The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-06-15
THE MOUNTAIN LION.
TIMES WHEN THIS USUALLY TIMlD
BEAST WILL ATTACK A MAN.
Two Instances Related by an Old Hunter
and Prospector-Ferocity Aroused by
rungeT--A tragedy In the Foothills of
tn. sierra Neyadas.

man and rarely will attack him even when
wounded, F" said A. II. Davis, formerly u
prospector and hunter ON the Pacific slope.
| 81 have brought one down from tree
with bullet, and on striking the ground.
| instead of showing fight, the creature tried
| 10 crawl away To escape Owing to the
| acuteness of its senses the mountain lion
| is usually forcwarned of the approach of
| man i'm time 10 take itself out of the way
! unseen, and when confronted with hui
mauity in the wilds il often displays sin.
| gular confidence and gentleness. But there
| are two conditions which completely
change the mountain lions ordinary dis
position toward man and render this ami
NAL his inyetcrate and dangerous foe.
| The one is the approach Of man toward
| female lion with cubs; the other is when
the lion Is half furnished and fierce with
| hunger. At such times the lion S fear and
| tolerance of mankind alike vanish, and IL
| does not hesitate To attack him, even when
| the odds seem greatly against its success.
| Then its innate ferocity, strength and
| agility, backed by its terrible equipment
! of teeth and claws, make it Il truly formi-
| dablc enemy.
"In 90 years hunting and prospecting
along the Sierra Nevada and Cascade
ranges 4 udNt ItISpllttlly hIuNn VI III
stances in which the mountain lion at
tackled man without provocation, and in
| each of these instances it appeared to have
done SO because of hunger. The first was
many years ago i'm Oregon. Two men
were driving herd Of hogs from the in
terror toward the coast when, while pass
ing through u wild canyon, a hugo noun
tain lion sprang from tree upon the
shoulders Of the foremost man and tried
TO tear his throat 1t being cold weather
the man had AN oVCrCOat of California
oVeralls stuff, as strong almost as canvas,
with the wide collar turned mp about his
cars, and this saved his neck from the
lions teeth. The other man had no fire.
arms, but he ran TO his companions aid
with the long black snake whip used i'm
herding A blow from the long lash of
such u whip in the hands of u man who
can use 1t cuts through hair and skin like
IL knife and with his black snake he whip
ped the lion till it dropped from the mans
shoulders and retreated. The drovers took
their herd along to the next town, where
they told their story, and party of hunt
ers went out next day and found and
killed the lion, which measured 10 feet
from nose to tail. This is "A foot longer
than any mountain lion / have ever seen,
but the statement as to its length was
made to me on excellent authority, and
do not doubt its truth.
1.-The worst instance knew of a noun
tain lions attacking "a man resulted in
tragedy. A party of five of us were i'm the
Sierra Nevadas in November hunting
The peaks were already white with snow,
and every snowfall drove the deer farther
down into the valleys which We're our
hunting grounds. Deer were scarce that
year, and for that reason all the carnivo-
rous animals that prey on them were I'M
usually hold and hungry and the ranch
men already were complaining of losses of
stock through bears and wolves. There
came morning with "a light snow, fallen
the night before, just deep enough to track
a deer in well, and three of us set out
among the foothills in the morning. One
of our three was Il young fellow named
Tillman, not long out of college.
I'm the course Of the day we got sepa-
rated. About the middle of the afternoon
my partner, Ferguson, and came togeth-
CT, but Iillman did not turn up. Fearing
he might have got lost, we went in search
of him. We came at last upon his tracks,
and following them up, we came, just at
dusk, upon Iillman lying lifelcss i'm the
snow, his throat torn and his clothes part
~ stripped from his body. We at first
thought it was the work of a bear, but the
tracks in the snow showed il to have been
mountain lion which had leaped upon
him from a thcket of mountain cedar
The fact that Tilman's rifle had not been
discharged showed that the lion had been
the aggressor. After killing this young
man and tapping his blood the lion had
dragged some Lrushwood over him and
gone away. 1t was II startling sight to
come suddenly ON, and after we had laid
poor Til!man's body out in decent shape
Ferguson and stood looking at each 9th
err undecided what we'd better do next
=" It's five good miles to camp and no
trail. We never can carry him there TO-
night, Ferguson said at last. III stay
here and watch the body if you'll go to
camp tonight and fetch the rest of the bows
out first thing in the morning.
$50 gave Ferguson what grub was i'm
my haversack and matches and the AK
and started for camp, leaving him cutting
wood for fire. l got to camp all right
before midnight, and told the boys what
had happened, and next morning at earli-
est daylight we were OH the move for the
scene of the tragedy. When we got there,
Ferguson was sitting by the fire, with Till
man lying there stark and stiff on the
After we had talked bit Ferguson point
ed out to us an opening in the bushes go
yards away.
"'There's the murderer he said. 1t
was mountain lion lying dead with a
bullet hole in its forehead. 1t was n big |
and terrible looking brute, gauntand lean,
as If it had been near starvation before the |
bullet knocked il over.
Il was looking for him TO come, said |
Ferguson. He came before midnight |
providing about the camp. The fire kept |
him back for awhile, but he kept coming |
nearer until at last | got Il fair chance to |
aim by his eyes. One shot settled him. IL |
it hadn't
"Well, it did not need be said what |
might have happened If the shot had mere |
ly wounded the lion, for the brute was |
fierce with hunger and already had tasted |
human blood We made bier from sap |
lings and got poor Tillman's body to camp |
and then out of the mountains, and thus |
our hunting trip disastrously ended - |
New York sun.