"Heber and The Bobcat" about Paul Heber Cornum and Nephi Hostetter

A True Story:  by Duwayne Cornum
about his Granddad,  Paul Heber Cornum
Written in child’s story form, by:  Marilee Cornum Vannoy

Long ago there lived a young man by the name of Heber Cornum.  He loved to hunt and fish, along with his friend, Nephi Hostetter.  Heber and Nephi were always together, whether it was playing pool in La Jara, (which they were known as great “pool shots”), or off hunting of fishing.
One particular day, when Heber was about 35 years old, he and Nephi took out to go duck hunting.  It was in the fall, when the days were cool and the leaves had all fallen off the trees.  They went to a place called MacIntire Springs, down east of the Conejos River, which was a few of miles east of Sanford, their home.  Heber and Nephi being such good hunters had filled their buggy with lots of ducks, to take home to their families.  Towards evening they had run out of shells, so they set off for home.
As they came to the river, Heber spotted a bobcat sitting in a window of a little old log house.  The house had been abandoned and all the window were gone.  Well, Heber was out of shells for his shotgun, but he wanted to get a closer look at that bobcat, so he took his ax with him.
As Heber started toward the house the bobcat jumped down inside.  Heber went to the window, looked inside, there sat the bobcat by a hole in the floor.  The floor was just old wooden boards and one of them had broken, which left a pretty good hole.  The bobcat stared at Heber and he stared at the bobcat.  He being about six feet tall and of a stocky built, was pretty strong.  So he slowly raised the ax and gave it a fast hard throw.  The bobcat was faster, it jumped down in the hole to hide.  Well, Heber wasn’t about to leave his good ax inside, and since the bobcat was hiding down in the hole, he cautiously started in to retrieve his ax.
As Heber entered the house, the bobcat sprang up out of the floor and leaped onto Heber’s shoulders.  As it was scratching and clawing Heber’s head and back, he quickly reached up and grabbed the bobcat with his hands around it’s neck.  Heber held on for all he was worth.  The bobcat was fighting as he swung the cat over his shoulders and on to the floor, never letting up on his grip.  As the bobcat hit the floor, Heber, who was very quick and nimble, shoved his knee into the bobcat’s belly and held it there.  His grip was so strong that his thumb went right threw the bobcat’s hide into it’s throat.   The bobcat was dead.  Heber had killed it with his bare hands without the help of his shotgun or ax.
Heber and Nephi returned home that night not only with a buggy full of ducks, but also a bobcat.  When his wife, Mary met him, she hurried to clean and care for all of his scratches.  As he had been cut up quite a bit.  Even though Heber was a very brave and strong man, this had been quite an ordeal for him.  He had to go right to bed and was there for several days.
But this certainly didn’t stop his hunting days.  Everyone was very proud of this brave and strong man.