Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-10

Section of Menagerie Roaming Through
Lancaster County.

A Section of . Menagerie Roaming Through
Lancaster County.
People living in the shadow of the hills that
ringe the northern border of Lancaster county.
Pa, and divide it from Lebanon. have been in
a state of terror. Women and children have
been afraid to venture outdoors, and it is only
the hardest of men who trust themselves
farther than the foothills that skirt the town
ships OF West Cocalico and Clay. which he
along the Lebanon line.
Those daring spirits who have explored the
sparsely settled region around about take care
they have Q well-loaded shotgun or other
weapon with them. and they use their eyes for
all they are worth. The cause Of the prevail
ing anxiety Of the staid folk Of that section is
the presence Of a small section of a menagerie
which is now roaming over Clay and the adj
joining townships Of the county line.
WILD ANIMALS AT LARGE.
Wild animals are going about seeking whom
thew NAV devour. and thus it is that farm houses
are more closely barricaded than is the wont of
the neighborhood and why rusted and long-dis-
used firearms are being FURNISHED and put in
condition for use against the four-footed Goes
who have transformed the tranquil region Of
the Lebanon hills into one Of peril and distress.
Wnere the savage De6sLS came IRON Is not
known but il is surmised they escaped from q
travelling circus that has been exhibiting in the
northern part Of Lancaster and the adjoining
county OF Lebanon. Long fasting is presumed
to have made the animals more ferocious than
usual. Citizens of Shoeneck, GOckley and Dur
full bowls that made the hillside resound Satur-
day night and the night before.
So emboldened has one huge panther become
by hunger that Saturday evening he ventured
to within less than hundred feet of the home
of Farmer Drucker. living in an isolated part
of West Cocalico township, and the farmer
blazed away at him from an upper window.
One or more of the buckshot must have hit
the beast. for he gave a roar Of pain and anger
and bounded away. The farmer says the
panther was prodigious and very lean and hun
CRY looking.
KNEW IT WAS A PANTHER.
81 knew it was panther" he said, ''for
saw one when went to the circus In the sum-
mer Of 10"
Samuel Clarke, a grocer OF Lancaster, Satur-
day morning got back from Schoeneck, where
he bad gone cunning for woodcock few days
ago, and he brought the first authentic in
formation OF the presence OF the wild beasts in
the neighborhood The place is twenty-five or
thirty miles from Lancaster and in a section re-
mote from the railroad.
Mr.. Clarke says the reason he did not remain
to hunt the tigers, or whatever the beasts of
prev are that have inaugurated the township 8
reign OF terror. was that his gun. light affair,
was not adapted to such large game
Il was not loaded for bear" he said, land
beside 1 sustained mishap by the plunger of
my gun flying out Of place and striking me in
the eye."
PEOPLE EXCITED.
Mr.. Clarke says he met a number of people
who are greatly excited over the appearance of
the wild beasts, which were first seen in the
vicinity of the Texter Hills, over toward the
Berks border.
One man whom he met told him that he saw
three of the animals at one time and that one
of them was undoubtedly a panther. He was
not able to say what the others were He was
too frightened to look and disappeared as
quickly as he could.
Another person telling Grocer Clarke of his
experience, says what he saw has stunted his
growth. He is a young amateur photographer.
and while driving along lonely road with his
camera In hiswagon he was suddenly confronted
by huge beast standing by the roadside.
81 knew it was panther the minute clapped
my eyes on it," the photographer said. Its
ierce-looking eyes had in them q glare that
was appalling. and its long. powerful tail
dashed from side to side 1 thought was a
gouer, sure.
my horse stood stock still in the middle of
the road. trembling in every limb. and every
nerve quivering with fright. 1 stared at the
panther and the huge beast stared at me for
what seemed to me age. and then it quietly
turned and stalked into the woods
why it didn't attack me, don't know.
Ii certainly couldn't have been as badly scared
as / was. l had no weapon, but after had
partially recovered myself was sorry had
not taken a snap shot at the animal with my
camera, for he was powerful fellow"
Grocer Clarkes story has fired the enthusiasm
of some of the local Nimrods anxious to distin-
guish themselves in encounter with more
dangerous game than is ordinarily found in the
peaceful hills and wales of Lancaster county.