Culled from January 1909 issues of The Andes Recorder
100 Years Ago
THE NEWS IN AND ABOUT ANDES

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Events of a Week as Chronicled by the
Man on the Street

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Wednesday the horses of David Muir broke thru the ice on his pond and went in. It was only after considerable difficulty that they were rescued.

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Was It a Panther?
Last week Frank Barber, on Beech Hill, had his hound so badly injured by some unknown animal that it had to be killed. It was minus one ear and one shoulder was torn to shreds. The hound took a track and Mr. Barber soon heard it making a furious barking as if it was close upon its game. He hurried along the trail and came in sight of the dog in combat with a dark colored animal, but as he came nearer the dog gave a howl as of pain, and the animal with which it was fighting disappeared among the trees. From the tracks and other marks on the snow as of the lashing of its tail, it thought that the animal was a panther. [Jack McShane: I contacted a friend, Scott Van Arsdale, a wildlife biologist with the DEC, checks out and writes often about “panther sightings”. According to DEC records the last confirmed panther (also known as cougar, puma and mountain lion) carcass in the state was in the Adirondacks in 1894. The DEC feels that there were no lions in the entire Northeast by 1900. He feels that if the story was legitimate it would like have been a dark phase bobcat, even with the supposed tail lashing marks in the snow. We agreed that it is doubtful that it was a fisher, for they require deep forest habitat which did not exist at that time. We also agreed that there is a very, very remote possibility that it was actually a mountain lion, knowing the resiliency of nature and her beasts. A savory tale. As for the present day “sightings”, there has not been any evidence of mountain lions existing in the wild in the northeast. Not a single verifiable carcass, picture, paw print, or scat sample. If, and only if, there is a lion out there, the chances are that it is a pet purchased on the black market and released as it got too big and unmanageable] [Buffy Calvert: On November 12, 1998, George and I and a friend saw in broad daylight a tawny wildcat with a long tail come down through the woods, drink from the pond at the edge of the Andes schoolyard, and go back up the hill. We called DEC and its representative denied that it could have been a mountain lion we saw.]

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Agnello Luduici and bride arrived to Andes last week and have commenced housekeeping in rooms in Elmer Ackerly’s house on upper Main street. Mr. Luduici has been employed on the section gang of Andes branch of the D. & E since the road started, and recently returned to Italy for his bride.

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At the butter score contest conducted at Agricultural Department of Cornell University, W. Grant Harkness, then with the Co-Operative Dairy Company at Delhi, won the diploma for the highest average score for season of 1908, the score being 96.19. Mr. Harkness {is} now manager of the Andes Creamery. [Ed.: presumably he brought his
butter-making expertise with him to Andes.]

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You should attend the thrilling drama “Arthur Eustace” at Union Hall, Andes, Saturday evening January 9. This great Temperance Drama abounds in varied and pathetic scenes of home, barroom and western life. Dutch and Irish comedy roles afford merriment throughout. Played by cast of 13 people. [Ed: Alas, no such theater in January these
days in Andes.]

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The following from a Trade Paper relating to a native of Andes is of special interest: “The name of Harry Dowie is synonymous with dressed poultry and stands out in bold relief in the east….As the president of the Poultry & Game Trade Ass’n, Mr. Dowie has endeared himself to the trade and his advice and experience of over 40 years in the dressed poultry trade are never sought in vain, ….His principal diversion, outside of selling poultry, is operating the hand truck which he can do with as much ease as any of his sturdy employees. Being reared in Delaware county, the most elevated and salubrious section of this state, and descended from the sturdy Scotch pioneers that settled in that part of the new world, Mr. Dowie bids fair to serve the trade for many years to come.”~