The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-07-25
HE SHARES THE LIONS.
A GOOD STORY ABOUT A SAN
JUAN MOUNTAIN HUNTER.
A Newspaper Correspondent vislts Ar
sansas Hail and Tells Boston what
= Mighty Nimrod He IL In
HIS Old Age.

JOHN r. Hall. Familiarity known on
the frontier a. ..Arkansaw." lassoed u
mountain lion few months ago. as
sisted by a noted hunter called TEX"
says a Colorado letter TO the Boston
Globe. Hall resides In Ouray county.
which includes some OF the rugged
and lofty peaks OF the San Juan region
OF Colorado.
The mountain lion. although sly and
cowardly. Is most dangerous and
ferocious animal when at bay. But
Notwithstanding the danger. Hall Is
fond OF hunting the lions on the noun
tain trails, and has killed many of
them. In front of his home in Ridg-
way he has two Gagged lions. a porcu-
pine and two badgers.
Having learned OF Halls wonderful
feat OF lassoing this lion. / made
visit to his home last week to learn the
details. He and were standing in
front Of the iron bars, at which the
angry lion had made a savage lunge.
His paws clinched the iron rods. A
Kissing, cat-like sound came through
the open jaws, followed by an angry
growl. Being unable to get out OF
the cage the lion dashed his long tail
and crouched again for another spring
at the bars.
Back. there! into your dem" COM
manded Arkansas Hall, the lion hunt
err and tanner. Whereupon Ridge
way" for that Is the lions name. slow
lxy, cd 90 he ~ xhn
and crouched down in the hay.
s'Some one has been teasing the
lion." explained Arkansas. ..for he
seems quite angry this morning." In
an adjoining cage was Eliza. lion
ess that had been lassoed in the San
Juan. Eliza was a little more docile
than Ridgeway. and made no hostile
demonstration.
Arkansas" Is fond OF his dogs and
rife. and not until he had described
them. did no tell me the story Of how
he captured Ridgeway. the lion. 1t
would be OF little use for a writer to
talk with a western sportsman. If he
could not sympathize with him in his
affection for the rifle and hunting dogs.
for they really are the .'tools" of the
chase.
Arkansas and Texas. together with
four of their favorite dogs were on a
mountain lion hunt They soon came
on the tracks OF lion. and put their
dogs on the trail. The lion was freed
in few minutes. The yelping of one
of the dogs brought the hunters to
the spot and, on discovering what
fine lion it was, Arkansas resolved to
take It alive. ut Is dangerous to at
tempt to capture the mountain lion
when he is fresh in the chase, and
hence we scared him out of the tree
to round him. Every time lion
makes big leap it knocks some Of
the wind out Of him. The dogs ran
him up another tree about half a mile
distant, from which we made him
jump. thereby getting more wind out
OF him. and as we neared the third
tree into which the dogs had run the
lion. we heard terrible barking. Says
to Tex" added Arkansas. " either the
lion has got the dogs. or the dogs the
lion. for there was some lively bark
ing and angry growing. and the un-
uCi w 90 90 ehohSh bhCIO
was hard fight going on. It was
most likely that the lion had the best
OF the fight, for after Tex and had
hurried to the spot the lion was up the
tree and the four dogs were barking at
him. Notwithstanding the battle be-
tween the dogs and lion. he still
seemed to be In pretty good condition
for a fight ard we thought it best to
wind him some more by running him
to another tree, which the dogs accom-
plished. about half mile distant.
This was the fourth tree in about two
miles. and the lion. having but little
wind left in him, Tex and 1 prepared
to capture him.
1.-The lion was up the tree about
twenty-five feet" continued the hunt
er, and by giving the lasso quick
swing layed the loop over the lions
head, and gave it hard pull around
the neck. Then the circus began,
The lion, feeling the coil tighten
around the neck, gave fearful leap
into the air. Well, hardly know
how far it jumped or how often. With
powerful blows from its paws the lion
would knock the dogs heels over head.
All this time was pulling at the rope.
which, with the worry caused by the
dogs got all the wind out OF the lion.
Tex. then, watching for good oppor-
tunity, gave an underhand throw with
lasso, catching the lion by hind
leg. then with one lasso over the head,
and an ether on hind leg. we wero
perfectly safe, for by pulling both ways,
the lion could reach neither one of us.
We put the lion in a wagon, hauled
him to town. and there he is now in
the cage"
Arkansas explained that It Is easy
to train dog to follow the trail OF
lion and tree It. A well trained dog
will not tackle lion or bear. but run
II into tree, and then by barking an
nounce the locality. Teach the dog
that the trail. no matter, how perplex-
ing It may be. leads somewhere. and IL
must be followed until the game Is
found"
DudAlsna In Doston.