Wins Battle
. , . with A^atamount
Turpentine Worker and Wildest of Cat-Family
Sp ecies Fight It Out for Possession of
Man's Cabin i ||
By WILLIAM HORNE
THE Oxelenokee swamp is a wild,
awe-inspiring region Like a world
of its own it stretches from far up in
Georgia down and into the State of
Florida, neany a thousand square miles
of wildness and tropical beauty
Myriad canals and alligator trails and
smaller runways cut like writhing ten
tacles of some giant octupus through
the watery prairies and between small,
undulating islands that nod eerily to
your moving presence
Going on and on these countless
Waterways finally end against larger,
firmer islands deep in the gloom of
aernitropicm jungle in the heart of the
vast region far from the prying eyes
of an outside world.
In nei majestic solitude Okefenokee
lies even like a hundred years ago when
tlie lowly Sv nnnole, driven back by the
encroaching whites, sought deep in her
bosom for safety in their last retreat
Thousands of towering cypress lift
their stately heads high above the
jungle root-hire lonely sentinels, beards
of gray Spanish moss trailing from
lower branches, swinging ghost-like
above the matted, impenetrable jungle
walls beneath
Okefenokee Serenely treacherous;
wildly beautiful.
Wild Life Abundant
IANT saurian abound plentifully in
the shallow waters and lie basking
on banks of silt throughout the region,
and the ,lim game trails are still the
haunts of deer and bear and timber
wolves, foxes and ’coons, ’possums, otter,
beaver and many species of the cat
family
But the meanest of all members of
the feline tribe that prow! the fastness
ol the swamp is the catamount.
He is not so voracious or pugnacious
as his -rlose brother, the panther, but
he is, never* heless, a killer, and scarcely
a day that passes he fails to take his
gruesome toll ,
He grows to enormous lengths. Cata
mounts that measured eight feet from
nose to tip bf tail and that balanced
the scales at 160 pounds have been
killed m this swamp.
As a rule the catamount is vicious
and quarrelsome, sometimes killing for
the slieer love of killing, and although
generally very much afraid of man, he
has been known to attack without
warning and kill a lone native with his
savage, ripping claws and terrible teeth.
Like the scream of a panther, his cry
Is eerie and blood-curdling, and in the
dead of night from far across the silent
swam i> may come his wild cry as he
quarrels over the kill of a wild porker or
mule deer
The catamounts daily life is, indeed,
a gruesome routine of serial murders,
and he isn't a bit choice as to his prey.
He never hesitates to attack anything
living in his domain, from a lowly rabbit
tc a full-grown buck deer, and he has
been known to spring upon full 300-
pound black bears when they ventured
too near during his mating season.
Many natives of the swamp carry
hideous scan In mute testimony of the
blood-thirsty nature of this giant killer
of the Southland’s lit'le-known jungle.
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That. backward step came near being fatal to Rufe Jackson, for
as he moved, the giant cat 'launched itself with a scream straight
into his face.
T3UFE JACKSON, a turpentine worker
■■■• who liyes alone in a one-room cabin
ol cypress slabs well within the swamp
limits, probably knows more about the
nasty temper and fighting prowess of
the Okefenokee catamount than any
living native
He carries deep scars on both upper
arms and across his chest, and a livid
mark down his cheek from his forehead
to his chin from the raking talons of
one of the murderous felines, and he re
calls vividly the details of the hand-to
hand encounter that came near casting
him his life
Strange and eerie and breath-taking
are some ol the experiences related by
many inhabitants of the swamp, but
surely being locked inside a tiny cabin
wPh a wounded catamount is one of
the most hair-raising of all, and that
is what recently happened to Rufe Jack
son.
At different points in the swamp the
turpentine crews have small, one-room
cabins for the convenience of workers
when they are caught away from their
homes at nigh* fall.
