The Marshall republican., 1912-03-29

ries In 1870, came suddenly upon
full-grown black bear near tn
present site OF Malta Bend. The,
were unarmej and had nothing e
fight the bear with but their eattl,
whips. With these they undertook
10 drive the bear toward n hous'
and actually did 80 by h%crcel,
cracking their whips, yelling al
the animal and keeping him on the
20. Upon arriving AZ the house
qua was secured and the bear kill
ed. The incident Is known in To-
cal history as "Cooper's bear
drive.n
No wild animal was more fear
ed than the panther. Its cry wat
something like thit OF a woman
In distress. Panthers, OF spain
tcrs" rs the pioneers called them
would seldom however, attack q
human being unless first woudd"d
or suffering from hunger. Usra'ly
the PANTHER made his rounds seek
ing food at night, whea HI quit
frequently visited the settlements
and carried off a calf or hog. A
fuli-grown panther Wac sern by
one OF the early settlers on the
B,ackwater River trottirg along
with a i50-pound hog thrown over
its shoulder as a cat would run
with a rat. In the neighborhood
OF the Edmondson's Creek settle
ment at an early day a panther
was discovered which hid killed
or carried away nine large hogf,
eoncealing them In a cavity In tn"
earth made by the uprootiig OF a
tree by 4 ~windstorm. The settlers
organized to pursue the beast, but
II escaped from them into Chari-
toa County. George Davis, in 1922,
near Malta Bend, killed n panther
with a clasp knife; the panther
measured 0 feet from the tip o.
its nose TO the end OF It's tail.
Three varieties OF wolves were
to be found In large numbers the
black, the gray and the coyote, or
"prairie wolff Hunting wolves
was a duty as well as 4 past'm",
for the animals did much damage
to stock. Wild cats, catamounts
and an occasional lynx were seen,
but were not destructive or trou-
blesome. Their raids were usually
confined to visits to chicken coops
or goose pond. Beaver and o,ter
we're plentiful.
There were heroes IN Missouri
before the days OF the Carnegie
medals. A notable and tragic in
cident, showing the heroism OF
pioneer Missour!ans, took pllc, in
December, 1917 al Dewitt, th9n
and now a small town on the north
bank OF the Missouri River. John
McMahan and Perry Harris, who
were running the ferry at Dewitt,
started December 10 to cross to
the Saline County side. Nj M4hal
was running the ferry 20; R-v
Eli Guthrie, 4 Cumberland Presby-
terian minister who lived in DE-
Witt. Harris was a young man
10 years OF age and boarded with
McMahan. The river was running
with ice, which was "gorging'' at
some point below. The boat in
which the men were to cross was
a flat boat capable OF carrying a
team across. 1t was propsllsd by
oars and poles. AS the undertake
ing seemed hazardous, Mr.. Guth-
rie urged McMahln not to cross
the river that night, for in addi-
ton to the difficulties mentioned
the weather was extremely -oil
and growing colder. The two boat
men had had much experience on
the river and declined to lis.en
to the preachers advice. So i'm
pressed vas he with the thought
OF danger, that he followed them
to the water and urged them to
remain They would not listen to
him AID launched away. A few
yarda from the shore they became
in the mass OF moving
ice. The boat became unmanage-