The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1879-11-02
A TIGER.
A Number of Attempts, With Final
Success.

A Number of Attempts, With Fina
Success.
The Philadelphia Times tells q good
story of an incident at Torresdale
about fourteen miles from that city. II
seems that a certain Hoffmeyer got VI
the other night, toward morning, to re.
spond to cries of distress and groans
which he heard outdoors. His progress
is thus described:
Walking down across this field he pre-
sently through the darkness dlscerned
what seemed to be the body Of an amin
al, lying close up against a fence. Hoff-
meyer thought it was a cow suffering
from some hurts, and full Of good at
tentions advanced closer. until he had
got within a few steps of the recum-
bent form of the animal, when he be-
came conscious of two fiery eyes glaring
at him out of the darkness with an ex-
preston that belonged to no branch Of
the cow species under the sun. To say
that Hoffmeyer got out of the way
quickly is to do injustice to the remark
able physical activity which he brought
to bear on the matter at that critical
moment.
Hoffmeyer then got States, a butcher,
and his assistants, who were just open
ing the shop, to help him, and they
armed themselves with little bird guns.
Let's go and capture him. said
States, laughing at what he conceived
to be a good joke on Hoffmeyer.
Down into the field they went, States
heading the party. Soon they heard
the groams and saw the dark body of
the animals which States said was a
COW and increased his pace. When he
got near the fence Hoffmeyer, who was
cautiously bringing up the rear, called
out to him:
You'd better not go too near he said.
States answered nothing. Firmly deter
mined to capture the animal, he strobe
bravely up until within a few feet of it
when he stopped suddenly and quickly.
"My Godl it's a tiger" cried States,
turning white as a sheet and executing
the most rapid r%etrograde movement
probably that ever fell to the lot of man.
The others did not wait till he reached
them. Every individual man took to
his heels and cleared.the field with un-
paralleled promptness.
Then they all went to the "Red Lion,"
and got the barkeeper's aid, whobrought
a real gun with him.
Eckert took the lead, vowing that if
there was any wild animal there he
would find out what it was. By this
time it was lighter, for the morning
had begun to break. EckeIt got to the
fence, but went no further. Stopping
short, as his predecessors had done be-
fore him, he uttered an exclamation
and retired the way he had come, the
rest Of the party rapidly leading the
way.
Still another assault was made on the
i~mpregnable beast, as follows:
On reaching the place the animal
bad risen from the spot where he was
first discovered and was walking slow
ly along on the other side Of the fence.
1t was a tiger, and a very large one
He moved along the fence slowly until
he came to a point opposite the place
where the men were standing. Here
he stopped a moment and, placing his
paws against a rail, looked over. The
men promptly proceeded to give him
more latitude, re~treating to the nearest
house, which was occupied by a family
named Clary. Eckert requested Mrs.
Clary to leave the door open, so that in
the event of his shot missing its object
he could retreat inside. The animal,
meantime, had taken himself off the
fence and was leisurely pursuing his
way. Going down within about thirty
feet Of him Eckert leveled his gun at
him. Just as he was about to fire he
was stopped by a yell from Of the party,
who advised him not to risk it, as, if he
missed and only served to rouse..his tig-
ership, some Of them would lose their
lives. Without needing the request he
went a little closer and, while the amin
al stopped to look at him, took deliber-
ate aim for the region Of the left should
er and fired. The tiger jumped five or
six feet into the air and fell dead with
out a groan. The men with the bird
guns promptly rushed up and emptied
the contents of each and every addition
al gun into the dead tigers head, being
evidently determined that he should
not come to life again.
The tiger had escaped from Fore
paugh's Menagerie.
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