THE PLORIDA PANTHER. 



49 



hunters to come out to Little Fish Crossing, and they had not gone 

 more than a quarter of a mile from camp before the dogs found a 

 perfectly fresh track of a good-sized panther. They held a consul- 

 tation as to the advisability of sending for me, but, knowing that I 

 had probably started for Lake Worth, it was decided to let the dogs 

 run him for awhile.* 



The track was on the side of a small cypress swamp, perhaps a 

 few hundred yards in extent, and the dogs ran directly into this 

 and came out the other side, baying loudly. Old man Smith 

 mounted a large fallen tree, and Wooten and Gale walked off to 

 one side, attempting to locate the direction in which the dogs were 

 going. Suddenly they heard the dog-s coming directly toward them, 

 and Gale saw the panther bounding along, towards Smith, who at 

 that moment also saw him and attempted to take aim. Gale says, 

 at every bound of the panther. Smith, who was on the tree, would 

 raise and lower his gun until the animal was within thirty or forty 

 yards, when he fired both barrels, whereupon the panther made a 

 tremendous spring, landed within a few feet of the tree, and turned 

 a somersault. Gale believed that some of the bones in his shoulder 

 had been broken and that, although he was able to spring forward 

 all right, upon striking the ground with the injured foot it gave 

 way, because after every spring the animal turned completely over. 

 Wooten came running up and attempted to fire, when the panther 

 sprang at him, again turning completely over. 



The animal then acted in a most peculiar manner, springing into 

 the air and turning over, as Gale described it, " like a hen with its 

 head cut off." Seeing he was no longer dangerous, Wooten and 

 Smith ran up and finished him. He measured seven feet one inch 

 in length, and was an old male panther, though not as large as they 

 sometimes grow. 



* An account of this was given in the Jacksonville Metropolis of May ii, 1895. 



