"All of a sudden a terrible fight started among the dogs and from the outcry,

"they knew the dog had gone out of one of them mighty quick ..."


A real -deal adventure of oldtime cowboys Frank Meredith & Hamp Newcomer in the 1880s!

A snippet from Laban Samuel Records' own true - life story, Cherokee Outlet Cowboy.


"Newcomer and Hamp Meredith, a regular - type cowpuncher, camped together in a dugout and done their own cooking.

"In the rear corner of the room was a bed of regulation height, solidly attached to the wall.

"They kept a lantern hanging to the support of the ridgelog where they could reach it from their bunk.

"When they wanted a light during the night, they could strike a match and light the lantern.

"They kept three dogs in their dugout.

"I thought that one dog was one too many.

"One night Meredith and Newcomer had gone to bed; the dogs were sleeping outside close by.

"All of a sudden a terrible fight started among the dogs and from the outcry, they knew the dog had gone out of one of them mighty quick.

"Since another one was doing more howling than barking, they guessed it was badly wounded.

"The third was still barking good.

"Suddenly something dashed in and darted under their bed.

"Both had grabbed their six - shooters when the commotion started.

"When they realized the dog - exterminator was under their bed, they needed a little light on the subject.

"They lit the lantern and set it down at the foot of their bed to shine on the dog - killer.

"They began to turn up the bedding with one hand with their guns in the other.

"Whenever they seen anything that looked like an animal, they gave it a forty - five bullet.

"Such animals will fight instead of running away when wounded.

"The animal was on its back under the bed and tore their bedding and anything else it got its claws into.

"They kept pouring the lead into it until it lay still.

"They reached under the bed and pulled it to see if it had any more fight left.

"When they were assured it was peaceable, they stepped onto the floor and pulled it out.

"It was a large panther.

"They had one dead dog, one with a big patch of hide torn off, and one dead panther -- the fruits of the chase.

"Meredith and Newcomer had quite a bit of patchwork to do so their bedding would stop the north wind ..."

Still, I'd say these two cowboys were lucky, overall! :)