130 WOLF DAYS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 



The history of the panther in Pennsylvania is not 

 complete without mention of Jesse Hughes, one of 

 the leading hunters of Lycoming County. Many are 

 the tales recounted of his adventures with the Penn- 

 sylvania lion. On one occasion he was driving his 

 team through Antes Gap, in the direction of Jersey 

 Shore, his sled being loaded' with freshly killed beef. 

 Near the old Woolen Mill a panther leaped from a 

 tree, narrowly missing the sled. Hughes always car- 

 ried a rifle under the driver's box, which he brought 

 quickly into position and with a well-directed bullet, 

 ended the monster's life, as it lay sprawling by the 

 roadside. John Vanatta Phillips, of Chatham's Run, 

 Clinton County, a relative of Hughes, also had an oc- 

 casional "run-in" with the lion of Pennsylvania. One 

 Sunday morning, immaculately attired (he was known 

 as the best dressed man in the county) , Phillips was 

 on his way to Sunday School. His path lay through 

 a dense wood. A tree had been blown across the path, 

 on which lay a huge tawny panther fast asleep. Phil- 

 lips not wishing to make a detour, took oflf his tall 

 beaver hat and struck the sleeping brute a heavy 

 "crack" across the back of the neck. The panther 

 woke up, uttered a piercing yell, and galloped off into 

 the depths of the forest. 



^ ¥ 'r '1* 



It is related that on one occasion Daniel Karstetter 

 was resting after a hard day's hunt in AUemingle 

 Valley near Coburn, and had fallen into a doze lean- 

 ing up against a giant hemlock, when waking sud- 



