September 22, 1910, Routt County Courier.
September 29, 1910, The Weekly Courier
LION CUBS CAPTURED BY COLORADO SPRINGS MAN
Colorado Springs, September 23 – Jack Gillespie, a barber of Colorado City, literally snatched two lion cubs from their lair in Crystal park today and now proposes to use them as a decoy to capture the mother.
Armed with a Bowie knife and two guns, Gillespie crawled into the den of the lions and captured the beasts without being scratched.
The mother lion, it is supposed, was some distance away, probably feeding. Gillespie has brought the cubs here. They are about the size of large cats and he proposes to make pets of them.
October 1, 1910, The Indicator
MOTHER LION STEALS CUBS
Breaks Into Chicken Coop and Takes Her Babies Back Home
When Jack Gillespie went with the usual pan of milk this morning to feed the baby mountain lions which he captured Wednesday in a remote corner of Crystal Park, he found the chicken coop where they were kept broken open and the cubs gone.
Fresh lion tracks bout the coop and in the sands of Bear creek near which his house is located, showed that the mother lion had made two trips during the night and carried away her young as a cat does her kittens.
Mr. Gillespie thinks that the mother lion tracked him to his home and lay for two days in the brush watching the movement about the house and awaiting her opportunity to steal away the young from captivity.
Mr. Gillespie deeply regrets the loss of his pets after his perilous adventure in capturing them, but says that after this exhibition of motherly love on the part of the lioness, he will make no further effort to recapture them. – Colorado Springs Telegraph.
