Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-05-10
A Fight with a Bear.

We make the following extract from
hunting story entitled "The Big Bear
of Wannetola," printed in st. Nicholas
for May. The incident took place in
the back country of Arkansas, in the
year 1860, and the hunters were Harvey
Richardson and the narrator. They
were after q big bear, whose depreda-
tons had made him the chief topic OF
conversation; and they started odt with
their dogs early one November morn
ing:
"Just at day-break, we came to a
crossing of the bayou where we felt sure
the bear must pass on the way to his
den. Harvey placed me, the dogs, and
himself. A fallen tree wss in my front,
and though its interlaced roots I could
see 10 every direction. Hardly had we
completed our ambush when q quick
movement of one of the dogs startled
me. But, in moment noticing that
his looks were directed toward the Qross-
ing, !, too, looked thither and heard the
sound of heavy animal sauntering
slowly over the sodden ground and APP
proaching my lair. In an instant o pair
of yellow eyes glared at me, and with
as wide look of surprise as there was
in mine. Recovering myself l fired at the
monster, which appeared like a huge,
animated black cloud as he rose up be-
fore me. The brute disappeared with
the smoke of my gun, but in moment
l was startled by the report and shock of
q second discharge. The other load of my
gun had been accidentally exploded.
Looking in the direction that the bear
had taken, I saw he had run along the
other side of the fallen tree and met at
thu farther end the two dogs, when he
turned about and came toward me at
his most rapid speed and in savage hu-
NOR. Then there was a fearful crash
and rush. The black mass came on,
with eyes cleaning, and bewildering me
with the reflection of their glare in the
sunlight.
81 was conscious that my gun was
useless, and so instinctively grasped nv
pistol, but found it hopelessly entangled
in my belt. For q second. despair came
upon me, but a sudden revulsion arous-
ed every sense and prompted me t. de-
tense for life. Quickly drawing my
knife, it was presented at thrust as the
dark mass sprang at me.
cat this moment, one OF the huge
dogs leaped at him so fiercely as to divert
the monsters attention from myself and
make him miss his bite. He reared,
and as he again came down on his fore
feet and was in the act of going over
the bank, l plunged my knife to The hilt
int fka IS
He turned and made terrible snap at
my legs, but at the moment l fell back
ward over bush, and so we all went
into the bayou together, floundering in
the water and mud
81 scrambled to the edge of the
slough, and watched with intense
anxiety the result of the battle. In
another moment, and when the bear
had nearly reached the farther side of
the pool, desperately fighting with the
dogs every inch of the way, l heard a
rushing sound and the whirring flight
of more of the pack as they sprang
over me. In the same instant q fash
shot out from the brown barrel of Har-
vey's rifle, and the bear rolled over,
though he still feebly fought the pack,
and kept on fighting to the last moment
of his existence. To my modification,
an examination of the huge carcass
showed that my shot had not made any
visible mark on the animal, and that
my knife had not quite reached his
heart. Harvey's shot had killed him.
The weight of the savage animal was
over five hundred pounds. DIR. 1. E.
Nagle, in 81. Nicholas for May.
The melancholy days have come,