CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM §.H.Burnhan CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IMINO 24 AARON HALL (1828-1892)—‘‘The Lion Hunter of the Juniata.” Slayer of 50 Pennsylvania Panthers Between 1845 and 1869. (FRONTISPIECE) Extinct Pennsylvania Animals PART I. The Panther and the Wolf By HENRY W. SHOEMAKER (Author of ‘‘A Pennsylvania Bison Hunt,’’ Etc.) FULLY ILLUSTRATED NS NZNZ The Altoona Tribune Publishing Co. ALTOONA, PENNA. 1917 COPYRIGHTED ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Pennsylvania Lion or Panther (REVISED EDITION) e “Une panthere ou un lion, me disait Je, serait loge u souhart la dedans!”’ — Bombonnel sea HON. COLEMAN K. SOBER, For 21 Years a Member of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. World Renowned Shot—Intimate Friend of Aaron Hall, Pages BiRGhACe> gant ic) ah Oh he oe wiare eer mene b- 7 ELIStOLy Hive audvencataiendasenanees 9-18 DeseniplOn- .1o24sansighbadedsgenied 14-18 LAD NUS) 1454) are ae ll onl doh kak ates 19-23 Batly Prevalence. aainbes etna 24-28 The Great Slaughter................. 29-32 The Biggest Panther ................ 33-89 Diminishing Numbers ............0 = 10-43 he Last: Phase .ccieaseas geache 44-48 Re-Introduction: Sporting Possibilities 49-52 Superstitions, Wishes made ucae 53-57 ‘Tentative List of Panthers Killed in Pennsylvania Since 1860.......... 58-59 Ode to a Stuffed Panther............ 60-61 I. PREFACE. HE object of this pamphlet is to produce a narra- fi tive blending the history and romance of the once plentiful Lion of Pennsylvania. While ’ pages have been written in natural histories describing this animal’s unpleasant characteristics, not a word has been said in its favor. It has never even had an apol- ogetic. In reality the Pennsylvania Lion needs no defenders, as those who understand him realize the nobility of his nature. From reading John W. God- man’s “American Natural History,’ published in 1828, one would imagine that the Pennsylvania Lion, or, as it is most commonly called, the panther, was a most terrible beast. Among other things he says: “In the daytime the cougar is seldom seen, but its peculiar cry frequently thrills the experienced traveler with horror, while camping in the forest for the night.” Even Mary Jemison, “The White Woman of the Gen- essee,” speaks of “the terrifying shrieks of the fero- cious panther,’ as she heard it in her childhood days on Marsh Creek, Franklin County. In reality the pan- ther was an inoffensive creature, desiring only to be let alone, yet brave when attacked by dogs, and re- spectful of man. A single hunter in St. Lawrence County, New York, met five panthers together, of which, with his dog and gun, he killed three at the time and the next day the other two. The first settlers finding it in the woods set out to kill it as they did 5 6 _THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. with every other living thing from the paroquet to the heath-cock, from the northern hare to the pine marten, fram the passenger pigeon to the wild turkey, without trying to study it, or give it a chance. Fconomically the panther was of great value for the hide, meat, and oil, an las the finest game animal which Pennsylvania produced. .\s former Governor Glynn, of New York, said in a message to the Legislature, “Game should he couseryved to furnish a cheap food supply.” In the fol- lowing pages will be found the bull of the information whieh the writer has been able to collect on the sub- jeetéof the panther in Pennsylvania. It has been pre- pared trom the point of view of the old hunters, whom the writer has interviewed. \While there are some statements which are liable to be declared scientifically incorrect, they are printed for what they are worth, as the authorities were as reliable as unscientific ob- servers can be. ‘The writer has consulted practically every book which contains a mention of the panther in the Keystone State, and also many wther works on the cougar of the United States and Central and South America. He docs not seek to “split hairs” and make the (Pennsylvania Lion a separate varicty, greater or grander than its relatives in other parts. he state- uicnt 15 herein made that Pennsylvania panthcrs were the largest known in the East, and this the writer be- heves to be correct. The romantic part of the panther’s sojourn among us has been dilated upon whenever possible. This animal, above all others, added most to the legendary lore of the State. But the chief cffort CLEMENT F. HERLACHER, With a Panther Cub Taken in Treaster Valley, M‘fflin County, in 1893, THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 7 of these pages will be to disprove many of the stories derogatory to the animal, to give a hearing to its side of the case and a wider knowledge of its beauty and usefulness. This is done in case a time should come when “red-blooded” sportsmen will decide to reintro- duce the panther as our leading game animal. Then there would be at least one published work which would show the misjudged “cougar” in a favorable light. Though perhaps lacking in scientific exactness, these pages would contain a brief for its existence. Southern panthers may still visit the wilder localities of Pennsylvania, and a wider knowledge of the animal might help prevent a general onslaught against these wanderers. In this connection it might be well to state that the wandering panthers are smaller than those which held their fixed abode in a single valley. In Algeria, where wandering leopards or “panthers” are found, they are called Berrani, whereas those which remain in one locality are called Dolly. The Berrani, (the Hunting Leopard) strangely enough, is smaller than the Dolly. Natural history has many parallels, coincidences and mysteries. All of them teach us the wonders of existence and should make us deal gently with every form of God’s lesser creatures. We have no right to say which ani- mals shall be destroyed and which spared. Just as we look with scorn on the wasteful methods of the old- time lumbermen of Pennsylvania, we will before long cherish the same opinion of the men who wantonly destroyed the wild life of the Commonwealth, II. HISTORY. the Indians themselves. The Erie tribe who were blotted out by the Iroquois in 1656 were called the Yenresh, or “the long tailed,” which was Gallicised into “Eri,” hence Erie, “the place of the panther.” The French called the Erie, “Nation du Chat,” or Cat Nation, which was simply a translation of Yenresh, the name of the panther. Nation du Chat means “Panther Nation,” which is the real name of the Erie. From the earliest times the Pennsylvania lion has been unjustly feared. The first Swedish settlers on the Delaware hunted it unmercifully. They could not but believe that an animal which howled so hideously at night must be a destroyer of human life. When William Penn first landed at Philadelphia the range of the panther still extended to the outskirts of the city of Brotherly Love. In a letter to his friends in Eng- land, written during his first visit to his province, he said: “Of living creatures, fish, fowl, and the beasts of the wood, here are divers sorts, some for food and profit, and some for profit only; for food as well as profit, the elk, as big as a small ox; deer, bigger than ours, beaver, raccoon, rabbits, squirrels, and some eat young bear and commend it. The creatures for profit only, by skin or fur, and which are natural to these parts, are the wild cat, panther, otter, wolf, fisher, i lie history of the panther seems to be as old as 9 10 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. minx, muskrat, etc.” This shows that the s: gacious Quaker was awake to the commercial possibilities of the panther and other animals. On a number of occa- sions he expresses himself in favor of the protection of fur-bearing animals, except when their coats were in prime condition. Certain of the Mingo Indians hated the panther, classing it with the wolf and wild cat, as one of the few animals which were at perpetual war with their God of the chase, Kanistagia. By the beginning of the eighteenth century the pantaer was driven back as far as the western limits of the’ present Chester County. By 1750 it was rarely found, cast of the Blue Mountains. Here it made its stand f ‘more than three-quarters of a century. By 184@ was driven further West, its limits being approxiniately a line drawn across the State in a Northeasterl” direc- tion, beginning at the Eastern border of Fulto+ Coun- ty, through Perry County, thence along the North Branch to Wilkes-Barre, and from thence arr~ ~~ Honesdale. By 1810 the range was closed iv aS following counties: Clearfield, Centre, Miffli = Clin- ton, Potter, Lycoming and Susquehanna. [jy 1880 Clearfield, Centre and Mifflin contained the ohly na- tive panthers, though wanderers from \Vest Virginia continued traveling through some of the Western and Northern counties. In 1895 the range was lingited to two valleys only, viz: Havice and Treaster, in Mifflin County, when the last native race of panthers disap- peared. Dr. J.T. Rothrock, former Forestry Commis- sioner of Pennsylvania, heard the weird ery in Treas- GEORGE G. HASTINGS, Who Kilied Two Panthers in Centre County in 1871. