VI. THE GREAT SLAUGHTER. 



ANIMAL di^ives, similar to those once held in 

 South Africa, were as plentiful in Central and 

 Southern Pennsylvania as in the "Northern 

 tier." As they occurred in the remote backwoods dis- 

 tricts where no written history was kept, accounts of 

 them have well-nigh lapsed into oblivion. One of the 

 greatest drives ever known took place about 1760, in 

 the vicinity of Pomfret Castle, a fort for defense 

 against the Indians, which had been constructed in 

 175(3. "Black Jack" Schwartz was the leader of this 

 drive, which resulted in the death of more than forty 

 panthers. Schwartz, or as he is often called, "The 

 \Mld Hunter of the Juniata," must not be confounded 

 with Captain Jack Armstrong, a trader, who was mur- 

 dered by Indians in Jack's Narrows in 1744. History 

 has confused the two men, but as the wild hunter 

 oi?ered his command of sharpshooters to Gen. Brad- 

 dock in 1755 there can be no doubt that they were dif- 

 ferent persons. Panthers and wolves had been 

 troubling the more timid of the settlers, and a grand 

 drive towards the centre of a circle thirty miles in 

 diameter was planned. A plot of ground was cleared 

 into which the animals were driven. In the outer edge 

 of the circle fires were started, guns fired, bells rung, 

 all manner of noises made. The hunters, men and 

 boys, to the number of two hundred, gradually closed 



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