The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-12-11
TWO In A SINK HOLE.
A KENTUCKY PRINTER NARRATEs A
THRILLING EXPERIENCE.

Pretty much everybody in the crowd
had told a story of the gun or dog or
fishpole except printer who looked
about as much like hunter or fisher
man as he did like an angel.
Its 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
story or pay for the drinks every time
anybody else tells one"
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.
'Well, gents" he said with the wan
and lodging look still in his eyes, "let
me think minute. Before came here
lived in Chicago, where / was hunted
instead Of hunting. Before that was
in New Orleans, where only hunted
job. Before that l was in st. Paul,
where l was hunting warm place all
the time. Before that | lived in Boston,
where it was too frigid to hunt, and be-
fore that, quite a long time before that,
lived in old Kentucky, and, gents, j
did hunt there. Nothing but a coon,
mebbe. or "a fox or a possun or as little
as a squirrel or only dove III the dusty
road but it was finer than anything on
earth.
81 was only boy, 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 cuss, and when he freed any
thing he would do lot of barking at
first, but if somebody didn't come
mighty quick he would give it up and
go 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 he was over in a clump
of woods about q half mile away.
knew | was going to have to get TO him
pretty quick if found him there at all,
and | started across field toward the
woods as fast as | could go. 1t was a
stubbe 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 theI
| knew 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 out of m,
right quick, and | went down through
the weeds and stuff, not knowing JUS
what had happened. OF course | hadn'
much time TO think, and when L hi
bottom l had still less, for instead o.
lighting on the ground or stones OF
thicket, lit on something alive. 1t wa
a wild animal Of some kind, didn'
know what, and / was scared till my
hair began to feel funny on my head.
when l went down, l went hard
and l kind Of knocked the wind out O
the varmint at first, but i'll second j
began to yowl and snap and snarl and II
twist under me and try to get ont anC
to raise the dickens generally. In thu
meantime was yelling and squawkint
and trying to scare the blamed thing
because thought it was wildcat, ant
I knew boy Of my size didn't have
any show with wildcat If the varmin
ever took q notion TO fight, and knew
pretty we'll that wildcat was about a
sure to take notion to fight as any
thing on earth. / don't know exactl.
what I did in that hole or how / did it
but remember it seemed about month
of Sundays that was all mussed up il
there with some kind of wild animal
and finally the thing got from under mt
and scooted as fast as it could for thu
top of the sink hole. followed after
as quick as could, for became bravel
when saw it run, and when / got III
on the level the moon had come out
and could see the varmint fairly skin
ming it out for the tall timber. yelled
at it with all my might, though didn'
run after it very fast, and began to cal
my dog. On the second call the varmin
stopped, and began to get ready to ski
out myself, when l got better look
aud, by the great horn spoon, gents, j
was my dog. called him then, and III
came back to me, and l could see fo
myself that he had holed something
down there in the sink, and his barking
had been smothered and sounded ava,
off to me, and of course when / dropped
in ON him unexpectedly like that h'
didn't know anything about it, and mel
ther did /, and there we was. In an!
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 / sorter looked at him
and don't know which one OF us fel
L 1900 l;ka sx,olo0s1iuO II do know