The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1893-04-11
A BLACK HARE.
Its Fleetness. Its Friendliness and ITS
Unfortunate Death.

Its Fleetness, Its Friendliness and ITS
Unfortunate Death.
while / was burning charcoal in
the Sullivan woods one September. :"
said Memo A. Martin Of Fly Creek to
a correspondent of the New York
Sun. ..my only companion was a yell
low mongrel dog named Tige. Tige
often got lonesome because l was too
busy to pay any attention to him. and
soaring up hares and giving them a
race through the woods. ] frequent
ly got glimpses of the fleeing animals
as they leaped between the trees
when Tige was in pursuit. and one
day saw a coal-black hare bounding
away from the dogs voice as though
it had been fired at. All the other
hares We're brown at that time. and
imagined that my eyes had deceived
me until few days afterward. when
| saw the black one again. 1t looked
blacker than before. and the next
morning took gun to the pit, with
the intention of shooting the hare
and sending it to man in Williams
port who was making a collection of
stuffed native animals. The black
hare didn't show itself in couple of
weeks. and ! took the gun to the
house and decided not to shoot it.
"A few mornings afterward l saw
the black hare squatting on the top
of the coal pit when / went into the
woods. II bounded off az my ap-
proach and Tige chased it till bcgot
tired. The next morning ! found the
black hare nibbling at some apple
parings that | had dropped near the
pit. 1t dashed away when il saw me
and it led Tige on another long race
through the woods. II was on top of
the pit again the next morning and j
began 10 think that it came there on
purpose to let the dog chase it. Two
or three mornings later ] found the
black hare and a brown one nibbling
at some more of my apple peelings.
They made of when they saw the
dog. The black one soon dashed gu: OF
sight. but the brown one was lame
and Tige caught it and shook it to
death. The dog had 4 good many
more races after the black hare dur
/ ing the fall. The hare was not far
from the pit nearly every morning
when | went to the woods. and il got
so that it would run only just fast
enough TO keep a few feet ahead of
Tige. and that leased the dog so much
! that he tired himself out every fore
noon.
by the 1st of December all the
brown harcs became white. but the
black ones coat didn't change a par
ticlc. II came around every new coal
pit | made, and | decided to kill il
for specimen carried a shotgun
to the woods the next morning, and
al sight of me the black hare leaped
from the top of the pit and bounded
( through the snow as if il knew that
the gun was dangerous. and i didn't
shoot. Tige took after it. and the
hare. instead of letting him almost
catch up, left him far in the rear.
and the dog yelped at the hare's I'M
usual conduct as though his heart
would break.
Il knew pretty near wheIc the hare
had been in the habit of circling
around when Tige was chasing it. and
| went off in the woods a few rods
and got upon stump. In a little
while / saw the hare's black coat
/ leaping over the snow directly toward
NE. The dog was yelping off to the
right and the hare stopped, listened
a moment. ran a short distance and
stopped again. / banged away at it
with the right barrel and il crouched
in the snow Then | fired the left
barrel. and the hare gave three or
four leaps to the left and disappeared
under fallen tree. ran and grab
bed it by the ears. and when pulled
/ it from under the log it kicked and
/ qIfivered. and | found that not a shot
had touched it. | petted the hare.
and when Tige came yelping up he
smelled of it and went to licking its
| face. He didn't offer to. bite it and /
let it go to see what he would do.
Instead of running away the hare be-
I gan 10 play with the dog. and in a
few minutes it followed Tige and me
back to the pit.
..Tige and the hare made a great
deal of one another around the diff
ferent coal pits all winter. They
rOmpcd and raced in the snow, and
every night Tige coaxed the hare to
go home with him. but he could never
get it any farther than the edge of
the woods until along in March. lwhen
it followed him to the house about
sunset. A neighbours hound made
for the hare in the dooryard while
Tige was scratching on the kitchen
door 10 be let in. Tige didn't notice
the hound until it had caught the
hare and broken its back. and then
he pitched at the hound, set his teeth
in its throat. and kept his Jaws tight
till the hound was choked. to death.