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A PANTHER HUNT. 



Tile Following spirited description of a day 

 in the woods was published in Knickerbocker' $ 

 Magazine, in 1855. The author, whow name 

 we do not know, wrote from Lexington, Ky.s 



In my winter home, in the tangled wilds 

 of the far Arkansas, during the last months 

 of ISO—, I was reveling amid the hardy 

 pleasures of a hunter's life, seeking in the ex- 

 citing and invigorating chase to recruit a 

 constitution impaired, if not shattered, by 

 the dissipations of the preceding summer. 

 Early one bright morning in November, I 

 cheerily wound my horn, as it summoned 

 forth for the hunt the eager, high bred pack, 

 who burst from their kennels in tumultuous 

 joy, making the old primeval woods ring 

 with their loud and deep-mouthed bayings. 

 Old Croat was the leader and sire of more 

 than hail' the pack. It seemed as if age had 

 only steeled the wiry muscles of his long, 

 black fomi and added a clearer and more 

 sonorous tone to his ringing notes. And 

 Beauty, too— so named from her symmetrical 

 and slender proportions — was, without ex- 

 ception, the most perfect model of the high- 

 bred staghound I ever beheld. Her thin, 

 wide legs, deep chest, sharp, delicate muzzle, 

 and bright, expressive eye, at once challenged 

 admiration and proclaimed her "Queen of 

 the canine race." And Old Warrior, with 

 privileged boldness, came up and rubbed his 

 cold nose against my hand, as if to show that, 

 although his name was nobly earned on many 

 a hard fought battle— and his long, tanned 

 frame was seamed with many a scar— he was 

 still " the fleetest in the chase, the foremost 

 in the fight." 



Impatient at the delay of my faithful body- 

 guard, John, who was as fine a specimen of 

 the Kentucky slave as one would wish to see 

 — "six feet "in his socks," and brave as a 

 lion — I walked around to the stable to ascer- 

 tain the cause of so unusual an occurrence. 

 Reared from childhood in the arms of my 

 " boy," I was attached to him by no com- 

 mon feelings, especially as he had twice saved 

 my life at the risk of his own. He would 

 have died without a murmur at my command, 

 and it was no ordinary offence that could 

 call forth for him an angry reproof. As I 

 neared the stable, John slowly led forth a 

 magnificent black stallion, who pawed impa- 

 tiently the earth, as if eager as his master for 

 the approaching chase. 1 turned toward the 

 negro somewhat sternly, exclaiming : 



"Where's Medora? I ordered her— not 

 Alps." 



" 'Deed, Mass' Frank," said John, "Icould 

 not help it, but Medora's got out and gone. 

 I'se been hunting her all night." 



The mare had escaped in the dark, and 

 made for the woods, and the poor fellow 

 knowing the explosion which must follow the 

 announcement of her loss, had toiled the en- 

 tire night in the vain attempt to recover her. 

 In a burst of passion I demanded : 



" Which way did she go ?" 



" Up toward the clearing." 



"By heavens! then she's gone ! The pan- 

 thers are as thick as ! Quick ! saddle 



your horse and bring me my revolvers I" 



Just as the negro had disappeared on his 

 errand and I had mounted the impatient 

 steed, my father, a hale old man of sixty, 

 came to the cabin door and asked : 



"Where now, Frank?" 



"After Medora," I replied; "She's out, 

 and toward the clearing. The panthers may 

 have her before now." 



" You had better take your rifle and dogs ; 

 you may need them." 



"No; I want my dogs fresh for the big 

 buck, and my rifle will hinder me in riding 

 through the brush." 



"Well! have your own way; but you 

 may regret it." 



But my blood was up, and John just then 

 handing me my Colts, and mounting his 

 horse, .1 dashed over the picket in the direc- 

 tion of the clearing. The clearing was a 

 large bottom tract, which had, some years 

 before, been swept by Are, and was now 

 covered with low, dense underwood, here and 

 there dotted by a hardy old tree, half burnt 

 and gnarled, but defying alike the influence 

 of fire and time. After a few moments' hard 

 riding, hearing an exclamation from the 

 negro, I turned and saw close at our heels the 

 three dogs, Croat, Warrior and Beauty. 

 Struck by so unusual a breach of their train- 

 ing, and remembering my father's admoni- 

 tion, I cried out to John: " Let them alone ; 

 we may want them!" On neariug the outer 

 edge of the clearing, Alp reared and snorted, 

 while his glossy mane seemed to stand erect 

 with flight. Straight before me lay the body 

 of my matchless Medora, but torn and bleed- 

 ing with a wound in the neck, too plainly 

 pointing out the perpetrator of her death. 

