Inter-Mountain Farmer | 1902-11-25 | Page 11 | A Graveyard Squirrel

A GRAVEYARD SQUIRREL. Animal Wns Protected by a Spell nnd Could Not Be Killed -IsNiklng of the giav.siilM rabhlt that lemlnds me or a si ivesard squli tel I ome knew rail a member of the gtoup nnd the oxpeilenic 1 hnd a number of times with thin Inle'estlnR i realm i minle im lelhvt that the squirrel jo might have power lo i-on-Juie The squirrels home was out on n hill In southeastern rkansa at a I oliil mar where c route) e Itldge slot rniiier sharpl lowuid the mouth of st I nintls rlvei lhe Utile hill for mini than a qunttei of a tenturs has teen used ns a ginvevard hs the cinin-115 cinin-115 folks of Hint sj Hon and there art mans 'labs nnd mounds and sunken plutes there now It was enilj In the 70s Hint I made the in (maintain e or lhe spihrel In question allh lugh it that lime many of the older tesllentsl had expeihneed thi same turlous sen- J salton which Ml to mj lot one das I hid he.n ,,ut hunting In Hit hills lank or the gravejard and lefoie I reullxel j whcie I was I loomed up behind the llt-Ih llt-Ih coiintrv t,cmettis The hill used as a buislng ground was inieitd with low lump lieeeh ties 11 was In the fall an I tin be,eeh nuts were Just maturing ma-turing Thes made line rood for squlr leNand birds mid the gravesntd squlr lei to width I have nfirud wus reed ing In one or the lues when I uirlved Mil hulls wcie rattling In tin drs leivcs width carpeted the hill anl at ter n shoit hunt I located the squinel a iretty i,ras member with u long bushs tall curled up over Ills back He was tar out on u limb ami I coull get u goo I bend on him I look taietul aim nnd trucked down on him To ms ut ter astonishment the tetort of the hun and the tattle of the shot thlough the houghs or the biech tree nround him had iiusolutels no e fleet on the squint 1 He tontlnutd to reed on the sweet and luscious nuts of the beech Just as If nothing had hat pened I bln7cd nwns ngaln The hulls ke t railing In the dr$ leaves which vv nipped tho graves In the brown carpeting or autumn I vvns ton f ued for the momtnt and higan to belleio that ms eses and ears were trilling with nio Was there renlls u squirrel In the tree' Did I see him and did I hen the hulls of the beech nuts falling among the leaves f Itealls 1 wns not cerloln nlniit It Hut I thought I would lire a few inoto shots nt the squirrel, whether the thing was nil or Imaglnirs nnd so I began to shoot again I guess I must have llred a doseu limes nt that squirrel, an I the emit was alwass Just the sime It was getting dark when I left the (.rave surd and the hulls or hiech nuts wen still falling among the leaves I told a number of rriehds or my experience, and thej said It was a vers lommon thing tor a stranger lo trj to kill the graves ard Hqulrrel That squirrel has been there fm seals" said one of them an I he has ben shot at mans times, hut no man lias tier been able lo either hit hhn or frighten him ' He said the squirrel seemed to be unlir some kind of a spell and theie was a nelghboilng legend to the erTttt that the little anl mnl was a departed spirit and the heller he-ller was very strong among the moro superstitious members or the cominu-nits cominu-nits Or course theie vvns nothing In the belief but ut ans rate the squinel could not be killed und wns living up lo the time that I left theie' New Orleans Times-Democrat.