400 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 10, 1893. 



"That reminds me." 

 "PANTHERS AND THE HAIR." 



Error driven in and clinched is exceedingly hard to 

 eradicate. Even when the clinches are cut it don't come 

 out easy. It's easier to stay in a rut than to climb out. 

 How many thousands of years did it take to disabuse 

 men's minds of the belief that the earth was flat, or that 

 the sun swung around the earth, or that an eclipse of the 

 sun was a sign of impending doom, or that witches were 

 realities'? How many thousands of people nowadays 

 believe in the sea serpent, hoop-shakes, that potatoes 

 planted in the full of the moon will all go to tops, that 

 an opossum's young are born in the pouch, that panthers 

 don't scream, that snakes spit, that a hen "sets" and that 

 whisky is a good thing for the stomach? The idea that a 

 person's hair don't rise on occasions of intense fright is 

 one of those errors people hang on to simply because they 

 have never experienced or seen it. That proves nothing. 

 That would be great evidence in court, now, wouldn't it? 



The editor calls upon us to state whether we are telling 

 the truth when we say that "our hair stood on end," and 

 says that "scientific authorities (!) assure us that the hair 

 rising belief is a notion without substantial basis in fact," 

 Authorities indeed! Much they know about it! Why 

 there are plenty of authorities ready to make affidavit 

 that they never saw a panther, yet they exist. This is 

 more of that so called science that discredits the Bible, 

 and promotes unbelief in that sacred book. You heard 

 what Job said in Forest and Stream of Oct. 27. Not- 

 withstanding the editor's doubt as to our veracity, I am 

 very glad to know that he is so familiar with the Scrip- 

 tures. But then, the purity of Forest and Stream is 



Phenomenon of the effect of a pantlier story on a messenger boy as he 

 hastens from the photo-eugi-avlug establishment of Mr. H. O. Brown to the 

 JfOREST AND STREAM press rooms with cuts that the make up Is waiting for. 



evidence sufficient of such familiarity. The idea of so- 

 called authorities putting up their mental "five" against 

 such an array of opponents as was marshaled in the issue 

 referred to is simply ridiculous, Men who have unex- 

 pectedly been saluted by the blood curdling scream of 

 the panther, or have come suddenly face to face with a 

 grizzly don't want to be bothered by "authorities." 



1 suppose such "authorities" would claim also that 

 "there is no substantial basis in fact" that blood curdles. 

 Here is opportunity for more argument, but as Kupling 

 Ripyard says, that is another story. When a man feels 

 his hair stand up, he has no nse for argument. In pro- 

 portion as a man has brain power so does it act on the 

 folUcular nerves running to each individual hair. The 

 brain acts in different ways. In the case in question it is 

 unconscious cerebration, as it is in cases where hair is 

 turned white from fear or fright. Authorities don't dis- 

 pute the latter, do they? Scarcely. Well, if the brain 

 can dissolve the pigment in the hair, as an electric cur- 

 rent is shot through any substance to alter its consistency, 

 why shouldn't it have power to elevate the hair? It 

 takes men of brains to experience such shocks. An 

 idiot couldn't have a hair raising, and I don't believe an 

 "authority" could either. Job and Shakeppeare, and 

 Virgil and Judge Greene, and Arefar and Mr. Rushton and 

 the rest of us sportsmen know whereof we speak. 



There was a man once, who, I think, lived up'in Wis- 

 consin, and he went out to the woods to chop wood, and 

 he had on a cap over which he tied his handkerchief to 

 protect his ears, knotting it under his chin, for the 

 weather was cold and windy. Suddenly from out a 

 thicket he was approaching, there smote upon his ears the 

 awful, hand-in-your-checks scream of a panther, such a 

 scream as nothing in. the wide world but a full grown 

 healthy panther can emit. The man forgot his axe, for- 

 got his dinner pail, forgot everything but his legs and 

 home and put sti-aight for it, and when he got there, 

 which he was so fortunate as to do, and attempted to re- 

 naove his cap, and found that his hair had risen straight 

 through it (for it was tied down and couldn't rise as they 

 usually do), and had clinched his handkerchief so that it 

 was woven fast to his cap, and that the hair follicles had 

 become so shriveled and weakened from fright that a 

 mass of hair came off with the cap, I say do you suppose 

 that man wanted any authorities to attempt "to prove to 

 him that hau: don't rise? When a man says he knows a 

 thing by such experience, that closes debate. O. O. S. 



