Omaha daily bee., 1897-02-06
III r;uinr Rattle with n Mountain Lion
m n uujIrcnl Trestle.

Tn iIIing Battle with n Mountain Lion
on u Railroad Trestie.
To do battle with a huge mountain lion'
seven feet in length and 253 pounds IN
weight. on a trestle at night, is the thrilling
experience that has just befallen Edward u
Denew. an engineer on the Cascade division
of the Great Northern railroad. The herce
beast leaped at the engine and narrowly es'
caped crashing through the window OF the
cab. Altogether the episode was one OF
the most exciting that a railroad man mas
ever experienced. r,uo,
nreyai!ed upon Engineer Depew to write an
account of his adventure, believing that ad-
ditlonal interest would be lent by the iact
of the story coming from his own pen.
Mr.. Depew's statement Is as follows'
was the engineer in charge OF engine NO
219 of the Great Northern, when was Ut
tackled by a monster cougar o. houhtaln
lion, You can have little idea or the horror
of the experience. me gitstehins rans
beasts eyes. as it lay crouched on the raiiS
ali nrepared to make its powerful spring.
NOS awful 10 behold. ] frankly confess ina
I was so frightened that my halr seemed u
stand on end. / would have shouted ! an
sure II I had not been too terrlneu 10 40 50
At the time of the adventure ! was pulllnt
| the overland passenger train going east, an
ne we were a few minutes late, we were Try
ing to make up a little time. AFTER we mac
left Lowell, and almost TWO miles east u
there about half way across a long tlestle
INV fireman, George Lawrence, jumped cow
off his seat box and came quickly 10 my SUI
of the engine. / noticed a startled look Vi
bis face. and turning quickly, asked VIVA
was the matter. The intensity OF the sltua
lion can he understood only by a man WIN
has travelled on an engine dashlns at d nis,
rate Of speed through the darkness, wiz
only confidence to keep his mihd at eass' Z,
knew that something was wrong anu !
naoms as n in that one short minute a mllllol
tbouphts flashed through my mind. Agar
7 osled Iawrence what was the matter, pu
ha did NOT sneak. His eyes seemed hxeu
Ali he could do was to glare through III
window OF the cab ana point aheau' uou
a cold peTspiratlon broke out on my prov
7 Looked ahead and saw, through the dark
ness, some black-looking object on the tract
Nv first thought was OF some opslrucllon y
he track. For a second the thought c
jumping flashed through my nina Out
banished 1t. 80,
This takes quite a while to tell. put ;,
could only have been a few seconds, at IN
most, in which 1t all happened. =,
AS soon as / saw the obstruction on "
track | felt thai a possible accident was :
hand. Nothing could be done. We were !, g
close to the danger and the fright had "a
same effect on me that 1t had on Lawrence
IL took away my power OF speeen' ~
stinctively | crawled out OF the CAP on 10 u
The train dashed on. and an instant ate
I had dlscerned the form saw the monster
eyes flashing through the darkness gre
o1d yellow by turns. Lawrence was still
, the cab, speechless. with fixed eyes, an
anger outstretched toward the animal. II
expression was frightful TO look upon. IT
5 whole scene was so horrifying that II w
photographed on my brain so clearly as
+ make me able TO describe every detail tn
/ occurred in those few short seconds.
AS the tiain approached the lion con
q see II prepare to spring. and finally, when u
leap was made, the situation was
/. The headlight OF the engine threw It's re-
[ on the crouching animal. aud when
/ plunged into the food OF light II looked