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In 1873, a nationwide depression was underway and many believed Fort Worth to be doomed economically. Robert E.Cowart, a former
Fort Worth resident who practiced law in Dallas, wrote the Dallas Herald that he had "been to a meeting in Fort Worth
the other day and things were so quiet I saw a panther asleep on Main Street, undisturbed by the rush of men or the hum of
trade."
B.B. Paddock, editor of the 'Fort Worth Democrat', took these comments as a challenge and had a new masthead engraved
with a panther lying in front of the bluff and the motto "Where the Panther Laid Down."
The intended insult has become an enduring symbol of the city's strength. Throughout Fort Worth, panthers have appeared
over the years, carved on downtown buildings (the Flatiron, and the Intermodal Transportation Center), crouching on Fort Worth
Police badges, painted on fire trucks and cheered as mascots by Paschal High School students and Fort Worth Cats baseball
fans.
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