The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1896-11-25
TWO In A SINK HOLE.
a KENTUCKY PRINTER NARRATEs A
THRILLING EXPERIENCE.


While Following the Call of His Faithful
Dog He Met With a Biishap-In Dark
Hole with a Fierce Wild Beast-The
Escape and Recognition.
Pretty much everybody in the crowd
had told story of the gun or dog or
fishpole except a printer who looked
about as much like hunter or fisher
man as he did like an angel.
''It's your turn now. Muggins, said
the reporter.
81 never hunted anything but board
ing houses over in Brooklyn" he said,
with wan and lodging kind of air, as
If people threw things at him whenever
he tried to tell story.
"But before you came here is what
we want to know about" put in sew
eral, land you've either got to tell q
story or pay. for the drinks every time
anybody else tells one. .. se.
He moved about uneasily and pushed
his chair back from the table, drawing
it close up again Immediately and final
ly resting his hands clasped ON the board
in front of him. 9i5
"Well, gents" he said with the wan
and lodging look still i'll his eyes. "let
me think minute Before I came here
lived in Chicago, where was hunted
instead of hunting. Before that was
in New Orleans, where only hunted
Job. Before that / was in st. Paul,
where | was hunting a warm place all
the time. Before that lived in Boston,
where it was too frigid to hunt, and be-
fore that, quite O Along time before that,
| lived in old Kentucky, and, gents, i
did hunt there. Nothing but coon,
mebbe, or fox or possuIn or as little
as q squirrel CT only dove in the dusty
road, but it was finer than anything on
earth.
81 was only 10y, and perhaps that
had something to do with it, but didn't
know any different then, like do now,
and it was just the finest on earth and
no mistake And his wan face lighted
up as if he were looking through the
open gates Of paradise, 81 recollect l
had dog that was considerable OF a
hunting dog, but he was an unrestless
kind of CESS, and when he freed any
thing he would do lot of barking at
first, but if somebody didn't come
mighty quick lie would give it up and
90 moseying along after the next thing
in sight. One night was out with him
after coons, and about 8 o'clock heard
him bark like ho was over in clump
Of woods about half mile away. !
knew I was going to have to get to him
pretty quick if found him there at all,
and / started across a field toward the
woods as fast as / could go. 1t was a
stubble field with sink holes like you
find all over Kentucky in the limestone
parts, and the place was dark, though
the moon was just beginning to show
above the woods. was thinking more
about what the dog had than anything
else, and as / went banging through the
field, all at once seemed to drop off of
the earth and fall into cellar, and then
/ knew i had tumbled into sink hole.
They are never very deep or dangerous,
and / wasn't afraid Of being fatally
hurt, but it took the sand ont of me
right quick, and Invent down through
the weeds and stuff, not knowing just
what had happened. OF course hadn't
much time to think, and when hit
bottom ] had still less, for instead of
lighting on the ground or stones or
thicket, lit on something alive. TWAS
wild animal CT some kind, didn' +
know what, and was scared till my
hair began to feel funny on my head.
"When l went down, | went hard,
and l kind Of knocked the wind out of
the varmint at first, but III Il second it
began to yowl aud snap and snarl and to
twist under me and try to get out and
to raise the dickens generally. In the
meantime / was yelling and squawking
and trying to scare the blamed thing,
because thought it was a wildcat, and
! knew n boy Of my size didn't have
any show with wildcat il the varmint
ever took a rotten 20 fight. and knew
pretty we'll that wildcat was about as
sure to take notion to { as any,
thing on earth, l don't lbsU exactly
what did in that hole or hCa did it,
but remember it seemed CIT :. month
of Sundays that l was all mussed up in
there with some kind of q wild animal,
and finally the thing got from under me
and scooted as fast as it could for the
top Of the sink hole. followed after it
as quick as / could, for became Drawer
when saw it run, ard when / got up
on the level the moon had come out,
and could see the varmiiit fairly skim
ming it out fer the tall timber. yelled
at itwith all my might, though didn't
run after it very fast, and began to call
my dog. On the second call the yarmint
stopped, and Ibegan to get ready to skin
out myself, when | got a better look,
and. by the great horn spoon, gents, it
was my dog. called him then, and he
came back to me- and could see for
myself that he had holed something
down there in the sink, and his barking
had been sInothered and sounded away
of to me, and of course when dropped
in ON him unexpectedly like that he
didn't know anything about it. and nei-
ther, did /, and there we was. Ia any
event, gentlemen, concluded the for.
mer Corncracker, ''that dog come trot.
ting back to me, and when we met face
to face in the moonlight he sorter look
ed at me, and l sorter looked at him,
and don't know which one of us felt
most like apologizing. - do know,
though, We both knocked off for that oc-
oasion. and on the way homo we took
turn about sneaking along behind each
other. me and the dog. New York