Literal or Figurative? 



_ That is the question Forest and Stream asked me in 

 issue of Oct. 27. I delayed answering that I might think 

 about it, and I have come to this conclusion. It was a 

 figurative expression that I believe to be the literal truth. 

 Just at the lime when a man's hair "stands on end," he 

 does not have a mirror before him, and perhaps can- 

 not be sure. But there's a mighty queer feeling under 

 one s hat, that makes the owner think his hair knows 

 about what's going on in the woods. K you don't 

 believe it, take in the concert as I did, and then tell us 

 what you think of it. j. h. Rushton. 



Frozen Fact about the Scream. 



Arironda, Oct. ^1.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Though long silent, I still live, and hve to offer my unim- 

 peachable testimony to the fact that the panther does 

 scream, whereunto I will bring forward the attestation of 

 the panther itself. It is as absurd to assert that the pan- 

 ther does not utter loud cries when moved by anger, love 

 or pain, as it would be to make a similar assertion of the 

 familiar domestic cat. 



I have heard its cries under all these conditions a thous- 

 and times, while hunting and fishing and while sitting 

 by my lonely camp-fire in the primeval wilderness of 

 Adironda. 



I may say, without fear of being accused of nervous- 

 ness by those who have also heard it, that notwithstand- 

 ing the frequency of the experience, each recurrence has 

 caused an involuntary start, so loud, sudden and terrific 

 is the sound. 



But to the proof that the panther does scream. During 

 the past winter a fine young cow belonging to a neighbor 

 was killed by a panther while ranging the woods for 

 browse, as is quite common with cattle of this region 

 where hay is scarce. The cow had calved quite recently 

 and had a full udder when killed. This the panther did 

 not touch when at first he feasted on the carcass, and 

 before he returned to obtain a second repast all that 

 remained was frozen solid. The condition of his food 

 supply did not prevent the panther from making a full 

 meal, wherein was included the udder with the congealed 

 milk which it contained. 



The gorged cougar then retired to his lair, but not to 

 sleep, for his interior was assailed by a colic so excruciat- 

 ing . that he rushed forth in a frenzy of agony. Appar- 

 ently not knowing or caring whither he went, he sped 

 directly through the one short street of the little moun- 

 tain hamlet where I now reside, and was seen by almost 

 every inhabitant, myself included, all being summoned to 

 doors and windows by the ear-piercing yells that issued 

 from the fanged jaws of the monster. 



At every leap he uttered as distinctly as a human voice 

 could and with twenty-fold volume, the words, "I scream! 

 I scream!" 



Some would have it, "Ice cream! Ice cream!" believing 

 that he made agonizing protest against the treacherous 

 delicacy that was rending his interior, but I hold firmly 

 to the opinion, and probably I am the coolest observer 

 among some twenty-five or thirty, that he was proclaiming 

 to all that he did then and there scream, as he most in- 

 dubitably did. 



And if my word needed such substantiation, I could 

 bring the twenty-five or thirty good and truthful persons 

 to bear witness. 



There is some potent property in the atmosphere of 

 Adironda which makes it impossible for one who breathes 

 it to tell a lie. Yours for truth, 



Major Joseph Verity, U.S.H.M. 



•^w/^ Htid 0nri. 



"Qmnc Laws in BHe/," United States and Canada, 

 lUustrated, 25 cents. "Booli of the Game Laws" (full 

 text), 50 cents. 



A MAINE HUNT. 



The reports of big game in Maine continue most re- 

 markable. There is not the slightest doubt but what 

 deer have made a big gain during the year, and there 

 is little question but what more moose have been killed 

 in that State this season thus far than any season since 

 the stringent game laws were passed. A gentleman 

 from Phillips, Me., tells a sj)orting friend of mine that 

 a moose has just been killed within six miles of that 

 town, and he suggests that if my friend will come up on 

 the first good tracking snow, he can be almost sure of a 

 moose. A moose has also recently been shoe in the neigh- 

 borhood of Shirly, Me., in the last settlements of the 

 Moosehead region. A gentleman, who has hunted in 

 Maine a good deal, tells me that if the law preventing 

 the shooting of cow moose at any time is enforced and 

 the crusting of moose kept in check there is no doubt 

 whatever of the continuation of that noble game in 

 Maine. 



