The Penn's Grove record., 1886-09-04
THE MOUNTAIN LION.
The Terror of the RanChers of
Southern California.

IN ItfEOE vi NuO VI
Southern California.
"Of all the sly cats that can be found,
the mountain lion beats them all, " a
an old hunter in the San Bernardino
country. ''Some months ago." he con-
tinued. 81 went into the hog business
on a small scale, bought two dozen
shoats, and for a week l lost q shoat
every night and could not for the lie
of me find out who was the thief. For
the first three nights after 1 missed one
1 hung around the pen until nearly
morning, but it seemed as if the mo
ment l stepped out one Of the shoats
stepped off, so / got a friend to watch
with me, and we fixed up a big dry
goods box and got into it, and we sat
there alongside of the pen. L reckon
we kept awake until four O'Clock, when
we fell asleep. 1 was awakened by
hearing a shoat squealiRg, and out l
rushed and my friend after me; but the
shoat was gone, and just as we were
about starting for the house l happened
to cast my eye toward a big log that
ran into the hog pen, and there were
two of the greenest eyes you ever saw.
| didn't wait to find out what it was,
but let fly with my rifle, and the next
second out came the biggest mountain
lion l ever saw. l wasn't ten feet from
him, and as he went l took him over
the head with the butt Of the gun and
my friend, carried away with excite
ment, was finishing him with his knife.
He was six feet long, the biggest n L
have ever seen here. And how do you
suppose he worked it2 You'd never
guess. You see, there was an old hol-
low log that l had fixed up as a drain,
but had used it for some time back to
run water into the pen, and through this
that cat would creep until he got we'll
in, and then he would reach out a claw
and grab the shoat, as they slept around
the entrance, and it would be dragged
into the log, and, of course, nothing
would be seen. 1t was a cute piece OF
business.
1.-THE mountain lions are not as COM
mon as they were once, but you can
find them around If you are inclined to
hunt. I'll lever forget the first n l
ever saw. l had been in the mountains
prospecting-you know every body
prospects here-and about 4 O'Clock in
the afternoon it began to snow, and l
was certainly ten miles from home and
had to make it, SO l began the down
trail. 1t got dark about 6, SO that
| had to almost feel my way, and the
snow was flying thick and fast and
nearly six inches deep. / reckon l had
gone along about two miles when l
thought | heard a low, soft step behind
me. l pulled up and listened, and the
noise stopped so quick that l thought
it was an echo, and started Oh again;
but the moment l moved | heard the
soft step coming on, and as l hauled up
a second time l heard a twig break, and
then was sure that l was being fol-
lowed. A friend of mine was dogged
In that way once by a Mexican and
shot at, and it occurred to me that per-
haps some one was after me, thinking l
had something valuable about me. At
first l didn't know what to do, as when
l stopped the thing behind me did the
same. l must confess it made me
nervous. You know If you can see a
thing it's all right-you know what to
do; but when something Is following
you in the dark it's a different thing.
So | waited a moment and then ran
ahead for a hundred yards as fast as l
could go and made a rush for a
tree and stood behind 1t. 1t was a
good scheme, as l completely fooled my
follower, and in a second or so l saw a
long, black figure, like a man crawling
along on hands and knees, going so
carefully l could hardly hear 1T from
where | stood. 1 had my rifle ready,
and Just as it got opposite me | fired.
The animal leaped ten feet, l should
say, into the air, and fell back with a
snarl-a dead mountain lion. l don't
know whether 1t would have touched
me or not, but it looked very
suspicious. l didn't take any chances.
81 never saw or heard of one tack
ling a man, but l can tell you what
they will do: They will whip a grizzly
bear every time, and the grizzly is king
on this coast. l had 1t straight from an
old partner of mine in the mining busi-
ness. He was over in the Rockies, and
well up one time, and on this particular
occasion, on an elk hunt. They had
been after the game half a day, when
all at once they heard a fearful roar in
the brush, and rushing in they looked
through and saw a big grizzly and a
mountain lion having a regular rough
and-tumble of it. they we're jumping
about so and rolling over and over so
fast that they could not tell who was
getting the best of it for some time, and
they didn't want TO shoot for fear of
spelling what they called the fun; so
they stood by and watched the fight.
The grizzly was evidently trying to
squeeze the lion, which was so slender
that it wlggled and squlrmed out OF the
way, but all the time scratching and
tearing just as you see a cat when she
is lighting. With such tactics as this
it didn't take long to finish the busi-
ness; the hair was flying from the
grizzly, and both animals were covered
with blood and screaming and roaring
so that you could have heard them q
mile or more. All at once the bear
made a break and tried to run, but he
was that weak he fell over, and as the
two brutes lay on their sides the man
shot them both. Yes, the bear was
done for. The hide was completely
torn in pieces and coed for nothing. |
believe the mountain lion would have
got away all right; the only thing the
matter with it was some of IT'S ribs
were broken and it was well torn up.
You see the great hold of a grizzly is to
knock an animal over with its claws or
paw, and throw its arms about a man
and squeeze; but a mountain lion Will