The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-11-25

oAANAy IA CAoS, d 1S" OdSS
ago. says the New York Sun. The cow
boys of the Spangler ranch had three
full-grown bears, captured at one time
or other in the Santiago mountains.
The bears wandered about the ranch
and stables, eternally in some mischief,
but nobody feared them, as they were
always good-humored and playful.
Over at Tom Ray ranch, near Los Chi
SOS, the boys owned a 2-year-old Mex
lean lion, or panther. That sort of pet
will always become dangerous by the
time it is 2 years old, and this particular
one was about the meanest lion ever
caught in that section, and the boys
of the Tom Ray concluded to fight him,
If a battle could be arranged, with the
bears of Spangler.
Before arrangements could be made.
Mexican Pope, a hunter for Spangler
ranch, discovered a den of peccaries.
or wild Mexican hogs, as they are call
ed in Texas. There's no animal on top
of ground more unconquerable than a
peccary. They are small, round-bodied
yellowish brown animals, about the size
of a quarter-grown hog. They are COW
cred with coarse bristles. the ridge
down the back and along the neck be-
ing often five or six inches long. They
sharp as knifeblades. and their disposi-
lions are devilish. They are tailless.
There's no animal known which will
face them voluntarily. The band dis
covered by Pope had for it's %headquar-
ters a cave in a foothill of the noun
tains. The mouth Of the cave was less
thar two feet in diameter, but the cave
itself was fully forty feet wide and
sixty feet long. Pope was hunting at
the time. and the musky odor of the
peccaries betrayed them. Luckily for
Pope, the band must have just returned
home from some excursion, as they
were asleep at the time. and before
they woke up Pope had corked up the
entrance to the cave with rocks, which
were thickly strewn about.
When Pope returned to the ranch and
told his story the cowboys proposed a
battle royal. They sent word to Tom
Ray ranch and the cowboys of that
ranch brought owe the Mexican lion.
Meanwhile the Bows had built a heavy
rail fence about 100 feet squar and 10
feet high about the cav The next
morning there were fifty cowboys of
the Tom Raw ranch, as many more from
the ocbe+ raroh ard nearly 100 of
the Spangler ranch boys gathered to-
gether. The ground within the rallied
Enclosure was cleared Of every obstacle
except four good-sized stumps. to each
of which a bear or panther was chained
with a twenty-foot chain. Each Of the
stumps had beer squared off three feet
above the ground.
At 1 o'clock all was ready for the
battle except the peccaries. This part
of the work was d~elegated to Red Jim.
an Indian cowboy of Spangler. with the
betting at 2 to 1 hat Jim would get
nipped before he could get out of reach
of the Infatuated reccaries. But Jim
knew his business. He first rolled stones
and nlaced them several feet from the
mouth of the cave to impede the brutes
should thew get out too quickly for him.
Then he slipped a Iariat around the biz
stone which corked up the mouth Of
the cave. Retreatine fifteen or twenty
feet he gave the ]ariat a strone pull ana
out came a stream of racing wild
hogs. They didn't catch Jim. but thew
came close enough to spring at. his
heels as he scaled the fence. Then fullv
100 mad and snanping peccaries stood
a minute and looked around: In front.
forty or Rfty feet awav. We're three big
bears and a Mexican lion. Most people
would think that such a sight wOnld
have scared the reccaries. but it did
nothing Of the sort. On the contrary.
the bears and the lion began to display
signs of u~neasiness. The bears quickly
climbed to the top Of the tree sturnps
to which they were chained. and the
lion squatted and showed its teeth.
Betting was about Bronchos.
saddles, brides. winchesters. and cow
boys possessions Of all sorts went up
on the result. until the ground was COW
cred with piles of traps. The peccaries
didn't wait, but with a general squeak
of rage charged their ~adversaries. In
squads of something like equal num-
bers they attacked each bear and the
lion, and then followed a fight to the
death. The bears stood with all four
feet on each stump, and as the pee
carries sprang at them they struck out
right and left, knocking the p%ugnacious
brutes yards away. Half a dozen pee
ceries had received severe injuries from
the claws and blows, and it began to