The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1910-05-20
THE PANTHER AND THE DOG

THE PANTHER AND THE DOG.
In 1895 Joseph Inghan, of Quaker
parentage, removed from Berks
County (of which he was a native)
to Bradford County, Pa, when it was
a "howling Wilderness" in which
roamed panthers, bears, wolves, wild
cats and deers. Like all the other
early settlers, he lived in small log
house, until able to build a better
residence. Like the others, he and
his family endured great hardships
and privations, which are unavoidable
in settling in a wooded country with
out roads, churches, mills, or stores,
or mail facilities. Often the whole
neighborhood Ga short time before
harvests) would be entirely out of
grain of any kind, and would have
starved had not greens been plenti-
full, and droves of deer in the woods
which supplied them with meat
Wild animals at that time were
tive to sheep. swine and poultry. To
protect his farm stock Mr.. Ingham
raised two dogs. When quite young,
though brothers of the same age and
size, they differed wonderfully in dis
position and conduct. One of them
was bright, vigilant, active, display
ing great intelligence, and giving
promise of making a useful watch
dog. The other acted stupid, dull,
lazy, sleeping most of the time. Not
much was expected of him. When
full grown, an amazing change had
taken place in their characters and
conduct. The bright, vigilant pup,
became lazy cowardly cur, and
could not be induced to take pig by
the ear. The stupid, sleepy pup de-
veloped into one of the most intelli-
gent, courageous and watchful dogs
in the county. He was known to
seize a bull by the nose on the full
run, and throw him fiat on the ground
by Jerking his head to one side. He
seemed to be always awake, and on
guard, day and night. The one was
a valuable dog, the other good for
nothing.
Zone night" said my father, 81
was awakened by the bowling of the
cowardly dog. When I got up in the
morning he led me upon the orchard
hill above the house. The other dog
was missing. A tracking snow had
fallen the evening before, and 1 found
the tracks of wild beast and the
dno'c fronJyc Tho wild hod
come from the woods and started for
the sheepbarn. He had been inter-
cepted by the dogs and turned on his
back tracks, evidently having given
up his intentions of feasting On NUT
ton and not feeling sure he could
whip two dogs that appeared warlike
and furious. When about fifteen rods
from the house, the courageous dog
had attacked him. If he had expected
any assistance from his cowardly
brother he did not get it. The cow
ardly brother believed that "discre-
tion was the better part of valor,"
and had kept himself at a safe dis
tance from the combat There were
evidences of a desperate fight between
the dog and wild beast The snow
for rods around was trampled, and
bloody where the combatants had
fought, standing on their hind legs,
and fought on the ground, rolling and
tumbling. The wild beast was a
panther, larger and with sharper
teeth and claws than the dog, who
died on the battle field in the unequal
contest, and when found was partly
eaten up by the panther, the remains
having been dragged about dozen
rods and buried under the roots of
tree that had lately been blown down
by the wind. Evidently the panther
intended to come back in the night
and make s"pper out of the re-
mains. "Theres many slip between
the cup and the lip" The panther
never ate any more of the dog. Ny
father and Life" Marsha noted
hunter-started in pursuit of the pan
ther with dogs and guns. He had
gone about a mile into the woods,
paved together some leaves from
under the snow to make a bed and
had lain down to rest after his OK
haustion from battling with the dog
Started up from his slumber by the
dogs, he sprang into a tree, which
was just what the hunters wanted
but bad management of himself. He
was soon dispatched by the rifles of
his pursuers, and when he fell to the
ground dead, the cowardly dog be-
came very brave and bit and shook
the lifeless panther as long as he was
allowed to do SOL. w. Ingham, in
the Indiana Farmer.