The San Francisco call., 1896-05-31
SUSPENDED OVER
A PANTHER'S DEN.
Jim TaylOr's Thrilling Ad-
ventures in a
Cavern.
He Chung TO a Swinging Vine
for Many Long Weary
Hours,
While a Pack of Howling Wild
Beasts Were Waiting for
Him to Fall.

The country along the eastern side OF
the Sierra Nevada, about forty miles be-
low Owens Lake, is about the widest and
most desolate in all California. Jim
Taylor lives there and is known to
everybody for miles. He paid a visit to
the town of Keeer short time ago and
sad he had just passed through most
| exciting adventure.
According to Jim's story, he was pros
pecting among the foothills not far from
Walkers Pass. One evening about two
weeks ago his burro kicked over the water
barrel and spilled the contents. Jim
started for spring three miles away.
The spring lay near the head OF wild
and rocky canyon and Jim had almost
reached the spot, when he saw through
the darkness the form of some enormous
animal. Jim concluded not to run any
risks and crawled behind rock to give it
chance to pass.
AS the animal came nearer and nearer it
shifted the air loudly and Jim crawled far
ther and farther back, never attempting to
ascertain where he was going, until he felt
himself slipping down hill.
The incline was not very steep. Just
enough so to prevent his getting a foot
hold. In an instant Jim was in total dark
ness and realized that he had slipped
into cave the bottom of which might be
at the center of the earth. He continued
downward for several seconds and the in
cline kept getting sleeper and sleeper.
Faster and faster he went, expecting each
moment TO drop off into an abyss, when
suddenly his foot bumped against pro-
lection and in moment his hand caught
substance like the trunk of sapling.
Jim hung on, hoping it would hold.
But no, it slipped out from among the
rocks and the descent was continued.
Down about ten feet, and to Jim's surprise
and horror he swung off into inky space.
lie knew then that the supposed sapling
was vine of some kind, one end OF which
was fast to the roof of the cavern.
| How far it was to the bottom, top or
sides was something past Jim's finding
| out.
For few moments Jim thought of
dropping off, and then he realized that
| there was a sort of hook on the end of the
vine in which he could stand and possi-
| bly, manage to hold on. 1t was no
| trouble to get into the hook and he really
| felt comfortable.
| After standing in this position Jim re-
membered that he had box of prairie
matches in his pocket and also found that
his revolver and knife were still in his
| cartridge belt. Jim concluded to strike
light and try to find out where he was.
| The flash had hardly pierced the dark
ness before the close air of the cavern was
| filled with the howls of wild beasts. The
match burned several seconds, and looking
down Jim saw hardly ten feet beneath
him writhing mass of panthers. They
snarled and snapped and jumped at him,
| but could not come nearer than two feet of
the end of the vine.
The match burned out and Jim lighted
another and another. He tried to count
| the panthers and ascertain what his
chances would be of killing them
They moved about with the rapid
ity of lightning, jumping over one
| another and bowling continually. The
vine by this time had stopped swing
ing, and Jim kept as still as possible lest
| it break and drop him into the den of wild
beasts. When he stopped lighting matches
the panthers became more quiet, but occa-
sional howls told that they were still
beneath him.
For few seconds there was absolute
silence and then Jim detected a sni fling
| far above him. Beneath him the panthers
commenced nervous, pacing movement,
but uttered no sound. Jim could hear the
twitching of their tails and the smacking
of their jaws and the shifting sound from
above became louder and louder.
OF sudden there was rafting of stones
and the humping of a huge soft body,
and Jim felt sure that grizzly bear had
fallen into the panthers' den. He struck
match and pandemonium reigned be-
meath him. He saw the panthers rush for
the bear only to be crushed by it's heavy
paws, In a short time it was master
of the situation surrounded by the whole
pack OF panthers, bleeding, dying, dead.
| Jim suddenly felt better and hoped that
the bear would satisfy its hunger and de-
part, if it could. But the grizzly did not
| want panther meat-it wanted man-and
sat among its victims waiting for Jim to
drop. jim, however, had no such inten-
ton. He hung on until daylight came
through the cavern opening and COM
menced to shoot at the bear.
| He emptied the five chambers of his re-
! volver into the bear before it rolled over.
The rest is soon told. Jim reached the
| outside world by cutting series of ste ps
to the opening. He then went back and
| cut big piece of bear meat that he cooked
for his breakfast. His next job was to
skin the dead animals. He then maze his
way back to camp feeling that he was
about $100 ahead.
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