SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 A
Georgia Story
In
Banks County Ga., a party of young men secured a hollow log and inclosed the
end with a rawhide, drumlike, and then passed through a strip of leather. When
adjusted, this musical instrument made sounds as hideous as a menagerie of wild
animals and could be heard a long distance.
The young men commenced operations in one section and then moved in
another, until the entire county became fully persuaded that tigers, lions,
bears and hyenas and all the wild beasts of Africa and Asia had escaped and
were roaming in the bay galls and pine woods of that long stable county.
The
boys added to the excitement by narrating marvelous encounters they severally
had with the varmint. No one dared to
venture out alone; the doors were barricaded, churches unattended, stores were
without customers, and when the neighbors ventured forth they were in crowds,
all well armed. The excitement was
increased by a highly respected local preacher riding furiously up to the
postoffice, and excitedly announcing that he had encountered the hideous
monster, a veritable Bengal tiger, and only by his courage and the swiftness of
his horse did he narrowly escape.
Many
other highly respected citizens saw the terrible animal-one in a certain skirt
of the woods, another at the railroad culvert, another in a graveyard on a
tombstone; one swore he saw him in the church grove, and many asserted they had
met the striped animal face to face in the road, and that he was as big as a
horse. If ever there was a terror
stricken community, it was that of the county of Banks. But the boys foolishly let the cat out of
the bag. It was too much for the preacher and those who had seen the
beast. The good man and his fellow
braves swore out warrants, had the boys arrested and lodged in jail, but they
were soon released with slight punishment.
Published in The Newark Daily Advocate [Ohio],
Tuesday, June 25, 1895.
Transcribed 2005 by Jacqueline King