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 11 ter Valley, in 1893. Of all the animals of Pennsylva- nia the panther is by far the most picturesque, and has been treated in the most fantastic manner by early writers. In an old history of the Lenni-Lenape, pub- lished nearly a century ago, a writer states: “There are many animals which the Indians in Pennsylvania were accustomed to hunt, some on account of their value, and others because of the mischief they did. Among these the panther is a terrible animal. Its cry resembles that of a child, but this is interrupted by a peculiar bleating like that of a goat, which be- trays it. It gnarls over its prey like a cat. It pos- sesses astonishing strength and swiftness in leaping and seizing hogs, deer and. other animals. When pursued, even with a small dog, it leaps into a tree, from which it darts upon its enemy. If the first shot misses, the hunter is in imminent danger. They do not, in common, attack men, but if hunters or travelers approach a covert, in which the panther has its young, their situation is perilous. Whoever flies from it is lost. It is, therefore, necessary for those threatened with an attack to withdraw gently, walking backward, and keeping their eyes fixed on the animal, and even if they miss an aim in shooting at it, to look at it stead- fastly.” It was these early inaccurate accounts which caused the public clamor against the Pennsylvania lion, resulting in the enactment of bounty laws and speedy extermination. In 1850, John Hamilton, a surveyor, encountered a female panther and two cubs crossing the Coudersport pike, going in the direction of Little | He tw THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. Chatham Run. Though within twenty feet of the huge female, the animal made no effort to molest the gentleman. So much for the great danger of approach- ing where “a panther has its young!’ Dr. Caspar Wistar, Professor of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, originally owned the land on which the towns of Loganton and Carroll, in Clinton County, now stand. As there were no railroads’ in those days, Dr. Wistar, when on his periodical visits to Sugar Valley, drove in his own conveyance, accompanied by Hercules, his faithful colored servant. Just previous to one of his visits, Henry Barner, a pioneer, whose “old homestead,” near the mouth of Carroll Gap, is still standing, killed a panther in his front yard. He shot the monster, it is said, as it was about to spring at him. It was found to measure more than eleven feet from tip to tip. Upon reaching the neighborhood Dr. \Wistar soon learned that an unusually large panther had been killed by Mr. Barner, and immediately pro- ceeded to the home of the settler to ascertain the particulars of the capture.. As he approached the dwelling he saw lying in the yard the grinning head of the panther in an advanced stage of decomposition, but, being prompted by a desire to further his scientific researches, he desired to procure it for dissection, re- gardless of its condition. Accordingly he ordered his servant to place the head in his carriage that he might take it to Philadelphia. This the Negro did, but for years afterward he would laugh about “dat limburger smell under de seat.’ This Negro’s son became so im- THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 13 pressed by the wonders of the forest life that he took employment as body-servant to Ario Pardee, the mil- lionaire lumberman, and under the name of ‘Black Sam,’ was well known in the old-time lumber and hunting country in Central Pennsylvania. III. DESCRIPTION. FTER interviewing many old-time panther hunt- A ers and persons who saw the Pennsylvania lion alive or recently killed, among them Jacob Quiggle (1821-1911), John H. Chatham, George G. Hastings, Seth Iredell Nelson (1809-1905), Clement F. Herlacher and others, the writer has evolved the following description of the Lion of Pennsylvania: Body, long, slim, head large (averaging eight inches in mature specimens, wide in proportion to length) ; legs strong, short; forelegs like the African lion, stouter than hind legs; tail, long and tufted at end; color greyish about the eyes; hairs within the ears grey, slightly tinged with yellow; exterior of ears blackish ; those portions of the lips which support the whiskers, black; the remaining portion of the lip pale chocolate; throat, grey; beneath the neck pale yellow. General color, reddish in Potter County, shading from a dull gray to a slate further South in the State. The hide of a West Virginia pantheress killed on the Greenbriar River, Pocohontas County, in 1901, three- quarters grown, owned by Hon. C. K. Sober, of Lewis- burg, has long white hair on chest and belly, a fluffy, dark brown tail, culminating in a large tuft of black hair, like the tip of the tail of an African lion. It measured seven feet three inches from tip to tip. Georges Buffon, whose French work on Natural His- 14 JESSE LOGAN (1809-1916) A Pennsylvania Indian Who Killed a Panther in 1860. » THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 15 tory is an authority, in speaking of the Cougar de Pennsylvanic, says: “It is low on its legs, has a longer tail than the Western puma; it is described as five feet six inches in length, tail two feet six inches; height before, one foot nine inches; behind, one foot ten inches.” Dr. C. Hart Merriam says that the head of the Adirondack panther was proportionately small. The head of the Pennsylvania panther, according to the concensus of opinion, was large and round. George G. Hastings says that the panthers he killed had heads “like bulldogs.” Of the three mounted specimens now in existence, all of which are fortunately mounted with the skulls, the heads are large. The size of the head and jaws of the specimen in the Museum at State College, which is magnificently mounted, is the most noticeable feature of the manikin. The hair of the female panther was somewhat longer than the males. Many naturalists claim that the tails of the female cougars are shorter than the males. Pennsylvania panther hunters aver that the tails of the females were as long as the males, although very few females were captured. The Pennsylvania lion was known by a great variety of names. William Penn called it the panther—why, cannot be imagined; it is colored very differently from the panthere of Northern Africa, which he probably had in mind. The backwoodsmen called it the painter; there is a Painter Run in Tioga County, a Painterville in Westmoreland County, and painter hollows and painter rocks innumerable all over the State. Semi-humorous persons alluded to it as the 16 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. Pennsylvania lion, but this in turn has become its most dignified cognomen. It is interesting to note that Peter Pentz, the famous Indian fighter, killed a maned male panther near McElhattan Run, Clinton County, in 1798. The Indians told the Dutch settlers on Man- hattan Island that the hides of panthers they brought there to sell were from females, that the males had manes and were difficult to capture. Perhaps the earliest form of the panther possessed maned males. They may be a modification of the prehistoric lions which Prof. Leidy called felis atrox, and which ranged parts of the continent. The Indians may have repeated an old tradition, and not something made out of the whole cloth. Panthers lived in shallow caves along the steep slopes of the rockier of the Pennsylva- nia mountains. Peter Pentz, it is said, crawled into a deep cavern to kill the maned panther and its mate. George Shover blocked up a panther in a cave on Little Miller Run, Lycoming County, in 1865, built a fire and suffocated the beast. There have been a few Pennsylvanians who called the Pennsylvania lion the cougar, and a still smaller number who alluded to it as the puma. There has been a wide range to the scientific nomenclature. S. N. Rhoads, the Phila- delphia naturalist, who knows more about the panther than any other man in the State, gives preference to felis couguar. This is undoubtedly superior to felis concolor, which conveys very little. Others have re- ferred to it as the American Lion, Brown Tiger and Catamount. The last title refers more properly to the THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 17 Canada Lynx, or big grey wild cat. The Pennsylvania Germans used to call the panther the Bender. Philip Tome, in his “Thirty Years a Hunter,” tells of Rice Hamlin killing a panther on the Tiadaghton weighing 200 pounds. About 175 pounds was a good average weight for a mature Pennsylvania Lion. Tome, who also was probably the greatest of all Pennsylvania hunters of big game, has recorded many of his hunt- ing adventures in a book entitled “Thirty Years a Hunter.” He was a sportsman as well as hunter, never killing recklessly. Though he makes no re- capitulation of panthers which fell to his unerring bullets, his descendants estimate that he killed at least 500 of these noble animals. One of his grandsons, George L. Tome, a noted hunter, resides at Corydon, in Warren County. Old Mifflin County hunters described a panther killed by John Reager and William Dellett near Milroy in 1869 as being so large that when the carcass was thrown across the shoulders of a horse the head dragged on one side and the tail on the other. According to the Pennsyl- vania hunters the specimens of felis couguar now seen in Zoological gardens have faded coats, or else the western individuals are plainer colored. It is said that the winter sunlight shining on the many tinted coats of the Pennsylvania lion was a sight beautiful to behold. Even in death the hides retain the rich fulvous, fawn, orange and lemon tints for forty years or more. George G. Hastings vividly describes a magnificent male panther which sunned’ itself and \ 18 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. rolled in the snow on the breast of a splash dam on Big Run, Centre County, in February, 1872, when he was alone and unarmed at a nearby camp. The great feline seemed to be aware of the Nimrod’s wipre- paredness, lingering about the premises for upwards of an hour. A Florida panther killed near Miami in the winter of 1914, measures, length of head and body 56 inches, length of tail 28 inches. The hide was sent