 Yes, there she lay, drained of her life blood 

 by the hungry panther : she on whom so 

 often I had skimmed the fashionable thorough- 

 fares of the West, envied of my light-limbed 

 barb ; she who, twice within a day, had borne 

 me over the rapid waters of the Mississippi ; 

 she with whom I would have shared my only 

 crust, lay cold and dead. 



Alp bent down his head and snuffed the 

 lacerated form, and then sent forth a shriek 

 and piercing neigh, as if in sorrow for his 

 peerless mate. 



Understanding at a glance the cause of her 

 death, grief gave place to a feeling of revenge 

 and wildly chasing the hounds, 1 swept o 



toward the wood, knowing that there the 

 panther had crouched until evening, wheu it 

 ;ain come forth to banquet on its 

 : prey. The animals seemed to 

 divine my feelings, and dashed madly ou 

 upon the warm and recent trail, while Alp 

 cleared with his tremendous bounds the brush 

 and underwood with which the earth was 

 covered. 



We had proceeded but a short distance 

 when I beheld the panther's back as he sprang 

 over the impediments in his course as lightly 

 as if they were the long grass of the prairie. 

 Twice did I attempt to wound him with my 

 revolvers, but the distance was too great, and 

 bitterly did I regret the absence of my rifle. 

 Gaunt, and only rendered more savage by 

 his taste of blood, the panther maintained 

 ice between us, although the dogs, 

 mad with anger, woke the wild echoes of the 

 deserted waste, till it seemed as if a thousand 

 hounds were opening on the trail. Eagerly 

 I bent over Alp's neck wish a cocked revolver 

 in each hand, and drove the spurs into his 

 reeking sides ; yet he needed not the incite- 

 ment ; the noble animal strained every nerve, 

 and on we sped — torrents less rapid and less 

 rash! 



On we sped for more than an hour, while 

 at every opportunity I sought to stop his mad 

 carreer by a ball in the panther's back, yet 

 only once had I drawn his blood, though all 

 except one of my barrels had been fired. 



At last, wearied by this severe burst, the 

 hunted animal '-treed" in a sturdy swamp 

 oak, where the yet green leaves fonned a 

 cover not ten feet above the root. The negro, 

 in this reckless race, had been doubly dis- 

 tanced, and I was alone, with a single shot, 

 to meet the most dreaded antagonist of the 

 Southern forests. As I approached, still at 

 full speed, I could distinguish his glaring eye- 

 balls, as, crouching for his spring, he lay 

 along the knotted limb, lashing with his long 

 and tufted tail his reeking flanks. Maddened 

 by excitement, and regardless of danger, I 

 dashed within three paces of the infuriated 

 animal, and, throwiug my horse upon his 

 haunches, fired. Simultaneously with my 

 shot, the panther made his leap, and the ball 

 intended for his brain glanced from the sur- 

 face of his rounded skull. 



In an instant he was upon me : but Alps, 

 true to his training, crouched at the report, 

 and the baffled beast, missing his anticipated 

 hold, seized me by fhc shoulder, and, being 

 suspended, vainly attempted to gain a secure 

 footing upon my horse's sides. 



Throwing aside my discharged revolvers, I 

 drewja heavy Bowie knife — my constant com- 

 panion — and, in the hands of a determined 



Admirers of Artistic 

 Potterv and Glass are 

 invited to inspect some 

 choice examples select- 

 ed bv Messrs. TIFFANY 

 & CO. during the Paris 

 Exnosition. including : 



New Plaques by Minton, decorated by Mus- 

 sill with novel marine designs. 



Salviati's latest reproductions of the Veno 

 tian Glass of the Sixteenth century. 



Facsimiles of the Trojan iridescent bronze 

 glass exhumed by Dr. Schliemann. 



New Plaques by Copeland, decorated with 

 strongly drawn heads by Hewitt. 



Reproductions, byDoulton, of old Flemish 

 stone ware. 



Reproductions of the Scinde Pottery made 

 by the Bombay Art Society. 



Recent examples of Ginori's reproductions 

 of old Italian majolica. 



Specimens of Capo di Monti ware, Austrian 

 iridescent and enameled Glass and Limoges 

 Faience of new colors. 



UNION SQUARE. 



SPORTSMEN'S PICTURE. 



