The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-19
DARIUS GRANDMoTHER,s Drcxyp
Fed the Bear a Loaf of Bread for m
rius-Darius' other Relations


From the New York Sun.
Darius Scofeld died the other dav II,
in Cortland county," said a citizen Of +bs+
county. "and he would have died sbo,r
eighty years before If his grandmotbar
hadn' succeeded in making a trade v-itb
a bear, by which the bear delivered mn
Darius 70 his grandmother in exchange fo+
a loaI OF corn bread. Darius was about
one year Old then, and his folks lived III
the town of Virgil, as I have been tofT
Ihat part of the state wasn't cut up rnIlob
by settlements in those days. Wild am
mas were numerous and aggressive ono
Gay this young hopeful of the Scofei5
clearing was playing on a pile of logs In
'front.' OF the cabin. when he tumbled az
ana Zen into a thiCket. Whether the hear
had been lying in wait there for a. cbanca
at the chubby youngSter, or whether In
was coming along just as little Darius
came tumbling into the bushes, the SEQ
neid records do not state. AT any rate
Darius grandmother heard Darius Veil
and she ran out in time to see the bear
ambling away with the boy under ono
arm. The grandmother was alone at dc
cabin There was no time to run about the
clearing and alarm the men, and she didn't
care hre the gun at the bear for fear the
bullet might puncture Darius. She had
Just finished a baking of corn bread. Ii
was Sweetened with maple syrup. Be
lieving that the bear would much prefer
fresh, sweetened corn bread to boy she
grabbed a loaf of 1t and started in pursuit
of bruin.
she had to follow him a mile before
she overlook him. He was about enter
ing his den, and still held possession OF
the boy. He stopped and looked in some
surprise at the old lady, who did not
loaf at his feet. The bear stopped down
and shifted it. One sniff was enough. He
dropped Darius as if he had been a hot
potato, grabbed the bread and disappear
ed into his den. Darius grandmother
grabbed the boy and never stopped for
breath until she got back home with
him. He wasn't hurt a mite, and was
able to eat almost as much corn bread for
his supper that night as had been given
to the bear as his ransom. Darius Sco-
field lived and died a worthy and respect
ed citizen OF the county. There was only
one blot on his escutcheon, so to speak.
He insisted that he remembered well his
being kidnapped and the fortunate. dicker
his grandmother made to recover him.
He also remembered that once his fa-
Their was coming from Chenango Forks
when he was chased by wolves. He fled
before them, as he knew ne had no chance
against the pack with his old hint-loclk
gun. He could hear them plainly behind
him, but felt that he could reach place
of safety before they overlook MIN, IL
his wind only held out. He was tear
ing along with the wolves yelping only
200 or 800 feet behind him, when suddenly
he was confronted by big panther. This,
of course, brough him up all standing.
And there was a situationl A fierce and
hungry panther in front of him, ready to
spring upon him, and a pack of fierce,
hauling and tearing him to pieces. There
was but one thing to do. The wolves were
almost upon him. The panther was about
TO spring. He said small prayer, aimed
his old hint-lock at the panther, and bang
ed away The panther gave the usual
blood-curdling yell, leaped high in the air
by this time the wolves were not TWEEN
ty yards away. Darius Scofield's father
quickly limbed a tree. The wolves came
rushing and elping to the spot They
found the panther and fell to devouring
it. This did not take them long, but
while they were at the feast DaI1uS'S IA
Their picked them off with his old fiinuock
He fired and loaded and loaded and fred
until he had killed every wolf but three
and they ran away. He had killed the
wolves so fast that the survivors didn't
have time to devour their fellows before
they were dead themselves. The conse-
quence was that Darius's father had u
wolf soaps to show for his days adven-
ture, and as wolf scalps were worth s.
apiece in the county, 1t wasn't bad day IS
work for him.
zone time when Darius was boy his
uncle came UP from Long Island to see
what kind Of a country it was IN that
part of the state Darius used to call MIN
Uncle Ben. He seemed to like the country
and went out hunting one day. He shot
a deer. He was fetching the vendson
home on his back, when suddenly he
heard a terrible scream, like woman or
a child in distress. 1t was coming on
Z I hope no one ain't being murdered?
Uncle Ben said, and hurried on.
pretty soon the awful scream was
raised again, and this time it came from
the woods on the other side of Uncle Ben
and it was a good deal nearer.
'Ahr said Uncle Ben. Panther.
must keep my eye peeled
He went on, but it wasn't long before
he knew the panther was following him
and stealing rapidly upon him.
" He wants the venison, said Uncle
Ben. All right. I'll give him some.
so Uncle Ben took his knife and cut on
a piece of the juicy venison, never slack
ening his pace. He came to a hollow log
He pushed the piece of venison far into
the hollow log, and went on. He hid be-
hind a bush. He got heavy club. Ihe
panther came along, smelt the Venison IN
the hollow log, and crawled in after it.
Uncle Ben tiptoed back to the hollow log
He stood beside it with his club raised
The panther got the meat and began to
back out of the log. When it was half
way out Uncle Ben gave it a whack with
its club that broke it's back. Another
whack killed it. Uncle Ben shouldered
the panther and took it home with the
VeniSOn.
g That fellows mate may be some
where's in the woods, said Uncle Ben. I'll
go out tomorrow and try to hunt her up
''IIe went out next day. He killed three
pantherS, five wolves, and four bears. lie
packed his saddlebags that night and
and started for Long Island in the morn
ing.
" This is nice growing country said
Uncle Ben, but there is too much here TO
distract ones mind
And he rode away home to Long Island
and never came back. Darius remember
ed lot of other things about his rela-
tons, but never put 'em down, and I'm
afraid they'n be lost now"