Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1888-01-31
MOCKED B'i A COUGAR.
Having Gorgcd Hiihsolr with Poison, tho
nsast Wmkcd UpOn His Pursuprs.

Having Gorgcd Hiinsolr with Poison, tho
h"ast Wmkcd Upon His Pursuers.
In tho Central Park mcnagerie is n
magnificent spo cimen of the cougar,
or mountain lion. The other after
noon two gcntlemon stood by the cage
Watching the graceful animal ms it
tealossly moved from one end of the
c,'se TO the other with rythmatical pre-
c'sion' Last winter" said one. II
was shooting in the Sierra Tara N ate
mountains, in Mexico, where, from
'i'c gus and tracks in the sand-bot-
'oI'eu canyons, these animals were
s,, Ky "punuanL At night ono would
sH upon the mesa above our camp and
s'o out hymns for the coyotes to sing.
~ was an unearthly yell that made the
SooSoiosn come on the top of your
hoad' and led you 10 even wish 10 Ina
Daek IN the land of hand organs Nv
guide, Jack Bridges, who used 10 bo
with Custer would sit up In his bIork.
cts and say; Go it when YOU can, for
we are going 10 do you up
For days we lookol for tho homo
OF the lion. and, although we could 500
his footprints. which appeared like
worry big fours Of clubs, he did so much
rock walking that 1t was impossible Ia
track him 10 his cave Olo day we
met a Mexican smuggling outfit, and
the Captain told US that in canyon
SEVERAL miles from our camp there was
hermit lion, whom he never failed TO
got a glimpse Of when taking the trail
lhat way, For years back he had
missed seeing him. but Of lato he had
noticed that tho lion was lame, proba-
bly, from having run cactus point
into his foot, or from jumping too
much out of tho way OF earthquakes.
The smugglcr described so accurately
where the lion hung out that we went
over tho next morning to get shot
wa9 canyon was Just about tho
denso that we nMS saw. Tho bottom
hands and kncos In many placessi,--sa
sides were volcanic rock, jagged and
broken with holes and crevices. Jach
was on ahead, aud at his heels wher
we came face 10 face with the lion
who was sitting In the mouth Of hii
cave trying TO stare us out Of counte'
nance. He gave one scratch, and lher
his long tail disappeared around the
corner Of big bowldor just as We
got sight Of him. Neither had 4 chance
to shoot Half minute later we saw
him go limping up the side Of tho di'
vide, and when he reached tho top he
squattcd and looked complaoently
down at us. lie was proyokingly out
Of shot, and lac knew II as well as we
did.
Then began ono of tho most scien-
tiiio hunts on record. We were both
as mad as hornets. Up hill and down
dale we followed that brute until dark.
Ho was never over one thousand yards
away, but never in shot He would
run, and limp. and squat. blink at us,
wiggle his tail at Us and seem to coax
us TO follow him. + loven miles we
went In bee line from camp and 1t
took us until next morning to get
back. We then set TO work TO put up
n Job on that lion. We went over TO
tho canyon whore he lived, killed n
white tailed deer. took his paunch,
and traied it In n circle around the
canyon. The carcass we then hung
high on limb, five feet out from tho
trunk. Then we cut up tho deer s
liver into thirteen bats. for luck, and
dosed each with strychninc. We also
rubbed tho poison into the paunch,
which we left at tho bottom of the
tree.
"Wo smiled MS we walked back to
camp, and Jack told mo of an Apache
Indian over at Montezuma mining
camp who would tan the lions hide
with deer's brains for one dollar /
kept awake that night for two hours,
thinking whom would give 1t TO, or
II | would keep 1t myself About sun
rise we struck the lions canyon. When
we got near tho deer treo we expected
to pick up tho lion every step. But we
didn't. IIe had boen there, though.
He had eaten up the thirteen poisoned
bats, got away with some of the
paunch, climbed up the tree, stretched
himself out, and eaten hunks as big
rs Derby hats out of the decr's carcass.
I'VE spent the day in looking for
the dead lion, but could not find him.
When we turned to go home we sud-
denly spled his nibs squatting down
on top of the divide winking at us. At
FL Paso told a merchant this story,
and showed him what was left of tho
poison. He said that the strychnine
we had bought from the smugglers
was only kind of -four of which n
barrelful would not fazo chicken,
and that he ought to know. for he put
up the stuff himself IN y Sun