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THE FAMOUS CIRCULAR HUNT OF 1823.

 

 

 

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him to carry the hatchet.  Mr. Butler shot one and he fell; his brother sprang to the wolf, straddled him and struck him between the ears three blows, but in the excitement, with the edge, instead of the head of the hatchet.  The wolf escaped from him until Leverett could shoot him again.  Three marks of the edge of the hatchet were seen between the ears of the wolf when brought to the center, and soon after the skin was dressed with the hair on, and used as a saddle cloth by General Augustine Munson.  After it was announced that there was no more game to be killed, we marched to the center.  Perfect order was observed, not a single person appeared to be disguised by intoxicating liquor, thus evincing that the order to take an ardent spirits to the hunt had been obeyed.  No serious casualty occurred during the day, and the highest cheerful glee prevailed.  The game had been brought along as it was killed, and such a sight had never been seen in Licking County, and never will be again as was presented to our view.  There was the large black bear, three wolves, forty-nine deer, sixty or seventy turkeys, and one owl spread on the ground.  The next thing was to prepare the spoils for distribution.  The bear and deer were skinned and cut up into pieces weighing about four pounds each.  The number of pieces was ascertained , and it was found there were only one-third enough to give each man a piece.  The men were formed into three companies, and they cast lots which company should have the spoils.  All appeared satisfied with this arrangement, and at sunset the company dispersed.  It was the good luck of General Augustine Munson to draw the bear skin, and he displayed it proudly as the greatest trophy of the day's hunt.  The General was one of Licking County's early, energetic, ambitious enterprising, patriotic Pioneers, and useful citizens, and lived to the age of nearly eighty-five years, dying at his residence in Granville Township, in 1868.

SQUIRREL HUNTS.

     Squirrel hunts were also indulged in to a large extent in early times both as an amusement and as the only means of protecting the corn crops.  The little destructive creatures sometimes became very numerous, and in some years were really one of man's most formidable enemies, so that it was indispensable that they should be checked in their depredations; and this could be most effectually done by the combined efforts of the people.  The time and place of meeting having been agreed upon before, the
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squirrel-hunters met, divided themselves into two companies, elected a captain for each company and then proceeded to their day's work.  On coming together in the evening and reporting the results of their hunt, it was no unusual thing to find the number of squirrels killed that day by the two companies to number many hundreds, and not unfrequently, running even into the thousands.

A MEMORABLE YEAR.

     The year 1825 was exceptionally prolific of events of special and general interest in Licking County.  Some of these are here described in the order of their occurrence - they were, first, the celebrated Burlington store which took place on the 18th of May - second, the famous celebration of the 4th of July, at the "Licking Summit," when and where the first shovel-full of earth was thrown out, by Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York, in the construction of the Lake Erie and Ohio Canal - third, the great Camp Meeting held late in September on the borders of the Flint Ridge in Franklin Township - fourth, the rather farcical performance and abortive attempt to hang Peter Diamond sometime in Order - and lastly, the great horse-racing carnival at Newark, early in November or late in the preceding month.

THE GREAT STORM.

 

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THE LICKING SUMMIT CELEBRATION.

 

 

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CAMP MEETING OF 1825.

 

 

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THE HANGING - AND YET NOT HANGING - OF PETER DIAMOND

 

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HORSE-RACING OF 1825.

     The horse-racing of 1825 was also an event of no small magnitude, in the estimation of many.  The race-course was bounded on

 

 

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THE PATRIOTISM OF LICKING COUNTY.

 

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