The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
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WATCHING A BUNCH OF PANTHERS FROLICKING
By S. C. Turnbo
An interesting story of a bunch of panthers was furnished me by Mrs.
Sallie Anderson, who died near Dodd City, Arkansas, several years ago. Mrs.
Anderson had been married three times. Her last husband was Arch Anderson.
She said that Gid Brown, her first husband, was the author of the story
and he had repeated it to her on several occasions after they were married.
"He told me," said Mrs. Anderson, "that his father settled
on White River near the mouth of Buffalo in 1809. "I was only a small
boy when my parents came to that part of Ark.," said he. "There
was only a little hut scattered here and there on the bank of the river.
We brought seed corn up White River with us. We had no bread until we cleared
a few acres of the rich fertile soil in the river bottom and planted our
seed corn and raised a crop. We beat this corn in a mortar with a pestle."
Mrs. Anderson said that her parents were Millers and they settled on the
river near where her first husband’s family lived and came there the
same year they did. "Going back to the story of Gid Brown, my first
husband," said Mrs. Anderson, "he said that it was not strange
to observe two and three panthers together playing on the river beach or
gravel bar. But late one afternoon when the evening shade had spread over
the gravel beach or sand bar near where our hut stood on the bank of the
river we saw a bunch of panthers collect on the gravel bar in full view
of our cabin and play and frisk about like cats. There were nine of them—three
full grown ones and six not fully grown. We had seen one and two of these
animals playing on the beach previous to this, but we were not prepared
to witness the sight of so
many panthers together. We were accustomed to see almost all kinds of animals
that were natives there and did not feel much afraid until we saw this bunch
of panthers and we were sure afraid of them,, but they did not offer to
molest us and when they grew tired of playing they went back into
the thick cane in the river bottom."
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