The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-01-21
A WILDCAT wHoPPrR.
The Man From the West Drops I'm with a
Good Story.

UOOu
cleveland Herald
"An actual encounter with a wild cat
will tell you of, if you are bound to have
story, young fellow" said our ex-frontiersman
last evening, soon after he had sailed into
the Herald local department, taken a seat,
and patiently answered several pertinent
questions
"All right; commence at once; Pm all at
tention," remarked the scribe beside him.
The Western man felt for his bowie knife
to pick his teeth Herewith, but found it not,
suddenly recollecting that the rigorous regu-
lations of civilized life compelled him to dis
pense with the carrying of that weapon, and
necessitated his leaving it at home for
bread-knife. Recovering from the moments
abstraction that followed, he impressively
began:
I'm the first place, the subject have to
deal with, j. e., the wild cat, is a different
sort of varmint altogether from most wild
animals. He'll go for human bein' with
his claws and teeth as joyously as he would
skin upa tree, and as for ever turnin' tail and
scootin' for the wildwood at sight of man, it
is entirely agin the varmint's strict rules of
actin. AT least the above statement is formed
from my experience durin' close communion
with 'em at intervals durin' Is years of from
tier life. Now the rattle-snake II give YOU
warnin' and objects to tacklin' anything Twin
without bein' pressed; so with bears, and
never III one face man without he the
bear) is sunken-eyed, thin-flanked and as hol-
low as an empty barrel. Why, one bear that
killed-but I'm wanderin. 1t was wildcats
L commenced on, and this one in par
ticular L came across only four weeks ago,
| just afore started from the West A party
of us had just left our mines near Deadwood,
to take a hunting excursion some miles dis
tant from the city in the wilderness. That
| day L had just succeeded in KILN q
| black-talled deer, which l had loaded on
the wagon, and then 1 left the beaten
| trail to make a venture for game in
some cottonwood timber that fringed the
banks of sluggish creek, small fork of the
| Colorado river ] was soon in wild and
| apparently varmint-infested locality The
| creek swept through a channel whose banks
were from 15 to 40 feet apart. Grass up to
my shoulders sprung up on all SIDES to the
| edges of the clumps Of timber If any game
should chance to be started, you can imagine
what poor chance fellow would have to
shoot it in such grass grown and timbered
stretch of country. Well, nary thing had
seen, and in sort of pensive muse l stepped
calmly along the top of one of the high
banks, when some almighty sprightly sort OF
| critter sprang out of the grass close to my
| feet, jumped down the bank, and | heard the
thing goin' up tree whose roots were close
| to the waters margin and whose widespread
branches stretched over the ground close to
me. 1t came into sight and / saw it was an
1 ALFRED, thunderin' big wildcat, and plainly
meant mischief with the representative who
sits before you. Out on large bare limb il
| came before me. Lordl how its ewes flashed
| fire, its ears erected themselves in perpendic-
ular posture, and its shabby prolongation Of
| its spine kept in stiff line with the fore part
of that member. 1t spit like fury, and &C.
| tually lookd like the devil in white and gray
fur trimmins'. Young man, perhaps YOU
think my blood is easily curdled, that the
heart that pumps my arterial currents
is palpitated by the simplest terrors; i
| so, you wrong me. I've acted as vigil
anter and bit cold steel with no
torious cut-throats, also felt without tremol
the moose of vigilant committees laria
tighten around my innocent neck; but
heaven be praised, that time wasn't lifted
for-but 1 wanted the cat. Well, trembled
Thinks /, Mr.. Cat, it is either you or /, anC
| with my Winchester at my shoulder let fly
1t fell and / looked over the bank but coulC
not see it, for brush and driftwood was pileC
in vast heaps below. skeerted around abou
100 yards to get to the foot of the tree.
didn't know what had to encounter and
had my bowie-knife ready" Here he mad
another feel for the article in question an,
then looked surprised and discomftted
Little remains to be recounted. reache
the tree; perhaps twill disappoint you t
learn that there found the cat stone dead
my bullet was through its brain. The val
mint was lean and hungry lool<in', bu
weighed, nevertheless, 81 pounds. That Wa
the last game l killed in the Western coun
try, and it's 10 o'clock. Goodnight