Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1864-11-10
WHOLE NO. 4I8.

mined to save this. he sold his stock of
goods, and after rennitting his "roeks" to-
bank in New Orleans. and whilst wal
ting for vessel to sail TO Panama, he was
persuaded to join a hunting party; and
. whilst on his hunt he wounded. and was
awfully mcnglcl by grizzly bear. He
came home to Texas. aad married young
lady---l was myself present at the we'd
ding; in three months he was buried. never
having recovered from the encounter. L
should state here that his was love
. match. an it was to enable him to marry
that be had at first goneto California: and
lie married his wife TO secure to her his
property, though he thoroughly knew. and
IN fact told me previous to the ceremony,
tha, he felt lie was not destinsd to see the
! new year. then some four months distant.
| II is rather extrsordinary that the
grizzly bear will not Iao'est a sleeping
msl. Tho Indians, who are close obsery-
crs, say that man reclining upon tia
ground is medicine 10 the MeeSbek Mus
quaw."
! The female has rarely more than threo
cubs, and there has been no instance
where she has failed to defend them. The
! msle. too. takas his full share of their
mutual responsibility, and it is supposed
tha. the female and ma!o pair. to a greater
extoRt than amongst many other animals.
! behaving quite unlike bear, in this re-
spect at least.
! Amongst all tie Indian tribes.
successful encounter with a grizzly bear
counts equal to that of killing warrior
on the war-path. necklace of the claws
/ forming al honorable badge quite equal to
the English Victoria Cross. At first I
was surprised that even a victory over the
common black bear was so much thought
of, as with us we DO not consider it mucl,
moro than killing deer. 1 account for il
amongst them as being led by tradition.
/ " hen they killed bear with the simple
bow and arrow. and without the aid Of
hounds, it was an exploit, whilst we use
the latter and firearms With the griz-
/ zy bear, whether il is an Indian or q
Gordon Cumming, it IS victory to be
written by the hunter in letters of gold.
That the grizzly attacks any odds is
proved by Dir. Richardson in the follow
inS narrative: "A party of v"ya9ears.
who had been employed oil day in tracking
canoe up the Saskatchewan, had seated
themselves in the twilight by fire. and
! were busy in preparing their supper. when
large grizzly Jear sprang over the canoe.
that was tilted behind them. and. scizing
one Of the party by the shoulder, carried
him of. The rest fled in terror. with the
exception of An Indian, named Bourasso,
who, grasping his gun. followed the bear
as it was retreating liesurely with its prey.
He called to his unfortunate comrade that
he was afraid of hitting him if he fired ss
the bear; but the latter entreatcd him to
| fire at the bear without hesitation, as tho
bear was squeezing him 20 death. On
this, he took deliberate aim, and dis
charged his piece into the body of the
bear, who instantly dropped it's prey to
pursue Bourssso. He escaped with diff
! hculty. and the bear ultimately retreatsd
to thicket. where it was supposed to
have died; but the curiosity of the party
not being a match for their fears, the fact
of it' deceaSe was not ascertained. The
man who was rescued had his arm fractur-
ed, and was otherwise severely bitten. but
, finally recovered. have seen Bourasso.
and can add that the account which he
gives is fully credited by the traders resi-
dent in that trading region, ~ho are best
qualified to judge of its truth from their
knowledge Of the parties"
A thousand bear-stories might be told.
a hun lred narrow escapes. and yet tha
history of the U.sus fsror remains to be
told. Seen casually. always as OH
antagonist. among mountains and ravines.
in an unsettled region, little is known
except that it fights to tho bitter end-no
chance. so far. that it should ever be
tanned, though it may be caught.