A news article from the 1880s:
FOUGHT WITH AN EAGLE
A Struggle on the Ground Ended by a Bowie Knife.
Anton Baccarine, who is employed at the dam at Cornell, N. Y., for the New York city water works, reports having had a terrible battle with an eagle in the woods bordering on Croton Lake. Baccarine was out gunning for squirrels, and while eating some blackberries he heard a noise above his head, and saw an eagle trying to carry a rooster away in its claws. The hunter knew that the farmers in the neighborhood had been troubled greatly lately by having their fowl stolen, so he determined to kill the bird if possible.
He quickly knelt, and, taking careful aim, fired both barrels of his shotgun. Eagle and rooster fell to the ground. The terror to barnyards lay perfectly still, and Baccarine thought he had killed the monster.
He cautiously approached the eagle, and when he was almost upon his prey the bird flew at him and sank its claws in his body. The attack was such a surprise that Baccarine dropped his gun. The eagle used its beak on the hunter's face and dug deep furrows in his cheeks. Round and round on the ground hunter and eagle rolled, but after each roll the bird of the forest was invariably on top.
Weak from the loss of blood, Baccarine made a desperate attempt to reach his bowie knife, which he carried in his belt, and succeeded. With almost a superhuman effort he plunged the blade into the eagle's breast, piercing the heart and causing almost instant death. The bird measured three feet from tip to tip.
All I can say is "Hmmm."
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