The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-01-24


81 haven't hunted any in several
years." said Billy Muir, who has been
shot three times, has had three ribs
broken in railroad smash-up, has had
three toes amputated, and has been run
over three times by locomotives; "but
l remember some peculiar circum-
stances that occurred between myself
and bear, almost the first time | went
hunting. l had an old four-chambered
revolver that carried a cartridge like a
small sweet potato. 1t took an awful
pull to set her off, but when the trig-
ger went down she never stopped go
ing until the whole four barrels had
emptied themselves, sometimes all at
once, and sometimes in succession. 1t
wasn't very safe piece of ordnance to
use with all the chambers charged, so l
never loaded more than one, except
when wanted to exhibit the capacity
of the pistol. On the occasion am re-
ferring to had heard there was bear
hanging round over on the Paupack
ridge, four or five miles from where
lived. L thought there might be such q
thing as my distinguishing myself at
the start by fetching down that bear,
SO one day 1 took my rife and my pis-
tol and tramped over to the ridge. l
don't think l had got into the woods
more than quarter of mile when l
saw laundering big bear about fifty
yards ahead of me, eating wild honey
from q hollow tree which had blown
down during some hard wind. l had
never seen wild bear before, and was
consequently very nervous. but pulled
up my rifle and whanged away at the
big brute. L never touched him, and
he didn't seem to mind my shooting. l
fired three times, and every time aimed
at spot just back of his fore shoulder.
The third shot cut the BEARS tail clean
off, and it fell to the ground. This ap-
parently astonished bruin. He turned
round, picked up the tail, gazed at it
curiously for a moment, as if he
couldn't believe the evidence of his eye
sight, and then rolled himself up in a
ball, looked between his legs at the
spot where his tail used to be, and
actually fitted the severed appendage
to it. This inspection apparently sat
isfied him that his worst fears were
only too well founded. He unrolled
himself, and with growl that meant
business, started hot foot for me.
dropped my gun and made for the
nearest tree, and Skinned up it in less
time than it takes me TO tell it. l had
my pistol in my belt, and every barrel
was loaded. Ipaused on a limb about
ten feet from the ground. The bear was
at the foot of the tree ready to ascend.
He was looking right up at me,
and his mouth was open at least
eight inches. l was fearfully
scared, and my hands trembled
so that in taking my pistol out of my
belt and cooking it, it slipped from me
and fell per PUNK into the bear s
mouth. He made one gulp and swal-
lowed it. 1t didn't seem to discommode
him in the least. He closed his Jaws,
and it looked to me as if a thoughtful
expression came over his face. A new
idea seemed to strike him, as it were.
At any rate he hurried back to the spot
where had shot his tail off, stopped q
moment, and then disappeared in the
woods at the top of his speed. l lost
no time in getting down out of that
tree, SECURING my gun, and making my
best time for home. For months the
hunters tried to get q sight of that
bear, but it was no use. He couldn't
be found. Everybody thought he had
crawled off and died. A year afterward
| was standing on runway for deer on
Paupack ridge, when along came a big
bear, taking it easy through the woods.
A funny thing about him was his tail,
which turned upward like a deer's,
while bears lays fiat down. 1t gave
him very ridiculous appearance, and
could scarcely take aim at him, had
to laugh SO. The bear was close to me
and hadn't seen me. | sent ball into
him. simultaneously with the report
of my gun l heard dull, rumbling re-
port, and saw a big piece of the bear
! fly upward. Then came another report
followed by two more, and the bear
was scattered about the woods like
autumn leaves. At first was fright
ened, but it wasn't ten seconds before
| understood the whole thing. The
bear was the one that had swallowed
my pistol year before. My rihe-ball
had penetrated the BEARS stomach at
the spot where the pistol still lay, and
had hit the hammer with force enough
to knock it down. That, of course, dis
charged one chamber, and, as usual,
the others followed. This explanation
was satisfactory to me until happened
to think that my bear of the year before
was minus tail, while this one had a
tail, although funny one. l hunted
around among the remains of the late
bear, and finally found the piece that
had the tail on. 1t was bears tail
but was upside down. Closer inspec.
ton revealed the fact that it had not
originally been in that position. II
was all plain to me then. When the
bear that swallowed my pistol had
seemed to be struck with new idea at
the foot of the tree, he thought of stick
ing his tail back in its place before il
got cold, with the hope that it would
grow fast again. To carry out this
happy thought he had hurried away
picked up mis- tail, and then flew to the