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Justin and the Florida Panther

Dr. (Ms.) Michael S. Whitt

    Fifteen year old Justin Burleigh Paine arose early on April 16, 1890. He wolfed down a hearty breakfast of eggs, potatoes, biscuits, and sausage fixed by his father, Varnum Phillip Paine, who at that time was a merchant in Midland, Florida, the small citrus village where the family lived. This village went out of existence shortly after the family moved to nearby Frostproof, a new village which recently came into being. Off and on he was a minister in former abolitionist churches. Varnum’s wife and Justin’s mother, Catherine, was busy preparing to teach and test prospective public school teachers for the University of Florida at the small public library in Midland.
    Justin was excited and eager to get started on a project he had been planning with his dad for several weeks. Earlier Varnum or V. P., as he was known by family and friends, had purchased a five acre tract of land about fifteen miles east of Midland. Justin was going to camp out on a hill on the edge of this property. Here he intended to plant a citrus orchard for the family. As soon as he ate, he hitched a team of oxen to a wagon he would use for transportation. He mentally reviewed the things he would need and began to load them as quickly as possible. There was the tent and the bedding for keeping warm and comfortable while sleeping in his tent. He had several changes of clothes as much of the work would be dirty. He would have to clear the land of most of the few trees living on it. He abhorred this task because he loved the huge trees in the woodlands areas. He needed to load several tools for his tasks of clearing and planting. A sharp knife, shovel, axe, hatchet, hoe, and plow for starters. V. P. and Catherine had fixed him several meals he could warm over his fire and snacks for in between meals.
    As he loaded he remembered fondly the first trips he had made for V. P. by wagon and a team of oxen with his best friend, Percy Gifford. When the Blake’s moved to Florida five years ago, Percy and his mother had been deserted by an alcoholic father and husband. They were in dire straights. V. P. and Catherine took them in without hesitation. Percy and Justin hit if off immediately and became as close as brothers. Their friendship was life long. When Justin was in his mid 40’s, he returned to central Florida after going back to New England for more than twenty-five years. At this time Justin and Percy started a successful building business, which lasted until they retired in their late 70’s.
    When the boys were little more than ten, V. P. trusted them enough to send them on trips which took up to three days. If they were gone for two days, they went to a larger burg, Ft. Meade, fifteen miles from Midland. Here they shopped for the items the family needed. A three day trip meant going on to Bartow to do public business for V. P. in the County Seat, five miles north of Ft. Meade. The boys learned a great deal on these trips. One of the most useful learning was that oxen can be and often are stubborn, lazy animals. They finally hit upon a way of getting around these traits. The brutes would suddenly stop and sit down refusing to go any further. The boys tried all kinds of solutions to get those lazy critters up and going. They even tried building a fire under them. Finally, they hit on an unfailing remedy. They took buckets and filled them with enough water to stick the oxen’s heads in it with their noses under water. They would not let them breathe until they got up.
    At times they caught glances of the magnificent, but potentially deadly, Florida Panther walking quietly in the woodlands they were traversing. They often saw large diamond back rattle snakes slithering around in the leaves and pine needles. These vipers always sent shivers up their spines. Occasionally when they passed one of the many lakes in the area, they saw a large alligator swimming at its leisure. With no natural enemies other than human pistols and rifles, they had little need to hurry about. Infrequently, at these lakes and even in the ponds they ran into an ugly black cotton mouth moccasin. These snakes made the boys feel truly weird.
    Justin giggled about these and other adventures he and Percy had when they first moved to central Florida. The family had moved there from Connecticut when both boys were ten. The Gifford’s moved from New Jersey. The Paine family’s move was precipitated by V.P’s health. He was a former union soldier and abolitionist who worked on the Underground Railroad; this consisted of secret networks of relationships, houses, churches, safest travel routes, and other aspects of providing ways for slaves to escape to freedom.
    V. P.’s poor health was partly a result of his stubborn refusal to stay out of battle and the Railroad until his wounds were completely healed. However, the large cannon he was in charge of firing exposed him to dangerous substances, which no doubt contributed to his condition. The bitterly cold New England winters kept him in poor health after the war. A couple of physicians advised that a move to a warmer climate might help him regain his former health and energy level. With this advice, V. P. and Catherine decided to move to central Florida far south of the panhandle and other northern parts of Florida which were part of the Confederacy during the war. Catherine Elizabeth Burleigh Paine, like her husband, was an abolitionist who had worked in the Underground Railroad and was a progressive on other issues as well.
    The Paine’s opted to travel by sea from the Connecticut coast to Florida’s east coast. There was still a good bit of bad feeling in the south about the war, especially toward anti-slavery advocates. Travel by sea would allow them to avoid the entire area of the former Confederacy. A substantial number of northerners were in the war to preserve the union only. Some of them were proslavery.
    They landed in Florida around the area where Fernandina Beach was and is now located. From there they traveled by wagon west, southwest to the center of the state. They went to a wilderness area about fifty miles due east of Tampa. Since this locale was still in thoroughly pioneering conditions, the family had to live in a tent for a several months before they could erect an inhabitable, although unfinished, house. The tent was sewn by Catherine. Even with the rigors of tent living, V. P. began regaining his health and energy level within two week of being in the new climatic environment.
