Brady's said that such thing
as eighteen coons icing found in one tree
was without precedent, and no one could
understand how it was until Uncle Jake
Shindler, the champion hunter of Fabley
Run, got up and explained it.
You'll find" he said, IF you take the
trouble to investigate, that the tree is hol-
Ter. Holler trees is where coons lives dur
in the winter, as many as can comfortably
pile in together Now, them eighteen coonS
was lookin' for a winter home. Some of
EN-, maybe, had nested in that very tree be-
fore. They happened to all meet there to-
gether about the time Greeley's dogs and
the rest of 'em struck the tree W. wasn't
they in the boiler of the treel Well, if you'll
take the trouble to investigate, you'll find
that the holler had been took up previously
by family or so Of black snakes. / bain't
sure, but I'm willing to bet farm that
you'll find a couple dozen. maybe.
Of black snakes huddlin' in
that hollsr. Now, coons hain't the
kind O critters that will bunk in witt
ND innf Anil
quarters in that tree. The dogs come
along as they was considerin' what they
had better do, and, of course. as long as the
dogs was there no coon would leave the tree
till he was forced to. That's all there is to
them eighteen ooons betn' ia thai one tree
You'll find it's so if you take the trouble to
investigate. knocked twenty coons out of
holler chestnut once. The next day cut
hole in the tree near the bottom, and lit
some straw and stuck in it, and kept the fire
goin'. 1t wasn't long before black snakes
began to come out of the hole at the top,
and | thrashe1 the life out of twenty-egl 1t
big ones-200 feet of black snake, I'll bet
farm"
Sam Greeley and the rest of the hunter
went over to Ginn's Hollow to test Uncle
Jake's theory. If any one had bet a farm
that Jake was wrong, he'd have lost the
farm. A fire built in the tree as the old
hunter described it made lively tree of it
for few minutes, for thirty-four black
snakes came wriggling and comforting them
selves out of the hollow trunk, and only
two were agile enough to get away into the
bushes. After the snake colony had been
cleaned out, and the jubilan- hunters had
como back and congratulated Uncle Jake on
his knowledge of coon and snake lore, the
old hunter quietly remarked
"Oh, / knew you'd find it that way if you
took the trouble to investigate. But you're
pack of dum-gusted fools for doing it."
''How's that| said Sam Greeley, in sur
prise.
'"Cause, if you'd left them snakes in the
holler," replied Uncle jake you'd have
found another wagon load of coons holdin'
q council in the tree tonight, and I'll bet
farm on it."
Phillips Digestible Cocoa