The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1880-10-21

6N..ss~sSS oSSS X
field, Mr.. Embree noticed the sheep
running. and on looking towards the foot
OF the mountain, saw an enormous
bear crouching and slowly creeping
towards his horses, which were feeding
on the hillside. He immediately sent
his son for a gun and an axe. BY the
time he returned, the bear was within
twenty feet of one of the horses. and
evidently about to spring upon the UNI
suspecting animal. Mr.. Embree was
now about sixty yards from the bear,
which, on perceiving that he was OBJ
served, sat up; and rs soon as Mr..
Embree fired, sprang forward, rolled
over, and then ran away. The dog fol-
lowed him, the father and son keeping
on the trail by the bloody track left,
and the sound of the dog up the steep
and difficult mountain side, it being al
most impossible to get through the
windfalls and underground in some
places. They had, however, only gone
about mile or more when they heard
the dog returning with the bear on his
own track. On standing still for
few moments, the bear came within
forty feet, apparently raging mad; for
a moment the dog checked him, and
Mr. Embree fired at what he supposed
to be the back of his shoulder, but it
proved to be the brute's enormous
head and he only struck him on the
lower jaw, breaking off a part of the
tusk on the other side, and that no
doubt saved their lives. Mr.. Embree
instantly loaded again, but when the
monster n o sprang upon him the cap
failed to explode. He then used
the gun over the brute's
head, the second blow leav-
ing only the barrel in his hand, and
that appeared to produce no more eff
feet than a riding whip in the hand of
a child. At this point in the conflict,
the bear pressed hard upon his foe, and
a log from behind Mr.. Embree tripped
him, and he fell backwards with the
monster upon him, the bear was about
taking Mr.. Emhrees head or face in
his mouth, when Mr.. Embree thrust
his hand in the bears mouth and
caauht the root of his tongue, but un-
fortunately his arm coming out across
his mouth, the monster shut it upon
the arm and crushed both bones, in Mr..
Els. own words "as easily as you would
break a pipestem." The son now came
to the rescue by dealing the brute
tremendous blow on the back of his
head with the edge OF the axe, but his
skin was so thick that it only made a
small cut. Leaving the father with his
mangled and helpless arm the beast
turned upon the son. He struck the
axe, knocking it about thirty feet out
of the young mans hand, and then
seizing him by one knee, shook him,
says the father, rs a bull terrier would
a rat, throwing him with one
shake nearly ten feet. Without even a
knife the father sprang upon the back
of the bear and thus diverted the brute
from his son. Twice this dreadful
game was played turn about by the
father and son, each in turn attacking
the brute to save the others life. While
they were under the bear, he held
them down with his front feet and tried
to tear them with his hind heel, but it
was too long and only tore the ground
under them. The final struggle was
fearful, the bear had the young man
under him and in an attempt to crush
his head between his enormous jaws,
for the want of the lower tllsks only
able to tear the flesh from his forehead
down over his eyes, and holding the
skin of his forehead and eyebrows in
his front teeth, shook the young man
violently. At this moment the old
man caught sight of the axe, and
taking it in his left hand, be-
gan to strike at the bears head, the axe
often coming close to his sons face in
the deadly struggle, and, after giving
the brute ten blows with the axe with
one hand, the bear relaxed his hold of
the sons face, and fell with cut be-
tween his eye and ear, dead upon the
bleeding body of the young man, who,
during the last struggle, held q firm
grip of the-bear's tongue. And now
the father, with one finger bitten off,
and his right arm broken, had to help
his mangled son home, he having both
knees fearfully mangled, and head and
face bitten and torn. The writer visited
the sufferers on Sabbath evening, and
found them under the judicious treat
ment ofDr. McDougald, doing very well
indeed, but they will not be able to work
this spring on their farm. The father
is an old bear hunter, but he never saw
SO large a bear before. From his hind
feet to the top of his head was eight
feet, so that when he stood up he was
quite out of their reach, His skin
weighed fifty pounds, and his foot was
five inches across the heel, and eight
inches long. Never did father and son
show more pluck in defending each
other from dreadful death. The first
shot the ball had past through the
bears liver, lungs, and within two
inches of his heart, carrying away part
of the shoulder blade on its way. The
Indians say the bear must have been
about twelve years old.