Show A FIGHT WITH A PANTHER when I 1 was nine years old a 48 years ago my father one took him to out a tree ats was oa four milmont on the in manntai monn tai T we had what we ca carted p baitt a M to in that bou country matig made out of ce cedar d a r with ix ifa handle on one side elde to lift tt by jara retook betook ciket 4 one of them a butcher knife an ax ad lus thua equipped we won wo we came to about yards fran the tree my father sav sa atz pal pail down with the knife in it wid ana told me to look around for bow bees I 1 did so go and soon found them in a oak tree he was wa in the th e act of felling the tree when he was startled by a noise coming from the raouf mountain to in shortly after a panther was seen cor com a ing down thy the gulch not more than 16 0 yards from us the animal came alonar F at a rapid gait and seemed to be in fura its ita hair all turning the wrong way ury mcfather my father armed himself with ana aoma e rooks rocks about as big as a manse mans its flat t and took a favorable position in ilk which to await further developments when the panther came opposite to where we v stood he flung a rook at the beast but missed mobbed A second effort was made with the same result A third struck A the animal aud with a bound it earns came up to us my father had barely time to j snatch his ax with this weapon he aimed a terrific blow at the infuriated beast the or ax went over the panthers pan thera back and rollad down the hill and now commenced a fearful struggle the two combatants rolled over one another on the ground my father could not reach his hia pocket knife be cause he had to constantly guard LIU him telf against the awful teeth k and I claws claw at last he ran his hia hand into 1 the mouth of the beast and it by the under jaw whirled it te the ground at this juncture I 1 brou the knife from the pail as quick aa I 1 could my father then ju M ed astride of the beast beant and struck it wv fiva times with hla his knife behind the ders the last time he hold held the knife in the wound the kepe kenic up the fight ull till he be sank down dead my father thought that the fight roust have lasted about five minu tee es my MI fanfera fat fera clothes were nearly all torn and the blood was running in a stream from each one of his hia hands bands he walked about fifty yards and the then lay i down and rested a minute after he h again got up and went about the abo same distance then he had bad to lay down again he groaned and bled profusely I 1 feared that he was going ls to die but he encouraged me all he could we had tour four miles to walk but the wounded man succeeded in making the distance tince at last he was wag laid up for two months one arm had bad 1 eight wounds above the elbow and the other had seven below the elbow the affair became widely known as it it was published in the papers at the time I 1 have traveled some in my time and I 1 have seen some ugly things and some ugly fights but I 1 have never seen anything that looked aa 88 ugly and as desperate as an that panther fight W C HUDSON HUDON STAR STAB VALLEY uintah county wyoming |