to the writer by the naturalist Rhoads. It rep- resents the extreme peninsular dark phase, being a rich chocolate brown in color. ‘The head is small, as is the head of the West Virginia panther, previously alluded to; the coat of the West Virginia specimen is a paler brown, lacking much of the richness of the Florida hide. A dark dorsal line from shoulders to tip of tail is very noticeable on the Florida specimen, but like the West Virginia hide it has the tuft at end of tail. A mounted Florida panther in the Museum of Natural History, New York City, is a sooty, or slate grey in color, very different from the hide procured by Mr. Rhoads. ‘uoI] BlUBA|ASUUdd au} JO S}IQEH 94} UO AzJ4oYuZNY PUe vajzuUNH AZUNOD UOMO W ‘zest U4og ‘NVYWYVH TSNNVWWSA IV. HABITS. T is unfortunate that when the Pennsylvania lion I was prevalent no local naturalists made an at- tempt to study the habits of the noble animal. Mr. S. N. Rhoads, in his ‘Mammals of Pennsylvania and New Jersey,” gives us the most complete account, but it was written vears after the animal’s disappearance and mostly from hearsay evidence. In the first place, the panther of Pennsylvania was not “unnecessarily cruel.” It fed mostly on decrepit and wounded deer and elk, sickly game birds and rabbits, also on mice, rats, bugs, worms and berries. It was also a scavenger, eating animals which had died after receiving wounds from hunters, and those which had succumbed from natural causes. Ina forest it was a decidedly benefi- cial element. It never killed more than it could eat under any circumstances. There is no authentic case of the Pennsylvania lion having attacked human beings even when wounded. There is a story prevalent in Lycoming County of a doctor having been eaten by a panther about 1840; later researches prove that he was lost in the snow and died of exposure. Wolves, pan- thers and hawks picked his carcass, not knowing enough to respect a human corpse, but that was the very worst. D. S. Maynard, in his “Historical View of Clinton County,” published in 1874, tells of an occa- sion when the workmen on the State Road between Renovo and Germania found the bones of a man ‘who 19 20 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. no doubt had been killed and eaten py a panther.” Probably the man died from exposure, and his carcass was chewed up by the lion. The same author men- tions an instance near Young Woman’s Town, now North Bend, where a panther killed and devoured an ox, and another instance where a panther killed a fox, which, jackal fashion, had been following it to obtain a share of the “swag.” Another case, on Pine Creek, on the Clinton County shore, is that of a child going after the cows, which had to pass under an overhanging timber of an abandoned dam, on which a panther was crouched, and the brute springing on the child devoured it. ‘This was supposed to have happened about 1820, but no names are obtainable. The child was probably lost in the woods or kidnaped by the Indians who camped at the mouth of the creek When wounded, panthers courageously attacked the dogs, but refused to molest hunters. When about to be knifed or shot, these animals are known to have looked the hunters in the eyes and shed real tears. It is recorded that panthers made interesting and affec- tionate pets. An admirer in Philadelphia sent a young Pennsylvania lion to Edmund Kean, a celebrated Eng- lish actor. It followed him about the streets of Lon- don, attracting more attention than Alderman Parkin’s team of quaggas. D’Azara’s tame panther is recorded as being gentle, but very sluggish. Agnes Sorel, the celebrated Parisian actress, was presented with a lively young panther by a South American admirer. A short time ago the lady presented the animal to the Jardin THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 21 des Plantes, where it can be seen and admirea by mul- titudes. Several “pilots” on the West Branch of thie Susquehanna kept panther cubs on their rafts, which were as playful as kittens. In Pennsylvania the rut- ting season usually occurred in December, and accord- ing to the old hunters, the period of gestation lasted three lunar months. Jack Long, the famous hunter in discussing the subject with Dr. W. J., McKnight, author of “Pioneer Outline History of Northwestern Pennsylvania,” said that panthers brought forth their young in September. Audubon says gestation took 9% days, and Dr. Conklin, former director of Central Park Zoological Garden, New York City, claims 91 days as the period. Three to six pups was the number of young produced by Pennsylvania panthers. Jesse Logan, Indian panther hunter, says that panther cubs were delicate, and many died while teething, Au- dubon says there have been instances of five at a birth, in speaking of the species in general. Samuel Askey, the great Centre county panther slayer, ob- tained four pups in a nest on more than one occasion. In 1871 Calvin Wagner, of Bannerville, Snyder county, when crossing the Seven Mountains near Zerby, found a pantheress stretched out across the path, playing with six healthy looking pups. He was unarmed, and as the panthers made no move to vacate, he took a detour to pass them. Hurrying down the mountain he obtained a rifle from a settler near Penn’s Creek, and returned to the spot, but the animals were nowhere to be seen. On the return, he encountered a 22 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. herd of about thirty deer, another unusual occurrence for that time. The young panthers usually followed the mother until almost full grown. They hunted with her, but when two or three years old left to seek mates. Panthers did not have young every year, but only brought forth a fresh litter when abandoned by their almost mature offspring. In “Fur News Maga- zine’ a writer from Perry County describes a battle to the death between male panthers which was witnessed one night by a belated traveler crossing the “Seven Brothers,” as the Seven Mountains, the Tussey, Path Valley, Thick Head, Sand, Bald, Shade and Stone ranges, are often called. The traveler watched the com- bat from behind a big rock, seeing the two fierce brutes tear each other to pieces. ‘he males and females, except mother and young, kept separate except during the mating season. The panther is a silent animal except at this season, and when its young is taken. Its love song was majestic, but its cry of maternal anguish one of the most doleful to be conjured by the imagination. W. H. Schwartz, the brilliant editor of the Altoona Tribune, recently wrote: “Anent the cry of the panther. This writer had many conversations with a gentleman who was born in 1768 and who was one of the pioneers in this vicinity. Many times did he make our young blood run cold by the tales of the panther and its habit of crying through the night like an abandoned child. More than that, the writer, some sixty-two years ago, heard a plaintive cry one night as he spent the night with his grandmother, near THOMAS GALLAUHER SIMCOX (1840-1914) Relator of Many Indian Legends Concerning the Panthers of the Black Forest, in Clinton and Potter Counties, THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 23 Canoe Creek, and was assured by her that it was a panther. The cry was repeated several times.” Panthers were fond of standing erect when sharpen- ing their claws against the rough bark of the tupelo trees. Franklin Shreckengast relates how two hunters on Baker’s Run, in Centre county, in an early day carved away a section of bark from one of these trees and cut on the smooth surface “Dec. 4, 1858, Jake Hall, Abe Glelson, kilt 4 deers heer.” The tupelo in question was a favorite nail sharpening resort of the panthers which trailed the aged or wounded deer in that section and shortly afterwards with their heavy claws the huge brutes completely effaced the boastful record of the enterprising Nimrods. ‘That the panther would resent meddling is attested to by George Huff, born in 1835, of White Deer, Union County, who tells how a man named Jacob Lushbaugh, a hunter in the White Deer Mountains, in trying to rescue a favorite dog from the grip of a panther had one of his hands badly lacerated by the monster's fangs. V. EARLY PREVALENCE. IONS in British East Africa were never more L prevalent than was the panther in Pennsylvania a century or more ago. The woods fairly teemed with them. Yet they made no inroads on the myriads of elk, deer, hares, heath-cocks, wild turkeys, grouse, quails, wild pigeons, rabbits and hares which shared the forest covers with them. The first settlers destroved all game mercilessly and when it grew scarce blamed its disappearance on the panthers, lynxes, wildcats, wolves and foxes. A warfare was waged against the miscalled predatory beasts; they were exterminated, but game became scarcer than ever. It is now only that people are beginning to wake up to the fact that the panthers were the victims of a cowardly plot to avert the white hunters’ culpa- bility. 