The Dickinson press., 1883-06-16
Three Bear Hunts.

Aou oee, poys, I'll . is HOW IL III nap
pened. l went down to press hay in
Maurlcetown, over in Jersey, q few
years ago. They told me that the place
was overrun with bears, and that the
governor offered u reward of $25 for
every bears hide brought in to him. 1
borrowed a gun and filled it to the muz-
zle with bullets. because l wasn't goin'
to take no chances, dye see? 1t was IL
dark night when half a dozen of us set
out. I'll never forget that night. You
couldn't see your nose afore We. First
of all we got into a big swamp, and 1 got
plasteryd with mud from head to heels,
and one man Rueben Smith, said he
woulda't 30 40 further with us on SIGH a
dangerous expedition because he had a
large jamily to home 0 support. | said
that | thought Reut lad more heart in
him than to leave us nike that. Not far
from Maurlcetown we were passin' some
bushes, when all of a sudden there was
the most awful yells set up that
same time there was a fearful
growing coming out Of the bushes. /
made a Decline for home. | ran for a
full mile, and fell down at the door,
done up, and | was taken i 'most dead.
l had to get somethin' strong to revive
me, and then IN Of the fellows came
in gaspin.' and with his boots torn, and
said that the bear had bitten him, and
ho'd just escaped with his bare life. No
that amt no joke.
We'll" continued Dick, ST was de-
ter.nined not to be beat, so we made an
other agreement to meet the next night
and have that bear. If it was dark the
first night it was like mixed pitch and
colored man this night. We went first
into the meadows, where the fields
We're laid out in squares and separated
by deep bitches. | couldn't have seen a
darned bear if he was standin' under
my nose; All at nee one fellow let out
the awfullest yell We ever heard. 1t
made my flesh creep.all yer One fell
low ran up agin' me and thought he
was the bear, and hollered 100 like a
good 'un. | made tracks across the
meadow and fell into a ditch. where
there was three foot of water. My gun
was at the bottom Of the ditch and we
hshed it out. l was no sooner on the
when L e e something big covered with
fur, and the dogs commenced to growl
and the other fellows shouted that the
bear was there. l bolted for home, one
of the dogs followin' me all the way, and
thought his breathin' was the breathin'
OF the bear, and | thought it was ali
over With me this time. | could see the
red Ii 1t of the Mauricetown draw
bridg ahead, and / made for that.
turnbl Z INTO bitches, trippin' up in
holes ID generally coverin' myself with
mud and bruises. l got over the draw
bridge, Ieaped over the barnyard fence
and making for in doors when | saw an
Internal elder bush movin'and Thought
that was the bear again, and hollered
for assistance. The folks came out and
helped Inc in. The old farmer said I'd
mad Il narrow escape, but not to lose
heart, because l would soon get used to
the Jersey betr huntin'. went to bed
sore and mad and determined that cart
horses wouldn't get me out to another
bear hunt.
When next day came, Renb Smith
came to me and said he heerd | had
shown tirst-rate grit at bear hunting, and
that if it wasn't for his family he would
join the boys again that night, for they
had located q darned big bear near by.
To make Il long story short, l went out
We took the swamp road, as we did on
the nrst night. I suddenly saw two OBJ
jects movin'. They were covered with
hair and looked to me as big as elephants.
] shouted out: Here they are! Two of
them! Look out! Ike White shouted:
Give them both barrels! | blazed away.
One of the big objects tuinbled down
n | felt kinder proud and said: That's
n hide, anyhow The other, howev-
er, came right on, and as l knew 1 lad
notliin' in my gun l did the streak-of-
l%igltning-act an made forthe barn-yard.
where | dropped down exhausted. The
Old tanner gave me Il big glass of whisky
10 pull me round, and then told him |
had been chased by one monstrous bear,
but that had killed; the other. He
shook hands and said he was proud OF
me Next mornin' I'LL Mauricetown was
erinnin' at Inc. Would YOU believe it?
These Maaricetown boys had put up a
job ON INC. They had covered them
selves with buffalo robes, they had made
the dogs yowl by nippin' them. Reub
Smith Had played bear in the bushes.
and they had carefully. drawn my car
~tritiges OH the last night before 1 set
out.
"That was my first and last bear hunt
you bet. Them M%auricetown fellows.
played the second game on a Philadel-
phian. lie was an Old nan and a cripple,
and do you know they scared him 90 bad
and made him jump so many bitches
and run so fast that they cured him,
and he is able to walk Just as we'll as ]
ca.n now.'-Philldelphia Times.