The Portland daily press., 1898-01-18
JOCh DARAING.
A Hunter, Guide, and Outlaw, Who
Long Ruled the Forest.

Stories Atont Him Recalled by His DeSth
HI. MnawIedge of Ayoadors::> ao7.
.rs Killed - Moose With a Peskn!fe-A
3onz Conte1t With Tho Law In Which
II. lyas Beaten.
IN. Y. SUM-
I.oweI. Me, Jan. 11.-No hunter in
America had a wider circle of acquain-
sance. than ''Uncle Jock" Darling, who
died here IN his big farmhouse early this
month He was known and referred to
rs an authority upon woodcraft by people
~ siI pats of the country for fully half
3. century. Some liked him, almost wor-
shipnee him, on account of his skill with
the rife and paddle and his knowledge OF
.t.aiEnals and their habits. Others spoke
III OF him because he killed all kinds OF
Zig game In season ard out of season, re-
.ardless of law, and valiantly defended
Ais conduct by saying that it WAS better
shnt every deer in the world should perish
than that one human being should
euffer from hanger. But whether he WAS
liked or hated, he always ruled the Maine
woods, like al outlaw chief, commanding
IA degree Of respect from his admirers that
Kept tho gains wardens in awe and caused
them to intimate to the Sheriffs that they
had better let Uncle Jock alone. Though
ne never professed any particular liking
for the Indians, believing. Us he did,
that an Indian could do nothing Sc we'll
as white man, the braves OF all the
Eastern tribes looked to him as sage or
sachem, and his words were far more po-
tent with them than those of any legally
choseu chief The guides. knowing his
great skill, went to him for advice; the
far-baok squatters. relying upon him for
many favors, kept the best beds and the
best food in their cabins in readiness
against the time which he came around,
and the smugglers andEoutlaws who In
tested the Canada and New Brunswick
borders were willing to fight and die for
him. For more than half century he
held complete sway in the Maine woods,
and though he was convicted of poaching
and suspected of smuggling, nobody has
ever accused him of betraying friend OF
foe.
1t was saying of Jocks that he be-
lieved that the first toy which his parents
gave him in childhood was a shotgun.
When he was II years old he kept the
family supplied with cartridges. shooting
them with an old flint lock kings arms
inusket that weighed more than ten
pounds. The autumn before he was II
years old he was out for cartridges one
day, and met his first moose, a good-siZed
BULL which charged upon him from the
further side of clearing, compel ling
him to climb to the top of a sapling pine.
AS the limbs of the tree were broad, Jock
was able to pull up his musket before the
moose arrived Then while the mad ami
mail butted the tree, scraping off limbs
and bark with his antlers, Jock sat on
an upper branch and blazed away at his
foe. 1t took long time to load flint
lock gun, and when he had fired twice
without doing any apparent charm, Jock
saw he must resort to desperate meas
ures If he wanted to save his life. He
carried in his pocket a small knife, called
in those days penknife, because it was
intended for making and mending the
gcose-quill pens used in writing. Having
charged his gun with powder and
rammed the wadding well down, he
wound paper around the knife until it
fitted tightly in the gun barrel and
forced it down with the ramrod. Then
waiting until the moose was side to, he
aimed for the animals neck. He severed
the spinal column just back OF its ant
lers. Jock always said that he believed
he was the only person in the world who
had ever killed a moose with penknife.
When he was about 80 years old, Jock,
having made some money from working
in the woods, bought large tract OF
land, including lots Nos. SO and 20 in
northern Hancock county. Il was well
clad with big timber. most of which
grew close TO the shores of Nicatous
Lake, one of the largest bodies of water
ease of the Penobscot River. After cut
ting lot of logs and running them down
the lake Jock found that the Nieatous
stream from the foot of the lake to its
junction with the Passadumkeag River
86e tU -TdplQ ctuu phoo "a" ios SouAu
get through without breaking.
For two years after this he spent his
time in building roads around the rapids,
hut the cost Of teams made the work I'M
profitable. SO no went into partnership
with some men having money and under
took to build sluice from the foot OF
Lake Nicatous to below the rapids The
lake was damned, and more than
10, 0oO, 00O feet of pine timber was brought
down and squared up with broadaxes.
The timbers composing the sluiee were
ten inches square. The sluice itself was
four feet deep, eight feet wide, and a
mile and half long, and though it was
not wholly water tight, the leakage was
SO small that the logs hoated through in
safety. 1t was one thing to build a great
log-driving channel and another to keep
it in repair When winter came the
sluice filed up with snow and ice, which
froze andsshawed, throwing she timber:
wider apart every year, until the water
leaked out before it was half way down
the hill. The proprieters patched 1t and
patched it, but the more money they put
out the worse It leaked, and soon after the
war began the great work, which had
cost more than $50, 600 WAS abandoned
By this time the hide hunters and crust
hunters had killed off So much CT the bic
game IL the State that the Legislature
passed laws for It's protection, and JOCK
Hy7rx 30