3S. N. Rhoads states that in Luzerne county bounties amouning to $1,822 were paid on the scalps of panthers between 1808 and 1820. More than fifty of these superb animals were killed in one year. J. J. Audubon relates that “Among the mountains of the headwaters of the Juniata river, as we were informed, the cougar is so abundant that one man has killed for some years from two to five, and one very hard winter seven.” This was written about 1850, Samuel Askey, of Snow Shoe, Centre county, killed sixty-four panthers between the years of 1820 and 1815. These 24 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 25 were taken in a limited district, and all of this great hunter's neighbors were engaged slaying panthers at the same time. During these twenty-five years it is estimated that six hundred panthers were killed in Centre county. Eleven full grown panthers were killed on Medix Run, which flows through Clearfield and Elk counties, during the winter of 1853. At no time, however, was the range of the Pennsylvania lion evenly distributed. While it was teeming in Centre, Clearfield and counties further South, it was a rare visitor in Potter, Mchean and Warren counties. C. W. Dickinson, the great hunter of the Black Forest, says: ‘Panthers were never as prevalent at the head- waters of the Alleghany as on the Susquehanna, the Clarion, or the Juniata. I don’t believe that more than ten or twelve were captured in what is now Mce- Kean county since the first white man settled there. I believe that panthers, like wild cats, were afraid of the yrey timber wolves which abounded there. Yet the panther was almost as plentiful in Tioga, Bradford and Susquehanna counties as it was in Centre or Mifflin. Hundreds were slain in Susquehanna county and Blackman's history of that county abounds with instances of its appearance among the early settlers. Tt was killed by the hundreds in Wyoming and coun- ties directly South. It bred in the inaccessible swamps in Susquehanna county and among the rocky fast- nesses at the headwaters of the Lehigh river. It was never plentiful in Clinton county, but was found in great numbers in Lycoming and Sullivan. The lim- 26 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. ited range and the limited amount of wild territory in Pennsylvania set an early doom on the native lions. Gradually civilization closed in, and the number of hunters increased yearly. Panther hides were as pre- valent on the walls of old-time farm buildings as woodchuck skins are today. Almost every backwoods kitchen had a panther coverlet on the lounge by the stove. Panther tracks could be seen crossing and re- crossing all the fields, yet children on their way to school were never molested. Inan early day in Centre county hunters who had killed fifty panthers were of no rare occurrence. Among the Jefferson county hunters who killed fifty panthers may be mentioned “Bill” Long, “The ing Hunter,’ who died in May, 1880, in his ninety-first year. Young bloods dared not pay court to a girl unless they could boast of having killed a panther or two. Even preachers and missionaries joined in the chase and some of them held high scores in the awful game of slaughter. Panthers insisted in returning to spots where they had reared their voung the season before. ‘he hunters were soon aware of the panther “ledges” or clefts’ and robbed them annually. They lay in wait for the old animals, kill- ing them without quarter. A dog which would not trail a panther was held to be of small value. Tame panthers were used to attract their wild relatives out of the forests. Joseph McConnel, a pioneer in Northern Juniata county, killed eleven panthers in seven years in this way. He is said to have covered one entire side of his barn with panther JAMES DAVID (1805-1892) Clinton County’s Famous Panther Hunter. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 27 hides. He thought so little of them that they rotted where they hung and were blown apart by heavy gales. German buyers secured many panther skins, as there was a steady demand in the “old coun- try” for these hides, like there always has been for walnut. Schroeder & Co., of Lock Haven, sent their last consignment to Germany in 1893. William Perry killed a mature male panther on Yost Run, Centre county, in 1875, which was seen in the trap by S. A. Wadsworth and J. A. Roan, residents of Clinton coun- ty, now living. Roan says that the animal’s head was covered with old scars, showing where it had been in sanguinary battles with rivals in the past. James Wyle Aliller, veteran hunter of Clinton county, but formerly of Cameron county, killed many deer in the old days the flanks of which had been scarred by panthers in their ineffectual efforts to bring them down. On one occasion Miller saw the tracks of nine panthers on a “‘crossing’” on Up Jerry Run, in Cam- eron county. In Miller’s boyhood days, he was born in 1838, the greatest panther hunters in the Sinnema- honing Valley were Joe Berfield, John Jordan, Arch Logue and Henry Mason, who resided a short dis- tance up the East Fork. According to Jonas J. Barnet, born in 1838, of Weikert, Union County, panthers were so prevalent on Penn’s Creek in the first decade of the Nineteenth Century that his uncle, Jacob Weikert, was unable to keep pigs for a period of seven years. Mary Hironimus, of Weikert, was followed four miles by a panther ; the experience 28 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. made her an invalid for nearly a year, as the huge cat treated her as a “Tabby” would a mouse, letting her walk along the path a few feet ahead of him, stop- ping when she stopped and running when she ran. Mrs. Mary De Long, of Stover’s, in Brush Valley, Centre county, in walking along a forest path saw a panther crouched above her on the limb of a large white oak, but the animal suffered her to pass beneath. On another occasion at night, when going for help when her mother was ill, she met a panther by the path. By holding the lantern between herself and the monster she was allowed to go her way, the panther keeping abreast of her just far enough in the shadows to avoid the light, until she reached the neighbor's cabin. ‘The fear of panthers was so firmly implanted in her that her descendants to this day always instinctively look up in the forks of large trees when passing through a forest. Panthers often leaped on roofs of shanties at night, frightening the female occupants considerably. John $. Hoar tells of an instance of this kind in Treaster Valley (Mifflin County) about 1896, and another similar occurrence is recorded in Miss Blackman’s “History of Susque- hanna County.” VI. THE GREAT SLAUGHTER. NIMAL drives, 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 1756. “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 Wild 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 1714. History has confused the two men, but as the wild hunter offered 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 29 30 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. in on the centre. When they reached the point where the killing was to be made, they found it crowded with yelping, growling, bellowing animals. Then the slaughter began, not ending until the last animal had been slain. A group of Buffaloes broke through the euards at an early stage of the killing, and it is esti- mated that several hundred animals escaped in this way. ‘The recapitulation is as follows, the count hav- ing been made by Black Jack himself at the close of the carnage: Forty-one panthers, 109 wolves, 112 foxes, 11! mountain cats, 17 black bears, 1 white bear, 2 elk, 198 deer, 111 buffaloes, 3 fishers, 1 otter, 12 gluttons, 3 beavers and upwards of 500 smaller ani- mals. ‘lhe percentage of panthers to the entire num- ber killed is an interesting commentary on the early prevalence of these animals. ‘Che choicest hides were taken, together with buffalo tongues, and then the heap of carcasses “as tall as the tallest trees,” was heaped with rich pine and fired. ‘his created such a stench that the settlers were compelled to vacate their cabins in the vicinity of the fort, three miles away. ‘here is a small mound, which on being dug into is filled with bones, that marks the spot of the slaughter, near the head waters of (West) Mahan- tango Creck. Black Jack’s unpopularity with the In- dians was added to when they learned of this animal drive. ‘he red men, who only killed such animals as they actually needed for furs and food, and were real conservationists, resented such a wholesale butchery. The story goes that the wild hunter was ambushed JOHN VANATTA PHILLIPS, Who, on Chatham’s Run, Clinton County, Hit a Panther With His Silk Hat and Scared the Brute Away. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 31 by Indians while on a hunting trip and killed. Animal drives did not cease with Black Jack’s death, but in some localities they were held annually, until game became practically exterminated. They were held in Northern Pennsylvania, which was settled at a much later date, until about 1830. After the great slaughter of Pomfret Castle, many backwoodsmen appeared in full suits of panther skin. For several years they were known as the “Panther Boys,” and in their old days they delighted to recount the “big hunt” to their de- scendants. Among those said to have taken part in it were Jack Schwartz, Michael Dougherty, Felix Dele- hanty, Terence McGuire, Patt. Mitcheltree, brother of Hugh Mitcheltree, who was carried off by six Indians in 1756; Abraham Hart, Michael Flinn and Isaac Delaplain. The panther uniforms were abandoned be- cause they became favorite targets for skulking In- dians. The savages, infuriated by the arrogance of the white newcomers, spared persons falling into their power occasionally, but gave no quarter to a “Panther Boy.” ‘The great slaughter of animals kept alive ill feeling between the two races in the region of the Firestone Mountains, and probably a dozen settlers lost their lives because of it. However, they went on with their animal drives, as the hardy settlers loved to do what the Indians hated. Of all the hunters con- tributing to the final extermination of the Pennsylva- nia lion, Aaron Hall, who died at his palatial mansion back of Unionville, Centre county, in 1892, stands well up on the list. Between the years 1845 and 1869 THI PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. te he killed fifty panthers, principally in Centre and Clearfield counties. As he began his career as a hunter on Hell’s and ‘Tipton runs, tributaries of the Juniata, he was often