The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-20
WITH A TwrNTY-Two CALDER.
A Militia omcer Tells n story of n
Mite Overcoming IA Lion.
From the washington Star.

A Militia officer Tells story of a
Mite Overcoming IA Lion.
From the Washington Star
Some one in the group of militamen had
been showing a target perforated at mile
by bullet so small as almost to appear
ridiculous.
and yet" said a veteran who had seen
service Il know an instance of a lion
being killed with one of these small cat
rifles shooting B cartridge. About all
they are good for, you know, Is to shoot
sparrows with"
"A very commendable use, If they are
those nasty English sparrows," ventured
some one, whose sentiment was unani-
mously applauded.
True enough" continued the narrator.
"But to the lion part Of my story. A
dozen or more years ago I had gang of
men at work blasting rock in a railroad
cut to shorten a line We were near
town, and 10 this town came a circus with
wild animals, including a Lon, which was
notorious for his ugly tempor and his size
OF course, parade was part of the show
and l had given my men two hours or so
off to go and see 1t. They were accompa-
MED by my 4-year-old boy, who eft his
gun, with one of those cat rifles l have
mentioned, with me. l had my Office in
a shack near the cut, and here ! was busy
on an engineering problem after the camp
was deserted by my force.
LAS l sat in the shack, with its sides
open, hard at work, about an hour after
the crowd had gone was disturbed by
the sudden yelp of a small dog we had
with US, followed Immediately by a growl
that sounded ike thunder. l looked up
and, to my surprise and fear, l saw, not
fifty yards away, great yellow beast,
with half the dog in his mouth. L thought
nj Of ba 40 urqu
sure that he had escaped In some way,
and that nobody knew where he was ex-
cept myself, and that l was going to have
a scrap with him. unless 1 could escape
| This | tried to do, but the lion saw me, and
at once came my way at first with bounds
and then creeping as a cat doth. The
thing now for me to do was to defend my
self, but there was absolutely nothing
could use except my boys rifle, and that
was so small 1t made me laugh to think
of training IL on a lion. However, il was
all had. and took it up and waited. with
a half hope that 1 might land the small
bullet In his eye and disable him for a few
minutes anyhow.
SLOWLY he came toward me, and .as he
crept nearer l noticed that he had got a
dynamite cartridge fastened to his foot by
q snap we were using on some of them in
some experiment we were making. Some
careless workman had left the cartridge,
ana TINS snap ldu eNiuenlly caught to the
hair on the beasts foot, and he was drag
glng II along with him. AS / noticed this
] remembered that one entire end of ii
was like big percussion cap, and won
dered If l couldn't shoot my little bullet
and hit that part of the cartridge. 1t was
my only chance, and one in a million, and,
dropping behind a heavy chest in the
shack, I sighted for the cartridge and
waited for the hon to come close enough
to better my chances, and at the same
time not get too close, in case l hit the
cartridge.
"Well, he kept coming until he wasn't
fifty feet away, and then / let her go She
snapped like popping an inflated rose leaf
on the back of fair ladys hand but in
an instant | went over backward, there
was a tremendous explosion, and / didn't
know any more till q crowd of people
woke me up and asked what the matter
was. They said the lion had escaped,
and while looking for 1t they had heard
the explosion and had run over to sec
what il was. Fifteen minutes later had
gathered myself together sufficiently to
tell them what had happened, and when
one of the circus men found a bunch Of
hair like a whitewash brush on top of
my shack he identified it as the end of the
lions tail. That's about all there was left
of him, too, but don't want to shoot any
more lions with cat rifles, I'm telling
YOU"