Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-04-07
SEEMED LIKE MURDER
10 the Drummer When He First Saw Deer
Killed.

H' ulu -ual SiShl 81 Inc dt cr swim
ming down the kcnncbcc ana waIkina.
in the streets VI the city. has caused
no end Of talk in Augusta. ana at one
Of the hotels last evening crowd
Of drummcrs were talking over the
event. Many Of the men had been in
the Maine woods after deer and We're
telling with enlargements 50 slight
that it kept the Recording Angel
guessing whether or not hc should be
gin T. write. Of their experiences at
the hunting grounds.
When the drummer who attracted
more attention than any one else had
finished his wonderful tales the man
with a frame large enough to be a
butcher and who might be looked On
as the most courageous man in the
company. told his experience. after
knocking off the ash from the tip of
his cigar. Boys" h. said, sometimes
the feeling may come over you that
you would like To go and hunt deer
and. if il does. try and argue with
yourself against il. There is not
money enough in the world to induce
me TO 90 again. l Ike the woods. and
if | could 90 up there some time when
the shooting season is not on with a
camera and a shotgun to kill a few
partridges, | would like to go with my
wife and some boys and girls. but to
go off again with a gang Of men who
walk all day and play poker all night
you must excuse me. Say, We might
as well have been in the Philippines
as far as danger was concerned. for
there was constant firing and skirm-
ishing. ana more than dozen bull
lets Went through the lumber shack
we We're occupying.
When we arrived al the station we
had to drive twenty miles in a lumber
wagon, and do you think those muir
derers would wait till morning before
starting? Not on your life.
They hooked up at 12:30 in the
morning and drove over a logging road
until . o'clock. with nothing to eat
but pan of beans. Work, We
worked harder than | ever did in my
life. ana the second day the law was
off we We're ready to shoot. but before
we were ready l. Or 20 fellows from
Massachusetts camped mile Or two
up the river began banging right and
left into the wood. and bullets WhiStled
around us Only two of our fellows
went out at all. l did not shoot gun
the whole ten days, and. as l couldn't
play poker. had n lovely time. y
mans life was not safe for a minute.
Those fellows shoot if they see Il leaf
move. and run to see if they have kill
"a deer. If they find they have shot
4 man they will not stay by the
wounded man ana try to save his life,
hut go off and leave him to die alone,
for fear they would be arrested oh.
the horror of it all is something | can
not describe. Porcupines ate my boots.
and something ate one leg off my
trousers There were two pirates in
our party who wanted blood and on ,
day we heard them shoot down near
camp. and finally they yelled for me
to come down with a lantern.
1T was just dusk, and | said my
prayers and took lantern and
started. When I got there they had
found a wounded doe they had shot
and one of the butchers was about
To cut her throat. | wanted to go
away, as she tried to raise up and she
bleated so pitifully that the tears
came to my eyes. but / did not want
to be considered a baby 50 | stayed
to see it out.
The doe seemed to think I was the
only one in the party that had any
heart. and she looked up at me with
the most beautiful eyes | ever saw.
except the eyes of the girl | love. and
there were tears in her eyes, if | know
tears when | see them. One of my
friends put his knee on the neck of
that beautiful creature, and held it
down. and took a knife and placed the
point on her beautiful throat. as a
murderer might on the throat of the
most beautiful woman you could ever
see, and there was a cut in the flesh,
the blue blood came out in torrents.
the body heaved. the deer cried. and
the life blood went out and l felt as
though | had stood at the deathbed of
a beautiful child, and watched the last
heaving of the bosom as the last
breath came from sigh almost hu-
man.
Il wanted to go away and cry, but
those heathens would never have let
me hear the last of it, so l stayed, but
50 help me heaven l did nothing bu.
carry the lantern. and l hated those
fellows who dragged that beautiful
creature up to camp. They We're COW
cred with blood. and seemed to glory