New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-13

that the beast bad probably sought the chimney
for warmth and that # she built good hre
and 90; il thoroughly warmed through II wohu
nprhaps 90 a\yay Size soon had a roaring fire
lcaping up the chimney from the BIG stone IRE
placc As she expected this pleased the laguar
and he ceased scratching and gnawlng ana began
10 purr, making sound like hu2z-saW wien Ii
/ strikes a knot, and to wag his tail about on inc
shingles with a noise which rcsemblcd distant
thunder II the fire rot a little low, he would
slap his tail on the roof angrily three or four
times with such force that it shook the house.
As it grew light the widow crcpt ont of the door
and again surveyed the situation. The Jaguar was
sitting up on his launches contencdly purrlnS
and WARMING his forcpaws over the
top of the chimney. She did not
look long, fearing that he would see her, but
went back, and the jaguar pounding the roof
with his tail for more fire, she piled on a dozen
more sticks of wood. She thought that the
least would certainly leave at sunrise, but it did
not 1t merely lcapcd down and got one of her
PIGS and returned to the roof where it dcvoured
the pig and beat for fire. This kept up
for four days, twO pigs being sacrificed each
day and an immense amount of iirewOod. some
times the jaguar would sleep for an hour or so,
but would always wake up cold and begin pound
ing on the roof. On the morning of the fifth
day the widow LcatherS decided that something
must he done 1t was growing monotonOUs. Such
thing would grow monOtonous even here in
Ncw-York We should hate to have laguar on
the roof Of The Tribune Dui~ng, gnawlng at
the tower and puvcrizing the slate shingles with
his tail TO inform the JanliOr That ms icct were
cold. At . o'clock on the fifth day Mrs. LcatherS
went into the loft with thrcc-nch auger Select
ing n time when the jaguar was purrng ms
loIidcst she bored u hole in the roof about q
foot and half behind where size calculated he
sat Her Judgment was good, and when she
looked up through the hole she could 500 his
tail waggns backward and forward across II.
Reaching out with one hand she seized his tan
and drew about two feet of it down through the
hole Before the b'fst knew what was gong
on She had tied a knot IN the tan. so mat IL
could not he withdrawn. Then, while the laGuar
writhcd his body about and uttered The most
terrible cries ever heard in Northwestern Arkansas,
She walked three miles through the woods 10
Ben IIawlns's place, and got him TO come over
and shoot the Animal, after which She uh'leu
the knot in lis tail and allowed 1t to roll 10 inc
ground It. weighed so pounds.
The reader will observe that the circumstances
surrounding the killing of the Widow Leathcrss
laguar are all novel. The ease is also important
from the fact that il proves that Il woman does
not necessarily need 10 be young To help on Inc
determination of this beast. True, young
woman like Pauline Collier. or Maudc lanes, OF
Susan lIandicld. or Margaret RcspasN' would 10
doubt, have twisted oil the ANIMALS tall' ana
then gone ont and fractured his skull with w.
but. while this would have given the aiiaIr moro
cclat. II would not have increased the @Suar
mortality any. which, after all. seems to be the
great thing desired.