Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-07-29
WEEKLY CHRONICLE.
KILLED CATAMOUNT.
A Pennsylvania Formers EncOunfer
VIII lie Watch ng De Lirk---The
Ghast,y discovery That His Brother
Made.
[From the Bradford pa Era.1

From the Bradford Pa. Era.
In the Era of Saturday morning we pub
lished brief account OF the killing of L.
Painter, of Hamilton Townsh p, this
uny, by a catamount, Or pan her, as the
animal is va iousiy known, on the 9th of
June. Since then we have been enabled to
earn additional particulars of the singular
tragedy, from rel ent of the township
| who visited The scene. Mr. Painter was
| farmer, and the section in which he lived
| is one of the most widest in Mexican. In
the dep forest some miles from Mr.. Pal
miter's home, is deer lick, which is still
| frequented by those animals. despite the
| inroads made upOn their numbers by local
sportsmen and the encroachments upon
old haunts by civilization, On the after
| noon of the day above mentioned the old
gentleman announced to his family his in
tention of of watching this deer lick, and,
| taking his trusty rifle departed, 1t is far to
presume. with the object of getting shot
at fat buck. although the game laws do
not cOuntenaDce such sport at thls time OF
the year. Old residents, however, are not
prone to regard such regulations, consider
ing them more especially designed to pro-
tect them from the wanton assaults of
amateur sportsmen. He did not return
tn at night, a circumstance which caused
| his family no great uneasiness, as Mr.
| Painter was not too feeble to regard
camping out alone as q hardship. When
! the day WAS far spent, however and still
the absentee did not appear, his relatives
became anxious and thought some mistor-
tune might have betallen him, and his
brother set out to look him up. He made
his way to the dear>lick By the shortest
course and with all possible haste, but
the sun was setting as he approached the
| lonesome spot 1t was in the midst of
dense woods, through which ran a
| in eff hat baa las ESlt
called his brothers namn, but only an echo
hooted In return, as though in derision. In
| the soft earth at the edge of the broo- be
! saw the imprnts of deer5' nOOfS, and final
~ came upon the well-deined impression
of q human foot where its owner had
! stepped across the water. On the ether
side Of the brook were traces of mans
presence, such as would only be noticed by
u woodsman's keen eye, and following this
impeT feet trail he was led to a sort Of natu-
raj anpitheater. surrounded by brush and
fallen trees, rs though the place had been
visited by whirlWind. A broken busr
covered with blood attracted his attention,
and looking over he saw I tls lying on
he ground. Mr.. Painter picked It up and
rec, gnized it as the time-honored arm be-
loDging to his brother. The barrel was
partially scpsra ed from the stock til ough
bg s3vi0ls mt blow A collapsed cap on the
nipple Indicated that / charge had bees
fired"
A horrible misgiving seized Mr.. Pal
miller as he looked upon what seemed to be
the mute witness TO 3 woodland tragedy,
and, sick TT heart he continued his search.
de did not have far to go. stepping over
a log at one side of the natural Enclosure,
Wnicn seemed to be a vestIDule To The deer
| nck, be stumbled upon the carcas of a
great c4t-iIke animal such us he had see
III the early days Of the settlemen but
| Of I Il = 81
large size, sucn as no hunter would CAFE tC
meet alone in the woods Several wounds
showed hat he had died hard, and it look eC
still hIdeous in death. A few ct ava,
lay Il human figure, partly covered with
bloody rags, and sh' wing in The denu ed
parts he marks of terrible csws. 1t was
lying on its face, but MIR. Painter Knew
now the worst. and WAS not surprised, as
he turned it over to see the ghastly face of
his brother. One stiffel ed hand held a
bunting knife, bloody to the hilt in the
other was Il handful of grass torn up by the
roots, MS though III supreme agony rhe I'M
Fortunate man was partially d,sen boweled,
and inde, MS whole body showed fearful
:, ma tilatiun, while eis set TEXTURES wore q
look of great anguish. His dead adversary
had bull ct hole IN the shou der and sew
eral slabs in the neck and body. 1t was
easy for the afflicted other to fathom the
exact nature the cruel struggle. AS Mr..
Painter lay watching at the lick, the cata-
mo mt was slsu watching and, mad with
hunger, rs shown by his emaciated body,
had selected human prey, instead of deer,
and sprang upon him. The man attack ed
was enabled to get one shot at theravenous
beast, when it noe. ed the rife from his
hands and grappled with him. The strug-
gle must have been fierce and protracted,
as the ground for some distance around was
covered with blood, until N ortally wound
ed, the eombatants separated by mutual
consent to wrestle with the death agony.
The cstamount measured FIVE felt six
inches in length and was over twenty
inches high.