The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-12-16

Ing lnVunerability to anything In the
 shape of lead backed by powder. There
 have been recorded no fewer than fifty
 fair shots at him, but as far as is
 known, blood was never drawn from
 him until Peter Preo's axe struck him
 Lead enough had been wasted upon him
 to supply South American revolution
 It is not known exactly where Iron
 hide grew to maturity. but it was all of
 five years ago when he made his debut
 in this region, appearing in the last days of August in the garden patch of | Erastus Libby, who lives on the shore of
 Pattens Pond In Surrey. He trampled
 down the grain, broke over all the corn, nibbled at the cabbages, cleaned out
 the celery and knocked off all the choice
 apples by rubbing his body against the
 trees. Libby did not dare to shoot him, for game warden lived on the next
 farm so he set Bunjo on him. Bunjo
 was the best coon dog in Surrey. The
 deer came down upon him with all four feet. Bunjo went under the barn and , did not come out again that fall. Libby
 gritted his teeth and sWore that the
 midnight chimes which marked the dy-
 ing hour of close time would be the
 death knell of that deer, but about two
 days before that time the big buck em-
 igrated over toward Toddy Pond. l Increase Ireland was looking for | ducks on the upper end of Toddy Pond | in that year when he saw curious sight. It was big buck deer walloW- ing and rolling in "The Honey Pot" The southeastern part of Hancock county abounds in disintegrated rock, peculiar mineral formation originally
 in the shape of big boulders, but when
 exposed, as by the clearing of forests, gradually crumbilng to powder. Thus
 it is that farmer securing what ap-
 pears to be fine solid boulder for his stone wall, finds in a year or two that his wall is in need of repairs. The hon. ey pot was originally the site of big boulder of this formation. Many rises and falls of the spring ice had uncov- cred it to the action of the sun and rain and it had dissolved, forming with the sticky. heavy clay of the marsh bottom a peculiar mortar like substance known as honey. This substance when taken from beneath the surface of the water will dry in short time and form an al- most admantine covering. It might be put to practical use were 1t not almost impossible to get at the deposit, so far removed is it from road.
 It was in this mineral bog that Ire land saw the big buck The hunter had nothing but a fowlng piece and so con tented himself with watching the crea- ture, The deer seemed to be enjoying himself, but working with purpose to get himself as thoroughly covered as possible. Ireland left him standing upon the shore drying himself in the sun. The next day he took his rifle and padded up to the Honey pot. The deer was there, but loped off leisurely. Ire-' land is no mean shot and reckons that he lad perfect bead on the muddy buck, but he must have missed, for the deer kept right on, up over the hill. The deer was seen and fired at by sev- eral other men that same season, but no one started a hair. All reported that the deer was still covered with mud and before the end of the season half the hunters In the region were after the muddy buck.
 The next season he was seen only once. Three years ago he was again in his old haunts around the honey pot at | the first of the season. ]. c. Dillaway I and Austin Cabot business men from | Boston and all round hunters. were at | Craige's Pond, hidden by the side of the | famous runway between the hills and | waiting for their guides to drive in some deer.- They heard slight rustic above ! them and there, standing clearly out | lined against the sky was magnificent 1 buck. The men are good shots and the range was not more than six hundred | yards. They fired simultaneously. The buck started, looked around as if to see where the noise came from and then bounded away just as two fine, fat does that had come down the runway, turned tail and scurried. The hunters were dumbfounded and when Bill Enslow, the guide, came back they told him r about their bad shots.
 "Wuz that ere all kinder muddy ike?" he asked.
 Cabot was quite sure that there was off color about the deer's coat.
 That wuz or Ironhide," said the guide. You couldn't kill him unless yc ,hucked dynamite down his throat, Wy that buck has cost the hunters of his kentry nigh on to four hundred dol ars in am'nition. Can't no one shoot i'm. He's got charmed life Ironlide las."
 There are no two better shots In Maine than Ben Barstow and Bill Ap- ,lebee of Dedham, and there never were wo more surprised hunters than they ,n one November morning two years lgo. They were camping on the shore if Hat Case pond. Ben was getting ,reakfast and Jim, who had gone down o the shore for water, came stealing ,ack and reached for his rifle. Ben leeded no better hint and the two tealthily crept down the shore path. i'm crouched behind big boulder and autiously peared over the top, notion ug Ben to do likewise There, not one undred yards from them was the fa- nous big buck quietly drinking his fill. t was Ironhde no doubt. There were is sides all muddy or plastered with ome greyish substance, broadside to hem. As deliberately as if firing at arget the men levelled their rifles over he boulder and fired. The bullets and harges behind them should have been ood to kill an elephant at thatrange he buck staggered, shook his head nd bounded off, leaving not drop of food upon the white sand of the shore. { his is what Ben and Jim say at any ,,