The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-17
ANIMALS IREJUDICEs.
Panthcrs and Hears Sensitive About
Vur OyercoatS
From the New York sun.

Pnnthers and bears Sensitive About
Fur Oyercoats.
From the New York sun.
"A bear or panther can't stand the
sight of wolfskin or a coonskin over
coat" said an aged hunter of Sullivan
county and both also dislike the looks
of an overooat made of buffalo skin They
become enraged when they see a hunter
striding through the woods with a fur coat
on They will start for him the instant
they get sight of him, and unless he stops
them with a rife hall or a charge of
bucksnot they will Invariably tackle him.
A wolf, or even a pack of them, will al
ways turn tail and run away from a
hunter that wears a wolfskin coat, but
they will chase a man who wears a coat
of any other kind of fur. and viii attack
him if they get chance. In the winters
early in the 4O's / hunted panthers, wolves,
and bears, killing a deer once in a while
for a change. When the weather was Bit
ter cold l wore a coonslzin overcoat until
a panther ruined it, and here Is what is
left of it."
Lifting the lid of an ancient Eastwood
chest painted red, the old woodsman
Drought out the remnants of a faded fur
garment and held them out at arms
length. The tattered mass of fur and hide
looked as If 1t might have been run through
a modern grain thrasher, and the odor
of camphor in it was strong. One could
see from the collar and sleeves that the
garment had once been a fur overcoat
Tossing it back into the chest, the aged
hunter resumed:
IT killed an even dozen OF painters and
a score of wolves while wearing that coat
1t was in January, 1874, that had to stop
wearing it. One very cold morning / 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
were slaughtering the deer a a frightful
rate: In a spruce ravne to the right of the
creek / saw a movement in an evergreen
tree, and raised my rife for what 1 thought
might be panther.
Il hadn't been standing a minute when
/ heard a twig snap back Of me, and be-
fore l could turn half around something
struck my back and drove me forward
on my hands and knees. OF Counsel IN
stantly realized that a panther had landed
on my back. 1t stuck its claws into nv
shoulders and began to kick with its hind
feet, snarling and tearing at the coonskin
with it's teeth. knew IN a second that
the only thing for me to do was to throw
myself backward, and this I did at once
burying the panther in the snow beneath
me. The panther then started to scream
but the snow and my weight kept II from
making much noise. 1t continued to claw
great rents in the coonskin coat until
stabbed it three times In the side, when Il
stopped kicking and began TO gasp. I
knew then that the point of the knife
had touched a vital spot, so lay stilI TIL
the panther stretched out dead. Then 1
got up and pulled the beast out of the
snow by the tail. I'd hardly dropped 1T on
the surface than there was another move
ment in the evergreen trees.
This time ] spied pair Of eyes on a
limb about fifteen feet above the snow
and blazed away at them. A panther tum-
bled out, began to pitch and dive in the
snow, soon turning up its toes. Then I
pulled off the overcoat and discovered
that the panther had ruined It. The
claws hadn't touched my flesh, though.
for ] wore three thicknesses of deer skins
and two Of wool under the overcoat. On
that trip of three days got five panthers
and four wolves.
THE same winter ] surprised a pack of
wolves that had cornered three deer in a
pen up in the Mehoopany country. 1 had