Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-01-28
TWO IN A SINK HOLE
A KENTUCKY PRINTER NARRATEs A
THRILLING EXPERIENCE.

Pretty much every body in the crowd
had told story of the gun or dog or
iishpole except printer who looked
about rs much like hunter or fisher.
man as he did like an angel.
Its your turn now, Muggins," said
| the reporter.
| Il never hunted anything but board.
ing houses over in Brooklyn, be said,
with q wan and lodging kind Of air. as
if people threw things at him whenever
| he tried to tell IA story.
But before You came here il what
we want to know about" put in sew.
eral, land you've either got to tell a
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 l was hunted
instead of hunting. Before that / was
in New Orleans, where / only hunteds
| Job. Before that | was in ST. Paul
where ! was hunting warm place all
the time. Before that | lived ia Boston
| where it was too frigid to hunt, and b.
fore that, quite a long time before that
| lived in old Kentucky, and, gents,
did hunt there. Nothing but a coon
mebbe, on o fox or possuIn or as little
as a squirrel or only dove in the dusty
road but it was finer than anything On
| earth.
81 was only q boy, and perhaps that
| had something to 90 with it, but didn't
know any different then, like l 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
| had dog that was considerable Of
| hunting dog, but he was an unrestless
| kind of q cuss, and when nc freed any.
| thing he would do lot of barking a.
| first, but if somebody didn't come
| mighty quick he would give it up and
| 60 moseyiDg along after the next thing
| in sight. One night | was out with him
after coons, and about O'Clock heard
| him bark like he was over in a clump
of woods about half mile away
knew l was going to have to get to him
prettyquick if found him there at all,
and | started across "a field toward the
| woods as fast as | could 60 1t was
stubble field with sink holes like you
find all over Kentucky in the limestone
parts, and the place was dark, though
the mocn was just beginning to show
above tho woods. l 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 had tumbled into sink hole
They arc never very deep or dangerous,
and | WASH afraid of being fatally
hurt, bot it took the sand out Of NE
right quick, and went 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. 1t was
wild animal of some kind, didnt
know what, and | was scared till my
hair began to feel funny on my head.
"When l went down, | went hard,
and | kind Of knocked the wind out Of
the varmint at first, but in a second it
began to yowl and 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 squawklng
and trying to scare the blamed thing,
because thought it was wildcat, and
knew boy of my size didn't have
any show with wildcat if the varmlnt
ever toCk notion to fight, and knew
pretty we'll that wildcat was about as
sure to take q notion to fight as any
| thing on earth. | don't know exactly
what | did in that hole or how did IT.
but ! rcmembe it seemed about month
OF Sundays that | was all mussed up III
there with some kind of 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 1t
as quick as ! could, for ! became Drawer
when | saw it run, and when ] got up
on the level the moon had come out
and | could see tho varmint fairly sklh-
ming it cut for the tall timber. yellea
at it with all my might, though dldh
run after il very fast, and began TO can
my dog. On the second call the yarmlns
stopped. and began to get ready to SKIN
out myself, when | got better iooh,
and, by tho great horn spoon, gents ~
was my dog, ] called him then, ana he
came back to me, and / could see loi
myself that he lad holed something
down there in the sink. and his bafkins
| had been smothered and sounded away
Off to me- and of course when ! droppeu
il on bin unexpectedly like thar h'
! didn't know anything about it, ana nel'
| Their did J. and there we was. IN sn'
event, gentlemen. - concluded the iol
| mer CCrncracker, THAT dog come ttu''
| ting back TO me, aud when we met iaee