The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-08
REAL WILD MAN.
A narrowing Experience In the Far
West With n Strange Being.

From the Albuquerque IN. M Journal
Democracy
Many strange stories have been told
of the wild man" of the Grand Can
yon of the Colorado. and while some
persons have credited these weird tales.
they have for the most part been re-
garded as the ingenious inventions of
imaginative travellers, and have passed
into tradition as such. But according
to l. w. Stevens of Cedar, Col, the
wild man. is not a myth, and he gives
a thrilling account of an encounter
he had with the creature. 1.-TWO years
ago" said Mr.. Stevens, Il had bust
ness in the northwestern part af Ari-
IONA that took me In the neighbor-
hood of the extreme lower end of the
Grand Canyon of the Colorado river,
in Mohave county, Arizona. Having
the misfortune of getting my arm brok-
en-, l took a trip to the river to kill
time and catch a few beaver. / con-
structed a skiff, with the aid of a
friend, and when my arm got strong
enough took a trip up the canyon as
far as could go with a boat. A few
miles above the entrance / hauled my
boat upon the sand and got ready to
examine the rock walls.
1.-The first thing that attracted my
attention was the imprint of bare feet
in the sand Thinking the tracks had
been made by some Indian, perhaps a
Piute or a Hanlipi, / began looking
the gorge over with much interest. Co
ing down stream a short distance
found more tracks.zThe third day of
my stay / saw the head of a man on
a bench of rocks on the north side
of the river. Evidently he was seat
ed on the edge Of cliff some distance
above my camp. l rowed up stream
a little above the point where / saw
the mans head and part of his shout
ders above the crossword brush
Climbing up to the bench had some
difficulty in finding a place that could
get over the ledge and be on level
with my strange neighbor.
II finally succeeded in approaching
closer to the point. / saw sitting on
a large bowlder man with long white
hair and a, matted beard that reached
to his knees. The creature was un-
aware of my approach, and l gaZed
upon him for some moments unobserv-
ed. He was about fifty yards away
and in full view He wore no clothing,
and upon his talon-like fingers were
claws at least two inches long. A coat
of gray hair nearly covered his body,
with here and there spot of dirty
skin showing. ! had found the wild
man of the rocks!
AT that moment a rock loosened by
some animal came rolling down. The
creature turned his face towards me.
Horrors! What a FACET was scared
and burned brown by the sun, with
fiery green eyes. With a wild whoop
and leap he was off up over rocks
and cliffs like a mountain sheep for
about seventy-five yards. Then he
stopped. He was armed with queer
CHI lrHh lor Ncr0 IN Call
OK Brandishing this bludgeon, he
shrieked and chartered for a moment,
then started toward me, roaring and
still furnishing his weapon. Faster and
faster he came, and my hair began to
stiffen.
II am poor runner, so I stood my
ground. When the creature was with
in about fifteen yards of me / raised
my rifle to fire, thinking to cripple him.
AS / glanced along the barrel / heard
a deep growl just above the wild man.
Looking up l saw she couger and two
half-grown cubs. The mother couger
crouched, with tail lashing, ready to
spring on the wild man. He also had
heard the growl and he braced himself
for the shock. / drew a hasty bead
on the couger and pressed the trigger.
When the smoke had cleared away the
mother couger law dead where the wild
man had stood. The man himself had
disappeared. The two young cougers
were still on the rocks, apparently
greatly frightened by the report and
echoes of my old Sharp's rife.
Reaching hastily for a cartridge /
found l had neglected to buckle on my
belt when leaving camp, so / hastily
retreated to the boat. where / found
everything as / had left IL. ! showed
the boat off and drifted toward camp.
which was near the cougers. There
law the old couger where she had fall
en-. The wild man was standing over
the two cubs, which were also dead,
he having beaten the life out Of them
with his club. He stood for a moment
gazing on the carcasses, then got down
on his hands and knees and drank the
warm blood as IL flowed from the death
wounds The sight siokened me.
stood up I'm the boat and yelled. The
men sprang 20 his feet, took a long
look AT me, then fed up from ledge
to ledge until he reached the fourth
ledge. where he stopped. Here he four
ished his club again and screamed the
widest, most unearthly screech ] ever
heard. then turned and sprang onward
up the craRgy wall 81 the canyon.
mot fancynR my wild neigh Dor,
packed my oyfht into the boat and
drifte1 down and out o. the canyon
before ! made camp for the night That
vas the stfaneest adventure ~ my
Tradition reeords that YEARS ego
hostile Indians captured fhfee men,
bound them 20 logs far w. che eany0n.
ane nei fnen sdfin upon fhf swollen
fifer n may 49, fbai thle vito cree
fuff NJ one ~ fboec unfortunate mss.
Nho, ~ shame ffefq himaef anq rg~