Evening star., 1896-12-05
CASE OF BUCK FEVER.
How a Hunter Wns Effected in an
Encounter With Panther.

Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
LINTON, Fla, December ., 1896.
Panther Bill is the name Of Florida
hunter. So far his friends know it is
the only nlme he ever had If he ever had
arother it has not been mentioned in
Florida.
He is six feet tall and spare built. All
the fat has been fried out of him by south
ern sunshine. His complexion is like russet
leather. His gray eyes seem always to be
squirting along a gun barrel. He seldom
speaks, a habit acquired during years of
solitude in the pines.
His speciality is panther hunting. II is
mere exciting than any other sport i'm
Florida. Killing gators and wildcats is
tame in comparison.
Nearly every hunter knows what buck
fever is and nearly all have passed
through this species of stage fright. A
group of them was recently swapping buck
fever stories. The story which Panther
Bill told follows:
1T was just after / had a little difficulty
with man up I'm Georgia, that L came
down in these parts. In them days there
warn't nobody much living between Fort
Pierce and Palm Beach. and nobody at all
between Palm Beach and Miami. and the
population amt increased much since then.
l had an old dog bull terrier. not much
good on the trail, but he'd fight like yell
low wasp. He had habit of running
little way ahead of me and then running
back. 1t was out I'm that saw grass around
the slough south of Lake Sheridan that
he began to raise a fuss. l went OH after
him. but couldn't keep up. Pretty soon !
thought l heard him coming back. Any
way, heard something tearing and pung-
ing through the saw grass right toward
me. / didn't know what sort of trail
we'd struck, but l supposed it was deer
l didn't even think of panther, for il was
VIXEN 1 first came to Florida. Well.
. INV hlrlt flor r
back to meet me. But ii wasn't dog at
all. 1t was Of a different family. l saw il
bounding through the tall grass directly
toward me- 1t was doubling back on its
own trail. 1t would have run right over
me. My arms seemed cold and numb. 1t
was hard to get the gun to my shoulder.
Then my neck seemed stiff. and il was slow
wcrk to make my head lean on the stock
Ny eye was watery, and there seemed to
be a haze around the front sight. My
finger was stiff and / did not seem able to
Pull tho trigger. The panther was bound
ing toward me. There was a puff of smoke.
a flash and a bang. and a roar from the
wounded panther. The charge had entered
his breast and had broken his fore legs.
He would spring with his hind legs, but
his fore legs, not sustaining him. he would
fall on his head. Then he would roar and
spring again toward me. l had another
shell in the gun, but 1 was too paralyzed to
use it. My legs seemed bound, and 1 could
not move one step. Each second that
panther was getting nearer. 1 couldn't
think. My brain seemed groggy. But the
bull terrier had heard the racket and came
up from behind. He tackled the beast. He
planted his teeth in the panthers neck,
and they rolled over and over in the saw
grass. OF course. if the cat had been able
to use his fore paws the bull terrier would
not have been i'm 1t. The loss of blood from
the wound iii the chest was telling on the
big cat. and he grew weaker. His roaring
turned to groaning, and, after several fierce
rallies and attempts TO shake Off the dog
and get at me, he died.
When the cat was dead | wondered what
had allied me. 1 had never met a Florida
panther face to face before. 1t must have
been a stroke of buck fever