The morning call., 1891-08-25
IN A DEN WITH LIONS
A Young New York Boy De.
vOured by the Savage Beasts.
Terrible Experience of Those Who Went to
His Rescue-0ne of the Most Provi-
Dental Escapes on Record.

Captain Josselyn, ranehman living in
the edge of Val Verde, Tex, has just re-
turned fr ON an inspecting tour over his
various outlying ranches, and tells, as fol-
lows, the story of one of his experiences to
a writer in the ST. Louis Globe Democrat: ::
Not more than a month ago l hired a
good-looki ling young fellow-a New Yorker,
l believe-who was out OF money and in
distress, and l put him on my little ranch in
Crockett County. ] became attached to the
boy; he was a good one | am sure. only
down on his luck. / left him there, getting
along very well. and saw nothing more Of
him. Last week | went down to the ranch
to see how everything was, and the first
thing heard was that Donnelly, the new
man. had disappeared.
He had gone out three days before, the
men said, to look up pony that had
strayed, and nothing had been seen or heard
of him since. | was sure something terri
Bile had happened to him, and ] determined
to find out what ii was if it took all the rest
of the year. l called one of the men, Mike
O'Ieary, and we took guns and plenty of
ammunition, beside hunting-k knives, and
set out on our search. We tramped about
through the mountains all the first day with
out finding the slightest trace of him. On
the morning Of the second day we took
new direction, and after awhile Mike gave
shout OF delight at finding small, Jagged
piece of clothing hanging to thOrn-buSh
beside narrow trail.
1t was like the flannel shirt that Dom
nelly had on the morning he went away.
Then Mike and | parted company, Mike
taking the lower road around the foot of the
mountains. while | followed the trail over
the mountain Itself. had not walked half
an hour before all trace OF the trail had dis
appeared. In searching for it | got hope
So " rs van OF haa
ingS from the sun, because the sun had
turned around and was coming up in the
west | tramped around over that noun
tain for don't know how many hours. At
last / came to the edge of a cliff ten or ff-
teen feet high, the wall of which sloped
back out of sight.
''I SEIZED SOME VINES
To swing myself down, and they pulled out
by the roots and | fell. The worst of il was
that instead OF merely falling to the ledge
below | struck it and rolled down slant
and fell again-into the very center of the
earth it seemed to me. You understand
that cave was back under that Slantng
wall and | had rolled into it. When | fell
my gun flew from my hand and there was no
telling where 1t was. l was bruised all
over, but managed TO scramble TO my feet.
Everything was dafk around me. but the
opening through which | had come threw
some light upon the roof and showed that
the cave ran back under the mountains so
lar that it was swallowed up in shadow.
AS for getting out, might as easily have
tried to climb out of well. There was the
sheer, rocky wall towering above me, with
not the slightest chance at hand or foot hold
Yes, admitted that didn't feel very pleas
ant. While was trying to think what it
would be best TO do | was startled by a
groWl, and looking around saw q pair of
large eyes shining out of the darkness to-
ward the other end OF the cave / could not
see the creatures form, but | knew one
thing-I had fallen into the den of some
wild animal, and probably savage one,
and there l was with no weapon but a hunt
lng-knife Now, anybody that wants to
may fight savage animals with a knife, but
that isn't IN my line. A man has TO get into
mighty close quarters with an enemy 10 use
knife, and TO tell the truth l didn't want
TO get very close to the owner of that growl.
= commenced Siding slowly around the
cave. keeping close to the wall and holding
my knife In case of emergencies. The fiery
eyes turned with me, and had not moved
many PAGES before, to my horror, second
pair OF fiery eyes appeared beside the first,
and another growl broke upon the stiffness.
After that l gave myself up for lost. AS
went sliding along the wall the animals
suddenly changed their position so that
their eyes were no longer visible If any
thing could have made my position more
unpleasant, that was what il did. Every
moment L expected them to spring upon
me. had gone about half around the cave,
should thiak-at least | was nearly oppo-
site the opening through which had fallen
when l found a narrow cleft in the rocky
| wall, and | plunged into it with the energy
OF despair 1t was not more than three
feet wide; it might lead me
INTO UNKNOWN DEPTHS
To perish miserably, but it couldn't be worse
than this den. Instantly a loud, ominous
growl arose behind me, and l knew that
was being pursued.
Il stumbled along as hastily as | could
always with that deepening growl follow
ing me, and directly came upon sharp
turn TO the right. To my amazement a
gleam OF llg t appeared away ahead of me.
My! How | did run! l don't think better
time ever was made than made the rest of
the way out OF that cave. A glance over
my shoulder as | went helped me along
amazingly. My pursuers were two enor-
nous Mexican lions. There were two or
| three abrupt turns before | reached the
outer air. | was Just about to plunge into
| the warm sunshine when the foremost lion
| hurled Itself against me. | was thrown
headlong, but the lion rolled twenty feet
down the slope, so violent had been its
| spring. And right here occurred one Of the
most wonderful things that l ever knew.
had fallen right across my gun, and as
| threw out my hand it touched the barrel.
Il was on my feet in an instant. ready
| for whatever might come The second lien
| was cTouching for his leap when | took him
between the eyes, and. with screams of
| pain, he rolled down the hill. The other
beast came springing up the slope more
| furious than ever, and so rapid were her
motions that | barely had time to shoot be-
| fore she was upon Inc. She almost knocked
me down again as she fell. and my clothing
was covered with her blood. Mike came
running al the sound of the shots. and We
| made torches and went into the cave. Not
| three feet from the opening | had found,
and which led me to the light, was another
cleft In the rock, which ran by tortuous
ways some thirty or forty feet and then
closed. At the farther end of this we found
the remains of poor Dunneily. BY such a
mere chance he had lost the wav to life,
| and the savage beasts had followed him
into that gloomy erevce, from which there
was no escape, and had there torn him to
pieces"