Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-08-23
ovERJumPEp BY = LION.
The Maa saved MA Life and the Beast
Missed n Neal

OVERTURNED BY = LION
The Mas saved Hts Life and the Beast
Missed Meal
"As to grizzly bears said Mon
tana man the other evening, as he
lifted his feet a peg higher and took
long pull at his cigar, las to grizzly
bears. we've got plenty of EN- left in
our country. but unless you are look
ing for them You might travel the
trails and byways for five years and
not get sight of old Ephrai1n As big
and savage as they are they acid man
kind when it's possible I've heard
EN- moTing of in the Tickets many a
time as rode along wild trail but in
fifteen years l have had fair sight of
only one, and he was anxious to get
away
How about the mountain lion?~
''Ah, you've struck quite another
Seld now" he replied. THE mountain
lion of the far west is not lion at all,
as you probably know, but IS the beast
known in the east as the panther. 1
think, however, the western panther is
larger and fercer. At any rate, all
things considered, I'd prefer to face
grizzly
Ever had any experience"
Yes, Just one, and Il ma lees nv hair
stand on end to think of it I'm half
owner of n good, big herd of steers, but
1 wouldn't go through that experience
again for thousand of the latest,
juiciest steers ever rounded up
in the cattle country. You want
to hear about it, but it's no use to get
out your book and Sencil. NV expert
ence was very brief, and there are no
names and dates to put down Look
on the map some day and find Flad
Head lake. Between it and the Rocky
mountains is beautiful valley thirty
miles wide I've wintered cattle in
there and had them come out as fat as
butter IN the spring"
Yes go on
''One spring, eight or ten years ago,
was driving in some >strays' from the
foothills When cattle begin to she'd
their coats they like to get into timber
and rub themselves About 10 o'clock
in the forenoon I was riding along an
Indian trail on the slope of hill. 1t
was in the timber. with lots of brush
covering the ground. I saw cattle
tracks on the trail and had no thought
of anything else. My mustang was on
the walk and l, was taking it easy in
the saddle, when 1 was suddenly
jumped out of my boots. Something
screamed in my ear, and ont of the
corner of my eye l saw something in
the air No doubt 1 ducked, but 1t was
instinct. In the same breath there was
a great crash in the top of a bush to
my right and below me, and just as nv
mustang started On a wild run made
out what the object was"
"A mountain lion. sir9"
Yes, and a whopping big one. and
the snarls and grovvls and screams he
uttered lifted me in my stirrups- He
landed in that bush on his back. with
his legs sticking up like posts. but 1
don't reckon ii took him over five
seconds to turn right side up. He may
have started to follow me. though he
was more apt to stink away, but the
mustang would have given him hard
race He was wild with fright, and the
way he did smoke along that trail and
get down into the valley would have
made a jacl. rabbit wonder how the
wings were fastened on. As matter
of fact he wasn't going fast enough for
me-"
1.-The lion had jumped for you?"
He had, my boy. 1 went ups and
figured it out afterward. The beast
had crouched on a big rock eighteen
feet above me and about twenty-four
Ge6I from the IrdlI- just now CtOSe ne
came to me l can't say, but l am Ger
tain that he brushed my hat as he
passed over. The duck probably saved
my life. If he had struck me with the
momentum of such a spring I'd have
been carried out of the saddle into the
bushes The cuss was lying low for
beef or deer. but when came along he
thought he had a better thing. As he
missed me he turned over in the air,
and as l told You he landed wrong side
up. / don't know how mountain lions
feel about such things. but I've always
had the idea that this fellow went off
kicking himself over the way he got
left He had overjumped good dinner
and couldn't blame anybody bat him
self. Detroit Free Press