Chapter Seven
Panthers
By Albert DeVane
As there has not been a panther story (or, as the pioneers called them, tigers or painters) I shall tell one I have known for 33 years, and which is a true story, having known the woman caught by the panther personally.
The story is the experience of Eli P. Whidden and his wife Lavenia. Eli was born near Tampa, in what was then Alachua County, in 1828, six years before the creation of Hillsboro County in 1834. Descendants on Alafia River say he was the son of Maxfield Whidden, Sr., whose wife was Sophie Crews. They moved from Lowndes County, Ga., prior to 1828. In 1849 Eli married Lavenia Platt, daughter of Peter Platt, who had a large plantation in the Hichipucksassa section, now known as the Midway Community, about five miles northeast of Plant City. His grandson still lives on a part of the old homestead.
After his marriage he moved to the southeastern part of Hillsboro County, in the vicinity of Forte Meade. Being a small cattleman and farmer, also doing some hunting and trapping for the market for a little cash to furnish the few necessities, and being of an adventurous spirit, he was always looking for greener pastures.
During the last Seminole War of 1856 to 1858 he served in Capt. F. M. Durrance’s company, having scouted the area from Okeechobee’s west side to the Caloosahatchee River, to the Baron River and back up to Fort Myers.
After the war when Billy Bowlegs and his party left Fort Myers May 4, 1858 aboard the steamer Gray Cloud for Arkansas, he returned home, still having the desire to move again farther south.
His next move was to what is now called Sweetwater Community, south of east of Wauchula on Oak Creek, having looked the area over while in the service. There he went with his ox team and family to start a new homestead out of the forest.
He built a temporary camp, splitting rails to fence in a small field and cow-pens. He cut the logs for his home, dragging them to the homestead, peeling them, having split out his cypress shingles, all being on the site.
At the next big church meeting the announcement was made for a log rolling at his place. The neighbors came from far and near. The house was erected, the women cooking a great feast, and he had a house - except for a floor. He began splitting and planning the logs for a puncheon floor, having only about one half of the space floored as the process was very slow, using only an ax, broadax and foot-adz for the shaping.
One day right after noon, he was taking a nap in the house, his wife was at the spring washing. His daughter Laura, 12 years old, was washing the dishes on a table in the yard and her little baby brother Bob was playing under the table.
A panther came from the woods and caught the baby by the foot. Laura grabbed the child, tearing it away from the panther, which jumped on her. The screams of the child and her screams brought her father and mother and the two dogs, who attacked the panther, which then released her and ran under the puncheon floor.
Eli grabbed his gun to kill the panther but soon realized he might kill one or both of his dogs, which in those days were as valuable as any gun. He grabbed the foot-adz he had been using that morning, the dogs having cornered the panther under the floor. He raised a puncheon which had not been made fast and killed him with the foot-adz. The only panther ever known to be killed before or since with a foot-adz.
Laura and the baby were badly bitten and clawed by the panther, but soon recovered. She later married Billy Hair, an Indian fighter. I knew her personally. She died in 1923 at Hen Scratch, the place made famous by Steve Turnbull of the Miami Herald. She was buried in the Whidden Cemetery four miles south of Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring in Highlands County.
One of her daughters, Ida, who married Henry Collier, now lives in Lake Placid, as do many of the grandchildren. John Keen, the oldest living resident of the City of Lakeland, confirms this story.
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The above story by Albert DeVane, Highlands County’s most famous historian, needed no confirmation; it merely needed documenting, which he did most authentically. It has been related many, many times when pioneers gathered. Mr. DeVane wrote the article for the Tampa Tribune where it was printed as one of the many tales of historical interest in a weekly page edited by D. B. McKay, a former mayor of Tampa. The article appeared on February 13, 1955.
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Ches Skipper would tell the story of two Indian fighters who were on scouting patrol in the western section of what later became Highlands County. They began to run short of food but as they were trailing a band of Indians, they dared not fire their rifles even though game was plentiful.
They took cover when they heard a violent crashing through the brush. The racket was caused by a huge panther chasing a buck deer and his jump was made within a few yards of the men who waited until the cat had killed and started to skin his prey. Then they chased the panther away and replenished their rations with the deer carcass.
(This article is reprinted from Bulletin Number Eight.
Sebring Historical Society, April 1971. Pages 277-278.)