The school of commerce and the department of journalism joined in a ‘possum hunt in the woods east of town Saturday night. Claudius T. Murchison, acting dean of the school of commerce, was the host, but the real boss of the party was Duncan Snipes, the veteran negro hunter who brought along four hounds, a bag for the captives, and a profound knowledge of ‘possum-kind.
Besides Duncan and his dogs, there were six in the party: Mr. and Mrs. Murchison, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Johnson, T. Compton Packenham of the school of commerce faculty, and Miss Guelda Elliott, secretary for the school of commerce.
Fortunately Gerald Johnson had kept enough of his World War khaki uniforms to supply one to his wife; and the other two women were also handsomely fitted out with breeches.
It was noted, before the hunt had been in progress long, that the head of the department of journalism kept his footing much better in the rough woods than did the dean of the school of commerce. Mr. Murchison, although an experienced hunter, tripped again and again over boulders and fallen trees, sometimes going completely down, while Mr. Johnson strode confidently ahead without any such mishaps. This is attributed by his friends to the fact that he has had long experience with night work, and with threading his way through the desks and other obstacles that cluttered up the notoriously overcrowded offices which the Greensboro News occupied until recently.
The hunters started out in the pitch dark soon after 9 o’clock, an hour or more before the moon rose. They trod through the woods, and crossed and recrossed a brook without finding any sign of a ‘possum. But soon after the moon came up the hounds raised a terrific howl, circled around and around a tree, and jumped frantically toward the sky.
The ‘possum was descried on the topmost branch. Duncan ascended the tree, cut off the limb, and the ‘possum fell. The negro had given strict orders that two of the dogs be held tight. But human hands were not equal to the task, and all four pounced upon the prey. The ‘possum was rescued from them before they could dispatch him, and was stuffed into Duncan’s bag.
After midnight, as the weary party was marching homeward, another ‘possum was treed and met the same fate. Both the captives were taken home by the negro as her perquisites.
One of the incidents of the evening’s entertainment was a false step by Miss Guelda Elliott, followed by a plunge into the brook. Luckily the stream was shallow. Another experience that fell to her was being rolled down the hill because she was too conscientious in trying to hold in check one of the enthusiastic hounds.
From the front page of the Chapel Hill Weekly, Nov. 20, 1924
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073229/1924-11-20/ed-1/seq-1/
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