The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1914-11-06
SOCIETY GIRLS
ON COON HUNT;
LAND 3 PELTS
Hazel Harrison, Dorothy Bell,
Mary Griffith and Rebecca
H0uck Enjoy Sport.
OLD BR'ER POSSUM
TOO WISE FOR EN-
Plays Dead and Girls Think He's
Sick and Plead With DarkieS
To Spare Him.

Four social bellies Of Cape Girar
deau went coon hunting Wednesday
night and when they emerged from
the Houck woods about six miles west
of this city early yesterday morning
they had captured one coon and three
| 'pOssumS.
The young ladies were: Misses
Hazel Harrison, Dorothy Bell, Rebec-
ca HOuck and Mary Griffith. They
were escorted by Maj. Giboney Houck,
chief coon hunter; Lee Albert, gun
toter, and Frank Kimmel, mascot.
A train of darkies, occupants of the
Houck plantation, accompanied the
! party to take care of the dogs and to
tote the game.
The moon had Just assembled over
the tops Of the hills that flank the ma
jestic Houck home as the party, clad
in rough garments, started down the
rustic lane that leads to the Land of
pawpaws and persimmons. 1t was in
this grove, Maj. Houck told the party
that cOOns travelled in schools and
possums were as plentiful as lOcusts
during pest years.
Two old coon dogs bayed joyously
as their masters urged them to sniff
for coons. They had not been out thir-
ty minutes when Grover Cleveland, a
canine of the lumber yard variety, de-
tected the odor of raccoon and dashed
toward heavy thicket, bowling fur
iously.
eve are now among EN-" said
Maj. HOuck to the ladies. "That
listens good to we'uns," chirped Kim
mel as he perched himself on stump
and asked the girls to be seated.
Mr.. Albert took up his position bit
in advance of the party, as if he ex-
pected to get pot shot as the coons
dashed by. Careful, now," warned
Maj. Houck. Don't shoot until | give
the word"
BY this time Grover Cleveland and
Lizzie, his running mate, barked
"treed." One of the darkies urged
the party to follow him and they all
hurried in the direction of the baying
dogs. When they reached the scene,
the CANNES were seated on their
launches under a pawpaw sapling,
yelping eXcitedly.
Steve, an ebony shaded youth, took
the gun from Mr. Albert and as the
young ladies clamped their hands to
their ears, fired. There was a rustic
nthe tree and then a thump on the
ground. The young ladies rushed up
to get look and there lay old Br'er
POsSum corpse.
A few minutes later the dogs treed
another 'possum, and Just to break
the mOnotony, Steve squirreled up the
tree and dragged the humiliated ami
NAL down by the tail. He was pro-
nounced hero by the young ladies.
A brush heap was ignited and the
party gathered around to get better
acquainted with the pOssum. The ami
NAL, true to traditions, played dead.
His actions deeply affected the gentler
sex, who expressed the belief that the
'possum was critically i'll and begged
the negroes to liberate it. But they
knew the tricks of Br'er Possum and
refused.
"Well, let's gig some more" urged
Kimmel and the hunt was renewed.
A short time later the dogs stopped
under huge elm tree and began to
bay. The tree top was carefully scru-
tinized by the darkies who discovered
the prize of the evening-a real, ma
tive born coon.
"Here's where the head of this ex-
pedition does some nifty work." said
Major Houck. He leveled the gun at
the top of the tree and let drive. The
coon tumbled down, and then came the
most pathetic moment of the evening.
The death of that coon almost caus-
ed the fair hunters to weep "It groan-
ed just like baby" said one last
night. at was just terrible"
After The animal passs1 away and