The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-10-16

and mink and otter All lue swamp
country OF southeast Missouri stiI
abounds in fur-bearing animals.
Besides my trapping and handle
making, ] usually try to preach ol
Sundays. My handle-making goes OF
all the year round, but trapping be
gins and ends with cold weather. Ma
ture never clothes an animal with goo'
fur except when it's absolutely needed
When l have accumulated q consid
cradle stock of furs and handles,
get somebody TO haul me and then
20 the river or 10 the railroad. ant
then run up TO st. Louis ana sell my
stock. I have been going 10 st. Louis
for years now, and the shops and FAC
tories that use my handles know they
can depend on them.
There's still some large game In the
swamps-deer and turkey and bear
and n good many panthers. | remem'
ber one time when big panther came
I'D out Of the swamps and terroriZed
n whole settlement for n few months
That brute caused as much trouble and
excitement as any four-legged thing
ever got acquainted with Because
he was so big and fierce we usually
called him the tiger-the swamp tiger.
1t happened a good many years ago,
when / was a boy, living with my uncle
OH a tongue OF land that ran out sew
eral miles into the swamps. The up
land was too rocky and the swamp
I'll % Ia
families that lived there were settled
along the edge of the ridge, and had
little farms between the two.
One day toward fall my aunt sent
me over 10 Simpsons to borrow some
bacon. ! was still going barefoot. and
had my trousers rolled nearly Up to
my knees, recollect i was seventeen
years old. and as big as / am now.
But everybody that felt like 1t went
barefoot there in warm weather, even
men eighty years old.
crossed the ridge to Simpsons, and
after talking with the boys till rather
late, borrowed q side OF bacon
middling, we called it-and started for
home, carrying il on my back. The
middling was long and wide. but thin
and rather light. Our gaunt, slab
sided swamp hogs never make thick
meat. The bacon had been hanging
in Simpsons smokehouse by two hlck-
ory wlthes, and / was carrying II by
the same wthes. one over each shoul'
der. There was n piece OF tow cloth
wrapped round it to keep 1t from
greasing my shirt.
Dusk caught me three-quarters OF q
mile from home. and I heard what
thought was n woman calling. l didn't
recognize the voice, but l had no
doubt that IL was Aunt Mat screaming
Mt me. / had tarried longer at Simp-
sons than / ought to have done, and
j felt certain she had got out of pa
thence and started after me.
"Yes'm. I'm a-coming" | shouted
back. Then I hitched the bacon q
little higher and hurried along the
rocky road at trot. The screams
sounded angry-Aunt Mat didn't have
a very gentle voice when she was
out of temper.
Before long l heard another scream.
Looking down toward the swamp, !
saw not Aunt Mat. but some big
animal coming up the open slope to
meet me. He looked like cat but a
cat as big as cow. The curve of the
land made it impossible for me TO sec
him while he was on the ground, but
whenever he jumped l could see him
plainly enough. Every jump must
have carried him eight or ten feet into
the air, and now and then he would
stop and give one Of those loud. WON
aniSh screams.
l started TO run back along that
rocky road as hard as could.
couldn't step far enough. My hat flew
off. but it never occurred to me to
drop the bacon.
Not far back the road forked. One
fork crossed TO Simpsons. the other
led up our side of the ridge to Uncle
Jimmy Whites. 1t was two miles
back to Simpsons. and only mile tC
where White lived. So took the forb
to Uncle Jimmy's.
l don't recollect feeling that bacor
touch me after l got well underway
/ guess is stood out straight behind
j few so fast. The country was part
ly covered with scattering bushes. and
the road was rocky and soon got dark
but little time did l lose for rocks OF
darkness.
The panther Kept right after me
Every scream sounded nearer. If
hadn't had half n mile the start. tn,
brute would have caught me. AS 4
was. the moment jumped Uncle Jim
my's fence the tiger screamed not six
ty feet behind.
Any other time wouldn't have dare,
20 so near Uncle Jimmy's without call
ing. Hello" He had the fiercest do
in the neighborhood-a dog that woul,
try TO drag n man of his horse. Bu
this time that dog didn't even growl
he was covering against the wal
shivering and whining like q fright
ened puppy.
AS l cleared the fence l saw ligh
shining through the cracks. | mad
a straight dash for the clapboard doc
And when the latch broke and the doc
few in. went through like rock OF
of sling.
Inside stubbed my toe and tumble
sprawling on the floor. The middlin
few over my head. Uncle Jimmy a
terward told everybody that that who
side Of bacon hit the farther wall /
hard that Il left greasy picture ,
itself on the logs. Uncle Jimmy was