Miscellaneous, The White Deer of Chenango County, 1915

Famous "White Deer" Killed

Bainbridge Republican, Dec. 23, 1915

 

A correspondent of the Norwich Sun wrote the following interesting article concerning a "white deer" that once roamed the hills of Chenango County:

 

In the early "forties" there was a white deer, said to bear a charmed life, that roamed Chenango county.  No one succeeded in even hitting it and many evil things happened to the farmer's cattle--which they laid to the "white witch," as the deer was called.

 

In "Church Hollow," near Coventry, was a large family by the name of Church.  William Church was one of Chenango county sheriffs--and Church Hollow was named after that family. 

 

Philip Shiffer married Nancy Church and lived there.  The men of the neighborhood would get together and mold silver bullets to try to hit the with deer with.  In one of their hunting tours Phillip Shiffer succeeded in killing the white deer with his silver bullet.

 

Emma McFarland visited the old homestead not long ago and the story is told to this day, how the "white witch" was killed and the farmers and their cattle prospered after that.