Charles Ballard Local Barber Said to Have Had Tussie With Bird Emperor.
Admits He Was Beaten.
Shot American Eagle He Says, and Then Tried to Capture Wounded King of Air But Met with Such resistance that Bird Got Away and Even Ballard Cannot Tell Exactly How he Did it.
    Charles Ballard, while out hunting on the flats near Dead river yesterday afternoon, claims to have shot and wounded a large American eagle and engaged in a combat with the wounded king of birds in which he was worsted, the result being that the eagle got away. Ballard, who conducts a barber shop on Market street, states that he noticed the large bird perched upon a dead limb of a pine tree. He fired one shot from his shot gun, wounding the bird in the breast.
    After falling to the ground the bird attacked him viciously. He declares that he did not desire to kill the bird outright, preferring to capture it alive. He describes it as measuring seven feet from tip to tip, possessing talons several inches long.
    How the eagle made its escape is a point he is not sure about, but says that in the excitement of the combat it got away. He did not offer much resistance, because when he had been struck once on the shoulder by the powerful wings of the bird, and saw the menacing talons, he was glad to escape without injury.
     George Brisock was near at the time when he shot the eagle but was not close enough to render any assistance in making the capture. Brisock confirms the story, which many of the friends of both are inclined to doubt. Hunters, however, state that they have seen a large eagle on the flats and Ballard and Brisock declare that they are ready to take an oath to the facts which they state.
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