    V. P. had extensive building skills and had already passed them on to his two sons, Justin and his older brother, 12 year old Ernest Burleigh. Their two younger sisters, Alice and Mary, also had their mother’s last name as a middle one. They were following a widespread New England tradition of giving some or all the children the mother’s last name as middle one. This custom is still followed today by some New Englanders. A well known recent historical example is John Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy. I do not know if any of the other children were given Rose’s last name or not. Probably the oldest boy, who was killed in the Second World War, had the Fitzgerald name.
    Forty-five year old V. P. had worn and would continue to wear several vocational hats. When the Civil War began, he was working as a sailor for a company conducting various expeditions in the South Pacific. When the ship returned to Brazil for supplies, V. P. learned that the Civil War had broken out in the U. S. He jumped ship to go home and join the Yankee Army in order to free the slaves and preserve the union. During this period and after the war, he continued to serve as a minister in abolitionist and later former abolitionist churches. After the war and the freeing of the slaves, these churches supported other progressive issues such as women’s rights, the racism still rampant in the U. S., and the need to distribute resources more equitably. For the Paine’s and other progressives, god was a democrat opposed to slavery, bigotry, and greed in all forms. After the war V.P. also owned and ran a building business, and was a publishing writer in the areas of history, philosophy, and ethics.
    Justin would be planting the orchard on the lower middle section of the Ridge, not many feet from where his house would be built when he returned to Florida the second time in l920, because he had been disabled by Lumbago. After the move the affliction disappeared. The Ridge is a long, narrow stretch of raised land beginning where Clermont is now located and ending about eighty miles south to where the town of Lake Placid is today. The Ridge consisted of soil which was ideal for growing various citrus fruits, grapefruits, oranges, and tangerines. The Ridge was second only to the Indian River area, which is close to the east coast, in the production of citrus fruits.
    The plants Justin put in his wagon were rough lemons. The citrus branches would be grafted on the rough lemons. The latter were useless for eating, but they provided the most efficient way of producing citrus trees. Seedlings were possible and more desirable in quality then the grafted trees, but the time taken to nurture an entire grove of seedlings was prohibitive. Growers mostly kept the few seedlings they had time to nurture for themselves and their families. There were few houses in the area to which Justin was traveling. Stores were even scarcer. There were a few orchards and extensive woodlands with huge Oak, Pine, Hickory, Camphor, and other trees were growing thickly in them. As indicated by the remembrances of Justin’s early adventures, the woodlands had some formidable dangers lurking in them. For this reason, Justin carried a pistol with him.
    As one interviewee for this story put it, “One did not go very far from home without arming oneself.” The poisonous diamond back rattle snakes could grow up to, and sometimes a bit longer, than 7 feet. The beautiful but potentially deadly, Florida Panther, now almost extinct, a terrible tragedy, existed in abundance in l890. A full grown panther could jump an unaware person and kill them.
    As indicated by the accounts of Justin’s earlier adventures, some of the water creatures were also threatening to human safety and well being. These included a large population of alligators, the biggest of which were around fourteen feet. Cotton Mouth Moccasins were not only poisonous, but they had an enormous amount of infectious bacteria in their mouths. Thus one got poisoned and infected at the same time. Sometimes the infections seemed as bad as the poison.
    These snakes are uncommonly aggressive toward humans. They would sometimes wait in hiding to get a bite in. They do not retreat as do most snakes if they are warned. The writer, Dr. Amanda Rosaleigh Paine, and her soul mate, Dr, Michael Demian Randolph, stopped by one of their favorite creeks near Auburn University where they taught. They stopped at a bridge. They used the creek to cool off their entire bodies in the ‘dog day’ heat. There was a large cotton mouth sunning on a rock. It did not budge as they approached. Finally they had to run him off with gestures, vocal warnings, and pebbles. As the snake left, it expressed its displeasure with a strange noise. It seemed to be angrily querying, how dare you invade my space? When it finally left, its head was held high out of the water, and it continued making the eerie sound of displeasure. The Moccasins’ had such a strong presence; Amanda began to feel when one was around.
    One pleasant evening after a hard day of planting, Justin decided to take a walk to stretch his legs and enjoy the fresh air. From his tent he could see Lake Clinch, a lake he would swim in often now that he knew about it. Ready, a larger lake was in the other direction. He had walked around Clinch the day before. He decided to explore the area around Ready which was closest to his tent. There were many large trees on his way. When he got near the lake unknown to him, a large panther was on the limb of a big Oak tree. He walked under the tree. The cat silently, gracefully, and nimbly maneuvered itself in a position to jump Justin. Just as he jumped him, Justin saw the cat and moved enough so he could throw the panther off long enough to get his pistol out of his jacket. Just in the nick of time, Justin pulled the tripper and wounded the cat in the chest. Even though this magnificent creature intended to kill Justin and eat him for its dinner, he still felt badly about having to shoot it. To avoid further suffering he put a second bullet in the cat’s head.
    “I’m sorry friend,” he said to the fallen cat as a torrent of tears rushed down his cheeks. “It was either you or me. I wish it wasn’t that way for you have as much right to be here as I do. I literally feel sick at having to shoot you. I hope I can sleep tonight.” He thought to himself as he went back to his supplies to get a shovel to give the feline a decent burial, I’m going to watch for the cats from now on so this hopefully doesn’t happen again. No matter what, I hate killing, especially such a wonderful and gorgeous creature of nature.

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