The sun., 1895-04-14
WHY THE PANTHERS WENT.
"THEY WA'N'T DRUT oUT, THEE
WAS KTLLED OUI.v
Re the Truth-Thc story er n parther's
ien, = borrowed Gnn, and Ten.yenr
Boy Who Thought some One Was Lost.

Re the Truth-rhc story er n pnrther's
fen, a borrowed Gnn. and Ten.yenr
Boy Who Thought some One Was Lost
EMPORIUM. Pa. April l3-rhe reports tha.
come in from lumber camps in the great wilder.
ness OF western Pennsylvania every little while
that an occasional panther Is seen but more
frequently heard, prowling about the camps
| nrc received with great allowance by every old
Sinncmahoning hunter Of whom there are
many stl living who remember when tat
dreaded animal was stlll nurr.rous enough in
the woods to make its presence II ncrarr nnI .
terror to the then scattered dwetlcrs In the
region. The writer asked ole of these old
hunters oncr-Cal sheppard. sn rcceutrtc and
humorous relic of early days on the .Susqus.
hanna and Allegheny it was Ma I'd
driven so completely the panthers ont uG me
Pennsylvania wilderness.
What druv the painters out ~ the wilder
ness Z" he replied why, nothin' di'wt druv
'em out. cause they wa'p't druv. lctin kula
painter. but ye can't drive him. No. sir. Paint
won't be druv. Consekently, they want
druv out o. this wilderness. They was killed
out. They hung on Us long rs there was cnuurhou
'em TO keep UP some kind of n supply nt their
selves an by nm by got all run down to on..
That was an OIL ho feller that, bein' lonesome,
count o his bein' the last one in the woods,
took to roamin' hither an yon, now n skeerin'
folks way over long the Delaware somers,
thon swoorn' down on en- in the Susko-
hammer dcestrics, an then settin' up his yell
AN scrcech long tho Allegheny spread So he
KEEP the boys a-humpn' all over the state TIL I
took hand In agin' him and corncrcd him up
here on 'Tater Creek one day. The painter died
durin' tho proceedings betwi1t 1t, and as paint
ers don't sprout up in the woods like johnny
Jump-ups. there amt never ben any in Peunsyl-
vnny sence. No. They want druv out. paint
era want They WINS killed out"
I'M. stA'enenl oi Tue ",u huh.er !. unaouo'-
sdIy ,rue-no. including HI, ,s claim as to having
p.nu.,,,,.,i. - L,I.., l., -, -
re''ss 'a"l" was n.leu ~, All pAr.s Oh INC
State, aud zach locality has from one to a half
dozen ycrncious old woodsmen who killed IL
and wbo viii Vim II acain ,nv Tina md a. ot,an
as you give them the opportunity. That the
panther is now extinct in all these great forest
domains IL not because there are not SUI mac
cessible junges Of laurel and other tangled
p ., ior"d ~ " ,h,, soaaou oaa rouhy retreats
so well loved oy TINS ferce member OF tho
most, II not quite. a, much security a, i, dis in
.,,'' - .os u T,a,., ~, 10 ~ viz IL
day arc a. no only % to ,u the so
OF tho panther. but TO II. increase. a, thev ver,
fifty years ago. 1t is not probable, therefore that
1t could have been the advance of civilization
among these dense pine and h.mlock wilder
to
due to tho offensive s warfare carried o" against
the % dreaded "a animal for long term Of years by
n,s,ed thar i've. in an ,,mo.t con,inn.I ,rr,
pan'ou 'no'' i'o. III "n "'.'. ,""'lnu". p"t-
most remote haunts and engaging II rearles.ly
and unrel.ntinplv thcr. with tactics which
they had reduced to an exact science. Every
mans hand was against the panther US long rs
it disputed posse sion of the forest with him,
and it was not in tho course Of nature that it
could survive such constant and damaging AS:
Shcppa rd truly .nid "'rEey wns killed ont
"Eobody win ever hear the yrii nf Wild
panther in these woods again" sad an old aud
and il any one over heard it under the circum.
able to- forret il, wa. ten Years Old Gd ana lived
on with my father and mother on one OF the
rT1 IN sysf "aS aS M G %s "ear
mouth Of Big Bear Greek. Our nearest nelghb,r
now. and it may be imagined what 1t was sixty
rvo ycars ago.
"Ons day our near neighbor borrowed INV
own. The gun was not returned according to
ihe gun vas vas an od-fs.hioned tiinilock " .m"o,h. n
bore rife, very heavy. and quite load for me to
done. i had sos E sbo%, hsIi:%ay s 30" shTaHss
mournfr cry. lad never hcari
tho cry of, person lost in the
times since Imagine a man il yn1
cnn, lost in the woods, terrified with
the thoughts of wild benst. and On.
pressed BY the murKy darkness and awful
solitude and silence OF the forest AT night 1he
sound of a human b.iug made under .uch cir-
cumstances is the most penetrating The most
anguish-laden cry that eyer issued from human
lips The stroncest and bru,nsi man lost can.
not repress the culver OF In. 'Vn-hn. thnt
makes the sound SO piteous To the II -t.ncr Tlnt
is exactly the sound a panther make. whe,, mi
one OF his eSp-dtiou.. Leaning from one tr.o
to another. he ha!,s and ulters that tor,urin;
yeli, So accurate is his sound to that made lv
q person lost in the woods that even the most
eIpert W Dodsmen have been de .eiyri by IT,
hsd never heard the cry of n los, urr,On ut
that time. nor the yell OF panthpr hut "A yuunx
man from tho mill down tie creek had gmns
fishing q week so before that. and not having
returned IL was euppo,ed that Le hnd he ONO
lost in tho wo0d. and a fruitlu.s search had
been made for him for several days | knew ~
this, and when heard that day a cry coming
from, tho depths of the woods. so human like in