Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-25
THE COLONEL'S GRAY EAGLE
The Doubt That Hangs Over a Trophy at
the Press Club.
An Adventure While Hunting Tur-
keys Mt WOOdmOnt-Two YER
siOns of the Story.

There is a gray eagle at the Press Club
measuring seven feet from tip to tip.
There Is a difference between the story
told by the colonel and that told by his
companion. but the eagle is at the Press
Club. in evidence. and one leg and its head
are severed from the body.
The party were shooting at Woodmont
last week. They were after turkeys. The
colonel objected that the custom in this
region of batting turkeys with tempting
morsels and then lying carefully concealed
behind blinds to await the birds coming
to be shot, was nothing but the shameful
practice of pot hunters; only the theatri-
cal sports of dudes and royalty, and that
no true sportsman would indulge in 1t.
The right way to hunt turkeys. he said.
In other game. was to give them show
for their lives. The hunter should take
equal chances with the bird. He. there
fore. went out to revolutioniAe the method
of shooting at Woodmont and to champion
the cause of the abused and oppressed wild
turkey. He said before he started that the
turkeys were as tame as chickens. and were
tied in the woods to be shot at by amateur
sportsmen.
The Conflict with the Eagle.
There was no witness to what happened
to him in the woods. All that is known is
what he has told himself and the fact that
the report Of his gun was heard twice. The
story he tells is that he saw a gray eagle,
the same which he deposited on the floor
of the club house as trophy. and that the
eagle had in his claws a big fat wild COB
bier, with which he was flying away. The
colonel said he rushed to the rescue of the
w had ia for he
benefit of sportsmen as to be unable to de-
fend itself. And this is how 1t happened
that one OF the eagles claws and its head
We're cut off. The eagle and the colonel
fought over the possession of the turkey,
the colonel seeking to nberate 1t and the
eagle contending for It's prey. The colonel
said that the eagle held the turkey i'll one
claw and fought him with the other. tear
ing his clothes and striking at his face.
Finally, the wild bird of the mountain
fixed his talons into the collar of the colo
ners coat, and 1t seemed for a moment that
instead of the turkeys being liberated the
eagle would carry of both the turkey and
the colonel. Then the colonel thought of
the long. sharp knife he had in his pocket.
With great presence of mind he opened the
blade with his teeth, and by a mighty stroke
The colonel thought then that the battle
was over. but not so. The eagle, still cling
ing to the turkey with the remaining talon.
settled back on high stump near by and
as the colonel advanced still noDly TO the
rescue of the turkey. picked at his face and
pounded him with his wings. Finally. the
eagle seized the top lock of the colonel's
hair In his beak. and again made If to
take flight. Then the colonefs knife came
into play once more and the eagles head
was severed from its body. Thus ii hap
pens says the colonel, that the bird is so
MANNED. For the turkey? Well. the colo
mel let him go.
As Told by the Major.
. tor talIp thA Sfn lur, ha
1t is identically as the colonel himself told
throughout and the colonel was the victim,
the eagle not figuring in it at all. The ma
jor like true sportsman, who adjusts him.
self to his environments, sat shivering in
the blind for six hours and in the ordinary
routine way Of Sportsman shot a fat hen
turkey. which he brought home and which
will be eaten for Christmas. During his
concealmenI in the blind he says that he
heard the report of tine coionefs gun twice
in quick succession and after that all was
still. When the two met at the club house
for breakfast, as che major tells 1t. the
colonel was sorcly depressed and intimated
that IL he had brought home no game, he,
at all events, new a funny story, which he
was going 70 tell no one as long as he lived.
After that, as the major says, the colonel
fell asleep and in his dreams told the fol-
lowing story:
Il went into the blind like any other pot
hunter before sunrise. 1t was awful cold.
A bit of tempting bait had been placed at
convenient range from the blind, but
the turkeys didn't come to eat it. 1t was
awful cold. and after awhile began to get
drowsy. l was sure nay feet were frozen
and suspected that l was freezing to death.
but l didn't care. l had been there two
hours and those blamed trained turkeys
had not yet come up to their contract. ]
knew they were trained and should have
been by there an hour before to take their
part in this theatrical sport, but they didn't
come. Finally / began to yawn and l lay
down, put the gun on the ground, wrapped
myself in my overcoat. Soon slept. / don't
mails of the forest came cropping by. l
saw squirrels and rabbits, and partridges
and pheasants, and turkeys. and deer, and
bear going by l thought one deer jumped
over my head; then / was a little aroused
and knew 1t was all a dream. Still there
was a great noise around me, a scratching
Of leaves and a breaking of branches and
clucking and gobbling. until l commenced
to think that after all l had not been
dreaming. / threw the overcoat off my face
and sat up. There was a whole drove of
wild turkeys scratching about me, half
burying me with leaves and a great gobbler
standing up surveying me critically. When
I reached for my gun they scampered off.
even do that They flew up In the air,
circled around and came back to within
twenty yards of me, and / shot at the COB
bier on the wing, and he didn't even pay
any attention to me. but the whole drove
shuffied of through the woods. Then came
home
When the colonel was told that he had
related this story in his sleep, he denied ii
emphaticaliy. and pointed to the eagle as
evidence that his first story was true.
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.