Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-09-29
SINGULAR ESCAPES
The Adventure OF ~ ~. LO0Is Man
In the Back Hills.

The Adventure OF ~ LO0is Man |
In the Back Hills.
DeadwOod Cor Cincinnati Enquirer.
A few days ago a man named |
Montgomery Smith, hailing from
st. Louis, had two singular and
narrow escapes rolled into one. He |
left a camp about thirty miles up |
the Hills to bring letters here to |
post, and in trying to shorten the
distance little he lost the regular
trail and got into a bad bit of coun-
try. While hunting for the trail he
came across fresh signs OF Indians,
and while Aurrying out of the
neighbOrbood he ran directly upon
large brown bear which was
sleeping ON the sunny side of
thicket. The thicket was on side
hill, and 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, inhicting
slight scratch on one leg, and then
set off after the miner with the in
tention of eating him for dinner.
The flight led over broken ground,
and up and down a ridge, aud then
along the base of a broken ledge.
Knowing that the bear would
soon oyertake him, Smith had his
eyes peeled for some place of ref
uge, and he found a good one.
Close to the ground was a rift in
the ledge made by part of the rocks
settling down or crumblihg away.
He saw it when only thirty feet
away, and the bear was not a hun
dred 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 so small that the victim
would be there oyertaken and de-
voured. He had dropped his gun
to aid his flight, and running at full
speed he made dive and went into
the crevice head first, raking
enough hide off his shoulders and
t back to make a pair of baby shoes.
t 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 couldn't
do, owing to his stout shoulders,
: but for quarter of an hour Mont
q gomery 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 full length
t and look into the fiery eyes of a
, bear which could get within four
f feet of him and wanted to come
nearer. Bruin didn't give up try
ing till he had sadly cut and bruised
: himself against the stones, and his
) snarls and growls put more reli-
gious thoughts into Smiths head
J than had ever lodged there before.
The bear couldn't get him, but
neither could he get the bear. He
had nothing to shoot with, neither
food nor drink, and yelling at a bear
to clear out and go home has no ef-
feet in this rarified atmosphere.
The mouth of the crevice 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, prob
ably fishing for plan by which he
might get something better than
roots for dinner, when the miner
caught sight of three Indians creep
ing along on the trail he had made.
They had, perhaps, followed it for
mile or more, and must have
known that the bear had the first
claim. The red skins had Just come
into view when they saw the bear,
the bear saw them, and Smith
"saw" the whole thing, and was
willing to go one better.
The meat under the greasy deer
skin worn by Indians ranks next to
white mans meat, and these West
ern bears are always ready to take
the " next best thing" This bear
looked in on Smith in a despairing
manner, and then made bee-line
for the red men. They fred at him
once apiece and then turned and
ran, and after about three minutes
waiting Smith crawled out and
made 2:40 time till his breath gave
out.