Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1902-08-07
TWO COON STORIES.

lAu was vi FA-t- hipAFf AaaAA 80 laON
lovely nature was and YET .oW seer. Ee
didn't tell me where 1t Wa IS &C lie was
driving along, and he cane - q Ian work
ing away in field Ike all po; c.std, with
q pick and shovel. Jim beLhtt. iays he
stopped and hollefed to the man.
Hello, neighborl Short a meat, ehY'
''The man quit digging and leaned on his
pick.
"'No,' iaid he, hollering back at Jim. I
dunno as I'm any way short o meat
Then Jim says he hollered back at the
m
Why, you're digging to get ground
b. 3 out, amt your
The man hollered back at Jim:
"'No, | amt diggin' to git grounding
out. I'm diggin' to get coon in
Digging to get coon in" he says he
foered. Why, that's kind O. queer,
amt itY
Maybe it IN and maybe X hain't,' the
man hOllered back at jim. That's accord
ia to how folks lookout it,
&" But where's the coon,'
"'Come over here and III tell you,' the
man holered back at Jim.
80 Jim says he tied his hor,o to the
lNNAt hHh NtDA bFtI INTO hht ltIu inc
man was. The man leaned on his pick
and looked at Jim awhile and then said;
4" The coon is dead!'
Jim Bennett says this gave him a real
start, because he thought he was face TO
lace with crazy man; but he stood his
ground and the man said:
I'm digging his gravel
Then the man proceeded with his talk,
and Jim says it wasn't long before he found
that the man wasn't crazy, not by Jug
full, but was simply kind and obseryant
citizen relating strange facts.
YES, sir. the man said to Jim Bennett,
according to what Jim tells me, he was a
coon among 'coons, and I'm going to
plant him here because he was 80 all-per
vadn' smart that be deserves to have a
grayestone. He made one sad mistake
to he sure. | didn't want him to go out
after the ohestnuts The boys was to blame
for his goin' And III lick old Jim Carter
till be can't see first time | run ag'in him.
MY boys is full Of &C ion and vim, and
they move around this district consider bic
getherin apples and chestnuts and sech,
like boys with vim generly does. Jim
Carter kas got chestnut tree on his place,
] lHln uA4iff NHhh bAAAH AZ N4At hiNts hhbW
Of, and my boys always gifts a hankerin
after that tree long about this time O.
year, but Jim Carter keeps his eye onto it
outrageous close, and my boys have got to
put up with good deal of hotherin' by
him II they let their hankerin' for that tree
git the best Of 'em.
I've got a spy glass at home, a ,lammin'
good one. jim Carter he lives a mile from
that chestnut tree O. his'n, but he keeps
comm toward it every chance he gets to
see il it's bein' tampered with; so what
does my boys do but take TO luggin that
spy glass with 'em and sweepin' the coun-
try with it, so If Jim is comm from any
direction they kin see him long before he
gifts within any sort O. sight o. them, and
kin keep on getherin' chestnuts till he
gifts too close for il to be safe for 'em.
This mornin' that coon o mine, after
he had rocked the baby to sleep and fed
the chickens and the pigs, so Jim Bennett
tells me tho man ,aid, took down that
spy glass and started out. Now, didn't
know thi, then, or I'd a found out more
about il, and either stopped the coon or
give him some p'ints. But know innow.
" lie took that spy glass cause he had
been with the boys durin' one or two Of
their hankerin' trips, and went over to Jim
Carters tree ehestnuttin'. He ehestnutted
aud chestnutted, sweepin the country
every now and then with the spy glass to
keep track o jim.
" lie seen Jim by and by comm toward
the tree. But that coon kept on chest
nuttin' lie kept on chestnuttin so un-
fortunate long that Jim Carter got there
and loaded him with a half dozen buck
shot and the coon came out of tho tree
dead
lie has made a sad mistake, smart as
he was lie had bccu sweepin' the country
through the big end O. the spy glass OF
course, that made Jim Carter look more
than a mile away when be wasn't 80 yards
from the tree, and-well this Is taat 'coon's
grave aud I'm goln' 10 plant him IN H..
Jim Bennett says that was more than
ae ever learned about 'coons before, and
he was Cad h., had stopped and talked to
the man Jim drove along aud by and by,
he say, he came to nice. smart little
village. where everything looked prosper
Gus and pleasing, except one tall. stoop-
shoullered, neglected looking man who
was going down the street with a ysller
dog at al, heels. Jim gazed after the man
kind o plying, he says and another citizen,
a spruce, jolly appearing individual said TO
him:
That, Sam Fleming And a real de
cent. good actin citizen he would be, too,
IT it wasn't for that one bad failin' O. his'n.
He hunts 'coons.
Jim Bennett says he couldn't cay
word
" Every night Sam and that yaler dog o.
his'n is out huntin' 'eoons, Jim says this
citizen said. sorrowful as could be And
he skins EN-, and nails them skins to his
barn door till you'd think he was runnin'
lanyard And he eats them 'coons
" jest think Of 1t! Now, We all like sam,
and we've been dom all sorts o. things
q try and shame him out o. that iaihu' o
hls'n, but we cant seem to do II. Now,
Il he'd only lit somebody's chickens OF
steal sheep. We mowt do sUmethin' for
him. Then We could take him up and
send HIM some'rs where they'd keep him
out o harms way
" There's one more thing we're goin' 70
try. Ii that don't shame hun into reform.
in, then he'll have to move some'rs else.
He'll have to moVe,'
Jim Bennett says be asked the man
what they intended to do To Sam Fleming
next.
What he we goin' TO do 10 himN said
the man Why sir, we're actuly goin to
elect him to the legislator
"Waeu Jim Bennett told ne that. Was
surprised and said,
"'Why, Jim. how could that be, Men
strain and struugle and huN tSincs q. .gt
elected to the legislature, and folks look
NJ to en-
YES, sad jim Some places they DO,
| know But this was the Pennsylvania
legislature
And that's how come to find out what
part OF the country Jim had been ON his
trip IN, AnG very likely he learned whole
lot more about 'coous, but that Is all he
told me N Y sun.
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