Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1895 — FARSON ANDERSON. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARSON ANDERSON.

Remarkable Result* of a Backward Shot. Philadelphia Times, Illustrated by GlobeDemocrat.

here’s no use talkin’, .foxes is cunnin’ critcon Dan Deeter, with a dreamy, far-off look in his eyes, as though he was running over in his mind a long-

forgotten incident in his early life. “Foxes ain’t no cunnin’er than some two-legged critters 'that don’t live fur about here,” replied Deacon Al Puterbaugh, looking about him for evidences of approval from those gathered in Sy Perrigo’s grocery store. “What be ye hintin’oh, Al?” inquired Deacon Dee ter, bristling up. “Ye bin slurrin’ ’round here fur sum time back. I reckon old Nancy has been ‘straightenin’ things ’round in the Puterbaugh shanty ov late. 'Peers like Nancy bullies Al t’ hum an’ he takes t’ bullyin’ his friends t’ git squar,” continued the Deacon, addressing the others. “Tut, tut, brethren,” admonished Parson Joshua Anderson in a soothing voice, “they ain’t no use bringin’ in family matters. Ye all know Nancy an’ ye all know Al, an' he don’t git rode over rough-shod to hum no morn’ most folks as lives ’round Harvey's Lake. But Deacon Deeter is ’bout right when he ses that foxes is cunnin’ critters.” n "I reckon Deeter knowsmore'bout hard cider than he do’bout foxes,” remarked Al, still unpacified. “I ain’t-makin’ no claim t' knowin’ mor’n other folks ’bout foxes nur nothin’else, but some folks is coaxin’ scabs on their nose, b’ jinks, by talkin’too much with their mouth,” colly replied Deacon Deeter, between wild gesticulations and spitting of tobacco juice. “Yes, an’ sum folks better stick t’ peelin’ bark off'n hemlock logs, b’ links, then t’ try peelin’ bark off’n ther’ neighbors’ noses,” was Deacon Puterbaugh’s wrathful answer, as I hestoodupas though expecting an ' Attack., “Prions’ I’m s’prisedt’ see th' spirit dv Satan risin’up inyer bosom,” quietly remarked Parson Anderson, in an injured tone, “an’ w’en th’ church pillars is shakin’ each other's foundation, b’ginger, th’ ain’t no use fur yer b’lov’d parson preachin’ agin sin. ' Foxes is cunnin’ an’ b’ars is fighters, but they'ain’t no more | fighters then th’ pillars ov th’ church, b’ginger. Deers is cunnin’, too,” continued the parson, “an’ hard to shoot, onless ye know how tgo ’bout it. I don’t take no credit ' fur killin’ deer nur b’ar w’en I’m sac-! ing ’em, but w'enye kin shoot a deer’ with yer back turned to him, I call thatgocd..shootin.’J’. Y,'l[ "“Who“has been killing a deer with | his back toward it?” asked Groceryman Perrigo. “I hev, b’ginger,” replied the par- > son, “an’ I done it no later’n last: Saturday.” I “Sum folks kin do powerful an’; amazin' ehootin' when they out 1 ’lone,” was sarcastically ffiterpected j by Deacon Puterbaugh. who prides : himself on being the best rifle shot i on the lake shore. “Yes, an’ sum folks here'bouts thinks "they I re *th’ only ones kin 1 shoot a rifle, but they ain’t, b’ginger, 1 not by a long shot,” replied the parson, considerably nettled, as he took a big chew of fine-cut. “It do seem onpossible to kill a deer wen ye ain’t lookin’ at him at all. parson, but es ye say ye done it, why,’’course ye done it, thet’s all they is ’bout it,” said Deacon Deeter. p;“Of course, parson, we don't doubt y?ur having killed the deer just as you say, and we would like to hear just how you did it,” encouraged Perrigo. “I don’t mind tellin’ ye how I killed a deer wen my back were

