The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-01-11
follow, and repeated proddings with
lonor ,,o1e foilad RI dic1odoa If

a long pole failed to dislodge it.
= Nothing daunted Simonds got down
On his hands. and knees and entered
the cave. Once inside he could hear
the bear snifling-and smell it as
well-but he could see nothing, SO
great was the contrast from the outer,
covered ground. Thinking that
ne might feel the bear he procured
his pole and probed the darkness with
it until he had located the body of
the animal. Then he placed his rifle
barrel pasallel with the pole and fired.
It was Yankee expedient, but an
swered its purpose, for the shot prov
ed Immediately fatal.
Simonds was magnificent marks
man, and stories are current illustra-
ting his skill with the rifle. He once
shot four partridges with a single rife
isnllet and also killed two partridges
Win a pistol. For a long time he
hunted game exclusively with an old
fashioned horse pistol. The pistol
| had a I4-inch barrel and shot half
ounce bullet, and as it was finely
sighted, Simonds was able to do
very effective work with it.
While hunting on the Schroon
River Branch previous to the war he
killed six deer at one time with this
pistol without moving from his tracks.
The deer were on a burnt hill, grown
up with wild raspberry bushes, feed
ing on the tender sprouts and leaves.
Simonds crawled up back of fallen
spruce and shot the nearest deer, and
then the other five in succession,
dropping down back of the tree each
time to load. If tie feat had been
accomplished with a repeating rifle il
would have been remarkable enough,
for as every hunter knows deer are
the quickest to start of any of the
large game animals, but with a muz-
zle loading pistol only coolness and
skill in preeninent degree could
have accomplished it.
Simonds spent good part of his
time in the sos hunting for the New
York market. During this period ne
supplied great many tons of venison
to Bennett & Brokaw and other conf
mission houses. At one time he made
a single shipment of Io2 deer saddles,
weighing more than two tons, to the
above mentioned firm.
Most of the deer were killed hound
ing. With Sam Dunning he killed
twelve in one day, and in company
with hunter named Draper he kill
ed seventeen in the same period. La
ter in life he became opposed to
bounding and his own experience
furnished unanswerable arguments
against the use of dogs.
His first panther was killed at Am
persand Pond in 1850, and it is an
interesting coincidence to note that it
is in this locality that one of the last,
if not the very last, Adirondack pan
theirs was seen very recently by State
Icrcster McClintock.
At Moose Pond near North Elba
he once captured female panther
that gave birth to two cubs while in
the trap. Simonds sent one of these
cubs to the late Spencer F. Baird,
and it may now be seen in the Smith
sonian Institution in Washington.
Curiously enough, this cub is spotted
like leopard.
Simonds once shot a silver gray
fox, and when he was boy he trap
/ ped a black fox. Within the last
two years he saw on several occasions
another black fox in the neighbor-
hood OF his home. This latter fox,
however, is still at large, despite the
fact that it carries on its back fur val
ued at more than 500.
Simonds was contemporary with
the historic hunters of the Adiron-
dacks and we'll acquainted with such
men as John Cheney, Bartlett, the
elder Moody, Tone Snyder and Mitch
ell Sebatus. One of his brothers was
instrumental in making Elizabeth
town a popular summer resort, hav-
ing built the two principal summer
hotels.
Simonds had a peculiarly nervous
complaint at the last, produced, SC
his neighbors affirmed, as a result oi
constantly handling strychnine, which
he used to poison foxes. The old
man denied the allegation, and, as he
was very careful with the manipula-
ton of the poison, it is likely that
his sickness resulted from some other
cause.
A year ago one of Simonds' thumbs
was torn off by becoming entangled
in the cord by which he was leading
a COW, and though the wound quick
ly healed the accident no doubt had
its effect. His constitution was SC
strong that many persons expected
him to live another decade.
When trapping bears Simonds al
times secured old, useless horses, and
loading his traps on their backs drove
them off to some runaway and shot
them, setting the trap and leaving
the carcass as bear bait. He had nc
sons, but one of his daughters fire.
quently accompanied him on his hunt
ing trips, and to this young lady be.
longs the unique distinction of killing
bear with rifle.