Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-08-07

shanty two miles further along, where
some drillers were putting down we'll.
He ted the story OF
THE PEDDLER'S FATE.
Mighty lucky for me that the rat
tier wasn't there when l stuck my
head in the spring, wasn't it said
Dan, shuddering to think of it.
That snake was there, all right,
said one Of the drillers. I see you're
doctorng for bald head. There's
where your luck Genes in, young man.
Ii it hadn't been for the smell of that
bald head cure the peddler would have
been here how asking us to go back
and help plant you instead of you
doing that favor for him. Rattlesnakes
just squat and lay low when they get
Whit Of crude grease
And that was a fact, as the pioneer
oil men found out before they had
rCamed long about that wild region,
where rattlesnakes were as common as
flies. So Dan saved his life by trying
to make hair grow on his bald head
I! The driliers went back. dug 4 grave in
the woods, and buried the unfortunate
peddler They named the spring Dead
Mans Spring, and it is 50 called to this
day.
, The Oil Greek country was largely
an unbrCken wilderness when the first
operators went into it, and fierce wild
animals aDounded The panther still
lurked in the mountain Businesses. the
Canada lynx was by no means uncom-
| mon, and there were so many wildcats
that / have heard mny night made
hideous around the drilling camps by
their yells As for bears, they were so
common that after we got used things
out there we never thought it worth
while mentioning the fact that we had
met or scared up q bear in the woods.
Il had lively experience once
WITH A PANTHER
in that region. l was driving through
the woods over a road that had been
cut into new territory. The road
was SO bad that it was dark long be-
fore l got to the place where l was
going, and l began to feel uneasy. !
knew that some drillers were at work
in the woods somewhere along there
and l gave shout, thinking they
| might, hear me and take me into their
sfs1fty for the night. My shout was
| answered, as | supposed by man in
the distance. | repeated the call sew
eral times and was answered each time
the answer coming from nearer and
nearer. The last response to my call
was quite close, and then it struck me-
that the voice did not have much hui
man quality I didn't shout again, but
! the voice in the woods did, and then
! there was no mistaking it, A panther
| had been responding to my call, as is
the habit CT that ferocious and treach-
erous beast. and before | could think
! Of what was best for me to do. | saw
| the fiery eyes Of the animal glazing on
! the roadside not ten feet ahead of my
| horses, which began to snort and
! plunge. The next second the panther
! sprang and landed square on the
wagon tongue between the horses, and
there he crouched, his eyes blazing
/ straight at me. The horses tried tc
run, but the heavy road, full OF
stumps and roots, prevented them
! drawing the wagon at any great speed
In their plunging about, though, they
broke loose from the wagon, and away
! they went
THE PANTHER CHUNG
to the tongue, and never moved those
SidIiAS eyes from lie. MY nat and
clothing were saturated with crude
oil. from working about the pumps
| IL desperation l struck a match and
set fire to my hat, waving it and
yelling at the top OF my voice The
| fire lit up the scene. The panther
glared at the blaze, his long tail way
| ing to and fro, but it did not brighten
him. He jumped from the wagon
tongue, but crouched at the road side
still intent On me. Then l whipped
of my coat and set fire to that.
waved it, yelling like an Indian. Ac-
/ cording to all | had ever read about
panthers, this one should have in
stantly turned and rushed away in
terror, but he was evidently not one
Of the kind you read about, for in
stead Of fleeing in terror from the
blaze, he rose in one great bound
passed straight through the fire and
landed on my chest with his great fore
paws. Fortunately for me the burning
ccat chung TO the panther. That was
more than the fierce beast could stand
! aud with shrek of pain and baflied