The Blount County News-Dispatch, 5 Feb 1891 Strange Wild Beast. The appearance of a strange wild beast in the lower part of Blount county and its depredations upon the farmer's flocks has caused a profound sensation in that usually quiet community. Some days ago a farmer, living three miles from Oneonta, had two of his sheep killed and eaten by the beast. The sheep were in a pen near the farmer's barn, and hearing a noise he ran out in the darkness when he saw a big wild beast running off in the darkness dragging a dead sheep after him. Another sheep had been partly eaten. The beast took to a deep swamp near by. The following night, Thursday night, another farmer had a sow killed and partly eaten by this same wild beast. The animal was seen yesterday morning in an old field grown up in high grass. The man who saw it is positive it was a lion. He said the beast had stripes around his legs and a heavy neck with bushy mane. A posse of eighty-seven men was organized at Oneonta yesterday to scour the woods and hunt down the monster. They searched all day in vain and renewed the hunt today reinforced with other men and packs of dogs, but at last accounts the beast still roamed the forests free. The women and children of Blount county are frightened half to death and are afraid to venture out after dark.-Birmingham Evening News. The Blount County News-Dispatch, 5 Jan 1893 Killed a Catamount. On Monday, the 2d inst., Mr. John Blackmon killed a huge catamount within a mile and a half of Blountsville, on the road to Cleveland. It measured 3 feet 8 inches from head to end of the tail, and had been depredating in that section of the county for some time. Many a chicken, kid, lamb, and pig disappeared through its agency. The Blount County News-Dispatch, 26 Jan 1893 That Huge Wolf. A huge wolf that had been devastating the stock on Hardwick's mountain for over a year was killed by the Messrs. Jordan, who reside in the vicinity, last Saturday. It was the terror of that section, and the most exaggerated reports of its size filled the minds of young and old. Some friends carried the dead wolf up into our office on Monday afternoon and laid it on the floor, where we took a good look at it. When living it was a handsome animal, although a very dangerous one to encounter in the woods. It measured seven feet from the snout to the end of the tail, was four feet high, nine inches across the forehead, and its tusks are one and a fourth inches long. It was the male member, and the female and four cubs are said to be still prowling in the same neighborhood. Mr. W.A. Wall, of Champion, has secured the dead wolf and will have it mounted.