The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-26
REUBEN PETITIONERS COON
THE DETlsTATING CHASE IT LED
HIM OYER ACRES.

or NNoodn, It Turned Out 90 Ne No Coon At
All. but the Last Panther In the sinue-
mahone R~eEion-aow Hs Got the Coon. Tee.
ROULETTE, Pa, Sept. 25.-"You'd hardly
believe. now" said the man from over Sinne-
mahoning way, from all you've heard me say
from time to time about the astutcness OF my
remarkable father, Reuben Pettibone, that he
actually permitted himself to DO made an idiot
Of once; went right in with hts eyes open and
was made u fool of Positively He told me
80 himself. Admitted II, up ana up, like the
remarkable man he was.
Why, Praxitelcs,' no said, 1t was an occa-
sion on which / had ono OF the most inspiring
coon hunts that ever was; earned a lot Of money
by clearing tho timber of n two.acro lot, and
killed the last panther that ever screochcd on
the whole Sinncmahone spread, hut, in spite Of
all that, l was made an idiot of-almost q driv-
cling idiot
" Father, said I. howl
"For l was amazed TO hear 1t, and, between
us here, quito incrcdulous. The idea of my rc.
markablc father having been made a fool of
That's the way : couldn't help looking at II,
but he told mo the facts, and I had to acknowl-
edge that it was too true. He had been made
a fool Of. He certainly had.
About that panther, rs he went on'and told
me. Zenc Cowlcy, who thought nothing Of
catching panthers alive in the woods and tying
them up. rs he might hopple n colt, and had
done it more than once, was just about crazy
to get it, and laid all sorts of plans to meet 1t,
but 1t was too smart for him. Your own Roy
Lyman, here on this side the mountain, who
had an offer standing Of 500 to any one
who'd show him even the track OF that pam
Their, or any other panther, travelled night and
day to get n crack at that old chan. but never
could get around where no WAS. Noah Par
ker at the big salt lick. who, when he first
came into the Sinncmahono country, saw
f%orty-two elk and a hundred and thirteen deer
stamping around in the lick over yondcr. and
nineteen panthers watching EN- from the sur
rounding trees. couldn't sleep o nights for try
ing to think how he might be the ono to kill
that last panther, but somehow he couldn't
think up the way. Fact Of the matter was.
the whole country was up in
arms to slay this last panther, but the last pan.
Their lay low and wouldn't let EN-.
4 didn't make any holy show of myself
said my remarkable father, 'rummaging
around after this last panther. for l didn't be-
1--we there was any last panther to be rum
mayed after, because | had an idea that the
last Sinnemahone panther had been killed Ave
years before, and that l had killed 1t way up
on the headwaters.'
Then folks wanted to know what was
making all that screeching and bowling and
squawking in the woods, II it wasn't a pan.
Their, and my remarkable father simply said:
" 'Hedgeh, gs!'
You may smoker, Mackinaw," said the
man from Sinnemahoning way TO the man in
the red. green, blue, yellow. pink. and purple
Mackinaw jacket, who certainly did smoker.
you don't know, no more than folks over on
the Sinnemahone did, not till my remarkable
father told EN-, that a couple OF he hedgehogs.
long about that time o year. when they get to
Ruhtipy on m old 1nr IN ,,,aka ~ much ~ N
scalp-raising hooray as a dozen O. you Allie
gheny log choppers ever could on the choicest
article of pig's.car rum-and p%anthers. wild and
rampaginous, would have TO hump themselves
TO get up to a chorus like that, and well you
lnow it, SO | don't blame you for snickering.
Reuben Pettibone said hedgehogs. and he
meant It. Folks over there snickered at first,
but they got easy in their minds, just the same.
Reuben Pettibone had spoken. The yells and
the shrieks came from the woods nightly. but
Sinnemahoning folks didn't, worry any more.
Hedgehogs, 30 Reuben Pettibone had said. and
there wasn't any harm in hedgchogs.
"A settler down there, with more work on his
hands than he could do. had been at father Q
long time wanting him to clear the timber OF
cornfeid. but father Could never fnd time to do
it. deer being tolerable thick and bear turning
out a fair crop a.onE IN those days; The
on the lot. and that was big wages. for there
wasn't more than a wcek's work on il. My re-
dIlEhdUlt IdtltI wac ol Az polhN VI aAiuk III
job, about corn husking time, but just then a
tremendous big coon that had beer, Fostering
turned up again, and got SO impudent and az.
gravating that father let the Job 60.
timber he used to say. and let that coon lay
back and sass me. so | let the job go. and laid
myself out to either get that room or hand my
spread of waters for good and all.
Reuben Pc;tibone had a dog that I sup
pose. from what he used to say ABOUT 1t, must
have been the sniartcst coon dog that ever
barked up a tree or snored In the sun on q back
nav. but there never was a dog, l don't care
II he was as smart as solomon. that ever
more a dog tackles a hedgehog and gets the
worst of it, the more he is bound to pitch into
the very next one he sees.
For a dog that knew as much as that dog
Ephraim of mine, my remarkable father used
to say, he was the biggest fool when it came
time / was going out 70 try myself on that
cunning old coon again, the dog came in from
up in a big chestnut burr. 1t was stuck full
OF hedgehog quilts from the sno"t clear back
Father looked at the dog a minute or SO,
and then addressed him some words OF wisdom,
" 'Ephraim. said he; maybe you don't know
1t. but il some other dog only did know 1t and
would take time, by the ,forelock right away
Ing fun with you. he could. do something tina,
the dog family, has been trying to do ever since
any nearer to doing It than il was when il
first started in, and that's to lick a hedgehogi
for from the looks or you, Ephraim, there
can't he any moro quilts left on that hedgehog
Of yours than there are pin feathers on a cat,
fish. So the dog that can tackle him right
away, before he gets time to grow another
stock, can get away with him as easy ~ II he
was a blind rabbit
But Ephraim didn't seem to caro- an iota
about what a favor he had, been doing for
but SMILED and how!od and wanted the Guiils
yanked out OF his shout, 50 my remarkable
father turned him over to mother, who could
beat any woman on the Siinnenahone pick ing
geese, told her to try herself on ~plnckina
Ephraim OF hedgehog quilts. and went out ard
borrowed another dog. The borrowed dog was
the best one Reuben Pettibone could get. hui
he wasn't much IN coons. Father used to say
to his dying LAY that 1t seemed TO him that II
was lucky fol- him that the dog wasn't good on
cOons.
~ got more done, father used to say, than
il I'd had Ephraim with me-
1T was a nice moonlight night when Reuben
PsttibOne and the borrowed dog started Out
after the coon. but before they got over on the
hill where father expected to start the coon II
,louded up and got darker than he had ever seer
a moonlight night get before. He met the