Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-09-30
Fight with a Panther.

Burns travelled for Is years with
Barnum's circus. He now has an
establishment at No. lis Roosevelt
street. He supplies animals to cir
cuses and menageries, and has in
stock particularly large and feroc-
lious panther. When Burns reached
his store at 7.30 yesterday morning,
John Miller an employee was stand
ling outside. sob, Mr.. Burns the
panther is loose he cried.
"Well, we'll have to get him back
in the cage said the old animal train
er. ''You get me a rope
With piece of clothes-line ar
ranged, with a running moose in
one end, Burns entered the store.
The panther sat on top of his cage,
licking his paws. With a quick
movement Burns threw the lasso.
1t missed and the panther made a
leap for the trainer who stepped out
and closed the door. Peering
through window Burns saw the
panther making round of theplace,
soaring the other animals terribly.
He squeezed his paw through the
iron bars of cages and shook them.
A little monkey seized the paw and
lived about two minutes. The blood
ON the panther's paw infuriated him
and he began q war dance in the
center of the room while the other
animals howled. Finally he went
back to the top OF the cage, and
Burns decided to make another eff
fort to lasso him.
'Now, when yell you open the
door," Burns said to Miller. Then
grab the end of the rope and pull
with me when I tell you to- The
door was opened softly once more
and Mr. Burns threw the lasso.
When the animal saw the rope com
ing he threw up his left paw and the
moose dropped over his head and
paw. John, John open the door
yelled Burns. I've got him, come
and help me. But Johns courage
failed him, and despite Burns yells
for help no one went to his assist
ance. A crowd gathered around the
door, but no one went to his aid,
while Miller rushed around the out
side of the house like crazy man.
"When 1 found that Miller would
not come in, said Mr.. Burns after
wards, II braced myself for the
struggle that was coming. The ami
NAL was a year old and had just been
brought from India. L figured on
his pulling from me like al panthers
but that lasso caught under the
shoulder and he did not feel it so
much around the neck. / pulled
hard and strong and so did the pan
ther for n moment or two, but in the
twinkling of an eye he seemed to
shrink his body up and slipped out
of the moose. l picked up an iron
floor scraper and jumped aside as
soon as he leaped for me. tried to
hit the beast with the scraper, but
missed him. Then we fenced around
the room, the panther leaping for me
and / endeavoring to hit him. l
seized box of pepper and tried to
throw some into his eyes, but | could
not connect. 1 had dog upstairs
and kept calling him, but he was
tightly chained Fully fifteen min
utes passed in this way. The cages,
barrels and other Instructions in the
room served to protect me. When
the panther jumped L would dodge
behind one of these, and he wosld
go over my head.
FINALLY 1 got paper file from
the desk. 1t was only little piece
of pointed iron wire, about six inches
long, but 1 felt bit stronger when
1 got that in my hands. Then /
missed my footing in trying to prod
the brute and ne was on me in a sec
ond. He caught me in the arm
above the elbow. l iabbed the SPIN
die into his side and he let go and
leaped to the other end of the room.
The blood spurted out of the hole, 1
had made in his side. We came to-
gether again, and before we separat-
ed L was bitten in several places.
Luckily for me, the panther was not
an old one and the teeth were not
long, but they were long enough to
tear the flesh terribly. L was get
ting weak from loss of blood when a
policeman from the Oak street sta
tion opened the door and closed it
quickly. had the panther by the
throat but he was working out of my
grasp. I yelled again for help and
two longshoremen came to my rescue.
They beat the panther off and with
poles handed ia from the outside, we
drove the beast into his cage again.
Mr.. Burns is badly lacerated about
the body, and his face shows marks
of the desperate struggle. Miller is
out of job.