The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-04-08
THE INDIAN DEVIL"
A Greatly Feared Denizen of the
Maine Woods.
The Mysterious Animal That Filled the
Lumbermen with superstitious Awe
How the Great Cat Was
Hunted Down.

had gone up north with my Uncle
Washburn to make the round of the
lum mbcring camps or gangs" cstab-
lished by the firm of which he was a
member.
Up through the wilderness, a dis
tance of one hundred and thirty miles,
to the head of Chcsuncocl1.' where
there is supply depot for the lumber
men, there had been a beaten road,
and we had travelled with Il double
horse sled, putting the horses tandem
as the track grew more narrow, for II
was toward the last OF January and the
snow lay from three to four feet deep
all about But at the head" the
beaten trail terminated and snowshoes
came intorequistion.
a spotted line led off to the camps,
the nearest of which was some twenty
five miles to the westward y spotted
line. perhaps / should explain, i made
by first going through the woods, with
n compass to keep the direction, and
spottinga u tree every few rods with an
AK.
After this has been done anyone can
travel by simply following the spots
In the course of n week we had made
the round of all the gangs, save two,
which were at work up on the Can
comgomac stream; and after 4 long
march through the black growth we
came out to the lowermost depths of
these. situated at the foot of the lake
of the same name.
Here queer report came to our ears
from the upper camp, located some ten
or twelve miles above. 1t was tC the
effect that the men had got scared
They had seen an Indian devil, or
''somethipg!'
Now, il would have been no very
strange thing to hear there had been a
row in camp; but to hear that L whole
gang of lumbermcn had got frightened
was decidedly sensational
Such was the story, however. And
during the evening the boss" from the
scared camp-every gang has its boss
or overseer-came down to get gun.
Firearms, for reasons above limited at.
had not been provided 1T the upper
camp.
Curiosity broke loose At the sight OF
him
well, well, Mr.. Murch," exclaimed
Uncle Wash, whats this | hear of
your gang?'
Hardly know what TO tell you, sir,
S1ld MurCn- II lOOllSD lbuI
tie men have got a dreadful bugaboo
started Fact is, they've been telling
about seeing and hearing something
for more than 4 week. i Iidn't pay
any attention to it, though But day
before yesterday they all came running
into camp pell-mell, scared half to
death. Something had j. d at
Billy ONun out of 4 great spruce
What did it look like?" asked Uncle
Wash.
We'll, they tell so many different
stories, it's impossible to find out
They all declared IL was an Indian
devilr though what an Indian devil
can be is mere than know. i had all
i could do to get them back to their
work And last night, as they were
coming in to supper, there was another
scare! Something screeched and rushed
out from 4 clump of cedar. Mike Shea
had the back of his coat all slit to
pieces! He says the creature did it;
but perhaps il was the brush he ran
through. And this morning not one of
them could / get to stir out from the
camp. There they stuck, and there
they've been all day. | thought l
would come down and get gum
may be able to shoot the creature, if
there really is anything. | must get
their courage up again somehow. You
see, they're not Yankees
Have you ever seen anything of
| this-creature, yourself?" asked Uncle
| Wash
Not thing. But did hear a very
| singular cry this evening as / was
coming down 1 suppose it was rather
| foolish in me, but l stepped along pref
! ty fast after that Twas a very
startling and peculiar sort of a cry"
''Ah, wellr' laughed Uncle Wash,
1--WE will go up with you to- morrow.
Perhaps we can find out what it is"
The next morning, loading up the
] old camp musket, as a reinforcement
| to our rifle, we set out 1t was toward
| noon when we came in sight of the
| log camp. A number of the men were
standing about the door, and, seeing
us coming, the others came out-there
were twenty-three or twenty-four OF
| them.
This is a fine sighti' cried Uncle
| Wash. as we came up. why aren't
| you out at work? Do pay you forty
dollars a month to lay around thi
camp all day?"
The men looked little foolish, bu
the fluent Billy O'Nun came to tn
| rescue:
Sure and indade, and your homo
| couldn't blame us Such a murtheT
ing baste as lapes from the tops o tn
I treesr'
What have You seen, anyhow" de
| mauded Uncle Wash.