The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-02-21
THE wILDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Desperate Encounter Between two Men
and Four Bears.

Desperate Encounter Between two Men
and Four Bears.
Pike county correspondence my .Heraldl
A few days since Burt. Hazen
and another man named Shafer,
two well-knoWn hunters of this
section, discovered the tracks of
several bears near this place.
Signs of bear at this season of the
year being q most unusual occur
renee, they determined to follow
them up, and if possible capture
or kill the animals. Taking their
rifles, Shafer and Hazen started on
their trail, and before they had
followed it great way they came
up to one of the bears. When it
discovered the hunters it started
briskly away, but was hit by a
ball from one of the rifles. This
only added to the speed of it's
flight and it was soon out of sight,
going towards the High Knob,
north of the Bloomington Grove
Park. Besides the track left in
the snow by its feet trail of blood
also marked the course the bear
took, showing that the ball had
taken effect somewhere upon it.
The wounded bear kept in the
trail of its companions, and the
hunters were confident of ulti-
mately coming upon them all in
their winter quarters. The tracks
led to the south side of the knob,
where they entered a dense hazel
thicket. Hazen and Shafer made
their way into this, and finally
came to where a large tree had
fallen, the roots of which had torn
out a large quantity of earth, by
a huge rock, forming a deep and
dark cavern. The mouth of this
was closed by laurels and boughs
broken of and evidently placed
by the bears themselves. Into
this cavern all the tracks led, ex-
cept those of the wounded bear.
This one passed on along the foot
of the mountain, leaving its bloody
trail.
When Shafer and Hazen found
that the bears were brought to
bay, they set about to find means
to get them out in order that they
might get 4 shot. They could
tell from the tracks that there
were at least four of the animals
in the cavern, two old ones and
two cubs. The hunters were
anxious that but one of the bears
should come out at once, as they
would have more than their hands
full in any other event. They
finally decided to build a fire at
the mouth of the cave and smoke
out the inmates, being ready to
shoot the instant one appeared.
One Of the men crept cautiously
up to the cavern, and started a
fire as far inside US he dare ven
ture, and then retreated. They
both stood ready to shoot. In q
short time a movement was seen
among the laurels, and the head
of huge she bear appeared. Her
actions so surprised the hunters,
however, that neither of them
fired. She coolly approached the
fire they had built and trampled
it out with her feet, and with an
angry growl retreated into the
lair. The fire was rebuilt, and
again the bear appeared and
smothered it with her paws. See
ing that the singular Intelligence
Of the brute would foil their at
tempt at smoking the bears out,
the men determined to rebuild the
fire, and when the bear again came
out to smother it risk shooting her
in the very mouth of the den.
The fire was started again, and as
before the old bear came out, this
time growing and snarling and
trampling the burning boughs in
n terrible fury. Before she had
finished, however, q ball from
Skaters rifle went crashing into
her brain. Raising on her
launches and breaking through
the tangled laurels, she rushed out
of the cave with her jaws wide
open, but fell dead before she had
taken half n dozen PAGES in the
clearing the hunters had made in
the thicket before commencing
their operations.
This lucky shot emboldeneG
and encouraged Hazen and Shafel
to continue their line of attack
After drawing the carcass of the
dead bear away, Hazen crept agar
to the mouth of the den, and wa!
about lighting another fire, wheI
the mate of the bear just killed
rushed out and raising up on it
mind feet made directly for Hazen
who had sprang to his feet wheI
he heard the approach of tn,
bear from within, but not in tim,
to retreat. Hazen stood between
Shafer and the bear, and the latte
did not dare to fire for fear O
shooting his companion. Beside.
they had not calculated on sucl
an event as this, and were total,
unprepared to meet it. There wa
, no time to lose, however, for tn
enraged brute had its immens
paws on HaZen's shoulders befor
he had fairly recovered from hi
surprise. Fortunately he had /
? its sheath by his side his huntin
!. Ratchet. This he quickly Dire
5 out, and before the bear could e
4 him in his embrace he dealt it
terrible blow on the side of til
|, head, bringing it to the groun'
: Instead of springing back out {
3 the way and giving Shafcr an Of
: portunity to shoot the anima
n Hazen continued the attack wit
his Ratchet. and the contest h