Mr. W. H, Coggin, recently mentioned in the Forest 

 AND Stream as starting for the woods north of Hoiiltou, 

 Me., on a hunting trip, has returned. To say that he is 

 more than pleased with his trip would no more than ex- 

 press the truth, and to say that it was full of new experi- 

 ence and novel adventure to an amateur hunter, would 

 give but a faint idea to the reader of what Mr. Cogerin 

 has gone through. He has a brother-in-law, I\Ir. W.^H. 

 Doane, of Hampden, Me., and this brother-in-law is a 

 friend of Dr. W. B. Nason, of the same town. This Dr. 

 ISTason has a brother, C. A. Nason, who is one of the most 

 enterprising and pushing lumbermen on the headwaters 

 of the St. John River, or rather of the Aroostook River, a 

 tributary of the St. J ohn. His camps ai'e on the skirts of 

 Mooselick Mountain, and from that wild countiy he put 

 in 4,500,000ft. of lumber last winter, and it may be men- 

 tioned that his logs were about the only ones that got 

 down to the mills on the remarkably low water of the 

 spring of 1892. It was done by sheer push, however. 

 This winter he will put in between 3, .500,000 and 4,000,- 

 000ft. Through the above-mentioned chain of friends 

 Mr. Coggin obtained an invitation to visit Mr. Nason's 

 camps for a hunt after big game. Included in the party 

 were Mr. Doane, Dr. Nason, Mr. Charles Wales of Hamp- 

 den, and Mr. Jacob Parker, a traveliog salesman for 

 Thurston & Kingsbury, a leading wholesale grocery house 

 of Bangor. 



The party went to Houlton, the principal town of 

 Aroostook county, by rail. From that town to Mr. 

 Nason's camps at Smith Brook it is seventy-five miles. 

 Fifty miles of this distance, to the little plantation of 

 Oxbow, the last settlement on the Ai-oostock River, the 

 party made by team without particular adventure, ex- 

 cept a splendid ride through a new country, with farms 

 and forest intermingled. At Oxbow the real woods 

 business begun, or rather some of it was water business, 

 a most novel experience to the city boys it was. Twelve 

 mUes was to be made up the Aroostook River, here 

 only a shallow stream, especially on the dry weather 

 of the present autumn. A pair of horses were 

 hitched to the bow of a batteau, the long 

 and strong boat used by the river-drivers of Maine. 

 All of the "duds" of the hunting party, as well 



as themselves were loaded into the batteau, and under 

 the whip of an expert the horses were put into the middle 

 of the river and started up stream. Rough and rocky is 

 no name for the condition of that wild stream. Mr. C. A. 

 Nason and a stout river driver were in the bow, to fend 

 off the big rocks and boulders. But this was not all. The 

 boat had to be pried off the rocks and skidded over the 

 rough places. Part of the time the horses were in the 

 water up to their bellies and part of the time they had to 

 swim. Then the boat had to be poled with the harnesses 

 unhooked. About the first adventure Mr. Coggin 

 noticed was very early in the trip, when Mr. Nason 

 jumped out into the cold water up to his armpits. 

 This was done to fend off the boat from some rocks and 

 to unhitch the horses. Soon the batteau came near 

 going over, and all hands were jumping out into the 

 water. Mr. Coggin suddenly found himself across the 

 stalwart shoulders of Mr. Nason, and deposited on dry 

 land. When questioned as to why he did it, as it was no 

 worse for Mr. Coggin, in Mr. Coggin's own opinion, to 

 get wet than it was for the others, Mr. Nason replied that 

 he wanted him to keep dry as long as he could, for he 

 would get wet enough before night without a doubt. This 

 Mr. Coggin found to be true. All the boys were wet to 

 their heads before the river part of the journey was done, 

 and wading the river in October water had become a part 

 of the fun, though a little cold at the first dip. But 13 

 miles up river was made in this way, when the batteau 

 was left for another mode of travel, that first given to 

 man. Camp Saponifique was at last reached, the first of 

 Mr. Nason's lumber camps. But added to the part-by- 

 batteau and part-on-foot travel, there was a distance of 

 12 lumberman's miles to be made on foot by tote road. 

 Mr. Coggin expresses the same idea of State of Maine 

 lumberman's miles as does every other sportsman who 

 has tread them for the first time, "I'll wager that that 12 

 miles is more than 20." 



But the Smith Brook Camps are reached at last, with 

 the boys tired and so lame. "Oh, for home or anywhere!" 