called the “Lion Hunter of the Juniata.” On one occasion when visited by tlon, C. IK. Sober, of Lewisburg, former State Game Com- missioner, he had the hides of cleven panthers hang- ing up at his camp on Rock Run, In 1819 the last animal drive or “Ring Tlunt”? was hela by the Pioncers at Beech Creek, Clinton county. Several panthers, it is said, escaped through the human barrier. _ VII. THE BIGGEST PANTHER. nigh impossible to gain a correct idea of the general size of Pennsylvania panthers. As far as it is known there are three mounted panthers in existence, one at State College, one at Albright Col- lege and'a third at McElhattan. In addition to these the writer possesses four hides of panthers, two killed by Aaron Hall, two by George G. Hastings. The first named mounted specimen, a male, killed by Samuel FE. Brush in Susquehanna county in 1856, measures Y feet 9 inches; the second, also a male, killed by Lewis Dorman in Centre county in 1868, is 8 feet; the third, a female, killed by Thomas Anson in Berks county in 1874, is 6 feet 6 inches from tip to tip. This would give a fair average of the sizes. One of the largest Pennsylvania panthers on record taken in recent years was killed in Clinton county, on Young Woman’s Creek, by Sam Snyder, on January 5, 1857. It measured a few hours after it was shot, nine feet two inches. This giant animal had been heard run- ning the deer along the ridges near the creek for sev- eral weeks, and several parties had been organized to capture it. It remained for Sam Snyder, a lad of twenty years, with his pack of six trained fices, to run it down. One bright morning he tracked it to a point where it was forced to take refuge on an overhanging Wo: practically no written records it is well 33 34 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. branch of a mammoth white oak. He fired at it, the bullet passing through its left shoulder. The wound served to infuriate the monster, and it leaped from the tree, landing in the centre of the snarling, snapping pack of dogs. Backing up against the butt of a fallen hemlock, with its right paw, which was not disabled, it killed five of the fices before the hunter sent a bullet into its brain. The fice which escaped was a tiny ter- rier, which was alert enough to keep out of reach of the brute’s paw. The huge carcass was transported in an ox-cart to Young Woman's Town, now North Bend, where after it hung for a day in front of a tav- ern, it was skinned and the hide sold to Matthew Hanna, Jr., a hotel keeper of Young Woman's Town. The carcass was cut up into roasts and steaks, and the entire settlement feasted on it for several days. One dark night, ten years later, Jacob K. Huff, better known as “Faraway Moses,” was followed down Young Woman’s Creek by a panther. The brute kept along the side of the ridge, howling every few min- utes, until it neared the settlement. Evidently the panther had young, and feared that the traveler might molest them. James E. DeKay, in his Natural His- tory of New York State, described a panther killed by Joe Wood at Fourth Lake of Fulton Chain, in Herkimer county, New York, which measured eleven feet three inches. The stuffed hide was exhibited for many years at the Utica Museum. ‘he contents of this Museum were removed, it is stated, to Jackson- ville, Florida, about 1870. “Adirondack” Murray, JOHN Q. DYCE (1830-1904) Who Trailed the Last Panthers in McElhattan Gap, Clinton County. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 35 writing about 1869, says that the panther of the “North Woods” often measured twelve feet from tip to tip. Simon Pfouts, of Leidy township, Clinton county, caught a record panther in a trap near the mouth of Leaver Dam run which measured eleven feet six inches from tip to tip. ‘This is mentioned in Maynard's “Historical View of Clinton County.” Dr. Merriam believes eight feet to be a good average size. ‘This would indicate a close similarity in dimensions between the panthers of the .\dirondacks, Pennsylva- nia and the West. Colonel Roosevelt killed six cougars in Colorado in 1901 which averaged a trifle over eight feet apiece. If anything the Pennsylvania panthers, like the Pennsylvania trees, were larger on the average than those of the Adirondacks. It was the ideal location for them to thrive, for as Prof. J. A. Allen said: “The maximum physical development of the individual is attained where the conditions of en- vironment are most favorable to the life of the spe- cies.” The panthers which George G. Hastings, of Buffalo Run, Centre county, killed on December 30 and 31, 1871, measured nine feet and eight feet nine inches, respectively. ‘The larger was the female, and Mr. Hastings believed it was the mother of the smaller one. George Shover killed a giant male panther on Little Miller Run, Lycoming county, in January, 1865, which measured eleven feet from tip to tip. For some reason male panthers were much more numerous in Pennsylvania than female. The opposite was the case in the Adirondacks, according to Dr. Merriam. Of 36 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. all the instances of panthers noted by the writer of this article, not more than six at most, were females. The information concerning Sam Snyder’s record panther was given to the writer by John G, Davis, of AMcElhattan, who moved to Young Woman’s Town with his parents in April of the year in which the beast was killed. He was sixteen years old at the time and remembers the details of the occurrence viv- idly. Michael Pluff, who died at Hyner, Clinton coun- ty, in January, 1914, aged 74 years, also recalled the circumstance. It is recorded at length in Maynard’s History of the County. Hon. J. W. Crawford, of North Bend, Pa., published an interesting account of this panther in the ‘““Renovo' Record” of February 20, 1914. He says that Snyder went to the front in 1861 and was killed at Fort Sumter. The story is weil known in Clinton and adjoining counties and several persons, including Judge Crawford, who saw the panther when it was brought to Young Woman’s Town, are still “in the land of the living.” The world of sport hails Sam Snyder as a mighty Nimrod! Simon Pfouts, the great hunter, was the first white man to settle on Kettle Creek, Clinton county. At the foot of Spicewood Island he found, on one occasion, three young panthers lying in their nest of leaves un- derneath the shelter of an old root. He quickly gath- ered them up in his arms and started home. When he had arrived within one-fourth of a mile of his resi- dence the sound of panther yells fell upon his ears. Then commenced a race for life, and Pfouts fully de- THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 387 veloped the strength of his muscles. Nearer and nearer were the screams of the huge monster. Pfouts gained the race by a few feet, and rushing into the house he dropped the young panthers and seizing his rifle shot the panther, which fell dead near his door. On another occasion, in company with Paul Shade, pushing a canoe up the river laden with provisions, when within a mile or two of his home, at a point where the channel of the stream is narrow, suddenly an enormous panther leaped from his concealed posi- tion among the rocks at the form of Pfouts, and alighted in the water close to the stern of the canoe, the rapid current carrying it some distance down stream before it reached shore. One day, while out hunting with his well-trained dogs, he killed four panthers, and the following day he killed another. Meshach Browning, in his entertaining work entitled “Forty- four Years a Hunter” (first published in Philadelphia in 1865), thus describes the killing of a record panther in the Maryland Mountains, near the Pennsylvania line: “Not long after we had settled in our new home, there fell a light snow, when I took my rifle, and, call- ing a dog which I had brought with me from Wheel- ing, which was of the stock of old Mr. Caldwell’s hunting dogs, I went into the woods after deer. I had not traveled far before I found the tracks of four deer, which had run off; for they had got wind of me, and dashed into a great thicket to hide themselves. I took the trail, and into the thicket I went, where I 38 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. soon saw the deer running in different directions. I got between them, in hopes that I should see them trying to come together again. I kept my stand per- haps five or six minutes, when I saw something slip- ping through the bushes, which I took to be one of the deer; but I soon found that it was coming toward me. I kept a close look out for it; and directly, within ten steps of me, up rose the head and shoulders of the largest panther that I ever saw, either before or since. He kept behind a large log that was near me, and looked over. But though I had never seen a wild one before, I knew the gentleman, and was rather afraid of him. I aimed my rifle at him as well as I could, he looking me full in the face; and when I fired he made a tremendous spring from me, and ran off through the brush and briars, with the dog after him. “As soon as I recovered a little from my fright I loaded again, and started after them. I followed them as fast as I could, and soon found them at the foot of a large and very high rock; the panther, in his hurry, having sprung down the cleft of+rock fifteen or twenty feet; but the dog, being afraid to venture so great a leap, ran around, and the two had met in a thick laurel swamp, where they were fighting the best way they could, each trying to get the advantage of the other. I stood on the top of the rock over them, and fired at the base of the panther’s ear, when down he went; and I ran round the rock, with my toma- hawk in hand, believing him to be dead. But when I got near him, T found he was up and fighting again, DANIEL KARSTETTER AND WIFE. Pennsylvania Sportsmen Have Heard of This Mighty Panther Slayer All of the Seven Mountains. