Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-11-25
A COON PULLING IN MAINE.



Fight by Novel Tactics.
Abe's coon pullings are always held in
the cellar under his store. They be-
gin about 8 o'clock at night, or as soon
thereafter as the women and children
have gone to bed, and they last until ev-
cry dog in the neighborhood has had his
pull at the coon, unless the coon dies be-
fore the late dogs have a chance at him.
About thirty men and twenty dogs at
tended the 1896 pulling, which was held
November Z. The new econ was put
into flour barrel and headed up until
he was taken to the cellar and the spec
tators had arrived. Then the barrel
was unheaded and laid on its side with
the end facing the crowd OF. men and
dogs. s..7ts 5Is.s.ras.
Sam, an old collie belonging to Fred
Archer, was the first dog to take tilt
with the econ. He did not stop to sniff
around the barrel, but plunged in head
first and tried to grapple with the coon,
holding his long, peaked nose Wen down
on the slaves and making a rush to get
under his nose and grab it by the wind
pipe. The coon waited until their noses
nearly met and Topped over sideways,
bringing the two back to back. AS the
dog shot ahead under full speed the coon
nestled down beside him ana began to
grip and claw like a patent cardlng mill.
For half a minute wads of silky collie
hair, mixed with snarls, growls,. splits
and other tokens of animal profanity,
poured from the barrel like chaff from
winnower These were followed by
kiyis and bowls of pain from Sam, and
when the noise was lOudest out came
Sam with his tail between his legs. he
leaped on top of the cellar wall. yelling
so loud that the spectators let him out.
The coon, having revOlved on his own
axis two or three times, to learn if he
was all right, laid himself down facing
A. HI- fOr. mn
Clowley's mastim was led up to make
the next effort, but he had evidently met
coons before and refused to sacrifice him
self for the good of the public. A New
foundland from Otis and mongrel from
Ellsworth Falls were soon whipped out
of the ring. After these, GRIP, one,
eyed bull-terrier that followed the mail
stage was invited to go In. The terrier
received two or three bad scratches IN the
face and then his teeth closed on the
coon's foreleg just above the paw, caus-
ing the coon to do a great deal of spit
ting and scratching, which amounted to
nothing. The coon pitched SomersaultS
in the barrel, vainly trying to bring his
claws to bear on the underside of the
dog. Over and over they went like the
fans of a windmill, and every time the
dog came on top his tail raped the sides
of the barrel, as if he enjoyed himself
and his situation first rate. The excited
men, holding lanterns in front of them,
drew nearer every second, cheering on
the dogs and yelling to one another to
stand back About this time two wait
ing dogs escaped from the men who held
them and got up a fight of their own
While this was going on n boy kicked in
the remaining barrel head, and the coon
backed out dragging the terrier after
him. AS the dog gave no sign of letting
go the coon drew him out to see the dog
fight, whereupon both dogs forgot their
anger and jumped for the coon.
When the coon was at last put into
another barrel there were three or four
badly scratched men in the cellar, who
were mad as well as sore, and therefore
ready for anything short of a cyclone.
Old Jeff, hound with a score of dead
coons to his credit, being called, stepped
up and looked in below the barrel chinks.
He scratched at the sides of the hoops,
ratified his great teeth on the slaves.
looked up at he people and gave out his
long, sad cry:
- ''Ow, ow, o-o-owi' N>
''Seek him, jeff cried some; $50 IN,
old man. yelled others.
jeff looked at he men, faced about, and
stuck his great, Topping tail inside the
barrel. The coon's jaws fell together
with snap like a dead fall, and Jeff's
tail was between them. From here he
proceeded to claw the dogs back until,
hurt beyond endurance and having no
means of redress, Jeff gave a despair
ing hoWn and fed, dragging the nearly
dead coon behind him.-Waltham (Me)
letter to New York Sun.