Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 294, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1916 — MOUNTAIN LION SLAIN WITH RAIL [ARTICLE]

MOUNTAIN LION SLAIN WITH RAIL

STORY BY PITTSBURGER WHO z DID THE STUNT As Proof of His Exploit He Also Tells ” of Big Bears He Encountered. Pittsburg, Pa.—Charles J. Petgen of this city, well known metallurgist and mining prospector, has returned from Colorado and Utah, where he went to locate ores for a large eastern firm. On account of his recent experiences in the western mountains, he declared he was already convinced that the bear and the mountain Hon wiU attack no one, if they are left unmolested. “My first experience this trip was up in the Saw Tooth Range. Myself and two others went up to locate a water right not 100 miles away from Rocky Bar. The only firearm in the a German automatic pistol. It was early morning, and the pistol was in a man's satchel, and he was on the back seat of the wagon. W 6 were sitting in the front seat. It was-a deep pitch into the gulch, and the sides were rocky and precipitous. , “Ahead of us rose a rocky cut in the side of the mountain, skirted by the trail we were following. We saw an old log rolled down upon the road in front of us. Our four horses 1 reared and pitched, and the driver jumped out'to keep them from plunging over the cliff. “We looked up to see where the log had come from, and saw a great ‘silver tip’ bear, said tobe a cross between a cinnamon and a grizzly. This kind has a very mean disposition. Now, it was safe to leave that fellow alone, as he was only grubbing in the trunks of dead trees for worms. » “But that fool on the back seat began to dig down in his satchel for the toy pistol to shoot that bear. I jumped back, knowing the man, was more dangerous than the bear. As he was aiming at the wild beast* I choked the fellow down into the seat and took the automatic from him. In a second the bear beat it, but the story would have been different if the bear had been wounded.

“In the next experience I came near losing one of my companions because be did not understand the wilds. It was on Mount Sniffles; in Colorado, and our party numbered three. This time we were hunting ores. The only firearm in the party was an old Winchester of the mosj. ancient make. The owner of this dangerous weapon was a Coloradoan, and he rode far in > advance of us. “We thought to catch up with him by taking a short cut. The trail was ■ horse shoe shaped. By cutting down and across we could reach the advance man at the other end of the shoe. We saw a bear high up in the thicket, but paid little attention to him.

“But the men with the Winchester -lid pay attention, so did that bear, one of the largest I ever saw. He looked like a mountain of fur and bulk. The Winchester began to spit fire and the great animal turned, jumped some, and then made for the man who attacked him. We had a great fear for we thought it would take a regiment to kill such a big brute. The Winchester was used until it was emptied, and as we ran close we saw our companion stretched on the ground awaiting his death, for the bear surged on toward him. /‘Just as we got close the animal boxed the gun from the man’s band ns he tightly gripped it on the ground, and then the bear, unable to carry the lead, dropped over dead. He had fourteen bullets in him, but that fool fellow took a chance. The bear would have gone along about his business. “That’s bears. Now about the moun tain lion. The American public have been treated to extraordinary talk about killing this animal. Mr. Roosevelt has staged the affair with all the necessary thrills, and it took him and five others toj- kill these awful beasts. Now, let me give you what a fact looks like. “I and two others were going out from Ouray to look at placer property. They were far behind me, as I urged my horse along the trail. I had stopped and stooped over with my hat off, looking down into gully of sand and gravel. My horse shied, and on looking around me I saw a mountain lion, in a cleft of rocks. Say, but that cat was spitting some. "I left him alone'and rode down the trail until I reached some old rails, and I picked up one about four feet long. I had no gun. I got on the horse and went back. The mountain Hon was stiH there and still spitting. I rode direct at him, and as he reached to pull me off the horse I hit him a bat alongside of the head. It knocked his head against the rocks and stunned him I finished him with that old rail, and Jt took neither gun, nor five oth ers, to turn the trick.”