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 39 and consequently I had to hurry back for my gun, load it again, creep slyly up, take aim at his ear, as before, and give him another shot, which laid him dead on the ground. My first shot had broken his shoulder; the second pierced his ear, passing down- ward through his tongue; the last entered one ear, and came out at the other, scattering his brains all around. He measured eleven feet three inches from the end of his nose to the tip of his tail. This was the largest panther I ever killed, and I suppose I have killed at least fifty in my time. “IT took from this fellow sixteen and a half pounds of rendered tallow. It is something softer than mut- ton tallow, but by mixing it with one-fourth of its weight of beeswax, it makes good candles. I continued hunting the balance of the season, with little success —not killing any bears, although there were great numbers of them in the woods. However, I knew but little of the art of hunting.” A panther killed by John Treaster in the Seven Mountains in 1875 measured, body and head 8 feet, tail 3 feet, total eleven feet, almost the record. Dr. Schoepf describes a shrunken hide of a South Carolina panther as “over five foot from the muzzle to beginning of tail, the tail itself somewhat more than three feet long; the back and sides and head fallow, nearly fawn colored, flanks and belly whitish grey; the end of tail verged some- what on black, but the rest of the tail was of the color of the body.” VII. DIMINISHING NUMBERS. ITH the hand of all raised against them, it is W\ small wonder that by 1860 the panther had become a rarity in the Pennsylvania wilds. Three or four were the most killed in any one year from that date on, until the final extermination. After 1860, they bred in but two localities in the Common- wealth—in the Divide Region of Clearfield County, in Mifflin County. In Clearfield County they had the widest range, and increased most satisfactorily. ‘There was an almost impenetrable evergreen forest at the head of Medix Run, which did not first feel the woodman’s axe until 1904, and which was a panther’s paradise. A few panthers bred there until about 1892. The cries of panthers and the howling of wolves could be heard there for a few years after that. Sam Odin, of Clifford, Susquehanna County, killed the last pan- ther in the northern section in February, 1874. It is described as having ben a superb male, red colored and weighing 153 pounds. Its measurements are not given. A female which was with it escaped, and is probably the same one which was killed by Thomas Anson, a coal-burner on the slope of the Pinnacle, in Northern Berks County, in August of that year, according to O. D. Shock, now of the Public Service Commission at Harrisburg. “Forest and Stream” (Vol. III, Page 67) gives the weight of this animal as 146 pounds, 40 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 41 length 6 feet 514 inches. Measured in the study of the writer of this article, where it now reposes, it is exactly six feet six inches! The old hunters were not all “gross exaggerators,’ as some would have us think. The story of the killing of this panther is of more than passing interest. The coal-burners lived in a shack on the east face of the Pinnacle, which is the highest point in Berks County. Nearby is the cele- brated “Amphitheatre,” where the Blue Mountains appear to form a horseshoe about the village of Eck- ville and its surrounding fields. ‘Travelers have com- pared it to the “Cirque de Gavarnie” in the Pyrenees. On several nights the coal-burners heard the animal prowling about their premises, much to the terror of their dogs. They supposed it to be a wild cat, as these animals were very plentiful in the neighborhood. One evening Jacob Pfleger, one of the burners, went to a farmhouse to get a pan of butter. It was dusk when he started for the shack, but he was able to observe that he was being followed by a huge cat-like animal. He kept his nerve, and was gratified to find that the monster ceased following him when it reached a large spring. There it began lapping up the water like a cat. He was unarmed, but at the shanty he found one of his companions, Thomas Anson, who owned a rifle. Anson is said to have killed a panther in Wayne Coun- ty—the last known in that section—in 1867. The two men returned to the spring, finding the panther not far distant. Anson put several bullets into the brute’s body, ending its life. To this day the spring has been 42 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. ’ known as “The Panther Spring.” It is a fine pool of water, and is along the mountain road between Wind- sor Furnace and Eckville. A sketch was made of the spring by Artist C. H. Shearer in August, 1912. How this panther wandered into Berks County, where none of its kind had been seen in forty years, can only be ex- plained by the fact that the creature was working its way westward in search of a mate. Faires Boyer, a noted hunter, residing at Centreville, Snyder County, killed a panther on Jack’s Mountain in November, 1873. It had been probably driven eastward by dogs. Clement F. Herlacher killed two panthers on Mos- quito Creek, in Clearfield County, in February, 1880. For many nights they had been annoying the horses at a big camp, the frightened animals prancing and foaming while the panthers prowled outside. Leonard Johnson, of McElhattan, Clinton County, remembers this incident very well. The panthers in Treaster Valley did little damage, and were in a sense protected by the old settlers, who resented “outsiders” hunting or cruising about the valley. Even Dr. Rothrock was warned to be “careful” in passing through the valley alone. Clem Herlacher followed these panthers by their regular “crossing” from Sugar Valley, Clinton County, and discovered their “ledge,” in the early summer of 1892. He abstracted four pups, which were about three or four months old. Returning the following vear, he found two pups in the same nest, which he also carried away. Many of the old hunters believed that in some mysterious way the Pennsylva- JESSE HUGHES, Hero of a Spirited Encounter With a Panther in Antes Gap, Lycoming County. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 43 nia lion, like the wolf, was an integral part of the orig- inal forest. When the old forests were cut, the pan- thers and wolves of the Keystone State diminished, until the destruction of practically all of the ‘first growth” timber, they vanished altogether. This may also account for the passing of panthers and wolves trom the Adirondack Mountains in New York, which occurred so completely after the lumbermen’s devas- tation. ( Ua MA Bhs Q vara : > Bil QUA sa aN ay IX. THE LAST PHASE. ND now the noble lion of Pennsylvania is re- A duced to a mere foot-print, a voice, a memory of other days. He is spoken of by persons who have heard rather than seen him. William J. Emert, of Youngdale, Clinton County, whose fish basket was rifled by a wandering panther at his*bark camp near Dagusgahonda, Elk County, in 1889, remembers the animal’s cries distinctly, and can give an exhibition of unique mimicry. The writer, having heard the cries of the panther in a wild state and in capitivity, can vouch for it that the genial Bill actually heard the real thing. Potter County newspapers in 1911 reported that the cries of a panther were heard in the vicinity of Sweden Hill, near Coudersport, in the autumn of that year. The same fall a panther was heard near Bare Meadows, Centre County, some nights roaring from the very summit of Bald Top. When calling for their mates they invariably climbed to the highest peaks. This panther was tracked during a light snow fall clear to Stone Valley. Some say that it was killed there. Franklin Shreckengast, of Tylersville, Clinton County, on commenting on the volume of the panther’s cry, said: “If a panther roared on the other side of the Nittany Mountain, all Sugar Valley would be aroused tonight.” Shreckengast, who is now in his 78th year, hunted panthers with the Askey boys near 44 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 45 Snow Shee, Centre County, during the Civil War. James Lebo. of Lucullus, Lycoming County. tracked two panthers across his fields in February, 1909, They Were traveling in a northeasterly direction. During the summer of that year panther cries were heard at different points aleng the Coudersport pike. which runs past the Lebo home. Across the road from this gentleman's residence is the swale where the mangled body of little Edna Crvder was found in 1896. Pan- ther tracks were observed on the Pike by Dr. Rothrock 11.1913; in Detwiler Hollow, in the Seven Mountains. in the same year, by several hunters. In November. 