The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
SUR RISING AGToFABE R.
A sIYNEMl HUgJNG MANS TALE.
OF OIROUars7ANTIAB EVIDENCE.
rho Cunning Near lssnG rursuca In Waits asa
Samson jar the Unpopular Hunter-The
strenG Indications That Jun Violates aunt
ing = tiauette and the Real kacts u the Case.

Ing Etiquette ana the Real fnctst hthe Osse'
ROULETTE. Pm, Doc. 2A.-"It my remarkable
father, Reuben PettiJone, had livod to DO a hum
dred years DID, said the man from over SHINE
mahoning way. you never could have induced
E.m to judge a man on circumstantih evidence
after what no saw up along tho headwa ers
once. And that's what makes mo shy Of circum-
stantial evidence myself. didn't SEQ this thing
that my remarkable father saw. the principal
reason being, l suppose. that 1t happened some
years before 1 was born, and
Pears to me as II a little thing like that
hadn't ought to make no difference TO you, Sin
nemahone.' said the man In the red. blue, pink,
purple. yellow. and green Mackinaw Jacket
"'Poars to me that It ought to BIO jest as easy
for you to set here an remember things that
never happened before you was born as 1t Is for
you to set here the way you do an remember
things that never happened scnce you was born.
Pears TO me so. Sinnemahone.'
perhaps 20 re right, Mackinaw," said the
man from over Sinndmahoning way, blandly
But have you no regard for my remarkable
father. Reuben Petitioner II l should set my
extraordinary memory to work recalling ante.
natal happenings. what use would thero have
been of Reuben Pettibone's livingi Have you
considered whit q hole would be punched In the
past history Of the storied Sinnemahone IL
Reuben Pettibono had not lived and breathed,
and seen and done things, thore and thereabouti
/ thank you for extolling my memory. Mack
NAV, but remember. I beg Of you remember
Reuben Pettibonei
mo; didn't see this thing to which I refer,
but Reuben Pettibone did. and the incidents of
this one of his many remarkable experiences he
handed down to me early in life to point u moral
and adorn a tale.
"'You may get ketched on tho jury some day.
Praxitcles,' he sud. so remember this and play
shy on circumstantial evidence. tn never do
to hang a man on
And go / have always been shy Of circum.
~stantial evidence. because of this thing that my
remarkable father saw up along the
and told me about. There had been long prowl-
ing in that part OF the S~innenahone a bear of
every hunter and trappcr who had .pitted him
self against him, and a mah down In the West
Branch country had had for to years a stand
ing offer OF 500 Tor that, invincibie bears hide.
WHY my remarkable father used 10 say,
'thero had been tons OF ammunition wasted on
that astounding beast. and what in the world
he ever did with all The traps he carr led away,
year alter year, was one or the mysteries OF the
heap that n foundry could have run itself on for
months,
this great bear low, us much for tho satisfaction
and lame OF doing II AS Tor the 800 in the coin
of the realm the West Branch man was ready
10 put up for the wise old fellows hide. Reuben
Peltibone at last evinced some personal interest
in the bear, and. having a few days to spare ono
WINTER WI nm. d ne s ai fs /. up no 10 c .me n aS g ninnai S, tSr
home with him. There would be fun in circum-
venting, a tricky beast such as that. Reuben
unused, but more In noting the chagrin of the
unsuccessful hunters ana trappers. l may as
we'll say that my remarkable father didn't get
the bear. He was foiled. But he learned a life
long lesson:
whose name VAS Samson Jud. Samson Jun
was a man of such disagrecable ways and ques-
tionable methods in the woods that nobody
would hunt or camp with MIN. He was pitifuliy
n n Nj III ~ nlfhnnnh hin nnH n h N al
only one color. Every other hunter on that
spread of waters was in IL perpetual state OF
day strike the untold luck of gathering in Slip
perry Abner, that being the name the supernatu.
matter who else might happen to be the fortu.
nate man to capture the great prize, his success
would be rejoieed in; but il Samson Jutf should
happen to be the man there would DO universal
disgust and gritting of teeth. and such cursing
as might stop the run OF sap In every tree along
Samson Juff had a cabin two or three miles
from where Reuben Pettibone put up his camp
aha. WIZ Witb a ie eu@be pec OF otb aequba nnts}s r' snd
when they learned who he was their chins fell.
"'Heuben PettiboneE my remarkable father
Slippery Abner's sands O. life is runnin their
last grains out now boysl We mowt as well
But they didn't, and they told my remarka.
bic father something moro about, the bear and
the hunters in regard to slippery ADner. Eager
as they all were 10 bring him down. IL one hunt
sr got On the irSil Of the bear no other hunter
less requested to by the original discoverer, of
the trail. the idea, being that the one who
started first should have all the honor and profit
OF bagging Slippery Abner IL he could. This
was IL well understood and sacred rule with the
hunters OF the Sinnemahone headwaters, and
none OF them would have thought Of breaking it
any sooner than, he would have thought of
burning s a fellow \ d hunters +, cabin. ,rr ~. bum.
tiers told Reuben Pettibone. Samson d do 1t in
well. my remarkable father invited all the
hunters to go with him after Slippery Abner,
and a gladder set of men never slugged a deer,
able father used to say, and that made me
happy, The hunters Won't be ehegrined ef:
ter m all to see ne Ea 1 + that ata bear fb ins, b shSTgh p
have the privilege
so one day my remarkable father and some
looked the lay OF the land all over, and then said
Come this way. boys. Wen strike Slippery
Abner's, track beyond that clump of trees
There was q f%our-inch fall Of fresh snow;
trees, and there. fresh in The snow. leading
away from tho trees. was the track Of a bear,
the immense size Of which loft no doubt in any
mind that IT was the footprints OF slippery Alb
ncr. They followed the trail two miles. and just
as II led into a thicket one Of the party looked
the b ar nor its trail .w -.
"'Slippery Abner!' one OF the hunters shouted
BACK, Ana We Ve got the lead on II, 1901
samson grum oled out something and disap
peared in the woods. My remarkable father led
the chase an hour or more, but they never got
us much as n sight Of the bear. The track kept
on going, and by and by 1t 10 1 into open country
toward Samson Juff's cabin. This made thu
hunters uneasy. and even Reuben Petit
bone had misgivings that he might be
foiled, remarkable as he was, and wh,n the
trail took them within three feet of Samson's
door. ami the bear tracks went no further, the
in tho face of a gale. and they howlrd and
cursed and sworc vengeance against Samson
Juff. The bear tracks went no further tn II the
cabin. but from the cabin the footprints of two
men. walking side by side, led away toward the
settlement, three miles away.
THAT Internal Samson Juf has. Robbled
slippery Abner!' the hunters howled. III
went an cut back to his cabin after seein' us
an, the bear happenin' to come along this way
he's pinged it. an him an his brother Joe I:
Jest as well quit!
And every man OF EN- swore he'd shoot thai
miserable cur Samson Juff tho minute he SCI
eyes on him. They were still vowing loud ant
bloody vengeance. whom who should come or
tho scene put Samson himself. Instantly half 4
dozen guns were covering him, and II my re
markablc father hadn't been there that would
have be, n the end of Samson jun.
"sHnIlN priaI R.,Ihan Dnttthnna sInt III.