San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-05-02
WILDCATS IN A FIGHT.
Duel Between Two Toms In the Pres
encs Of an AppIaudinG Female.

encs Of an ApPlaudinE Female.
Levi Smalling, Spring Brook hunter, re-
Gently witnessed a remarkable fight between
two male wildcats in the woods of that sec
ton Il was still hunting for squirrels-and
rabbits" said Mr.. Smalling, "when heard
terrific yowlinS and snarling down in the
ratine from where | was tramping through
the woods | knew at once that the noise
wa made by wildcats, for had heard them
scream at night many a time, and my first
thought was that wildcat had been caught
in trap and was yelling from pain. / lis
tened for minute, and then heard two dis
tinct voices | hurried to the brink of
ledge to look down into the ravine, and
on my way it seemed as though i could hear
three wildcats, and | was notsmistaken in
this, as ! soon found out.
when l got where could look down
saw what all tho fuss was about In an open
space two he Wild cats were making the hair
fy from one another's bodies, yelling, scratch
ing and biting, and every now and then
tumbling over each other and tearing up the
leaves. On limb close by to them sat she
wild cat with her back bumped up, and she
was splitting and sissing and urging the he
ones On l made up nfy mind right away
and enjoyed the row moro than anything
had ever seen in the woods When the toms
got tired of clawing one another they crouched
on the ground few feet apart and lashed
their tails and howled, while tho she one on
the limb kept up continual noise and dashed
her tail, too.
After each resting spell the toms rushed
at one another again, and while they were
ripping and tearing, and making the blood
fly / clamored down the ledge, stopping every
time they stopped for fear they might hear
me and either run away or make for me- 1t
seemed to be nip and tuck between them, for
they were both big and strong, and each ap-
peared bent on killing the other before he'
would give up. wanted to kill them both
and get their hides and the bounty money,
and so l waited for a good shot at them.
had charge of buckshot in my right bar
rel and bullet in the left, and my intention
was to send the buckshot at them when mixed
up IN the next bout
Then they few at one another again, but
before could reach the spot that wanted
to get to before l blazed away the toms sep
arated once more. By this time they were
pretty well fought out, and for few min
utes all they did was to glare at one another,
swing their tails back and forth and howl
The she cat then sprang from her limb to
another branch, giving scream as she
leaped and in less than ten seconds the he
ones dashed at each other and fought more
furiously than ever, filling the woods with
their yowls.
Then l banged away at the heap with the
charge Of bUckshot. One of the wildcats
leaped into the air and fell down dead, and
the other went bowling into the bushes out
of my sight saw that there was no use of
trying to get another shot at him, and sent
the bullet at the she one and knocked her off
tho limb didn't stir from the spot until
had chucked a charge into each barrel, and
then / hurried down TO see if had killed the
she one She was dead enough, was glad
to find ont, and then thought would search
for the live tom, thinking that he might have
been wounded by one Of the buckshOt. l
found him after a little, and guess he would
have given me a pretty lively time of it if
two Of his legs hadn't been broken. As it
was he showed fight and tried to tear my
bootleg off, but had the advantage Of him
and shot him through the head. n-Scranton
(Pal Letter