1912, three rabbit hunters scared up a panther which was sleeping under the prostrate top of a pine tree. in Detwiler. In November, 1915, several farmers heard panther cries. an one reliable person saw a panther in his barnyard in Logan Valley, near Altoona. Johns- town papers reported a panther as doing much dam- age to deer and other game on Laurel Ridge, in Som- erset County, in the same month. There is probably a panther path leading into Pennsylvania from the Marvland and West Virginia Mountains. This is proved by the killing of a panther in November, 1913, several miles north of Washingten. D.C. This wan- derer evidently heard or scented the mountain lions at Rocky Creek Park Zoo, lost his bearings, became over- confident and paid the death penalty. The path must lead up the Laurel Ridge to Blue Knob. where it di- verges, one line heading north through Centre County to Potter County, the other northeast along the Bald 46 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. Eagle Mountain to the Tussey Mountains, thence into the Seven Mountains country. Hon. C. K. Sober says that he feels confident that panthers still come into Pennsylvania by these paths. Panthers had a regular crossing from Nittany Valley to the Summit country at Hoppleton, Clinton County; thence across Sugar Valley, and from there south to Treaster Valley, Mif- flin County, where they. bred. Emmanuel Harman, as a boy, encountered panthers on this crossing, while A. D. Karstetter, Postmaster at Loganton, can recall panthers crossing Sugar Valley within the past thirty years. The panther which Wilson Rishel heard on the Sugar Valley Mountain, south of ‘lylersville, Clinton County, in 1870, was heard the day previously at Lamar, and the day before that in the east end of Nittany Valley, according-to Dr. Jonathan Moyer. Emmanuel Harman heard the same panther the week before in Gottshall Hollow. David Mark, born in 1855, says that panthers were always a rare animal in Sugar Valley, only passing through there at intervals by their regular paths. ‘The Seven Mountains was the last stand of the native panthers in Pennsylvania. Clement F Terlacher camped in ‘Treaster Valley in the summers of 1892 and 1893, as has been stated pre- viously, having heard rumors that the pair of pan- thers which he tracked to the valley were breeding there. As the result he captured four cubs in 1892 and two the following year, but the old ones escaped. He says the old panthers “took on” terribly over the loss of their young. It was probably these unhappy DR. JONATHAN MOYER, Clinton County Physician and a Noted Authority on the Habits of the Pennsylvania Lion. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 47 creatures which Dr. J. T. Rothrock, of West Chester, heard during his visit to this valley in 1893. His description of the panther’s cry, which we give in chap- ter XI, is to natural history what Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech is to oratory; it surely is the pearl without price. Although the good doctor is now in his 78th year, his mastery of diction is unimpaired. One can feel the clear, cold night, with the effulgent moon above all, and see the ragged outline of the Seven Mountains silhouetted against the cloudless heavens; one can feel the oppressive stillness uninterrupted by the stirring of a single twig until the panther’s song begins. .A\nd that song, that terrible song, so filled with anguish, a banshee-like song, lamenting the passing of the wilderness, of the brute’s supremacy, the loss of cover, of young, of hope, of life itself threatened. It was both a requiem and a swan-song! Several per- sons claim to have seen panthers in their old haunts on Rock Run, Centre County, during the past five years. A seven foot panther was reported killed dur- ing “deer season,” 1915, near Paddy Mountain, Union County, but the report was later denied. Many per- sons claim to have heard and seen a panther on the Coudersport Pike, near Haneyville, Clinton County, in 1913, 1914 and 1915. Residents of Treaster Valley report having seen panther tracks near the Panther Rocks, in that valley, in 1913 and 1914. Andy Wilson, guide and former game warden, now of Clinton Coun- ty, saw a panther which approached his camp fire in the Seven Mountains in 1885. Hon. Frank B. Black, 48 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. former State Commissioner of Agriculture, and now State Highway Commissioner, was followed by a panther in Somerset County about the same year. In about 1880, Hon. MM. B. Rich, present member of the Pennsylvania Legislature from Clinton County, was followed by a panther on Little Pine Creek, Lycoming County, for a distance of seven miles. H. Hollister, in his “History of the Lackawanna Valley,” tells of being followed eight miles by a panther in 1837, in Wayne County. Hollister was in a buggy at the time, but the “Big Cat" could lope as fast as the horse could gallop. C. E. “Doc” Smith, a veteran Clinton County sportsman and naturalist, saw panther tracks as big as a human hand on Fish Dam Run, in the late seventies, when on a hunting trip with Enoch Hastings. Davie Shaffer, who worked in a lumber camp at the “Switches,” in Clinton County, near the panther’s crossing, heard a panther prowling around the shack one winter night in 1880. Being alone, he built a big fire in front of the cabin, sitting by it until daylight. Charles H. Dyce, a successful lumber jobber, saw a panther on the old Clay Pike which severely frightened his horse Dewey, while returning to his home at Ebensburg from his camp at Belsano, Cambria county, on the evening of February 14, 1903. Early in 1914 the carcass of an aged deer was found in the Seven Mountains near Woodward that showed signs of hav- ing been killed and partly eaten by a panther. X. RE-INTRODUCTION: SPORTING POSSIBILITIES. S man becomes more educated, he will shrink A more and more each year from taking the lives of tender, shrinking creatures like squirrels, rabbits and quails. Many will hesitate from destroy- ing gentle-eyed deer or the majestic elk. He will de- mand a quarry worthy of his status as a man, worthy of his high-powered rifle. His mind will turn to larger and more savage beasts, such as the red and black bear and the panther. He will ask the re-introduction of panthers and the adequate protection of bears. The bear has its drawbacks on account of its hibernating habits, its general lack of fighting qualities. He will select the panther as his ideal of the big game animal. The forest areas of Pennsylvania could be stocked with these beasts and a five-year closed season put on them to allow them to multiply. During this time these subtle brutes would be well able to care for themselves. They would feed on old and decrepid deer and elk, sickly fawns, diseased hares and turkeys and in the summer months on myriads of bugs, grubs, ants and worms, and on roots and berries. Once the closed season expired, sport royal would begin. There could be an extra license charged for panther hunting, as the territory and number of beasts being limited, it would not be wise to have the forests overcrowded with hunt- 49 50 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. ers. Dr. C. llart Merriam, in his intensely interesting account of the animals of the Adirondack region, de- seribes panther hunting as it was in the North \Woods thirty years ago. He says: ‘The hunter commonly follows the panther for many days, and sometimes for weeks, before overtaking him, and could never get him were it not for the fact that he remains near the spot where he kills a deer till it is eaten. When the hunter has followed a panther for days, and has, perhaps, nearly come up with him, a heavy snowstorm often sets in and obliterates all signs of the track. Ile is then obliged to make wide detours to ascertain in which direction the animal has gone. On these long and tire- some snowshoe tramps he is, of course, obliged to sleep, without shelter, wherever night overtakes him. The heavy walking makes it impossible for him to carry many days’ rations, and when his provision gives out he must strike for some camp or settlement for a new supply. ‘Phis, of course, consumes valuable time and enables the panther to get still further away. When the beast is finally killed the event is celebrated by a feast, for panther meat is not only paltable, but is really fine eating.” What grand, exhilarating, ennob- ling sport it must have been! As practiced in the Adirondacks, so it was carried on in Pennsylvania in the old days. It is related that Lewis Dorman, a Cen- tre county hunter, followed a panther for nearly two months before he brought it to bay. Dorman, who was a mighty hunter, died on November 28, 1905, and is buried in St. Paul’s Churchyard, near Woodward, in GEORGE SMITH (1827-19C1) A Successful Elk County Panther and Wolf Hunter. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 51 John Penn's Valley. Henry Dorman, of Weikert, Union County, had occasion to carry a strip of bacon to a lumber camp on Cherry Run. It was at dusk, and a panther scenting the bacon, followed him the entire distance, occasionally howling mournfully. Packs of. panther dogs would soon spring up in the mountainous settlements, and the breeding of these animals would give an impetus to the canine industry in these regions. Small bull dogs are said to be hest for this purpose. though many prefer the ordinary whiffet or “fice.” Aaron Hall, the “Lion Hunter of the Juniata,” slayer of filty panthers in Pennsylvania between 1845 and INGO, bred a race of panther dogs. They were part bull dog, part bloodhound, part Newfoundland, and part mastiff. They were so large that C. K. Sober, of Lewisburg, former State Game Com- missioner, when on a visit to Hall at his hunt- ing cabin on Rock Run, Centre County, was able to ride on the back of one of them. ‘They were trained to hunt in pairs, and when the quarry was overtaken, to seize it by the ears on either side, holding the monster until the hunter appeared. With Hall's death, in 1892, this interesting breed of dog was al- lowed to become extinct. Old hunters declare there is nothing in the eating line that can equal a (panther roast. Tt is said to taste like pork, only far more luscious in flavor. The meat is white like chicken, but of more substance. The hams are said to be superior to those of the hog. The panther hides are valuable as rugs, bed-covers and lap robes. The Seneca Indians made bu THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. the skin into pouches, in which they stored their “great medicine.” The claws were used as amulets to signify the Indians’ victory over the forces of evil, panthers being supposed to have kinship to the Machtando or Ewil One. Panther oil was an efficacious remedy for gall-stones and rheumatism. THundreds of hunters— among them Colonel Roosevelt—have been attracted to Routt County, Colorado, by the panther hunting, where these animals are trailed with dogs. Robert J. Collier, a New York society man, headed a party of wealthy hunters into this region in November, 1913, to hunt “Mountain Lions.” Colonel C. J. Jones has provided similar sport for distinguished visitors at his ranch in Arizona, the pastime there being to rope the “var- mints.” l’ennsylvania can have all this and more, if she will but sct about to re-establish the superb sport. In British East Africa, according to .