VII. THE BIGGEST PANTHER. 



WITH practically no written records it is well 

 nigh impossible to gain a correct idea of the 

 general size of Pennsylvania panthers. As far 

 as it is known there are three mounted panthers in 

 existence, one at State College, one at Albright Col- 

 lege and a third at McElhattan. In addition to these 

 the writer possesses four hides of panthers, two killed 

 by Aaron Hall, two by George G. Hastings. The first 

 named mounted specimen, a male, killed by Samuel 

 E. Brush in Susquehanna county in 1856, measures 

 7 feet 9 inches ; the second, also a male, killed by 

 Lewis Dorman in Centre county in 1868, is 8 feet; 

 the third, a female, killed by Thomas Anson in Berks 

 county in 1874, is 6 feet 6 inches from tip to tip. This 

 would give a fair average of the sizes. One of the 

 largest Pennsylvania panthers on record taken in 

 recent years was killed in Clinton county, on Young 

 Woman's Creek, by Sam Snyder, on January 5, 1857'. 

 It measured a few hours after it was shot, nine feet 

 two inches. This giant animal had been heard run- 

 ning the deer along the ridges near the creek for sev- 

 eral weeks, and several parties had been organized 

 to capture it. It remained for Sam Snyder, a lad of 

 twenty years, with his pack of six trained fices, to run 

 it down. One bright morning he tracked it to a point 

 where it was forced to take refuge on an overhanging 



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