A Terrifying Mountain Encounter
A visiting tailor from Tacoma fled for his life after a face-to-face confrontation with a cougar in the hills near Hot Springs.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
James Walters, of Tacoma, a merchant tailor who has been at the springs for some weeks, went for a walk into the hills on Sunday. Toward evening, he came running to the hotel completely exhausted and almost frightened to death. When he had recovered his breath and calmed his badly shaken nerves, he said that while on the crest of a high hill some miles from the springs, he was suddenly confronted by a mountain lion, which came close up to him, despite Mr. Walters' warning blows aimed in the beast's direction. The huge cat slowly advanced until within a few feet of the hapless man, when Walters thought it was time to light out, and with a yell which turned the feline also, he started down the steep side of the mountain and never eased up till he reached the hotel.
“The huge cat slowly advanced until within a few feet of the hapless man, when Walters thought it was time to light out.”
While wildlife encounters are still a part of the Pacific Northwest experience, they are less likely to result in a frantic dash back to an urban hotel. This story highlights the lingering wildness of the landscape surrounding 1890s Seattle and Tacoma, where a Sunday stroll could quickly become a fight for survival.
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