The Opelousas courier., 1892-02-06
A G 4 HUNTER GONE
STIRRING STORIES ABOUT A PENN
sYLyANIA NIMROD.
One Day He Captured Three Pan
theirs Alive and Killed Seven
naD nj Wolves.

III q DCaA "A
uFhe man who was in at the death of
the last elk killed In Pennsylvania dled
a few DAYS ago in Potter County" salo
a former resident OF that part OF tne
keystone State. "His name was Ira
P~armenter, and he must have been ninety
wears of ace. He was born near the
forks of the Sinnamahoning, where ms
father. who came from Connecticut with
his family before the close OF the last
century, was one of the first settlers Inc
old hunter just dead was the last OF ms
race. He had followed the life OF a
hunter and trapper until thredayears ago,
when he became partially bllntSa and was
forced to hang up his rife. Hehad lived
during the times when elk, wolves anu
panthers, all of them now extinct, were
numerous in the Pennsylvania woods,
and he, probably more than any OF MS
contemporaneous woodsmen, AIDED IN
bringing about their extinction.
An exploit Parmenter was proud OF
| telling about was his killing OF seven
panthers in one day at Lewis Lake.
| That was in 1925. He had been deer
hunting, and found a family of three
panther kittens in a crevice Of a ledge.
| He took the baby p%anthers, put them
| inside of his hunting shirt and started
for his cabin. He was half a mile from
| Lewis Lake, now Englesmere, and ne
had gone but a short distance when he
| discovered that he was being pursued by
a panther, which he naturally supposed
was the mother of the kittens he had
taken. Parmenter hurried on toward
the lake, but was pressed SO close by the
pursuing panther that he had to stand
and defend himself. He shot the pan
Their, killing it at the first fire. After
he had fred he discovered another pan
ther approaching, and leaping from tree
to tree near the tops. The whining OF
the kittens was loud and continuous, land
wa undoubtedly heard by other pan
theirs. with which the woods were allv
in those days. The hunter had hardly
discovered the panther in the trees when
a swaying among the branches on the
other side revealed to him the presence
of still another one. This was making
things rather too warm for Parmenter,
and, knowing from experience that pan
theirs would not enter water voluntarily,
he retreated rapidly toward the lake.
The two panthers bounded along through
the tree tops, evidently waiting for their
opportunity to spring upon the hunter,
who gamely retained possession of the
three kittens, whose whining had
brought the danger upon him.
"Parmenter reached the lake without
being attacked by either of the pursuing
panthers, and waded out into the water
to his waist. There he turned and faced
the shore. The two panthers were glar-
ing at him from the branches of an oak
tree close to the water. He was prepar-
ing to pick one of them off with a rifle
ball when the two panthers were joined
by a third. The hunter shot one, tum-
bling it into the water, where, being
badly wounded, it was drowned. The
other panther leaped frantically about in
the trees, yelling frightfully, and before
Parmenter could get another shot, three
more panthers came bounding through
the trees toward the lake, and took
threatening attitudes as closeto the hun
ter as they could get. Parmenter took
advantage of every motion the animals
made that gave him a favorable shot,
and in the course of half an hour he had
shot and killed the six. He took their
scalps, and carried home the three kit
tens, whose scalps he afterward added to
the seven others, and collected SIS per
each scalp, that being the bounty cn pan
theirs in those days. The old hunter al
ways referred to that days work as I'M
doubtedly the biggest slaughter of pan
theirs a single hunter ever accomplished
in one day, and it netted him $50.
"Farmenter once had a regular Israel
Putnam experience with wolves, and he
had a narrow escape from a miserable
death on account OF it. He had sur
prised two wolves one dag deyoaring a
deer he had wounded. He shot at them
aud they fed. He saw bE The bloody
trail one of them left in the snow, that
he had wounded it, and as wolf scalps
were worth eight dollars a piece he fol.
lowed the trail. 1t led to a hole in the
rocks, and at the entrance Parmenrer
discovered one Of the wolves. He fired
wounding the wolf so badly that j
crawled with difficulty back into the
hole. Parmenter inspected the hole,
and found that it went into the rock by
a narrow passage, which he could set
opened into a large space. In that space
he knew two wolf scalps awaited him il
he could get them. He believed that
both Of the wolves were MORALLY
wounded, and he made up his mind tc
squeeze through the passage. Armed
only with his hunting knife he crept in,
and by wiggling and squeezing got hal
way through the narrow space, when al
ugly, s~narling growl informed him that
he might have to fight to get his sealps.
The fight TO lowed at once, for n O
che wolves sprang at P%armenter, witt
then discovered that he was unable tt
pull himself any further ahead or pusl
himself out. Lying halt on his side, AM
held in that position by the marrow
opening, the hunter found himself at
great disadvantage, but by lucky thrust
with his knife he inflicted wounds o.
the wolf that proved fatal, although tn
!. hunters face aud hands were badl
lacerated by the VOLTS fangs during tn
struggle.
"Atter resting from his exertions Pei
meRter renewed his efforts to extricat
himself from the passage, but the MOI
he tried the tighter he seemed to wedg
| himself between the rocks. For nlo