Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1929-10-03

men went TO call Mr.. stone, the OIn
er man set about building brush
pile. When Mr.. Stone came with
the gun, they fired the heap of brush
and by the light they saw about 60
feet up the poplar where hori-
zontal limb left trunk of the tree.
a huge cat walking out the limb
some ten feet, then turning on the
limb and walking back to the trunk
of the tree, lashing it's sides with its
tail
The fire had been built by Mr..
Stones direction SO that the light
| from it would be at Mr.. Stones back
so he could see the sights on his
rifle. The panther" as they then
were called, continued it's promen-
ade of the limb. Mr.. Stone rested
his rifle on a leaning tree that stood
near, and made an excellent shot,
giving the panther" death wound.
But instead of it's falling directly to
the ground, it made spring, they
supposed at the flash of the gun,
struck the tree above where the
gun rested, and with such force that
it's claws sank into the bark of the
! tree and the dead body hung there
by its claws.
The next day Mr.. Stone took his
team of oxen and sled and hauled
the dead panther up to Malta, ana
my father and the other members
of Mr.. Wilkins school and the town
| people saw it measured. When
| stretched out it measured a little
over nine feet from the end of its
nose to the tip of its tail. The man
who was with Mr.. Stone when show
ing the dead animal to the Malta
folks, said, Wouldn't 1 have left
that brush pile unfinished if l had
known what was above me last
night"
The Manly camp is now favorite
resort for picnic parties, and just
north of the camp is ravine lead
ing to the east, and when that ra-
vine meets the one from the south,
some 100 rods east of the camp, a
gorge is formed by these two
streams. A shelving rock some 40
feet long, forms cave some 15 feet
wide, and at the eastern end of this
cave is a rock that at some time
long ago had fallen and lies at an
angle about like a house roof.
Under this rock is quite a depres-
sion of some three feet. This de.
preston is usually partly filled with
dry leaves, blown by autumn winds
into this little cavern, making a
nice bed for either bear or hogs.
My fathers family moved from
Hartford, Conn, to Ohio, reaching
GAINESVILLE in November, 1916, and
my grandfather, Reuben Porter, sr.,
entered the quarter section of land
on which the Manly camp now is To-
Gated. and at that time my father
was seven years old.
There was an earlier settler by
the name of Risen, who made
business of hunting bee trees and
killing bear. He lived on the Ed
ward Taylor farm, lately acquired
by The First National bank, of Nc
Connelsville
Some three or four years after my
people came to Ohio, late in the fall
of the year, and after light snow
had fallen, Mr. Risen followed the
tracks of two bear to the nest OF
leaves mentioned above, and found
them asleep under the rock east of
the Manly camp. Mr.. Risen shot
and killed the larger of the two, as
they lay asleep. The other one es-
capped.
Mr.. Risen got my father to bring
horse and small sled to haul the
dead bear to Mr. Risens home.
Father said the bear would have
weighed somewhere near $50
pounds. Mr.. Risen did not skin the
Of hn II
would chop the paws off with an ak,
and throw them away. And father
! said he could have gathered busheI
corn basketfull of bears paws
around the Risen home.
Mr. Risen was a Frenchman, and
made his living in those days by sell
/ ing bear pelts and honey.
If a person should follow the wa
ter course south of the Manly camp,
for distance of $50 rods, to where
it meets the water course that starts
at Joetown, he would come to a spot
somewhat noted in the early his
tory OF this locality man by the
name of James Hagerman. for some
unknown reason left Virginia about
the year 1906. Hagerman was
something Of a mechanic, a black
smith, and could repair the guns of
the Indians. The trail of the In
dians from Marietta to Sandusk2
followed what is now called Little
Wolf creek, TO where the above
mentioned water courses meet
Hagerman built a hut and black
smith shop near the trail, and mend
ed guns for the Indians.
Bituminous coal was not in use
in those days Smithing was accom-
plished by using charcoal Hager-
man had no charcoal, but he used
the rough bark of aged or fallen
white oak trees, using a bellows he