Man Dragged By Lioness To Her Lair

1920

Escapes After Having Had Fingers and Ears Chewed by Cubs — Will Survive His Wounds.

CHESTER, California. — That after firing four shots into the body of a lioness and stabbing her with a dagger he had been dragged to the mouth of the cave lair of the beast, when he became unconscious, and that two cubs had chewed his ears and fingers, is the harrowing experience told by Giuseppi Martin, a shepherd.

When Martin recovered from the unconscious state caused by his desperate fight with the lioness he says he found her carcass within four feet of him.

This is the story Martin told Everett Goings and others who found him in his camp some miles from here, trying as best he could to dress his wounds.

The party headed by Goings dressed the shepherd's injuries with the aid of a first aid kit.

Ears and Fingers Chewed.

Martin's ears had been nearly chewed from his head, his fingers were badly mutilated, and his body and face severely lacerated.

According to the tale of Martin, he drove his flock of sheep toward the summit of a mountain when the sun arose. Leaving the sheep, he walked to the top of a crag, where he found himself confronted by a mountain lion, which promptly attacked him. He fired four shots from a .32 caliber revolver and then drew a knife from his belt when the beast closed with him, inflicting several stabs.

Martin lost all sense of what next happened. When he returned to consciousness, apparently some time later, he found he had been dragged a short distance to the mouth of a cave in the rocky ledge. The lioness was stretched dead four feet from him. Two cubs had gnawed upon his ears until they were almost gone and had chewed upon his fingers.

Following his return to camp Martin did the best he could to dress his hurts with the conveniences at hand. When the Goings party happened upon the camp his wounds were further cared for. Shortly after the owner of the sheep arrived and Martin was rushed to a nearby town for surgical attention.

Tells Story of Escape.

"I was caring for my sheep up in the lonesome and deserted section of the hills," says Martin, "when I heard a great commotion among the flock. I looked about me but could see nothing. Then I left the sheep and walked over to a crag near there.

"I found myself face to face with a huge lioness. I drew a .32 caliber revolver from my pocket and fired four shots point blank at the animal. It only wounded and served to enrage her.

"I just had time to draw my knife from my belt when the brute closed it with me snarling in a horrible manner.

"I knew that it was a fight for my life, so I exerted all my energy. I was badly clawed and knocked down several times, but I inflicted several deep stabs on the lioness. I felt everything growing dark in front of me and knew that I must fight harder if I wished to save my life. But I was so weak that I could no longer hold my knife in my fingers. That is the last thing I remember — the knife dropping to the ground and the hot breath of the lioness, its gaping jaws only a few inches from my face.

"It seemed years later when I awakened. I heard snarls as when I had dropped into unconsciousness. The light was very dim, but finally I made out the forms of two lion cubs. My ears pained me. I reached my hand to them and found that not only my ears but my fingers were terribly lacerated. The cubs had chewed them and were at that moment snapping ferociously at me."

Surgeons at the hospital said that Martin's injuries were serious but not necessarily mortal.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 1.