The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-04-21
THE PANTHER SLAYER.
The Greatest One of All His Great
Exploits.

seen, but more frequently heard with
out being seen, prowling about the
lumber camps of the Susquehanna
basin. and making its presence appar-
ent by raids on sheep and even cattle
among the sparsely settled farm local
tiles of Sullivan and adjacent counties.
The advance of civilization has not
been so rapid among these dense pine
and hemlock wildernesses to have
alone caused the panther to abandon
its haunts in those forests, for there are
still inaccessible jungles and wild,
rocky retreats. so well loved by this
boldcst and fiercest of the great cat
family, where it might hide itself with
almost. if not quite. as much security as
1t did in earlier years; but civilization
was aided by band of inveterate and
cunning woodsmen who passed their
lives almost solely in carrying on an
offensive warfare against the panther,
following it even to its remotcst and
most dangerous haunts, and engaging
. it there fearlessly, and with tactics
which they had reduced to an exact
science. 1t was the perpetual and un-
relenting crusade of this band OF woods
men that gradually reduced the once
numerous race of panthers in these
woods to condition of almost abso-
lutte extinction, so that to-day, with
conditions favorable not only to its ex-
istence, but to its increase. it is only at
rare intervals that the blood-curdling
cry of this once monarch of the woods
is heard among its old haunts, and,
rarer still, that the dreaded possessor
of the voice is seen.
Captain Brown was probably the
most famous of the old-time panther
slayers. He was an early settler at the
Forks of the Loyalsock Creek. near
what is now the mountain village OF
louisville. Sullivan County. where he
nut up cabin and spent his time in
hunting. He was the panther scourge
of a wide region, and his cabin was the
first place that was visited by the set.
tiers thereabouts when q panther had
bereft some one of them of a much
treasured sheep or cow, the visit being
to beg Captain Brown to come and ric
their particular locality OF the ma
rauding beast. Among the hundreds
OF tales of daring and persistence mani
tested by the great pioneer hunter ont
is rccounted with especial pride by de
scendants Of his.
Among the first to seek the then un
known and unbroken region about til
forks of the Loyalsock was settle
named Samuel Rogers. One mornin,
Rogers appeared in great trepidatiol
at Captain Browns cabin. just as tina
hunter was rigging himself up for
days tramp among the panther haunts
Rogers said that big panther Ia
broken into his sheepfold the night be
fore and had carried of his most hiehl
priced ram. Rogers was good panthe
hunter himself. but he implored Brow
to accompany him in the chase. 1t wi
one of Browns eccentricities that
never hunted in company with an
body, and he refused to go with Roger
But he said:
.Now, you go homie, Rogers. al
keep cool. won't go with you aft
that big panther. but I'll go out myst
and kill it for you. and hope I'll have
chance to get it's mate. too"
That was satisfactory to Rogers, Al
Captain Brown took his gun and we
at once to the woods on the flats at t
forks of the creek.
It was late in the fall, and there W
light snow on the ground. At
edge of the creek he struck the fire
track of panther in the snow. FRI
the unusual size of the footprints a
drops Of blood here and there along
trail, the blood having come from so
animal the panther had secured .
was carrying away. Brown knew Il
he had located the big sheep-stea
which had been in Settler Rogers 10
1t is the habit of panthers, like all
the cat family, to bury what is leftfr
feast. to be exhumed and eaten
some future occasion. Brown KIN
that by following the trail. il
did not overtake the panther itself.
would come to the spot where it
buried the remains of the sheep, ;
that by waiting near that spot he wo
be sure to get shot, not only ut
one panther, but more than likely
its mate, which the former would fl
along TO join ia devouring the mutt
The hunter followed the trail for a |
distance, and finally, on the edge I
donse laurel thicket. found where
panther had buried the sheep Be