The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-03-27
WHIMS OF WILD BEASTS.
FIERCE ANIMALS or THE FOREST
WHO HAZE PRFJUDTCES.


coats-An Aged Sullivan County Hunter
Tells Some of His Experiences.
Scranton, Pa, Letter in the New York Sun.
"a bear or a panther can't stand the
sight of wolfish or a coonskin over
coat" said an aged hunter of Sullivan
county, land both also dislike the looks
of an overcoat made of buffalo skin.
They become enraged when they see a
hunter striding the woods with fur
coat on They will start for him the
instant they get sight Of him, and UNI
less he stops them with rifle ball or
charge of buckshot they will invariably
tackle him. A wolf or even a pack of
them will always turn tail and run
away from a hunter that wears a wolf
skin coat, but they will chase man
who wears coat of any other kind of
fur and will attack him II they get
chance. In the winters early in the for
ties I hunted panthers, wolves and
bears, killing a, deer once in awhile for
change When the weather was Bit
ter cold 1 wore a coonskin overcoat un-
til a panther ruined it, and here is what
is left of it.
II killed an even dozen of panthers
and a score Of wolves while wearing
that coat. 1t was in January, 1874, that
had to stop wearing it. One very
cold morning I put on my snowshoes
and started for the head of Kitchens
creek to hunt panthers and wolves.
The snow was three feet deep in the
woods, and the wolves and panthers
We're slaughtering the deer at a fright
full rate. In a spruce ravine to the
right of the creek saw a movement in
an evergreen tree and raised my rifle
for what thought might be panther.
II hadn't been standing a minute
when 1 heard tWfg snap back of me,
and before 1 could turn half way round
something struck my back and drove
me forward on my hands and knees.
OF course I instantly realized that
panther had landed on my back. 1t
struck it's claws into my shoulders and
began to kick with it's hind feet, snarl-
ing and tearing at the coonskin with
its teeth. / knew in a second that the
only thing for me was to throw myself
backward, and this / did at once, bury
ing the panther in the snow beneath
me. The panther then started to
scream but the snow and my weight
kept it from making much noise, 1t
continued to claw great rents in the
coonsl1in coat until l stabbed it three
times in the side, when it stopped kick
ing and began to. gasp. 1 knew that
the point of the knife had touched a
vital spot so I lay still till the panther
stretched out dead. Then got up and
pulled the beast out of the snow by the
tall I'd hardly dropped it on the sur
face than there was another movement
in the evergreen tree.
This time spied pair of eyes on a
limb about fifteen feet above the snow
and blazed away at them. A panther
tumbled out, began to pitch and dive
in the snow, soon turning up its toes
Then pulled off the overcoat and dis
covered that the panther had ruined it.
The claws hadn't touched my flesh
though, for wore three thicknessee of
deerskin and two Of wool under the
overcoat. On that trip of three days I
got five panthers and four wolves.
"The same winter I surprised pack
of wolves that had cornered three deer
in a pen in the Mehoopany country. l
had on wolfskin coat, and the wolves
legged it out of the pen the moment
they got sight of me. pulled off the
coat and put it behind tree, and the
wolves, when they stopped to look
back, acted as if they had been scared
by false alarm When they saw that
the overcoat wasn't in sight they
didn't care any more for me than for
sapling. They Immediately returned
to the deer pen as bold as you please,
and 1 shot the whole five as fast as /
could load and fire.
zone winter Joe Wright who used to
hunt and trap all the way from the
Loyalsock to the Mehoopany, rolled up
his coonskin overcoat and placed it on
log in the woods till he could go over
knoll and look at one of his traps.
When he got to the top of the knoll on
his way back, he heard a bear below
ing down in the hollow, as il it was
challenging another bear to fight with
him. In a minute Joel caught sight of
the noisy bear, but couldn't make out
where the other one was. The challen>
ger was sloughing toward the log on
which the coonskin overcoat lay in a
bunch, and Joe made up his mind that
the bear had got scent Of the coat and
was about to tackle it.
Joel had a better fur coat at home,
and he didn't care much what the bear
did with the one on the log. Anyhow
ne was going to watch the bear and, il
he got the better of the coat all right.
He could see that the fellow was angry
before he got within ten rods of the log.
Rushing up to the log, the bear seized
the overcoat in his paws and began to
squeeze and shake it as if it was a
thing of life that he held an old grudge
against. Joel tramped down the knoll
then to see all the fun at short range
and pretty soon the bear gave the coat
dreadful hug, let out yell, fell over
backward and went to sprawling and
rolling in the snow. Joel knew what
the trouble was, but he didn't say a
word. The beard had his own way,
and he was as dead as a flint when
Joel got to him. Joel's hunting knife
was in pocket of the overcoat, and the
point of it had pierced the heart Of the
angry animal when he Rugged the coat
to his breast in a fit of rage"
On Bad Handwriting
from Harper's Young People.I
One of the most important things for