The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-09-14
A BEAR.
A Brnte Which Loot One Paw in a
Trap -Four Years Ago.

81" th q
Trap -Four Years Ago. -
Laporte, p, August Sin the fall OF
1853, Jacob Ehrout, d hunter and tran.
per, set a-trap for a bear near q large
swamp amongst the logging camps OF
this country, and a few miles from
Gregg's settlement. Bears were unusual.
ly plenty in the woods last year, and
one OF Immense size has been seen sew.
eral times in the neighborhood of the
swamp but it had elnded all efforts OF
hunters to capture it. The tap mon
toned was set for the special purpose
OF ensnaring this bear. In setting q
bear-trap 9 triangular pen is constructed
out of small logs or saplings. In this in.
closure the trap, which is q ponderous
steel affair, With sharp-toothed laws. is
set. From it a chain extends to the ont
side of the pen, and is fastened to a
heavy. piece Of timber. The trap is
placed so that if a bear anters to secure
the meat or honey which is placed in
the pen to attract him, he cannot avoid
stepping on the pan of the trap, the
Jaws OF which Instantly springs shut, sink
ing teeth deep in the flesh Of the
TO escape VIII 'et the en trap
is prevented by the timber t to
which it is chained, which becomes in
terlocked in the trunks OF trees and
holds Bruin captive. It happens once
III a great while that the bear succeeds
in dragging the trap and timber for
miles. but they SO retard his progress
that the trapper finds no difficulty in
coming up with him and ending his mis-
cry with . riae-ball. 1t is not an infre-
quent occurrence for 8 bear to obtain its
freedom by tearing off the imprisoned
paw and leaving it in the trap, and
many old hunters affirm that bears have
been known to deliberately gnaw of an
imprisoned paw and make their escape.
This is what the trapper Ehrout claims
the bear did which he set the trap for
referred to above for when he visited
the pen next morning he found the trap
on the outside AID fast between the
teeth the largest bear paw he had ever
bear could be tracked by the blood
from it's lacerated leg for a mile, where
u entered the swamp, which was 80
dense that no man could enter. Dogs
were set in, and from the fact that some
OF them never came out, while others re-
turned with torn flesh, it was surmised
That the bear had been overtaken by
them, but could not be overcome. Moth
ing was seen or heard of the brute, and
1t was the opinion that it had probably
received injuries from which itdied.
Early in the present season a party of
Philadelphia gentlemen were trout fish
ing IN he vicinity of the settlement, and
n day they reported having seen a
very large bear cross the creek not far
from their camp, and that when it
climbed out of the stream it limped as
II it had been injured. A hunt was or
canned, but. ALTHOUGH it lasted three
days, the bear was not found. Two
waters Of the creek, n of which killed
the dog ola hunter named Haynes, and
forced the hunter himself to a hand-to-
hand fight before it received its death
our Aboutthree weeks ago a sheep,
u pig, and a calf disappeared from their
enclosure. and a few days afterward
some children returning from school
saw a large bear cross the road within a
quarter ola mile Of the school-house.
They reported that it was very large
and only had three lsgs. No doubt was
felt that the bear had made the inroads
on the pastures and pigsties of the
settlement, but an extended hunt failed /,
to bring Bruin down, although his
trail was struck several times and fol-
lowed for miles. He exhibited more
than the usual cunning Of his k d in es-
Gaping from his pursners. 1t was
decided finally, to give up hunting for
him and to set a nightly watch at the
pastures. in the hope that he might re-
turn for more mutton or veal and be
captured. The watch was kept up with
out being rewarded until last Sunday
night. William Haynes, George Wing
and Harvey Strong were acting as sentl-
nels ut the sheep pasture of the first
named, when, about 10 o'clock, q huge
dark object was seen to mount the rail
fence not more than a hundred feet
away from where they sat concealed be-
hind a clump of elders, and limp slowly
toward a knoll OF which flock of sheep
were feeding. 1t was evidently the
much-hnnted cunning bear that had ven
tnred once more on q foraging expedi-
ton. He was a sho1. rifie-shot away,
and Haynes fired. The bear fell, but
was on his feet ina moment, turned, and
made back toward the spot where he
had entered the field at a speed which
was remarkable if he had only the three
legs he was reputed to have. Wing and
Strong sprang over the fence, and
off. Haynes followed the
bear, which scaled the fence only to
meet the other two men on the other
side. They both fred. and the bear fell
to the ground again. Once more he re-
gained his feet, and, finding himself
brought to bay, raised on bis launches
and rushed at once upon Wing and
Strong. A ball from Haynes RHO
stopped the huge brute again, however,
and he fell heavily to the ground, un-
able to rise. Another ball, which was
sent through his heart, ended his career.
The noise of the rifles gave the signal
to other watchers and to the entire set
Element, and every man, woman and
child had gathered around the PROSTATE
bear almost before he was dead. The
rejoicing was great. The bear had but
three paws, the right fore paw being
gone. The stump had apparently been
healed a long time. The general belief
is the bear was the one which escaped
from Ehrout's trap in 1879 and which,
after wandering elsewhere about the
country, had returned to his old haunts.
The carcass weighed over four hundred
pounds.
Eight Men and Two Hundred
women.