 "Can I ever sleep in these little bunks, with only spruce 

 brush for an underbed ?" "The cords of my left leg are 

 drawn up so that I cannot straighten it. I shall die be- 

 fore I get out of this. Here I have been tramping in the 

 mud and water all day, and not a particle of sweet cream 

 or vaseline to rub my joints with ! Why did I come 

 There are not moose or deer enough in the Maine woods 



" "All up! all up!" in stentorian tones. "What is 



the matter? Oh, I have really been asleep. Now I know. 

 The cook has come in from the cook and eating house 

 and is summoning the men to get up to breakfast at 4 

 o'clock in the morning. In less than three minu tes every 

 man is out of his bunk and dressed. Dressed, did 1 say? 

 Yes; well it did not take long, (or they generally slept in 

 about all their clothes. I will turn over and try to get 

 another nap. No; I am awake and I will steal a march 

 on the other fellows. I will quietly speak to my guide, 

 that sturdy young fellow thac the good Mr. Nason has 

 assigned to me. I begin to like him already. Perhaps I 

 can get a deer or a moose the first morning out." 



Mr. Coggin was up before the rest of the party, and 

 with his guide, each with a rifle, they started for "The 

 Farms." "The Farms" are really no farms at all, but a 

 long open space in the great woods, two or three milea 

 up the side of Mooselick Mountain, above Smith Brook 

 Camps. The opening is the result of a fire at some 

 period, or else the soil is so thin that trees of much size 

 do not grow. Here is a great feeding place for moose 

 and deer. The guide suggested caution, as they traveled 

 along over the newly fallen leaves. Soon he poked away 

 the leaves. "There is a deer track," he remarked. "I 

 guess he has not been gone a great while," Soon he stops 

 again. "There is where a deer slept last night," he says. 

 "He is not a great ways oft", I judge." Mr. Coggin's 

 heart was jumping out of his chest already. "Sh! sh! 

 Look just behind that bunch of leaves and little spruces!" 

 Mr. Coggin strained his eyes to the utmost, but could see 

 no deer. The animal bounded and started to run, but the 

 guide's rifle was to his shoulder in an instant, and though 

 already on the run, the deer was hit. Mr. Coggin had 

 previously suggested to the guide to fire; it was venison 

 the first morning that he was after, and not mere senti- 

 ment. But the deer was not down , and by careful fol- 

 lowing, our friend Coggin got the final shot that finished 

 him, it took but a moment for the guide to disembowel 

 the game, a handsome doe. The body he threw across 

 his shoulders, and they turned from the camp, already 

 some three or four miles away, and down the mountain. 



Special. 



The Rattlesnake as a Game Protector. 



The St. Augustine JSfeics of Oct. 31 reported: 

 "While Dr. Philips and Mr. S. W. Crichlow were out 

 hunting yesterday, a valuable dog, belonging to the 

 doctor, was bitten by a rattlesnake. The hunters after- 

 ward killed the reptile, but the dog is in a very serious 

 condition. Mr. E. Oliveros, who was hunting in another 

 place, came upon a rattler, which attacked his dog, but 

 did not reach him. Mr. Oliveros killed the huge snake, 

 and found it had eight rattles. None of the hunters were 

 hurt." 



Commenting upon which "Didymus" offers these re- 

 flections: 



Somewhere in "Mother Goose's Melodies" mayl>e found 

 these warning words: 



Three children sliding on the ice 



All on a summer day. 

 The ice it broke, they all fell in, 

 The rest they ran away. 



Now had these children been at home. 



Or sliding on dry ground, 

 Ten thousand pounds to one penny 



They had not all been drowned. 



There's a time for all things— a time for sliding and a 

 time for shooting, and had these "alleged" sportsmen been 

 at home, or at some legitimate occupation instead of 

 shooting quail in October, in direct violation of the law, 

 ten thousand pounds to one penny they had not lost their 

 dog, for rattlers have a subtler sense of honor than pot 

 hunters, and merely stay out of their holes during the 

 "close season" to protect the birds tUl the proper shooting 

 season, when they quietly leave the field and go into 

 winter quarters. But why "the subtlest beast of the field" 

 should show such a lack of discrimination, and so little 

 sense of justice as to strike the innocent and let the guilty 

 go free is a mystery; surely the servant should not suffer 

 for the sins of his master. Didymus . 