\. Barton Hep- burn, of New York City, lions have been placed on the protected list, the limit being four lions per hunter a season. Why cannot Pennsylvania follow this ex- cellent example and protect the Pennsylvania lion? It is said that an old hunter named Noah Hallman, who spent his last days near the Blue Mountain Amphi- theatre in Northern Dcrks county, possessed several trained panthers which he used to entice their wild brethren out of the hiding places at the head waters of the Lehigh River. Then the old Nimrod, who was evidently an early prototype of Colonel Jones, would lassoo the panthers and drag them back to his camp in triumph. XI. SUPERSTITIONS. HERE has been a marked tendency with the T latest generation of naturalists to belittle the entire race of felis couguar. Dr. Merriam, great man that he is, commenced it, and Colonel Roosevelt, by his article in “Scribner’s Magazine” in 1901, fired the final gun. W. H. Hudson is the only naturalist who has spoken well of the species. It is the “style” to call the panther a coward, like has been done with the African lion. Why? Because he will not attack men. The African lion is said to charge when wounded, but the panther takes his medicine and dies like a gentleman. Dr. Merriam was the first to give popularity to the statement that there is no such thing as a panther cry, that it is all indigestion, imagination, superstitition on the part of the hunters, though in a letter to the author, dated March 24, 1914, this famous naturalist states that he referred solely to the panther of the Adirondacks. It may be pos- sible that the Adirondack panther was a silent animal, but his relative in Pennsylvania was just the contrary. If, after the testimony of fifty hunters and old-timers whom the writer of this article has questioned on the subject are doubted, the following letter from Dr. J. T. Rothrock, founder of the Forestry Commission of Pennsylvania, and a scientist of world-wide repu- tation, should set the matter at rest for all time: 03 54 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. “West Cuester, Pa., JAN. 5, 1914. Drar Mr. SHOEMAKER: I have your very kind letter of January 2d. That panther crv—I have often asked myself how I could describe it and failed to satisfy the inquiry, though I think I have at this very minute a somewhat clear remembrance of it. It would not be an adequate reply if I said it sounded like the wail of a child seek- ing something, a cry, distinct, half inquiry and half in temper. ‘There was something human in it, though unmistakably wild, clear and piercing. And yet I do not know how to make a more satisfactory reply, ex- cept to say that the cry seemed to be in all its tones about a minute long. I heard it one evening in Treas- ter Valley repeated so often that I could recognize it as coming from an animal moving along the rocky slope of the mountain where no child could have been at that hour, and was told by those residents in the region, ‘Oh, it’s the painter's cry.” It did not seem to be unusual to them. ‘That was about twenty years ago. Cordially yours, (Signed) J. T. Rorirrock.” Joseph H. Taylor, an able western writer on sport- ing topics, accurately describes the panther’s cry which he heard during a flood at Lake Mandan, North Dakota, in March, 1880. E. H. DICKINSON (1810-1885) A Pioneer Panther and Wolf Hunter of McKean County. THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 55 C. W Dickinson says: “A great many writers claim that a panther does not scream or make any noise. They might as well try to make me believe that a pack of wolves could not howl or bark, growl or whine.” Dickinson heard the panther cry at the head of the Driftwood branch of the Sinnemahoning when camping with his father, E. H. Dickinson, in the summer of 1872. He says it was “a loud, shrill, scream.” He saw the last panther tracks on the Drift- wood branch in January of the same year, while on a hunting trip with his father. But there are real super- stitions of the painter—as most of the early settlers called it. It was said to have a very definite spirit, which came back and haunted familiar scenes after it had met with an unnatural death. A hunter in Cen- treville, Snyder county, in 1864, killed a large male panther, stuffed it and mounted it on the ridge-pole of his wood-house. One night the mate came after it, and springing on the roof, pushed the effigy into the yard. She carried it back to Jack’s Mountain, where many persons averred it came to life again. In the White Mountains, not far from Troxelville, Snyder county, a panther was killed and its hide put into an attic to cure. Strange noises were heard, and the skin mounted on a carpenter’s trestle was met with in the woods at night. A witch doctor hit the horrid manikin with a silver bullet, after which it gave no further trouble. Among the superstitious the Dorman panther was said to leave its case in the Natural His- tory Museum on the top floor of the old Academy 56 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. building at New Berlin on All Souls’ Night and scam- per about the big room after mice. It is now out of ghostly surroundings in the handsome new museum at Albright College, Myerstown, Lebanon County, having been taken there about 1905. Seneca Indians believed that the spirits of tyrants and unfaithful queens passed into panthers. ‘They were hunted speci- fically for this and other before-mentioned reasons, having as little peace in animal form as in their human incarnations. Early German pionegrs said that the panther’s hide glowed like “fox-fire at night and green lights burned from the eyes.” It was held to be good luck to be followed by a panther. It meant that outside forces were seeking the evil in the person followed, that it would soon be drawn away. Prof. E. Emmons, of Williams College, says in his Report on the Quadrupeds of Massachusetts: ‘The panther will not venture to attack man, yet it will fol- low his tracks a great distance; if it is near evening it frequently utters a scream which can be heard for miles.” Some of the first Scotch-Irish frontiersmen regarded the panther’s wailing as foretelling a death in the family. It was the “token” or “Banshee” of these sturdy souls. Samuel Stradley, a well-known hunter residing on the Tiadaghton or Pine Creek, in Lycoming County, while watching for deer at a cross- ing in 1870, fell asleep in the forest. When he awoke he found himself covered with leaves. Crawling out he sat perfectly still until he was rewarded by seeing a huge panther come up, which he shot. It had evi- THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. a7 dently thought him dead, and buried him in leaves to be eaten on some future occasion. Michael Fetzer, born 1834, an old hunter residing near Yarnell, Cen- tre County, recounts that when he was a boy a panther once came to the kitchen window of the Reese home- stead and looked in at the family assembled around the supper table. He was soon chased away by the dogs and disappeared in the forest at the foot of In- dian Grave Hill. Franklin Shreckengast describes panthers concealed in the forest grinding their teeth and snarling while Tom Askey and he cleaned a deer at a big spring near Snow Shoe. He said that it was a disconcerting sound, to say the least. This oc- cured during the Civil War early one evening. ‘The last panther in the Snow Shoe region of Centre coun- ty—the great abode of these beasts in early days—was killed on Rock Run in 1886, by Charles Stewart, of Kylertown, Clearfield county, who collected a bounty on its scalp at Bellefonte. XII. TENTATIVE LIST OF PANTHERS KILLED IN PENNSYLVANIA SINCE 1860. County, Date. | Hunter, Northumberland... Eee phshs ORINY cctnanuneonn 1860 Jon D. DeShay. xClinton........... as vis Etch tae 1860|Philip Shreckengast. Somerset ccs cmc s | sale sah where atenebshers.y 1860 Clintons se canae's (1 Cub dwsez-ons 1860 Northumberland...) ...,........... 1861 Bia dho nde dias cous, | nec sennanracconaeens 1860!Post Wilcox. AGENCIES os amscasqnell geshdang ss evens 1861 Tom Askey. WaFRENs 2 caanicags | asda taaies 1860 Jesse Logan. Snyder........... March, 1864|Jake Sampsel. Snyder c aces sarc || ees verses 18be aires Boyer. SNYdE Pie esas cio. | Sindsaue eg vtelare rs 1862 Faires Boyer. Warren.......... December, 1863 Sylvester Cc. Williams. GCHNEOR 5 si56 a eccnases _ December, 1863 John English. ClintoOn.ccs ss cece December, 1863 John English. Eel Kistekecn a.srayatetas sfpsdayahal | keca-gateiions “sin aagoras 1863 George Smith. A WAYNE: cose yscam | sree oreaiwn ce 1867 Thomas Anson. Centre............ December 24, 1868) Lewis Dorman. Gentreiid cccssiveseartiia,| samacndd eee nace 1875) Will:am Perry. SINR Oras sandanneaeye:| ce lnalsorme wena ehe es 1869 Dan Treaster. Mifflis cacao 2 x aces February 27, 1872 John Swartzell. Lycoming........ January, 1865 George Shover. Clear Tiel disca.sc0 cel] Moawavin sree oe 1870/Seth Iredell Nelson. CIC ARTICLE A iiss a reties deus] ac diaauryrrnigiae ssp 1871/Seth Iredell Nelson. Clear ti€ldeces