A beautiful Colored Lithograph (19x24) of the 



Celebrated i | , j 0B , Jr.. una Bine 



Daisy II. (a littei sister to Sanborn's champion 



as taken en the spot bj - - p 



W Joe, Jr.. pointing a bevy of quail 



Isj backing, and Campbell ready for 



Hie na«. sent postpaid, $1, sead money by P. o. 



order or registered letter. Address W H. HOLA- 



J31BD, Valparaiso, Ind, ' ' mam lyr 



man, the most effective weapon in the world. 

 Rapidly sheathing its broad blade several 

 times in his body, T forced the beast to looso 

 his grip, and he 'fell to the ground, although 

 h aving as yet received no deadly wound. 



My brave dogs were upon him an instant, 

 but the slight, symmetrical form of Beauty 

 was ill suited to such a contest, and before I 

 could leap from my saddle she was quivering 

 in the agonies of death, Furious with pain, 

 and at the death of my two favorites, I sprang 

 into the midst of the struggle, and, seizing 

 the panther by the throat, buried my knife in 

 his heart, until the last convulsive quiver told 

 that life had fled. With the assistance of 

 John, who had just arrived, I removed his 

 tawny and spotted skin, and dressed, as well 

 as possible under the circumstances, my 

 wounds upon the shoulder, consisting of seve- 

 ral deep cuts, some inches long, laying the 

 flesh open to the bone, they having penetrated 

 through my buckskin hunting shirt. 



Slowly and sadly I retraced my homeward 

 way, mourning the double loss of both my 

 favorite beasts, and weakened by the great 

 flow of blood and the extreme tension of every 

 nerve through high excitement. 



A negro was dispatched to bring in the 

 bodies, and I buried them both beneath a 

 mighty cottonwood upon the banks of the 

 great '"Father of the Waters." 



The panther's skin is now my saddle- 

 cloth, but it needs not it frequent sight to re- 

 mind me of my priceless pair. I have since 

 possessed many animals, bnt those at whose 

 grave I shed a heartfelt tear stand yet pre- 

 eminent amid their kind. In the happy 

 hunting-grounds of the spirit-land I hope 

 again to remount my fleet Medora and cheer 

 my matchless hound in the wild and joyous 

 madness of the trifling chase. 



—The total crop of ice gathered from the 

 Hudson River this winter is estimated at 

 8,000,000 tons, taking no account of what is 

 stacked outside the houses. 



|fe? fennel. 



THIRD ANNUAL 



NEW YORK DOG SHOW, 



FNDKB THE AUSPICES OP THE 



Westminster Kennel Club, 



TO BE HELD AT 



GILMORE'S GARDEN, 

 APRIL 8, 9, IO and I I. 



ENTRIES CLOSE MARCH 28. 



Premium Lists and Entry Blanks can be had from 

 the Superintendent at his office, 11T Fulton street. 



CHAS. LINCOLN, Supkbintendent. 



mart 5t p. o. BOX 1,740, N. Y. 



Philadelphia Bench Show. 



The PHILADELPHIA KENNEL CLUB will hold 

 its first Bench Show of Dogs from 



APRIL 21 to APRIL 25. 



Entries Will Close April 5, 



OR WHEN 735 BOGS ABE ENTERED. 



AU persons intending to enter their dogs, and de- 

 siring farther information, are requested to apply at 

 the northeast corner of 13th and Chestnut streets, 

 second floor, or address the club, Post Office Box 

 No. 1,811, Philadelphia. mare st 



SPRATT'S PATENT 



MEAT FIBRINE DOG CAKES 



Twenty-one Gold, Silver and Bronze Medale 



awarded, Including Medal of English Kennel 



Club, and of Westminster Kennel 



Club, New York. 



None are genuine imlees m •■ 



P. O. Dc LUZE, 



IS South William Street, N. Y, Sole Ageni, 



BROWN & HILDEH, St. Louis, Weatei u Agent*. 



For Bale in oases of 112 pounds. 



Fleas! Fleas! Worms! Worms 



STEADMAN'8 FLEA POWDER for DOGS 

 A Bane to Pleas— A Boon to Bogs. 



Price BO cent* by mall, Postpaid 



ARECA NUT FOR WORMS IN DOQ 



A CERTAIN REMEDY 



Put ud in boxes containing ten powders, with 

 full directions for use. 



Price SO cents per Box by moll. 



Both the above are recommended by Rod and So> 

 and Fohkst and Stkeam. 



CONROY. BISSETT & MALLESON 



OOt 13 66 FTJLTON ST., N. Y. 



Dr. Gordon Stables, R, K\, 



TW7F0RD, BERKS, ENGLAND, 



AUTHOR OF THE 



"Practical Kennel Guide," &o. 



begs to Inform Ladles and Gentlemen In America 



that he purchases and sends out dogs of any desired 



breed, fit for the highest competition. 



