The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1903-09-30
KILLED THREE COUGARS.

1 T = - *
/ With a lub-They Were Kits Their
Mother Would't Fight Billy Barclay.
| Without firearms of any kind,
and even unattended with dog,
William Bar clay last week success
fully attacked and killed three
young cougars, and drove their
infuriated mother from his presence,
using only club as weapon of
offen.e. Wild tales of border life
in narratives of either truth or fc-
ton afford few if any incidents Of
more striking character, than does
the exploit of Mr.. Barclay. The
known fact that mother instinct in
brute creation is as faithful and as
desperate as it is in human life lends
,zest to the feat of Mr.. Barclay, who
when he encountered the old cou-
gar and her young in the thick
woods of the Coast Range did not
take to his heels in a wild desire to
escape, but dared the desperate
mother brute to duel and finally
drove her from the spot,
The incident happened a few
days ago in the mountains, south
west of Dusty, Mr.. Barclay has a
piece of timber land in the region,
to which with his IL year oldson he
was en- route. While passing
through the dense woods with
which the locality abounds, he
suddenly came upon cougar and
her three kits. The latter were
larger than large house cat, while
the old beast was of regulation size.
and in her fury with teeth exposed
back bumped and eyes blazing was
an ugly thing to look at. The
meeting was SO sudden that both
man and brute were for moment.
equally surprised. The former was
without a frearm of any kind. His
only means of defense was his two
strong arms which however backed
by his giant frame of more than six
feet and $50 pounds weight, the
cougar doubtless sized up as dan.
gerous.
The first act of the cougar was to
plan a retreat. With the usual
danger signal of cat life, she endea-
vcred to coax her kits to follow.
This, however, the latter persis-
tently refused to do, The sight of
man was strange to them, and
they became more interested in the
appearance of Mr.. Barclay, than in
the calls of their mother. They
stood rooted to the spot or moved
about in reckless abandon, while
the mother from the brush a few
feet away begged them in cougar
language to fly for their lives with
her.
There was thick fir brush about
the spot From the protection of
its boughs the mother kept up her
pleadings to her young, and her
hisses at the human intruder. She
scurried about frantically, approach
ing her young with great mani
festation of maternal solicitude,
retreating quickly at the threaten
ing movements of Mr., Barclay.
Finally, while Mr. Barclay paused
to arm himself with club, sheboxed
kittensabout with such severity that
she managed to get them to take
refuge in some of the little trees,
where few seconds later, the huge
club of,the attacking party killed
them one by one. AS the destruc.
tion of her kits went on, the moth
er, here. there and everywhere in
the fir thicket answered their cries
with her own, 1eaping about with
an energy. furious and frantic. The
sounds and their echoes through
the wooded hills were enough to
try the n erves of ev-
en- the fearless, but with his club,
Mr.. Barclay went about his work.
undisturbed and needless. The
mother, in spite of all the traditions
did not venture to attack, and
when the young had all been dis
patched. Mr.. Barclay offered her
all sorts of inducements to try him
a rovnd, but she kept herself at safe
distance until he finally quilted the
place.
The scalps of the kits were
brought to town by Mr.. Barclay /
and left at the county I
clerks Office. The bounty on each