Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1868-08-26
A Big Bear Story.
[rrom the Ludington (aich.) Record !

uelIVeFance OF q girl, ABOUT three wears
old, to its parents after being carried
off by black bear, and a search of
about thirty-six hours through the for
est by the excited parents. The facts,
as near as we can gather them, are,
substantially, as follows:
Mr.. Henry Flynn lives about thirty
miles east Of this place, at or near the
lodging camps Of Mr.. Ludington, and,
we believe, has charge of one of the
camps. lie started, one morning, to
take horse to pasture, about two
miles distant from the house and. as
he was ready to start, his little girl
appeared and seemed very anxious to
go with her father, who, In order to
please the child, put her upon the
horses back and let her ride short
distance, perhaps forty rods from the
house, but IN plain view Of it, where
he put her down and told her to run
home. He noticed that the child was
standing where he left her; and, on
looking back, after going a little fur
F., ther, saw her playing In the sand
lie soon passed out of sight and was
gone about an hour, expecting, of
course, that the child would return to
the house after playing few mo
ments.
On returning home he made inqui-
~ of his wife in regard to the child.
She stated thai she had not seen her
and supposed he had taken her with
him. On going to the spot where he
left her, he saw huge bear-tracks in
the sand ) and, at once, came to the
conclusion that the child had been
carried off by the bear.
The family Immediately made search
through the forest, which was grown
up to almost Jungle, rendering their
progress very slow. All day these
anxious parents searched for some
trace of their lost child; nor did they
stop when darkness came on, but re-
manned in the woods calling the child
by her name and, with aching hearts
would listen with almost breathless
fear to catch some sound by which
they could discover their lost darling.
Morning came, and their search was
truitless.
A couple of gentlemen, looking at
land, came to the house, and, being
informed of the circumstance, lmmedi-
ately set out to help find the child
No doubt existed as to the fate OF the
littlA ono Bot sc thnr could only Gud
where the bear had dispatched its vic
tim, they might then 90 home, with
the assurance that they were never to
see their child again. Until some
trace of her was found, there was
hope. The gentlemen, alluded to.
had wandered about; and, as they
were passing a swampv spot where
the underground was thick, they eth
er called the child or else were talk
ing loud, when one of them heard the
chIld's voice. He then called the
child by name and told her to come
out of the bushes. She replied that
the bear would not let her. The men
then crept through the brush. When
near the spot where the child and bear
were they heard a splash in the water,
which the child said was the bear
On going to the place they found her
standing upon log extending half
way across the river.
The bear had undertaken to cross
the river on the log, and, beng close
ly pursued, left the child and swan
away. She had received some scratch
es about her face, arms and legs. and
her clothes were almost torn from her
body; but the bear had not bitten her
to hurt her, only the marks of it's
teeth being found on her back. where.
in taking hold of her clothes to carry
her, it had taken the flesh also.
The little one says the bear would
put her down occasionally to rest,and
would put its nose up to her face,
when she would slap it, and then the
bear would hang its head by her side
and purr and rub against her like a
cat. The men asked her if she was
cold in the night; and she told them
that the old bear lay down beside her
and pnt it's '.arms" around her and
hugged her and kept her warm, though
she did not like its long hair. She
was taken home to her parents, who
could hardly express their JOY at her
safety.
The bear has been seen lurking
about in the vicinity, for the purpose.
it is supposed, Of again carrying off
the child The supposition is that it
is female bear. and, having lost her
cubs, came across the child and adopt
ed it. Steps are being taken to cap
ture the bear.
COLD FRITZ, who raises pigs and /