Smyrna times., 1898-03-23
LASS0ING A PANTHER
HOW A HUNTING PARTY IN TEXAS
FOUND A QUEER PET.

Of sentiment if they should meet "a
panther face to face in some lonely can
yon. The magnificent animal now
chained in front of our wagons is called
by some a Mexican or mountain lion
and by others panther. She is Of a
dull yellOwlsh color and will weigh
more than four or five ordinary lecp-
ards She measures just II feet from
the tip Of her nose to the end of her long
tail.
Although she has been in captivity
only few days she is astonishingly doc
lie so long as she can see her two cubs
that are chained under the wagons The
moment they set up whine she springs
to her feet, all her hair turns the wrong
way, and while her eyes look like glow
ing Goals of fire she gnashes her sharp
white fangs and tries the strength of
her chain. If it were not strong enough
to hold an OK, l should prefer that there
were two or three counties between us
just at that particular moment. The
cubs are already as gentle as lambs and
as playful as kittens, and nothing
pleases them better than to crawl under
our blankets at night and cuddle up
close to us to escape the chilly nOrthers.
We captured her in the mountains of
the Deall river in western Texas, and
doubt if more daring feat was ever
accomplished by crowd of hunters
Game Of all kinds is very abundant in
this region, and the boys had tired Of
shooting deer, antelopes and turkeys.
Several big wolves and two or three
panthers had been slaughtered, and it
was evident from the numerous tracks
about the water holes that there were
plenty more Of them i'll the mountains.
One evening the hounds struck hot
trail and ran a big panther into cave
on the side Of mountain.
That night while discussing the ad-
ventures incident to the days hunt two
daring young men, Petmaker and Black,
declared that they intended to hang a
moose over the mouth of the animals
den on the next day and capture her
alive. Both are Texas reared boys and
experienced hunters. The proposition
met with unanimous approval, and all
volunteered to assist in tho desperate
undertaking. The next day as we rode
out of camp some of the boys grew
bolder, and two of them, who were ex-
pert vaquerOs, declared that they in
tended to rope the beast if they could
get close enough to her. These two
young Petmaker Of Menard county and
George Black of Austin-rode toward
the den, and the other members of the
party and negro Jim, who had charge
of the hounds, started to beat up the
valley.
We had gone but short distance be-
fore the dogs struck hot trail and ran
with yelps which indicated that they
were close to the animal.
Petmaker and Black heard them
coming and refined in their ponies on
the edge of little opening and unslung
their rawhide ropes from the horns of
their saddles The big animal sprang
out of the brush and stopped within 20
feet of Petmaker. The cowboys lariat
flashed through the air and landed right
around the wild animals neck.
The instant it touched her she
screamed like terror stricken woman
and, leaping high in the air and gnashing
her teeth, began to decrease the space
between her and the daredevil at the
other end of the rope. Black, who was
too far away to cooperate with his
comrade at first, was now on the field,
and with lucky precision he hurled a
second moose over the animals head.
Both wheeled their ponies, and the
trained animals made leap in opposite
directions. The ropes were drawn taut,
and the big monster was chOked to the
| earth.
While she was rolling ON the grass
and clawing at the moose another expert
with the rope galloped and caught one
of her hind feet. They could now easily
hold her at a safe distance from each
other, and after much excitement and
many rather dangerous stratagems they
succeeded in dragging her to good
camping place not far away. Since at
that stage of her captivity we could not
move her to the wagons, we moved the
wagons to her, and, putting a stout
chain around her neck, we made her
fast to a tree
Some of the hounds were set baying
at the cave, and one of the boys and the
negro Jim went over there to call them
off. An old dog ran into the den and
came out yelping with young jaguar
about the size of a house cat hanging
to his hide. They captured the cub, and
then the negro crawled into the den
and brought out another-a thing that
I would not have done for a deed to
! Texas.
The cubs soon made friends with us
and were ready to eat from our hands
or crawl upon our knees in a few days.
| When the mother saw her children in
captivity, she set up an awful roar, but
when they were put down by her side
she seemed to be very grateful and soon
afterward made a hearty meal off
large piece of venison that was thrown
to her. After few days she seemed to
become perfectly reconciled to the new
order of things and is now on the look
out for something to eat. Negro Jim
| pats her OH the back and leads her about
like lamb. The hounds have made
friends with her, and nothing pleases
her better than for our bird dog to play
with her. She could easily throttle the
largest bull en- the plains and toss q
man about as a cat does a mouse. We
have named her Miss Vixen.-Cor. st.
Louis Republic.