Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-09-17
From the Chicago Tribune.
Extraordinary Fight with a Bear.

the following account of an encounter with a
bear The names of the crew are d. NJ.
Payne, mate, and c. Wetmore Daniel Nc
Lehman, John McLennan, and George Set
tard, seamen, all of whom participated in the
rare and exciting sport.
On Monday last, the 25th inst, while ly-
ing at anchor with the schooner Adriatic, at
the head of that beautiful land locked har-
Dor, Petit Bay de Noque, an arm of Green
Bay, projecting from its northern extremity
some fifteen miles into the land toward Lake
Superior, my attention was called by one of
the crew to large black animal on White
Fish Point, which, on examination with
glass, proved to be a large black bear, lust
taking to the water with the intention, APP
parenty, of swimming to the opposite shore of
the bay, which at this point is over mile
wide, the distance being divided by two or
three small islands. l Immediately ordered
the boat made ready which took some little
time, as spar with sail attached had to be
unshipped. Before this could be done, the
bear had reached nearly half the distance from
the point to the first island, and it became ne
cessary to use dispatch, in order to prevent
his gaining upon it for, with the weapons
we had, 1t would have been madness to at
tack such formidable monster on land The
boat was manned with four oars and clum-
sy paddle, made of an inch pine board, which
was used to steer with instead of a rudder or
fifth oar, of which we were minus The wind
was blowing very strongly from the north.
ward, being about aheam for the bear, and d.
rectly ahead of us. In our haste we took no
weapons but an old dull axe and common
bread knife-indeed we had no other, unless
we had taken some handspikes and one or two
more knives similar to the one we took, but
which were not just at hand.
boor ,rae eo,,,
a mile from us when we started. The men
were all good oarsmen and we soon overhauled
Bruin. Just before reaching him two of the
oars unshipped, one being taken in place of
the paddle to steer with by Mr.. Payne, who
managed the boat very adroitly in the sinuous
chase which followed. One of the crew taxi
ing the axe, ana myself the KNIFE, we sta
toned ourselves forward ready for the attack.
The bear swan from us as we approached.
and Wetmore, who had the axe, aimed a bloyy
at his head, intending to cleave his skull. but
struck little too soon ,infcting deep wound
IN his neck, at the same time cutting off the
tip Of his ear, but did not touch the spine. or
any important bloOd-Yessel, and the wound
had no other immediate effect than to en-
rage him. He turned towards the boat a
moment, showed set of tusks that would
have done honor TO wild boar, and gave a
growl more like that of a lion than ANYTHING
else ever card. He did not attack the
boat at this time, but struck out with all his
might for the nearest island. He was now.
ertul swimmer, and the two>onrsmen had no
light task to head him off AS we came un
with him again, he eluded the second blow
aimed at hum with the axe, and it was lost
overheard, which left US with no weapon but
the knife.
AS we came up with him the third time.
gave him two thrusts in the neck with the
kne, one on each side of the spine, sending
the blade up to the hilt. He now turned mn
on us and attacked the boat, growing with ler-
rlhc herceness. As he came up, | gave HIM
several thrusts with the knife, AVOIDING the
passes he made with his powerful laws, one
conclusion of which would, no doubt, have
broken or taken off my arm. Striking the
bow, the blade of the knife bent nearly
double, rendering it useless for the time. 1
then seized the pine paddle and gave him a
blow upon the skull that shivered the paddle
III peices, but which seemed to have no eff
feet whatever on the bear. He now got one
paw upon the gunwale of the boat, and seiz
ed it with his teeth. At this critical moment.
the oars were brought into requisiuon by the
mate and crew, and several well directed
blows from them coming down upon him at
once, forced him to relinqush his hold upon
the boat. Had he succeeded in getting into
the boat, we must have retreated into the ele
ment he had just LETT, or Jared worse. He
now sought safety again in flight towards the
island, which he had considerably neared dur
ing the night. We Immediately pursued again
and l improved the time to straighten NV
knife blade, and as we came up gave him
another thrust in the neck, and then seized
him by the long hair upon his rump. The
velocity of the toat brought his head under
1t as was in the bow, and the men urging
the boat forward, could easily hold him in |
this position, notwithstanding his powerfnl
struggles, he having no footing upon the bot.
tom.
While struggling he struck the side of the
boat with his open paw, each nail taking
chip out Of the plank. His struggle grew
weaker and finally ceased, when we supposed
him dead and hauled him into the boat and
pulled for the schooner. We soon perceived |
that Bruin was not dead, but apparentlv |
"playing possum," We lost no time in So.
curing his hind feet as well as we could IN
the forward ring Of the boat, with A very
short piece of small, hali-rotten bemp roma |
that happened to be in it but as the animal |
began to arouse, we were not without appre- |
tensions that he might still have suAicient |
strength to break this slender fastening and |
drive us out OF the boat or escape, and having
nothing to dispatch him with, we pulled fop
the orig GENEVA which was lying near by,
and called to her crew to get an axe readv for
use. As we came along side the bear reised
up on his fore paws, and reaching with one
Of the men an incredible distance, made
pass at one OF them, just gazing his clothes
with his claws. Mr.. Paine took Al, nx hand
ca down from the Geneva, and getting be.
hind him gave him blow upon the head that
completely smashed his skull. We then mi
led to the Adriatic with our prize, proud
enough, you may be sure, of the feat we had
performed in taking him. '''N
Gan this did not occupy oyor tw eniv minutes
aud no one on board the brig mistrusled wba,
we were about until we came alonpside
with the bear. The blow on his skull ala moi
XIII him, although it knocked him down
and rendered MIN harmless. So tenacious
was he oil life that he did not dio till his ju-