The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-09-25
TIUIII IHt NHICdbO Tribune
EXTRAORDINARY FIGHT WITH A REAR.

H.
Captain Hall, of the schooner Adriatic. sends
us the following exceedingly interesting account
OF the capture, by himself and FIVE of his crew.
in a small boat, Of an enormous black hear
which they found swimming across Bav de
Noque:
CHICAGO, august 30, 1856.
TO the Editors the Chicago Tribune:
At the request of my crew, | have written the
following account of an encounter with bear.
The names of the crew are d. NJ. Payne. mate
and Z. Wetmore, Daniel McLennan, John Me.
Lehman, and George Settard, seamen. all of
whom participated in the rare and exciting
sport.
On Monday last, the 25th instant, while ".
ing at anchor, with the schooner Adriatic. ut the
head of that beautiful landlocked harbor. Petit
Bay de Noque, an arm of Green Bay, project
ing from its northern extremity some fifteen
miles into the land toward Lake Superior. my
attention was called by one OF the crew to q
large black animal on White Fish Point, which.
on examination with glass, proved to be a
very large black bear, just taking to the water,
with the intention, apparently, of swimming to
the opposite shore of the bay, which, at this
point, is over a mile wide, the distance being
divided by two or three small islands imme
diately ordered the host made ready, which took
some little time, as a spar, with sail attached
had to be unshipped. Before this could be
done, the bear had reached nearly half the dis
lance from the point to the first island, and it
became necessary to use dispatch, in arder to
prevent his gaining footing upon it for, with
the weapons we Lad, 1t would have been mad
ness to attack such formidable monster on
ahHa dhfh goat ta.s, Vas manned with four oars
Vi. tn ofna
a rudder or fifth oar, of which we were minro
Ihe wind was blowing very strongly from the
n1ortnward, being about aheam ror the bear an5
ulrectiy ahead Tor Gs. In our haste, we tooL
no weapons but an old dull AK and a common
oreao hniie-indeed, we had no other. unless
we haa taken some hand-spikes, and one ~ ,ryo
more knives, similar to the one wa sook, bnt
which were not Just at hand. '' "O'
= Inc Dear Wsg aHnething q qnsrta- or Ill
lrota ~ when We started. ~ -, Vi a i"lle ne
gooa oarsmeu, and y. .. { soon overbanIsS T Rrn;n %
:. "' &c reaching him, two of the oars were
Inshlpped, one being taken in place of the pad
die to steer with, by Mr.. Payne who managed
the boat very adroitly in the sinuous chase
which followed. One of the crew TAKING the
ak, and myself the knife, we stationed ourselves
forward, ready for the attack. The bear swan,
from US as we approached, and Wetmore. who
had the ak, aimed a blow at his head. intending
to cleave his skull, but struck little too soon
lntiicting deep woundin the neck, at the same |
time cutting of the tip Of his ear but did not |
touch the spine or anyimportant blood.yessel.
ana the wound mad no sther immediate effect |
tnan 10 enrage him. lie turned towards the
boat moment, showed a let of tusks that wonId
nave done honor to wld boar, and gave a
deep growl, more like thai of a lion than anv'
hing else ever heard he did not attack tbe
boat a this tine, but strlck out with all his
p : ~ ior tne nearest island He was a powerful
vi ana the two oasmen had no light
900 W head hlm of. AS we came m with
-" again, ne eluded the second blow aimed a,
III WIN tne ak, and it was lost overheard
"'on ien us with no weapon but the knife :
. we came mp with him the third time. gave
lm Two thrusts in the neck with the knife ono a.
eacn side of the spine, sending the blade in !
70 the hilt. lie now turned upon ms. and
lacked the boat, growing with terrific fierce. =
'Ss' .s AS ne came up, gave him several thrusts
~ VI tne kniie, avoiding the passes he made y
va mn MS powerful jaws, one conclusion of which
,uu So uoupt nave broken or taken off nv .
H. otriking the bow, the blade of the knife y
inn q ~, uouDie, rendering it useless for the -
adde in pieSseeIlz seized the pine paddle, and gave :,
feet whatever upon skull that shivered the Y
ne paw upon the gunwale orHd to have no q
sized il with his teeth. AT this criucu. -.s =;
,ent, the oars were brought into requisition by
Ne mate and crew, and several well directed
lows from them, coming down upon him at
nee. forced him to relinquish his hold upon
,e boat. Had he succeeded in getting into
ne boat, we must have retreated into the eie-
,ent he had left, or Jared worse. lie now
ought safety again in flight towards the island,
,hich we had considerably neared during the
ght. We Immediately pursued again, and l
improved the time to straigbten my knife blade,
md. as we came up, gave him another thrust IN
ba neck. and then seized him by the long hair
non his rump. The velocity of the boat brought
lie head under it. AS was in the bow, and
he men urging the boat forward, l could very
,asily hold him in that position, notwithstand-
ug his powerful struggles, he having no footing
mon the bottom. While struggling, he struck |
he side of the boat with his open paw, each |
nail taking a chip out Of the plank. His strug- |
Ties grew weaker, and finally ceased, when we
supposed him dead, and hauled him into the
boat. and pulled for the schooner. We soon
that Bruin was not dead, but appa-
rently playing possum." We lost no time in
his hind feet as we'll as we could to the
forward ring of the boat, with q very short piece
of small, halfrotten hemp rope that happened
to be in it; bat as the animal began to arouse,
we were not without apprehensions that he
might still have sufficient strength to break this
slender fastening, and drive US out of the boat,
or escape /; and having nothing TO dispatch him
with, we pulled for the brig Geneva, which was
lying near by, and called TO her crew to get en-
ak ready for use AS we came alongside, the
bear raised up on his fore paws, aud reaching