The daily gazette. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1874-1883, 1880-10-15
A BATTLE WITH A BEAR.
Wonderful Pluck of a Father mr. Son.

AsNcA Us - fhner mr. ii ANns
The Emory British Columbia) Sent;.
mel, in recent issue, SAYS: Alexander
Embree and his son Walter are livino
together on the old mans farm. abouf
iour and a half miles from the Went.
worth station. A fortnight ago, while
iatGer and son were standing in the
ned, Mr.: Embree noticed the sheen run
ning, and, on turning toward the foot
oi Tie mountain, he saw an enormous
Dear slowly creeping toward his horses,
winch were feeding on the hillside. He
immediate y sent his son for Gun and
an ak. By the time the latter returned
tEe bear was within twenty feet of one
Oh the horses, and evidently about to
spring upon the unsuspecting animal.
MI. EN- Dree was now acout sixty Yards
from the bear, which on perceiving that
ne was observed, sat up, and as soon as
Mr. Em6ree fired, sprang forward rolled
over, and then ran away. The doc fol-
lowed him, the father and son keenino
on the trail by the bloody track left and
the sound OF the dog UP the steen and
difficult mountain side, as it was almost
impossible to get through the windfalls
and growth in some places. Thew had
however, only gone mile or more when
they heard the dog returning with the
Dear on his own track. On standing
still Tor few moments, the bear came
within forty feet, apparently raging
mad.
For moment the dog checked him.
ana MT. Elm oree fired at what he SUM-
posed to be the back of his shoulder.
out 1t proved to be the brute's enor.
nous head, and he only struck him on
the lower jaw, breaking Off part of the
Jaw and one lower tusk and part of
me tusk on the other side, and that. no
uoubt, saved their lives. Mr.. Embree
instantly loaded again, but when the
monster sprang upon him the cap did
not explode. He then used his gun
over the brute's head, the second blow
leaving only the barrel in his hand. and
that appeared to produce no more effect
than a riding-whip in the hands of a
chlld. At this point in the conflict the
bear pushed hard upon his foe, when A
log from behind Mr.. Embree trimmed
him and he tell back ward. with the
monster upon him. The bear was about
taking Mr.. Embree's head or face in his
mouth, wi en- the latter thru st his right
hand into the bears mouth and caught
the root OF his tongue, but unfortunately
MS arm coming out across the animals
mouth, the monster shut it upon the
arm and crushed both bones; in the
mans own words. las easily as Won
would break a pipe-stem." The son
now came to the rescue by dealing the
brute tremendous blow on the back of
the head with the edge OF the ak. but
so thick was the monsters skin and fur
that 1t on y made a small cut.
Leaving the father with his mangled
and helpless arm tho beast turned unon
the son. He first struck the AK, knocking
itaDout thirtyfeet out of the young mans
hand, and then. Selling him by one
knee, "shook him." says the father.
as bull terrier would rat, throwing
him with one shake, nearly ten feet. -
Without even knife, the father sprang
upon the back of the bear, and thus
diverted the bear from his son. Twice
this dreadful game was played turn
about by the father and son, each in his
turn attacking the brute to save the
others life. While they were under the
bear he held them down with his front
feet and attempted TO tear them with
his hind heel. but it was too long, and
only tore the earth under them. The
final struggle was fearful. The bear
had the young man Underneath him,
and in an attempt to crush his head be-
meath his enormous jaws, for the want
OF lower tusks he was unable 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 AK, and taking it in his lett
hand, began to strike at the bears head.
the Y nftnn nnf1ainO alnoa 70 s, s.
face in the deadly struggle, and
after having given the brute ten blows
with the ak from his one hand, the bear
released his hold from the sons face and
fell from blow between his eve and ear
dead upon the bleeding body of the
young man, who, during the last strug-
gle, held firm grip of the bears tongue.
And now the father, with onea finger
bitten off and his right arm crushed,
had to help his wounded son home, the
latter having both knees fearfully man
gled and his face bitten and torn.
The writer visited the sufferers on
Sabbath evening and found them doing
very well indeed, though they will not
be able to work this year on their farm
The father is an old bear hunter, but be
never saw so large bear before. From
his 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 fearful death. The first shot the
ball passed through the bears liver,
lungs and within two inches of his heart,
away part of the shoulder blade
on its way. The Indians say the bear
must have been about twelve years old.