The Worthington advance., 1883-01-18
DOC. LANGDON'S dDVEN-
IURE,

A Former Worthingtonian Rugged by a
Bear-Close Quarters and Narro,r
Escope-De.perate Defense Nth a
1iutchtt.
The following is the account of DR..
Langdon's bear fight, taken from the
Philadelphia Times, which we promis-
ed in our last issue.
VILLA MsPoKT, Nov. 3O.-Captain
John Nj. Bowman and DIR. B. $. Lang.
dDn, two well.knOWn slWrtSnlen Of
Muncy, have just returned frem 4
weeks hunting in the wilds Of Sullivan
county. and they relate seine thrilling
adventures while in that region. l. hey
established their headquarters in the
outage ut Captain Bowman, 1t Lewis
Lake, aud, crossing that body Of water
to the mountains on the Othtr side,
commenced operations. The trophies
of the first day resulted in the killing
Of one deer. two foxes aud 4 pOrcupine.
The second day they were not so lucky,
but they discovered fresh bear tracks
leading in the direction Of the nearest
settlements, aud they resolved Oh cap.
turing bruin.
Judging f,om the tracks. the hear
was Ut great size, and extreme caution
WAS necessary to get near enough for 4
shot. The Captain carried silver
mounted Remington that Rever missed
fire. and the Doctor Was armed with a
double-barreletl shotgun. \ hatcl,et. and
an Indian pipe. obtained from 4 Sioux
chief vixen residing in Iowa. They
tailed to find the bear that day. not.
withstanding the most careful search.
On the third day, however. they were
more fortunate. The Doctor had be.
come separated from the Captain. aud
while he was in the act of clamb~ring
over the trunk Of fallen hemlock in =
laurel thicket, lie Was started by y
fierce grnwl. a, d sn pausing te recoa.
nuiter lie discovered bear sitting o,
it's hinders in tue bushes watching him.
He ackn swledses that he was startled
by the monster. which was Of enor.
NOUS size, and evidently not disposed
to retreat.
What to do lie did act know. lie
dared not use his slIutgun OH the beast
and the Captain was Not in hailing dis
tAnce " tn ms rife. As he stood de.
liberating. the bear made 4 movement
toward him, evidently bent cu mis-
chief. Its eyes were fiery and it show.
ed double row Of savage locking
teeth. The Doctor saya he felt like re-
peating the Lords Prayer right then
and there. But there was no time for
worship in the wilderness, as the bear
was moving u,.on hiia in force. He in
with ene barrel, the contents Of wi,icl,
1,,t<
This enraged the brute, aud, raising
Oh its hind legs, it rushed upon The
Dactor. who eMpticd the contents Of
the otlser barrel. In 4 moment tie
savage beast. slnartirg with pain. was
close upon him. and he could feel it e
hot bre eath an his face a. it grarlIe<i
him. He dubbed it with hi, shotgun,
but AZ the weapon descended tho bear
warded off the blow with its right paw.
and sent the gun spinnlng through the
alr.
Matters uow became desperate. Tic
Doctor found himself within the grasp
If the beast, but he retained sufficient
selfpossession of mind to resolve to sell
his life dearly. Grasping his l'atcl!et.
which Was heavy and sharp, ie raired
blows on the head of the p,"n%ter. Ev-
cJy CuV NtllC ~ Iuc bkulI o. ltN dulHtdt
and ns it reached with it's powerful;
arms to embrace him lie eunk HE ~tap
IN into its fesh to the hilt. This seem
I'd t. discancert the bear for u ,>,on.e,,,
but it s"on rallied. aud. graphing the
bold hunter, prepared to give him thu
,leath-hng. Just Hs it VIVA drawing
him into close quarters, Captain Bow
a,au, who had heard the shots, appear
I'd on tlte scen+. and, taking in the sit
uAticn at glance. sent 4 bullet crash
ing through the head cf til. bear, ard
his comrade was saved.
On releasing himself from the arms
Of the animal, the Doct"r found that
he had sustained but triding damage.
but he regarded his escape from = hor-
rible death ~ remarkable. Being =
dentist, he said he could not help ad-
miriug it's beautiful white teeth az it
came 1t him with dist~nded jaws. His
gun was found twenty feet away. with
bent barrels. and his beautiful Indian
pipe WAS badly broken. They succeed-
I'd in dressing the animal and in get
ting the carcass to the cottage, which
they found 10 weigh $40 pounds. Cap
tain Bowman says lie considered hie
friend beyond salvation when he dis
covered him im the embrace of the
beast. and it WAS only by n lucky shot
that he saved him from q horrible
death.