turned to him, 1 and the doubfin' Thomases needn’t stop here to listen . es they don’t want to,” said the parson, looking hard at Deacon Putcr- ■ baugh, who didn’t move an eyelash, and then continued; > “I were huntin' ovier to - i Creek last Friday, an’ didn’t see no - door sign, so 1 started back hum } Saturday mornin’, cumin’ ’round by Beaver Kun, and kem in jist back ov ' Jim Barnum’s thirty-fi’ acre lot, i Wen I kem to th’ shore ov Harvey's r Lake I went’round by Albert Lewis’s . saw mill to th’, east shore, an’ didn’t i see no deer sign. Wen I got to th’ I rock ridge thet- rises up perpendic’j ler at Wilier Pint, I hed give up seet j ing deer, an’ thought thet mebbe I [ I could shbot ahump-back pike or two. t j hevin’ often shot ’em there afore. I 1 1 snuck ’long th’ water edge below th' ! ledge, quiet like, lookin’ fur fish in r th’ shaller water, s I didn’t see no ~ fish, hilt T could see all th’ trees an' bushes on th’ top ov th’ ledge in th’ ’ smooth water ov th’ lake, jest like 1 lookin’ in a tookin’-glass. I; were ’ lookin’ out on th’ lake, thinkin' ’ mebbe sorfie feller hed driv a deer into th’ lake, but didn’t see none. ', Wen I looked down agin, there, right in the lookin’-glass pictyr ov trees an’ rocks on the water I see a big . buck standin’. I had my rifle on my right shoulder, but I knowed es I turned ’round th’ deer would see me an’ turn tail, an’ I wouldn’t get no ' shot at him. An’right there is wen ’ my injinuity cum into play —hunters ' hev to hev injinuity es they’ want to ; shoot deer an’ b’ar. 1 jest let th’ stock ov my rifle slide down so's th’ ' barrel jest rested onto my shoulder, an’ usin’ th’ water fur a lookin’-glass ‘ I sighted ’long th’ barrel till I got a bead on thet deer’s head, jest where , I knowed th’ ears Were, till I could . see th’ deer’s bead plain Song th’ sights, then I jest quietly put th’ toe ’ ov my right boot agin th’ heel Ov my . left boot an’ slipped th’ right boot off. Then I took a keerful sigh t agi n an’ pulled th’ trigger with my big toe, an’ I knowed' b’ ginger, thet I bed - pinked thet buekYur he—kem tumblin’ down th' ledge an’ fell not mor’n six foot from where I were standin’; I was ’fraid, b’ ginger, thet 1 he’d fall onto me.” | “Did ye hit him in th’ ear,parson?’ asked Deacon Puterbaugh. “Yes, I did, b’ginger; an’ what’s more, I hit him in th’ hind foot, too,” replied the parson. “You don’t mean to say, parson, thet ye hit a deer in th’ hind foot an’ in th’ ear with th’ same bullet, do ye?” asked Deacon Deeter,somewhat staggered. j “Thet’s jest what I mean to spy, b’ ginger,” replied the parson. “Ye see,” he continued, “it were this way: Jest as I were pullin'th’ trigger th’ deer must hev put up bis hind I foot, to scratch a fly, or suthiiT, off’n I his ear, an’ th' bullet kem ’long an’ i hit his foot an’ went on through th’ : ear an’ into th’ head an’ killed him. i Deacon Puterbaugh there kin tell I ye--es he's a mind to— thet he shtrt a 1 deer’s tail off an’ broke his neck with one bullet, one time When me an’ him was huntin’ deer up to Frank i Rickett’s, on North Mountain.” Misplaced Emphasis. i tandon Paper. 4- A gentleman-who spen t iwujjnmer !in a small village in Norfolk tells how a kind hearted woman without : the slightest idea of making him riI diculous gave his fellow boarders a ! chance for a hearty laugh at his. ex--1 pense. ! “Wehad haddock for supper one i night, and happening to be pecu- “ liariy hungry I ate heartily of it, but unfortunately swallowed a bone. i j One of the young women of the house ; i endeavored to comfort me by saying , ; that no harm would ever come from I a fishbone, as it would dissolve of . itself. r yjhad been observing me • anxiously and now spoke: »! “ ‘Don’t be too sure about that,/ ■ i she said. ‘I think you ought to take, | something at once. Mr. S., for we II lost a pig once by his getting a fish - j: bone in his throat.’ ”

THE PARSON’S WONDERFUL BACKWARD SHOT.