N. B.— A bad dog never left the Doctor's Kennela 



dec!9 tf 



Imperial Kennel. 



Setters and Pointers Boarded, 



Broken, etc. 

 Young Dogs handled with skill 

 and Judgment. 

 Address, 



H. V. GIOTKR, 

 Tons Ritbb, N. J. 

 Splendid kennel accommodations ; dogs have dally 

 access to salt water. octlo tf 



FOR SALE.— Very fine red Irish Imported setter 

 bitch, Ruby; purchased of Rev. J.:.Oumming 

 Macdona, last April ; very deep red with white on 

 breast and a little white on feet ; two years and four 

 months old ; out ot Daisy by Flash II. Price, $800. 

 Sold or want of use. Her pups sold readily for 160 

 each. CAPT. A. L. EMERSON, York, Maine. 

 mar2t St 



FOR SALE AT A BARGAIN— One all liver oolor 

 setter bitch one year old ; very handBome. Or 



will trade for good muzzle-loading gun. For par- 

 ticulars address D. G. WEBSTER, Park's Corners, 

 I1L marl3 st 



COCKER SPANIEL 



Breeding Kennel 



M. P. MOKOON, Franklin, Del. Co., N Y. 



I keep only cockers of the finest strains. Sell only 

 young stock. I guarantee satisfaction ana sale de- 

 livery to every customer. These bean tiful and in- 

 telligent dogs cannot be beaten for ruffed grouse 

 and woodcock shooting and retrieving. Correspond- 

 ents inclosing stamp will get printed pedigrees, cir- 

 cular, testimonials, etc. Jio if 



OULEOUT KENNELS. 



gSportsmen In want of first-class Cocker Spaniels 

 can be supplied with either dog or bitch pups, with 

 Stock and delivery guaranteed, for $10 each. For 

 pedigree, etc., address CHAS. S. HITCHCOCK, 

 Franklin, Del. Co., N.Y. ]an9 tf 



Stud Spaniel. 



TRTMBIJSH (pure Clumber), Imported direct from 

 the kennels of the Duke of Newcastle. For nore the 

 clumbers are unrivalled, and Trimbnsh is a capital 

 dog to breed cockers or small-sized setter bitches to. 

 Fee $20. AddresB B. C. GLOVER, Toms Biver, 

 N.J. jan!6 tl 



RATTLER— In the Stud.— Bine belton, Llewellin 

 setter, winner or i eg, by cham- 



pion Rob Roy. winner of five English field trials, out 

 ot the pure LaVeracl bitcl klee, Will serve 

 bitches at $20. Litters warranted. Inquire of L. F. 

 WHITMAN, Detroit, Mich. Jana tf 



IN THE STUD— Champion imported pointer Snap- 

 shot; imported red Irish setter Dash, first New 

 York, 1S78 ; Imported English setter Frank II., first 

 Philadelphia, 1877. LINCOLN* BELLYAR,Warren, 

 Mass. Jan30 tf 



FOR SALE.— A handsome large Irish setter, 

 thoroughly broken on woodcock and snipe, 4 

 years old, will retrieve from land or water, at the 

 low price of $40. For ress G„ Box 



516, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. mar20 2t 



WANTED.— A Tent and a Cocker. Give Bize of 

 tent, material, age, shape, condition, weight, 

 lowest price. Would like to sell, for $25, a very good 

 setter, now doing first-class work on quail in North 

 Carolina, or exchange for a superior cocker. Ad- 

 dress, giving fall particulars, 213 Orange st., New 

 Haven, Conn. mar20 2t 



ONE liver and white cocker spaniel dog and one 

 bitch pup, 4% months old ; thev are beautieB - 

 full pedigree will be given. Price, for pair, $15, or 

 single: One white and liver ticked pointer 

 bitch, 2 years old ; nicely broken. Price, $25. These 

 are the bottom prices. G. S. HACKER & co.> 

 Lancaster, Pa. marl3 tf 



FOR SALE— Black Gordon setter puppy, good 

 pedigree, ten monihs old, thoroughly yard- 

 broked. Price $25. One English setter, of the cele- 

 brated Ethan Alllu strain. For pedigree and price 

 address B. WATERS, Canterbury, Conn. 



mar27 It 



SETTER PUPS FOR SALE-Ten weeks old : full 

 pedigree. Inquire of JOHN C, CHASE. Ply- 

 mouth, Mass. mar27 2t 



