The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-02-18
,pOSSUM SKETCHES
Zeb White, He Tells Another Inter-
PstinQ Rear Story

Folks jest look upon bar as bar
said Zeb White, the 'possum hunter of
Tennessee, one evening as we roasted
chestnuts in the kitchen fireplace, but
that's W har they make mistake bar
is more n a bar He knows heap mOre'n
half the folks walkin' around on these yere
Cumberland Mountings.''
whats the story?' / asked, knowing
he had one to tell.
'.wall it's about bar what used to
hang around my cabin yere soon after
the wah. lie was big feller 1 seed
him one evenin' up the road a bit, and
he looked as big as a two-y 'ar-old steer.
He was the fust bar / had seen for Vars,
and OF co'se | was all up on eand to kill
him. That same evenin' / sot on the door
step, smokin' my pipe alongside the old
woman, W hen the pesky bar walked right
out into the open within ten feet or US. He
looked at us, a nd we looked at him. 1t was
five mnits befO' hitched back to git my
gun, and when / cum out with it he had
gone. The old woman sot thar lookin'
powerful solemn, and when / cum out she
SEE to me:
'.Zeb White, yo' jest let that yere bar
alonel Don't hunt fur hirn, and don't shoot
him if he Gums back
'''Whats the matter?' SEE /.
~ don't like mis- ways. While yo' was
arter yo'r gun he sot up, same as human
bein'. Looks TO me like it was the speerit
of a dead man passed into a b. ar
'Shool whoever heard of sich thing?'
a. But it's so. Member Joe Robinson,
who was killed doorin' the wah? Wall,
that bar minded me of him, and Joe
Robinson was full o. tricks. pIu a-tellin'
of yo', Zeb White, to let that varmint alone
or YOU cum to grief
Her words SORT o skeered me-" said the
old man, ''and put up the gun and didn't
go out was feein' better next ma wnin',
and AFTER breakfas5 / shouldered my gun
and star0edoff. / wentoff up the mounting
to beat up the laurel thickets, and it was
about 'leyen O'Clock when stumbled over
a root and pitched head first. / wasn't
much hurt, bu5 broke my rife, AMI /
set down on a stone 10 tinker it up. | was
workin' way wIs1 M 20 down wnen
heard sniff, AMI looked up to see that
pesky bar a-standin' befo' me. Bein' as
the ole woman ia said ne looked like Joe
Robinson, looked at him powerfully clus. "
And did her, | asked.
"suah's yo'r bon he did. sab. Yes
sab, any man as had ever XII owed Joe
Robinson would say that his speerit has
passed into that bar. 1t was most the
same as a pl otOeTaph. He lad wink
10 one eye, a grin on his face, and his
lower lip hung down, and il was jest
like seem Joe Robinson hisself once
mo-"
And so you lit out?''
NO. sab | didn't. wanted to, but
the mint / riz up that bar knowed what
/ was arter and waitzed up TO me and
to TX hold for wrassle used 10 wraSsle
with zoe and down him every time, tut
ne was different now as a bar. He laid
me plumb on my back in 10 time / got
up AMI tried it asin. but II was dead easy
fur him Why, / was just piaything
fur him He thTowed me down so easy that
got mad and yells at him.
Joe Robinson, I'm KNOWN who you
ar. even il yo' ar a bar. Yo' Kin
throw me down, cause yo' got claws on
yo'r feet To stick into me, but / believe
/ kin whop yo' the same as did one day
befo' yo' was killed"
That's what / said remarked the
old man, but was made TO wish hadn't.
dance around, and purity soon he gin lie
whack on the ear which knocked me ten
feet | got up and went fur him. but he
knocked me Jest as far the OF her way. Then
got whoppin mad, and sailed in They
used to say that | was good fur any two
men around we're. but lickin' a bar and
hckfn' two men is heap different. At
least, it was so with that bar. ] never
got in on INN a tall He jest cuffed
me this way and that, and hiIne by he
fetched me a whack which took all the
fight outer me, and left me as limp as a
rag
II was licked man. but knowedit and
was ready TO give up, but that bar wasn't
winn'. lie remembered the whoppin 1
gin him when he was Joe Robinson and he
kept on cuffin' me till / tainted dead
away. When cum to my senseshe sctthar
GRIMM and chucklin' and as soon as l
lifted a hand he cuffed me. 70 kin see
how he tore my ears and neck and scalp,
and I've got heaps Of claw marks on my
shoulders / knowed what he was arter
He wanted me to boiler fur mercy, same as
I made Joe holler, but l jest wouldn't do
1t fur two long hours 1 called him names
and fit back, and held out till l seen
he was bound to kill me.
And then you gave in" ! asked.
"Then l had to give in, and, drat his
pesky hide. if haven't bin ashamed of it
every hour since! jest begged his pardon
and told him was licked man andasked
him to let up. and he cuffed ME twice fur
luck and went off,
'Andddn't you ever see TIE bear again?'
''Never, sab. He was speerit bar and
he Jest disappeared and was never seen
again. | crawled home and was in bed fur
two weeks, and, though I'm still huntin'
fur that bar, don't reckon III ever find
him. 1t was Joe Robinson's speerit in him,
yo' Sec When Joe got even fur that whop-
pin gin him he was satisfied to lie in his
grave forever mo-, and so the bar anished
off tile airth. Yes, sab; vanished off the
airth, andI was licked man"