Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-03-10
Fight With q Catarnount.


AFIght With q Catamount.
The lumbermen ON the Little Pine creek,
in Lycoming county, have had evidence
for some time that some wild animal was
prowling around their camp. 4
lew nights ago Robert Carson set
heavy steel trap on the bank of the creek.
believing the animal to be 4 panther.
Day before yesterday he went to
examine the trap. He reached the spot,
but, although he had chained the trap
fast, no signs of it could be found. He
at first thought some one had stolen it,
and was about to return home when he
discovered punches of hair lying around
on the ground and evidence of a strug-
gle in the bushes. He was looking
around for some traces of the missing
trap, when he was startled by u fearful
howl which proceeded from tree near
by. He looked up and saw an immense
catamOunt crOuching on limb. The
next instant the animal sprang at Car
son and alishted OH the ground within
two feet Of him. Carson saw that he was
saved from the claws Of the ferOciOus
beast by the fact that his heavy steel
trap was fastened ON one Of the animals
hind feet. The catamOunt instantly
gathered itself for another spring. Car
son had an axe in his hand, and before
the animal could jump he threw the axe
at it and struck it with such force that
the catamOunt was knocked several feet
down the hill.
Carson is a cripple, and knew that it
would be impossible to get away from the
catamount, notwithstanding it was ham,
pered by the trap. He prepared to fight
the infilriated animal as best he could.
III
ment's time to make up his mind as to
his mode of defense, but rushed ut
once back up the hill to the attack
Carson picked up a large stone, and when
the animal was almost near enough to him
to seize him with it's claws, he knocked it
down again with the stone. Carson says
the shrieks of the catamOunt made his
blood run cold, and, as it seemed
to understand that the trap was pre-
venting it from springing upon its ell
emy, it snapped and bit furiously ut
the iron that held it's leg. 1t hurried to
the attack the third time, when Carson
dealt it a blow on the head with Il stone
fOrcibly enough to stun it. and then pOunC-
ed it to death. The catamount was the
largest one ever killed in tile region, and
Carson firmly believes that he owes his
life to the fact that the animal was incum-
bered by the trap.
How u Welsh Preacher Spoke Latin.
The following good story is told ola
minister who at the time was q candidate
for a certain charge in the Lehigh region
near Allentown. He had been advised
that the display of mere eruditiOn would
help him into the favor of his hearers.
But his education had been neglected, and
it was only by drawing upon his knowl-
edge of the Welsh tongue which he
had been taught as child that he
hoped to properly impress his congrega-
ton. His scheme worked nicely. At diff
ferent points i'm his sermon he remarked
that the Latin, or Greek, or Hebrew, rs
the case might be, was much more impress
sive than the English translation, and then
he would give a few sentences of Welsh.
Everything was going along smooth
ly, and the minister, as he approached
the end of his sermon. Thought he
would give them just one more taste OF the
dead languages. II am about to read
you," said he, ''another passage on this
subject. But it is another of those pass
ages that have been altered in the transla-
ton, and will read it to you in Chaldaic,
in which it was written" He was just
about to give them little more Welsh.
when, casting his eye over the congregation,
he saw seated near the door jOlly-loOk-
ing man, who was holding his sides tight
to keep from bursting with laughter. The
minister took in the situation at a glance.
Here was man in the church who under
stood Welsh, and who was laughing ut the
trick that had been plaped upon the con-
grcgatiOn. But not Il feature in the
minister's face changed. Fixing his eye
straight upon the laughing man, just as the
congregation thought he was about to give
them the Chaldaic version, he said again
III Welsh: "FOr Gods sake, my friend,
dor't say a word about this until | have Il
chance to talk with you. The cOnSre-
CATION went home satisfied that they had
listened to one of the most learned of ser
mons, the laughing man never told the
story, and the minister was soon settled
over the church, believing that a clergy
man who could read the scriptures in half
a dozen languages was just the man for