IX. THE LAST PHASE. 



AND now the noble lion of Pennsylvania is re- 

 duced to a mere foot-print, a voice, a memory 

 of other days. He is spoken of by persons who 

 have heard rather than seen him. William J. Emert, 

 of Youngdale, Clinton County, whose fish basket was 

 rifled b}' a wandering panther at his bark camp near 

 Dagusgahonda, Elk County, in 1889, remembers the 

 animal's cries distinctly, and can give an exhibition of 

 unique mimicry. The writer, having heard the cries 

 of the panther in a wild state and in capitivity, can 

 vouch for it that the genial Bill actually heard the real 

 thing. Potter County newspapers in 1911 reported 

 that the cries of a panther were heard in the vicinity 

 of Sweden Hill, near Coudersport, in the autumn of 

 that year. The same fall a panther was heard near 

 Bare Meadows, Centre County, some nights roaring 

 from the very summit of Bald Top. When calling 

 for their mates they invariably climbed to the highest 

 peaks. This panther was tracked during a light snow 

 fall clear to Stone Valley. Some say that it was killed 

 there. Franklin Shreckengast, of Tylersville, Clinton 

 County, on commenting on the volume of the panther's 

 cry, said: ''If a panther roared on the other side of 

 the Nittany Mountain, all Sugar Valley would be 

 aroused tonight." Shreckengast, who is now in his 

 78th year, hunted panthers with the Askey boys near 



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