Year: 1874




An Arizona Travellers Account OF hi


encounter With Seven Wild Beasts.


A correspondent of the Arizona NJ


HeT gives the following curious accoun


OF adventure in the wilds Of that Ter.


ritory: ION my way from Prescott ]


stopped for the night at Old Cam


Huslpai. On the morning of the I'm


instant, started early, in order to take


advantage of the little frost on thu


ground, which made il better travel


ing over the clay flats that are founC


near Anvil Rock. / reached the sum


NIT OF the Aztec Pass quite early; the


WIND was blowing cold and the ali


was iuil OF snow, and / pulled a blan.
Eet ABOUT my face and urged my horss
forward SIS fast as could. had not
Travelled one mile from the summit o.


the Pass when my horse stopped;
looked forward, and in the road moi
nfty yards from me saw two cougars
commonly called California lions.


One OF them turned around so as tC
snow 70 tue best advantage possible.
Inc other, q smaller one, got down
close 10 the ground, and acted as
though he intended to spring at my
horse. L lost no time in getting out
my pistol, and as soon as nv horse
was quiet enough, fired at the creep
ing monster. undershOt my mark.
The ball struck a rock about one foot
In advance OF the creeping lion, and
glanced on with q sharp whistling
noise. AT this moment observed
flve other monsters of the same spe-
eies rise up from the dry grass, close
- the roadside. Now, all seven hop
/ p1d of about twenty PAGES to the
right Of the road and stopped on open
ground, within sixty yards of me.
Now, this was the first hop of the sea-
son, and here was /, an uninyited
guest; but hastily took items, and,
as IL Is customary to describe dress
and appearance at fashionable hops. /
will record items as / took them:
three of the lions were very large, In
fact, monsters Of their species, and
would weigh at least 800 pounds; the
Others were smaller, but I should
judge the smallest to weigh at least
100 pounds It being midWinter, fHrs
were all the rage. The three largest
of these fellows wore dark gray bor-
dering on brown coat, being q little
lighter on their sides; in front and un-
der their bodies was white and appear
like white lace or down. The fourth
was little smaller, and his dress was
little darker in color. The three
smaller ones were dressed in = dark
chestnut coat; on the sides it border
ed on yellow with the same lace of
downy trimming. The dresses glls-
tened as they turned, and resembled
changeable silk; their movements
were with much grace and ease. They
all wore tails at least four feet long,
and full three feet more than q lion
had any use for, but, 1 presume, long
tails are fashionable in these parts, if
not each lion or lioness had TO carry
his or her own tail, and it was not for
me to say how long tail lion should
carry. One of the larger ones, which
I took to be q mother of part of the
group, sat down like q cat; she raised
her great paw and licked il, and then
rubbed her ear and side of her head
as a cat would. The movements were
awkward but easy. fshe was wash
ing her face she should have done so
before coming to the hop. The Sec
ond large one sat very quiet and look
ed on. The third large one, which
took TO be male, kept little in the
rear, and appeared to be uneasy, as
though he expected reinforcements
from another direction, and earnest
ly hoped that no others would appear,
as there were already enough for the
occasion.


The fourth, lively young fellow,
put his big paws on q large pine root
that protruded above the ground, and
raked it down as though he was
springing q little bluff. The bark
flew In every direction. As scratch
ist this fellow was q decided success.
At the same time the three small
ones lay down close to the ground and
riveted their eyes on me or my horse,
and commenced crawling up as
though they would like more init
mate acquaintance. / had heard
that if one looked lion In the face it
would turn away; but how could 1
look three lions in the eye at the
same time? Impossible. Now 1
would like to have compromised this
whole matter by giving horse, but
my horse was trembling with fear,
which plainly told me that he would
not stand to any bargain of this kind.
I looked for q sapling, but they do not
grow in this part OF Arizona; none
but large pines were in sight, and all
the lions in Arizona could not fright
en- me up tree four feet in diameter.
To dismount I would make q dead
shot, but then there would be six IL
ons left, and ] afoot. This would not
do. / resolved to try another shot,
so got my horse to face the game
and again / fired. AS my pistol
cracked the foremost crawler jumped
about six feet in the air and struck on
his feet, and bit his side as though he
had been stung by bee. At this the
large ones moved on toward brushy
thicket and the smaller ones followed.
AS turned my horse to go on 4 saw
approaching me three horsemen.
They came in time-none too soon, /
assure you. They had seen the large
tracks in the road and heard my shots
and hurried up. l told them OF what
had happened, and as they were all
heeled and appeared to be men that
had seen something of frontier life,
suggested that II it was game that
they wanted they could find it in that
thicket. But they all most emphat-
ically denied having lost any lions.
They hardly waited to hear all of my
story, but passed on. As 1 started on
my way my horse wanted to run and
appeared very fresh; previous to this
he seemed little played and tired,
but be would now and then look back
and then git For the last twelve
days my horse can see lion whenev-
er he wants tc. The fact is, he has
got what is called lion on the train.
If he does not recover soon I will sell
him or trade him off for mule"