These “line cabins,” as they are called,
are equipped merely with a crude bunk,
a small wood stove and a few cooking
utensils, and when a man knows he will
be too lar away from his home at dark
to conveniently return for the night, he
takes with him a small supply of un
cooked food and prepares it at the line
cabin at the end of the day.
Rufe Jackson was caught several miles
from his home one evening at nightfall.
He had with him a small supply of
bacon, meai and coffee, and with first
dark made his way alone to the nearest
cabin, half a mile distant.
On his arrival there he found the
cabin door open, but this did not sur
prise him, for men were careless, and
he had found the same thing many
nights before.
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So he crossed the small clearing, tak
ing with him a small tin trough tilled
with raw resin, applied a match and
placed the improvised flambeau just
outside the doorway so he would have
sufficient light to prepare the evening
meal.
Mosquitoes aroused with first dark,
came down in swarms, and this smok
ing torch served to drive them off.
Face to Face With “Cat"
T>UT he never prepared the evening
meal. For he had no more than
swung the sack of uncooked food from
his shoulder as he crossed the floor of
the tiny cabin toward the stove than
there came to his ears a low, ominous
snarl from the doorway behind him.
He swirled about and peered into the
deep shadows where the flickering light
failed to touch, but saw nothing He
walked toward the door with the inten
tion of bringing the dancing light in
side, but he neared the open door
the growl came again. This tune it was
deadlier and nearer. He swung the door
half shut and looked behind it in the
corner of the room.
He froze at what he saw Scarcely
five feet away crouched a long, dark
form. Green eyes glowed from the
darkness upon his face.
He had no weapon except a keen
edged hunting knife he always carried
in his sh»ath at his belt. His hand
sought its hilt, and without taking his
eyes from those gleaming orbs behind
the door he siowiy drew it and stepped
backward.
But that backward step came near
being fatal for Rufe Jackson, for as
he moved the giant cat launched itself
with a scream straight up into his face.
Rufe Jackson screamed, too, and as he
did he fell backward hard agaiast the
open door. It slammed violently and
the crude wooden latch clicked in place
and held It shut.
rpHEN the catapulting body crashed
full into his chest, and with a cry
on his lips he was carried backward to
the floor.
He threw up his anas to* ward off
those clawing talons and raking fang*.
The* cat’s claws sank deep into his fore
arms and ripped them to the bone.
Madly, savagely he thrashed out with
feet and flailing arms, and with low,
snarling gasps the big cat raked him
mercilessly with terrible claws.
He felt hot blood run down his
from a long, deep gash across his iace.
and he felt the needle-sharp claws lay
his chest wide open.
One of his arms encircled the tawny
attacker's rippling shoulders, and now
he thought for the first time of the keen
knife in his clenched, bloody fist.
In desperation he struck out at the
heaving side, he felt the point sink
deep, he drew it out and with sobs on
his lips drove it in again and again and
again.
The big cat screamed in agony and
raked its rear feet up and down in ter
rific jerks that would have disembow
eled Rufe Jackson had he not swerved
his lithe boay aside and once again he
drove home the long knife.
This time the great claw that had
been clutching him like a giant hand
on one ripped shoulder jerked away, and
there came a shrill, trembling, agonis
ing cry from the open mouth there m
close to his face in the dark.
It died away to a gurgling moan and
he felt the heavy body go limp and
slide to the floor beside him.
For a ion*, time after the cat had
died of the final thrust through its sav
age heart Rufe Jackson lay there gasp
ing for breath and dizzy and sick from
the pain and loss of blood.
Finally he managed to crawl to the
door, open it and pull himself erect and
stagger off through the trees to the
house of a friend four miles distant.
Rufus can t remember how he man
aged those four miles through the thick
swamp, but he did. And the surgical
skill of his friend, learned during years
of life in the great swamp, although
crude, saved him from certain death.
He will always carry deep scars of that
encounter wi*h one of the swamp’s worst
denizens, grim reminders of his closest
call to death during a lifetime In the
jungle of Southeastern United State*.