The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-02

dead after being absent from home a
/ long time and his body was LAGER
| ated in a manner that left no doubt
that a panther had done it. The ques-
ton was whether IL had been done be-
fore the man was dead or afterward.
At any rate, everybody believed he had
| been killed by a panther. The man $
name was German. His body was
| found on the carry between Big Clear
| pond and the st. Regis waters, near
Paul Smiths. 1t was kept very quiet,
because Smith and his guides in that
region were afraid that if ii got abroad
1t would brighten visitors away from
that part of the Adirondacks.
"All my experience and observation
convince me that panthers are by no
means the terrible. ferocious, man-eat-
ing creatures comman fame makes
them out to be. Adirondack panthers
certainly were not. on the contrary,
they were peculiarly shy, but pos
sessed of an irresistible curiosity that
drew them near to human beings, ana,
in fact, induced them to follow persons
for long distances, or to take observa-
tons of them from positions in ad-
vance. This strange trait undoubtedly
obtained for the panther its reputa-
ton as a pursuer or waylayer of men.
They were great destroyers of sheep
and deer. which was sufficient to con-
denim them as noXious beasts, but they
were as harmless toward human beings
as the deer themselves. They would
undoubtedly fight fiercely If wounded
and brought to bay, but so would
wounded buck.
- have many time been followed
by a panther through the woods for
miles, the panther always lodging
from tree to tree and never approach
ing nearer than perhaps five rods.
When / stopped IL would stop, lie close
n. n. No. 4
started on ii would follow. l have had
them accompany me thus to the very
threshold of my camp. On the way
not sound ever escaped one of these
panthers but the moment / would dis
appear within my camp the panther
would utter far-sounding and by no
means pleasant yells at short intervals
and make off into the woods, yelling as
1t went, until it's cries were lost in the
distance.
Il have many times had panther
precede me in the woods, but only
when | might be on carry or walking
i'm a road. The animal would in such
cases always bound along on the
ground, stopping occasionally and look
ing back at me as / approached, lying
close to the ground and it's long tail
swaying from side to side. | never saw
a finer sight than one of these crouch
ing panthers. When / came as near as
80 feet or so to the beast Ii would
bound on ahead again, always utter
ing a piercing yell when IL started and
screaming every few bounds as II led
the way. The instant 1t would stop to
look back and wait for me ii would be
silent but always started on again
with a yell. / shot panther once as
IL was thus lying in my path satisfying
its curiosity and i never was proud of
the feat. The unsuspecting creatures
dying cries were so appallingly like hu-
man means and offerings of agony
that they haunted me an unpleasantly
long time.
II remember one winter that 10 large
panthers were trapped not a great dis
lance from the village of North Elba,
and l think that must have extermi-
mated the race thereabouts, for al
though IL was more than 30 years ago,
l have never heard of a panther being
seen in that region afterward. l doubt
If there is real panther left in the
Adirondacks. There is certainly none
within reach or hearing of any place or
center where habitues of that country
were wont to congregate."