The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-11
LUM WILLIAMS CLOSE CALL.
He Had to Whip His Weight in Wilc
Cats Before He Was Safe.

He Had to Whip His Weight In Wild
Cats Before He Was Safe.
Panther Knob Letter to Cincinnati Enquirer.
Lum Williams, an old mountaineer and
hunter of Panther mountain, had an ad-
venture few days since which he will not
soon forget.
AS he sat on the porch at Farmer Peters
and told the story he was the picture of
about as badly dilapidated a specimen of
humanity as one sees in lifetime. One
arm was carried in sling, his right leg
rested upon a stool wrapped from thigh to
ankle with linen cloths, while his face, once
smooth and fresh, notwithstanding his age
of over half a century, had the appearance
of having been cultivated with a fine
pronged garden rake from his hair to his
coat collar.
Il was going up the mountain on squir
rel hunt with my two squirrel dogs, Snap
and Mig said the old mountaineer. I'VE
had gone about mile, and / had killed five
or six squirrels, when Snap began to bark
in fierce way about 100 yards off. Before
I got to the dog Mig had joined him, aud
the two kept up terrible racket.
81 hurried on, expecting TO find that they
had freed coon or holed fox When l got
to the spot | found the dogs had holed some
animal in a hollow, rotten log The log
was poplar, and about 20 feet long, with
hole nearly foot in diameter at the mouth.
1.-The dogs wouldn't go in. | thought
that strange, as they never before went
back on fight with coon, and that was
what l thought was in the log So tried
to poke the coon. as l supposed it was, out
of the hole, but the only pole | could get
wouldn't reach. Finding l couldn't move
the game that way, threw down the pole
and examined the log. soon discovered
that it was very rotten, and that there was
a crack in it about half way down. | made
up my mind to try and pry that log open,
and Pm sorry to say | succeeded.
almost as soon as got a stick in the
crack and began to pry, the COMPOUNDED
thing flew apart and out sprang three thun-
dering big catamounts. Great Scott how
they did pitch into us. Two of them sprang
at me- One seized my left arm near the
shoulder and ripped it from shoulder to
wrist with his long claws. | struck at the
brutes with the heavy oak stick l held. and
by good luck knocked one OF them over just
as the other one jumped at my face l
couldn't stop him, and he came down on my
face with both claws, ripping through the
skin and flesh like red-hot irons. Just then
Snap caught the cat by the flank and pulled
him off This saved me. The dog and cat
rolled over and over on the ground, while |
was trying my best, with the blood pouring
down my face, to get blow In on the cat.
succeeded at last in striking it across the
small of the back as it rolled over on top of
the dog. That blow broke its back, but it
had done for the dog, which was torn
almost into ribbons.
81 had overlooked the one l struck in the
first place, and by this time the internal
brute had got on its feet and sprang on me
just as l raised from striking the other one.
This fellow did not get a fair hold on me,
but he got close enough to rip my leg from
thigh to calf with his claws. l struck it in
the face with the end of the club, and, as it
dropped to the ground, threw my whole
force in blow, which | delivered upon its
head, knocking it over on It's back, and
beat it to death.
''The cat which had jumped at the dogs
in the first place l now saw lying about
twenty feet away, with Mig holding it by
the throat The cat was dead, and 80 was
the dog, which lay with entrails torn out,
but still with death grip on the throat of
cat would have been finished between
them. AS it was, after the fight was over,
tainted with pain and loss of blood, and
lay, suppose, on the ground for an hour or
more When 1 came to / dragged myself
to the road, half a mile away, where
found water, with which l bathed my
wounds. Luckily for me, Peters, here,
happened to come along, and brought me
to his house.
~ have had many close fights in my time
with bears, panthers and wildcats in these
mountains, but this one was the closest call
ever had, and it was all owing to the fact
that neglected to take knife or pistol
with me-