Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-12-28
~ ~ 81
FIGHT WITH A BEAR.
A Pennsylvania Hunters Desperate Str
..... clio for Life. 4r E

Two wood-choppers passing through
the woods of the Pocono mountains, in
Monroe county, Pa, heard faint "Hal-
10? of to their right. Looking in the
direction of the call they saw man
sitting on the ground, with his back
against a hemlock tree, about thirty
feet from where they were passing.
They went to him and found it was
John Daggers, local hunter of some
renown. His clothing was nearly all
torn from his body, the flesh on his
his face was covered with dirt and
blood. The scrub oaks were beaten
down for fifty feet around. A short
distance away from Daggers lay the car
cass OF an immense bear in a pool of
blood. In bunch of scrub oaks near
by was Daggers' dog, as dead as the
bear. It WAS evident to the woodchop-
pers that the bear had made it extreme
~ interesting for John Daggers before
giving up the ghost. The hunter, it
was found, was not suffering so much
from his injuries as from exhaustion,
and, after q drink or two of whisky
from the bottle of one of the wood
choppers and a half-hour's breathing
spell, he was able to give an account of
the contest, the severity OF which was
well attested by silent witnesses.
Daggers had come on signs of the
bear in a swamp, two miles away, at the
foot of the ridge. The dog followed
it through the swamp, and finally drove
bruin up big chestnut tree, where it
sat near the top in the crotch of two
big limbs. Daggers "drew bead" on
him and fired. The bear tumbled from
his perch and came crashing down
through the branches, breaking his fall
by frantic grasping OF limbs, and howl
ing with pain and rage, until he fell
from the bottom branch heavily to the
ground. The hunters ball had not
gone where it was intended, and Dag
gers knew he must have fight with the
bear before he could call it his. His
rifle was empty, and there was no time
to load it, for the bear had no sooner
struck the ground than il was up on it's
launches and assumed the offensive at
once. The dog gamely sprung at the
throat OF the Infatuated animal. The
bear did not halt in it's advance upon
the hunter, but, with one hug of its great
forepaw, squeezed the life from the
dog, and tossed it, limp and shapeless,
in the scrub oaks, where the hunters
found it. Daggers said the bones Of
the poor brute crunched like bark in a
bark-mill when the bear gave it the
death-squeeze.
With it's jaws wide open the bear
rushed at Dangers. The hunter tried
what hundreds of his class, similarly
situated, had Intellectually tried before
the stunning of the bear by blow
from his dubbed gun. The gun was
splintered in dozen pieces, and the
bear was not even staggered by the
blow. Daggers still retained the bar
rel of the rifle in his hands. AS the
bear was about to seize him by the
shoulders with his forepaws, he jammed
the gunbarrel into it's open mouth and
drew his hunting-knife from his belt.
The bear closed his ponderous jaws
on the iron and wrenched it from the
hand of the hunter, who at the same
moment plunged his knife up to the
hilt in the bears breast. Blood spurted
out from the wound, and Daggers
knew that his knife had pierced a
vital part. But the bear was de-
termined to die hard, and, before
Daggers could use his weapon again,
struck him blow on the side of his
head that felled him to the ground and
fora moment stunned him. T he hunter
was on his feet before the bear followed
up it's advantage. Blood was flowing
from his nose and from deep cash
that the bears claw had inflicted on his
face. Worst ofall, Daggers had dropped
his knife, and the bear pressed him so
closely that he retreated backward with
outp;cking itup, intending to elude the
clutch of bruin and watch his chance
to recover his weapon. Daggers be-
lieved, also, that the bear was so badly
hurt it could not maintain the contest
long. In backing away from the bear
Daggers struck his foot against root.
rnd before he could regain his feet the
bear jumped on top Of him and
set both his foreclaws in the
hunters shoulders. In falling Dag
gers had grasped scrub-oak branch in
his hand, and piece of it broke off,
and he mechanically retained it. It
was a few inches long, and not much
larger than a 1ead~pencil, but by using it
he was enabled to once more regain his
feet. AS the bear seized him by the
shoulders and was about to tear his
face with its teeth the hunter thrust the
stick with all his might into one of the
bears eyes. With a frightful roar the
animal rose from its PROSTATE enemy,
and Daggers sprung to his feet. But,
in spite of the partial blindness that
followed the last wound, the bear lost
none of its quickness, and before Dag
gers could get beyond it's reach seized
him by the shoulders again and tried
to get him within its deadly embrace
In the struggle for life that ensued
the hunter only escaped by the tearing
away of his hunting shirt, with which
not q small part Of the flesh in his
shoulders also left him. For ten min
utes following it was one continuous
hand-to-hand contest between the
hunter and the bear for life. In the
terrible fight they tumbled about
among the scrub oaks, Daggers defend:
ing himself with stout club he had
picked up, until the brush was fattened
down over an eighth of an acre, and
both contestants we're covered with
blood. Daggers saw with the most in
tense satisfaction that the bear was
rapidly growing weaker from thu
loss of blood, but at the same
time had grave apprehensions O.
his own tenacity. he felt himsel
growing weak and exhausted. The las
he remembered was the picking up O.
a stone that weighed eight or tel
pounds and lifting it with both hands
above his head. hurting Il at the bea1