The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-10-06
A CATAMOUNT FIGHT.
The Mountain Lion Is a Very Vicious
Antagonist.


ciose jail for h"iiVer no Irled TO Car
ry Of a Cub-The Man, With Els Back
Against a Rock, Did Battle With at I,east
"There are no more vicious fighters in
the whole animal kingdom thar the
mountain lions of the northwest ), seid
Major Jackson Of Snokane s.rbav co,,,-
bine the cunning and agility of the cat
tribe with the strength of the lion and
the ferocity of fine tiger
II have never been muoh If huntar
but a few wears ago 7 had an advantn,.e
with maintain lions ont in Wasbin,,to,,
that gave me enough Of hrntino hi,r eso,,,a
for ali time had oant,,red ser,a ne 1 srr.r
deer elk and foxel and startad 's,,,ai3
menagerie on NV ranch. '
Lone dav was ont in The b;l,s ,oo,;ns
at Some timber ami near ,oa,,+h - Q
small cave in tbe rocts r fo,,,,d ,,o,,,,s,
lion crawling about on tho oronnd and
xybinino lilo a L;++aY, IA - 60,
xyeels old and dooidoa - 49, - ho,,,o
and add II to NV men yeris T i,,doed
that there woo nest of ~ uo,,,,o ani-
mails soma1pbare a,,onc +be roclTs ond that
this one had va,,tured ont .nd oot lost
while the old ones were AWAY
at had M trouble in catcbino r. and
he was foo vonno To show figbt Rut as
coon as fol, a Pr, II, INV ar,,,s r. cot nm
q dreadful screecbino crv. a sort of cross
between the wall Of frightened babv
and tho barlr Of n smalldoo Fearing that
tho cries would bring the old lions home
in a hurry loaf no time in eating awav
from +he snot where found NV cantive
took off NV coat and vrannin9 IN tbe
cuh tried to stop it's cries INIT If was no
nse II only made more noise
aBefore had gone 100 wards I heard
the matchmaking shrek of full grown
lion close behind me. and knew thnt the
mother Of the cub was on NV trail. Her
crv must have been n call for helm. INFO
seconds it was answered as many times
and tbe cries came from all directions
IT was surrounded nv mountain lions
and knew that the crv of tbe cub would
rouse them TO furv hated tn lose the
exnected addition To NV mon garia bot T
drnrned that 1ion c1,b ss IL IL Rod laa,, a
ho+ hrol Tnstaad - ,,,,,r,i,e. =,
tbongbt If would the c,1b Law down ricrbt
nndeT NV foot and ,,,ade moro ,oisa t6a,,
ever
.sTbo, e+ar+ad ~ 49,, - ,a+ arr,r
fron, Il hut s,,avi,,rr of +ba branoIas 6f
+1ro +rees j., fro,t If s,,o .,,d q chorus ~
f;erca sbriel-s cIose hebind 1yarned mo tbat
80 lac a. 1oar+ daa,, f,,li ,.ro,,,,,
,,onnta;n lions i,7dered Y-ere closir, i,
aro,,nd me- and tbev yyeTe tbere for b1,si.
rocs
ttcon,e I I, va,,7s abead Of ,zhera r stood
erro1,,d TX feot or mono Tfn,adaaa dasb-
for that, rocI- and reached it iust stimc
Raol-i,,s, mr., as,a;,,s Ct II faced half q scora
If f,,ll gra,vr NIions and thev we've as VI.
cions . ioolino LOT as aver saw - had
boned tbat tbev would ston when tbey
found that the cuh was safe Int tbey
5idn,t T had INV yyincbaster With mo
and the chamber was f,,lI of cartridges
.swba,, 7 food nv, r,,,rs,,ars co1,,., If
them, ,rera IN the oround Ieaninp along
like cats ut NAV while others were in the
trees snringing from branch TO branch
with nrodi9ious iumps They we're still
giving vent to their cries which were
enouoh to raise n mans hair when heard
at a distance All the time they were
coming closer and two Of those on the
ground were creeping along ready to
snring AFT NV throat as soon as they were
near enough.
1.-THE apparent hopelessness of nv situa-
tion seemed to steady nv nerves. and. tax
ing careful aim at the nearest lion, I fred.
With q new kind of screech the brute
leaped five feet into the air and fell back
dead. But there was another one on the
ground almost as near as the first and
still advancing.
"A second shot finished that one. and
then I glanced aft those in the trees. | saw
two glarino down at me. with their ewes
cleaning like balls of fire. Both were
cro1obine for a spring. / shot the nearest
one. and again nv bullet reached a vital
snot. 5p sae
.sRaforeI could throw outs the en,rtv
shell I heard a terrific Shrek. dvino away
| 10 a hoarse oro1vl. right over head. and
| then 7 knew that one of the animals was
| on the roclr above me
.sFor an instant forgot the one in the
free and inmned AWAY from tho rock Az
| the same instant both lions iumped for
me one from the free and one from the