Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-09-13
A A b AID A BEAR.
Old Bruin steals "a Child and
Makes Pet OF IL.


Henry Flynn, who resides up in the
hills, neal lnskip, CAL, is in town to.
day, and had the following incident to
relate, in which a bear, Of the CHINA
mon species, abducted his three year
old daughter, not with any desire to
harm the child, but through a strange
kind oil aifection. Itappears that Mr..
Flynn started one morning to take a
horse 70 pasture, about two miles dis
tant from the house. aud, as his little
daughter seemed anxious to go, he put
her upon his horses back and let her
ride q short distance, perhaps forty
rods from the house, where be put her
down and told her to run home. He
noticed that she continued standing
where he left her, and, on looking
back after goinga little farther, saw
her playing in the sand. He soon
passed out of sight and was gone about
an hour, expecting, of course, that
the child would return to the house
after playing a few moments. On re
turning home he made inquiry about
her Of its mother, who said she had
not seen her, and supposed be had
taken her along with him. On going
to the spot where he left her he saw
huge bear tracks in the sand, and at
once came to the conclusion that the
child had been carried off by the bear.
The family Immediately made search
through the forest, which was grown
up almost a jungle, rendering their
search very slow. All day those anx.
ious parents searched for traces of
their child; mol did they stop when
darkness came on, but remained in
the woods calling the lost one by her
name. Morning came, and their
search was fruitless. a couple of
gentlemen from below, who are tray
cling through the mountains buying
stock, came To the house, and being
informed of the circumstances, imme.
diately set out to find her. The gen
tleman wandered about, and as they
we're passing a swamp spot where the
underground was thick, called the
child, or else they were talking aloud,
when one of them heard her voice.
He then called her by her name and
told ner to come out of the bushes.
She replied that the bear would not
let her.
The men then crept through the
brush, and when near the spot where
she and the bear we're thew heard a
splash in the water, which the child
said was the bear. Ga going to her
they found her standing upon a log
extending about half way across the
swamp. The bear had undertaken to
cross the swamp on the. log, and being
pursued left the child and got away as
rapidly as possible. She had received
some cratches about the face, arms and
legs, and her clothes were almost torn
from her body; but the bear had not
bitten her to hurt her, only the marks
Of his teeth being found on her back,
where. in taking hold Of her clothesto
carry her. he had taken the flesh also.
The little n says the bear would
put her down occasionally to rest and
would put his nose up to her face,
when she would slap him, and the bear
would hang his head by her side and
purr and rub against her like a cat.
The men asked her if she was cold in
the night and che told them the old
bear lay down besides her and put his
arms around and kept her warm,
though she did not like his long hair.
She was taken home to her parents.