The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1877-11-23

A few days ago, says correspondent OF
the Cincinnati Enquirer, a man named
Montgomery Smith, hailing from St. Louis,
had two singular and narrow escapes rolled
into one. He left camp about thirty
miles up the Black Hills to bring letters
here to post, and in trying to shorten the
distance II little he lost the regular trail
and got into a bad bit of country. While
hunting for the trail he came across fresh
signs of Indians, and while hurrying out of
the neighborhood he ran directly upon a
large brown bear which was sleeping on the
sunny side of thcket The thicket was
on side hill. Smith was going at good
pace when he turned the clump. The bear
was so near when the man caught sight of
him that there was neither time to halt
nor chance to turn out, and bruin was
cleared by flying leap. He made
stroke at Smith as he went over inflicting
slight scratch on one leg, and then set
off after the miner with the intention of
masticating him for dinner. The flight
| led over broken ground, up and down
ridge, and then along the base of brok-
en- ledge.
Knowing that the bear would soon over.
take him, Smith had his eyes peeled for
some place of refuge, and he found good
one. Close to the ground was rift in the
ledge made by part of the rocks settling
down or crumbling away. He saw it when
only thirty 1eet away, and the bear was
not hundred feet in his rear. There was
no time to guess whether the crevice was
big enough to admit the man, and too
small to let the bear in after him, or 80
small that the victim would be there over
taken and devoured. He had dropped his
gun to aid his flight, and running at full
speed he made drive and went into the
crevice head first, raking enough hide off
his shoulders and back to.malke pair of
baby shoes. The bear wasn't ten seconds
behind him, and as Smith reached the back
end of the cave, which was not over six
feet deep, the bear put his head into its
mouth and tried to work in his body
This he could not accomplish, owing to his
stout shoulders, but for quarter of an
hour Montgomery Smith was doubtless the
worst frightened man in North America.
There was room enough for him to turn
around in, but he was compelled to lie at
lull length and look into the fiery eyes of
bear which could get within four feet of
him and wanted to come nearer. Bruin
did't give up trying until he had sadly cut
and bruised himselfa against the stones, and
his snarls and growls put more religious
thoughts into Smiths head than had ever
lodged there before. The bear couldn't
get him, but neither could he get the bear.
lie had nothing to shoot with, neither food
nor drink, and yelling at bear to clear
out and go home has no effect in this rar-
flied atmosphere. The mouth of the Gre
vice was ten feet long, and Smith could
look out over his trail for forty rods or
more, no matter at what point the bear
was. The animal was walking up and
down before the ledge, probably fishing
for plan by which he might get some
thing better than roots for dinner, when
the miner caught sight of three Indians
creeping along on the trail he had made
They had, perhaps, followed it for mile
or more, and must have known that the
bearhad the first claim. The redskins had
just come into view when they saw the bear,
the bear saw them, and Smith saw the
whole thing, and was willing to 60 one bet
ter.
The meat under the greasy deer, skin
worn by Indians ranks next to white mans
meat, and these Western bears are always
ready to take the "next best thing" This
bear looked in on Smith in despairing
manner and then made Decline for the
redmen. They fired at him once piece
and then turned and ran, and after about
three minutes waiting, Smith crawled out
and made 240 time until his breath gave
out