The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-07
Nu|NG MOUNTAIN LION
GAME NOT TO BE DEsPIsED WHEN
CORNERED BY THE
HUNTER
PLENTIFUL IN THE ROCKIES
One of the Largest Ever Taken Alive
Caught "a Few Years Ago In
Montana -Measured
Eight Feet.
Denver Times.

Naturalists assert that the mountain
lion will not attack q human being ex-
cept in Self-defenSe, but that Is ONLY half
truth. Hungry lionS-are no reSpecters
Of persons, and gaunt beasts of this sre-
cies have been known to waylay and at
tack mountaineers almost at the doors
of their cabins. And when he has been
cornered the mountain lion always with
out exception has been able to put up a
mighty interesting fight.
No census has ever been taken OF the
American mountain lion, but accordin q
to estimates from the Rocky mountain
region 1,20O of him could be slaughtered
every season without making any APP
preciable difference in the supply. He
ranges under different names, from Brit
ish Columbia to Patagonia, known to
the South Americans as the puma, and
to Mexicans and North Americans as the
cougar and the mountain lion In an
pearance the mountain lion is almost an
exact counterpart of the African lioness.
His fur is of the tawny brown of the
African lion, but his tail is more like that
of the common house cat and without a
brush" at the top. He attains larger
size in the north than in the south.
One of the largest mountain lions ever
taken alive was caught few years ago
in Montana, and afterward exhibited in
Columbia Gardens, at Butte This spe-
cimen measured seven feet from snout
to tip of tail.
One measuring eight feet from tip to
tip and weighing 800 pounds was killed
in Bear Gulch, Jefferson county, Mon
tana, i'll 1898, after he had mancled two
men and slain three of a pack of seven
hounds that had brought him to bay.
The men who were injured were wood
choppers employed by the Glass Broth
ers, of Basin. They We're up on a hill
side cutting and trimming pines, which
were then slid down into the gulch over
the hard crust Of q snow runaway The
runway became TANNED, and one OF
the choppers had started down the noun
tain to clear it. He was half way down
when the mountain lion sprang upon his
back from clump Of bushes, where it
had lain concealed, and rolled over and
over with him until they brought I'D
against the log jam. The chopper dropped
his ak and one Of his arms was broken
in the fall. He shrieked Justify for help
while struggling tofree, himself from the
hungry beast, and his companion ran to
aid him. In his haste the second man
slipped and FELL andrh ak went spin
ming down the hillside. Selling a young
pine as club the second chopper at
tackled the lion, raining blows upon the
beasts head and back until it released
his companion and sprang upon him
The driver Of a wood wagon coming I'D
the gulch heard the shrieks Of the wood
choppers and took "a desperate chance to
succor them. He had a rifle on the wag-
on and he fired shot at the lion, wound
ing him slightly. He fired again, and at
the second report the beast abandoned
his prey and SUNK back into the bushes.
The wood hauler took the wounded men
on his wagon and carried them to Basin.
When the story was told there a party
was organized to slay, the lion Nearly
every man in the place keeps hound
and, seven OF the best fighters among
them were selected to accompany the
party. These dogs took up the trail from