The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-07-29
Hog-killing Time In
Hinckley

which made 1T Impossible 1oF Tile
pioneers to raise pigs. The preying
wild animals would get the little
porkers almost before they had time
to emit their first squeai. So the
backwoodsmen did not import hogs
and try to raise pigs.
However, back in the early l8O0's
part of Ohio had plenty of hogs
wild ones. Where they originated
nobody knew but the northeast sec
ton of Medina County was full of
them. A wolf, bear or panther had
business tackling a Medina County
wild boar; the hog would lick his
opponent every time and before the
bell rang for the end of round one.
The wild hogs ranged in droves
like packs of wolves or herds of
buffaloes but the settlers never killed
them for food. They were too
tough. The killing, when it could be
done, was for determination. When
every other part of Ohio was infest-
ed by ratt1esnakes and copperheads
the Hinckley woods, in the corner of
Medina County, were free of the
serpents. Wild hogs took good care
of that.
| To Cleveland For Mail
Jim Rogers, back springtime, 1917,
whistled blithely as he swung thru
the forest, rife in the crook of his
arm and an empty knapsack hung
over one shoulder. Rogers was on
the way to Cleveland after the mail
and the sack was to bring it and any
supplies he purchased for the neigh
bors in the home settlement, back
with him. The gun had new lock
on it-one of those "new-fangled
contraptions" which the gunsmith
declared would make an old fiint-lock
more formidable. 1t had been put
on by Cleveland's lone gunsmith on
Rogers last visit there and he never
yet had occasion to try it out. This
trip, maybe the wolves would tackle
him.
1t was a custom in Medina town
ship, where Medina now is, in the
old days for settlers to take turns
in making the 25-mile trip to Cleve-
land after the mail and this was
Rogers turn. Cleveland was the
nearest postoffiee.
1t was about half way to Cleve-
land when the youth, shuffling along
, and whistling the old tune about a
frog which went accounting, detected
: rustling in the underbrush on one
side of him. Then he heard twigs
cracking on his opposite side and
: within a few minutes both kinds OF
D., noise in the wilderness behind him
That wasn't wolves, Rogers decided
wolves did not spread out that
way but followed in a single pack
: 1t wasn't a panther because panthers
like bobcats, were lone hunters anc
. never ran in groups. Bears came ir
: twos or threes but always together
i He knew it was not Indians because
no Indians were in the neighborhooc
= at that time.
The man hurried a bit and cooked
his gun-that new gun-lock nov
might have an opportunity to prove
its excellence. A shuffling on boil
. sides and grunts in the rear and jim
Rogers knew what his pursuers wer,
- hogs! And he made for the near
Z est climable tree. 1t was a 15-foot
> decayed stump with the bark al
y rotted off but the man somehow go
- up that stump in record time.
Hogs Surround Stump
It wasn't any too soon. The hog
were at it's foot--a sea of them,
seemed. Rogers later related tina
it appeared that all the wild hogs i
l |, that part of the wilderness were i
~ the army which surrounded tina
: wobbly stump.
i Some tried to climb it, their fee
e slipping off the smooth sides. Othe
10 old boars attacked the roots wit
~ their tusks, foam dripping from thei
Il jaws, and tried to undermine tn
]" man by tearing down the refug'
All would jump upon the sides G
the stump trying to get at thei
quarry and had the stump been
a bit shorter all would have ended fo
James Rogers.
Perched high on the top of th
u ~ stump, his knees drawn up to kee
10 his feet and legs out of reach q
the hogs, Rogers brought his gu
., o into play. Time after time he pulle
BY the trigger and only about once
NJ n. ten or twelve snaps did the rifle 9
!. off. That new lock was a complet
failure. Each time the weapon di
an discharge, however, wild hog dror
D. ped and ceased to squeal, Ever
ay time Rogers killed a hog the other
Tic would jump on the carcas and tea
or at it with their tusks. An awful
" bloodthirsty lot, Rogers related.
~ ~ Attackers Leave
n n Eventually the squealing subside
al and the attack became less fiere'
a The hogs, finding their number $
We depleted, began to go away.
" After the last hog had gon
of ne Rogers waited on the top of hi
stump far longer than the las
= distant saueal and grunt or crackl
q. 1.l.....1. ...a.o aan~J %La