The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-18
LION HUNTING.
Broken Guns That same Into Play In an
Imergencv.

From the Los Angeles Times.
Many stories about hunting the Cali
fornia lion have been published, but the
following vouched for by a correspondent.
beats the record, so far as the amount of
danger involved in the sport is concern
ed, for in this case the hunter had to
fear his weapon quite as much as his
game. The hero of this adventure is b.
f. Kelso of Juniper Flat. Juniper Flat
is way down in Riverside county in a
nest of tangled, brush covered hills be-
tween Lake View and San Jacinto. KEEL
so is a big, burly, bearded man, with a
good humored smile and an honest face
He makes his living by digging manzan-
tia and crossword, which he hauls TO
Riverside and sells for s. a cord. One
day last week he had his load all ready
to start on his weary drive across the
plains, when the family heard the dogs
bark up on the hills back of the house.
Keso went for his gun.
Now this gun of Kelso's is a fearful
and wonderful weapon. 1t had once been
a single-barreled shot gun, but 1t had the
misfortune, some time in the misty past,
to have the whole stock smashed Off.
The hammer was left, II is true, but II
wouldn't stand cooked under any circlm-
stances, and everything abaft the ham
mer was gone. Some of my brave read
ers who are not afraid to pull a trigger
may thinkit an undesirable job TO hold up
the hammer of Kelso's gun with the
thumb. sti the whole thing at a safe
distance from the face, shut one eye,
take aim. make ready, and let the ham,
mer slip-bang. Not so with Kelso. how
ever. He took his fragmentary relic and
strobe away through the brush to see
what the dogs were raising the row about
He has three dogs. One is a young long
legged hound, another is a middle-slzed
dog, and the third is a little yelping
fyste. They sing tenor. alto and treble,
and the way they were making the rocks
ring was a caution.
The rocks on top of this hill are huge
cubes and rectangular blocks as big as
houses fresh flung from the hand of God.
The dogs were barking about the crew
ices of one of these. Kelso climbed la
boriously TO the top of it, so as to look
down and find the wild cat or whatever
II might be-when. as he scaled the crest
a giant mountain lion made a rush past
him, close enough TO touch, and stood
glazing down savagely at the yelling
dogs, switching his tail with an uneasy, |
nervous energy. The lion made a spring !
down among the dogs. struck them off |
to the right and left and went in great !
leaps down the steep mountain side that
slopes toward San Jacinto. The dogs nur- |
sued and after them flew the excited KEEL i
so. Down, down they went a mile or /
more through brush. over rocks that 1
would have cost the life of any one but i
1 mountaineer
At last the big cat. harassed and con- |
used by the following dogs. took refuge I
n his lair. cave among the rocks some i
distance above the Pico springs. and
when the man arrived the dogs were
iercely barking into the mouth Of the
tavern and the lion was at bay. Kelso
pushed in among the dogs in the thick of
he fray. Suddenly the middle dog
hot like an arrow at the lion and seized
him by the throat. At a word from the
master the hound rushed in and seized
he great cat by the jaw and the fyste
ollowed suit by worrying his prey in the
tanks. The scene was indescribable. Fur
md blood, yelis, growls. bowls, snarls.
cries and shrieks filled the
choing cavern. Kelso held up the ham,
ner OF his ancient shooting iron and
'ointed the muzzle in toward the fearful
lin. He crept in till he was actually
tanding on the lions tail. As the great
'rute raised his head above the strug-
ling dogs the hammer was released. For
wonder the cartridge exploded and the
Whole top OF the lions head was blown
o smirhereens.