Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1888-01-12
Mocked by a Mountain Lion.

|
In the Central park menagcre IS a
magnificent specimen Of the cougar. OF
| mountain lion. The other afternoon
two gentlemen stood by the cage
watching the graceful animal as it rest
lcssly moved from one end Of the cage
to tile other with rhythmical precision.
Last winter" said one. Il was shoot
ing in the s ezra Tara Nate mountains,
in Mexico where. from the signs and
tricks in the sand bottomed canyons,
these animals were very abundant Al
night one would sit upon the mesa
above our camp and give out hymns
for the coroies TO sing. 1t was an un.
earthly yell that made the goose flesh
como on top of your head, and led you
to even wish to be- back in the land of
handorgans. My guide. Jack Bridges
who used to be with Custer. would sit
MP in his blankets and say: Go it
when you can, for we are going to do
you up.
For days we looked for the home OF
the lion, and. although we could see
his footprints, which appeared like very
b tours of clubs. he did so much rock
walking that it WAS impossible to trail
Inn to his cave. One day wc met Il
Mexican smuggling outfit. and the cap
tan told Us that IN II canyon several
miles from our camp there was her.
nit Lon whom he never failed to get u
glimpse of when taking the trail that
way. For years back he had missed
see ng him. but of late he had noticed
that the lion was lame-probably from
having run II cactus-point in his foot,
or from jumping too much ont Of the
way of earthquakes. The smugglcr de-
scribcd so accurately where the lion
ung out that we went over there the
next morning hoping To- get n shot.
1.-The canyon was just about the
worst place you ever saw. The bottom
was jungle or scrub live oak, so dense
that we had to crawl on our hands and
knees in many places The sides were
volcanic rock, Jagged and broken with
holes and crew crs. Jack was on ahead
and was ut his heels. when we came
eace TO face with the lion, who was ST.
ting in the mouth Of his cave trying to
stare us out of countcnance. Hc gave
one scratch and then his long tail dis
appeared around the corner of u big
boulder just as we got SIGHT of him.
Neither had n chance to shoot. Half II
minute later we saw him 90 limping up
the side of the divide. and when he
reached the top he squattcd and looked
complaccntly down at us. He WAS pro-
vokingiy out Of shot, and he knew it rs
well Us we did.
Then began one of the most scien-
titic hunts on record We were both
rs mad rs hornets. Up hill and down
dale we followed that brute until dark.
He was never over 1000 yards away.
mp, and squat, blink at us, wiggle his
tail mt us and seem to coax us TO fol-
low him. Eleven miles we went in n
bee line from camp. and t took us nm.
t | the next morning TO get back. We
then set 10 work 10 put up JOB on
that lion. We went over to the canyon
where he lived. killed n white tailed
deer, took his pamch aud trailcd it in
a circle around the canyon. The car
cass we then hung high upon a limb,
five feet out from the trunk. Then we
cut up the deer's liver into thirteen
bats. for luck and dOsei each with
strychnne. We also rubbed the poison
into the paunch. which we left ut the
bottom of the tree.
I'VE smiled rs we walked back to
camp, and Jack told me of an Apach c
Indian over at Montczuma mining
camp who would tan the lions hide
with dcer's brains for 81, | kept
awake that night for two hours, think
ing whom would We it to or if |
would ke2p it myself. About sunrise
we struck the lions canyon. When
we got near the deer tree we expect
ed to picked up the lion every step
But we didn't IL, had been there,
though. H. mad eaten up the tn rteen
bats. got away with some OF the
pnunch, climbed up the tree. stretched
himself ont. and eaten hunks rs big as
| DERBY hats ont of the deer's carcass.
I'VE spent the day in looking for the
! dead lion. but could not find him.
| When we turned to 90 home we sud
denly spiel his nibS squa;ting down on
top of the Il vide winking at us. Al
FL Paso told a merchant tbs story.
and showed him what was left of tho
poison. He told us the strychnine W.
had bought from the smugglcrs was 4
k nj of flour. of VIII ch barrel full
would not faZt Il chicken. anC
that he ought TO know. for he put NJ
the stuff himself"