The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-03-15
MEN BRUrEs.
Killing an OK with the Fist
Wrestling with Bears
Whipping q Bulldog.
New YnPk a,1n1

Whipping q Bulldog.
New York SUM-
Even among sporting men there IL
q disposition, In this country at least,
to look askance at men who pit them
selves against beasts in combat. One
of the fairest things of the kind was
the fight, q few years ago, at OrOville
Butte County, Cal, between Jack
Powers and q grizzly bear. Jack was
a famous character ION the slope" in
those days, mainly owing to his in
tense dislike for all persons who
came from Jackson County, Missouri.
The memory Ofsome injury done him
in remote times by somebody in that
part of Missouri forever ranked in
his bosom, and whenever he heard of
any man from jackson county with
in 100 miles of him he would seek out
that man and whip him within an
inch of his life. Many triumphs
gave him such confidence In himself
that. in q moment of enthusiastic
recognition of his own merit, in
spired largely by ''tarantula juice"
he proclaimed his ability to whip a
grizzly bear. Some person. doubtless
in secret sympathy with the outcasts
of Jackson county, offered to bet him
$3.50 that he couldn't, and the match
was promptly arranged. A big griz-
ely, wild savage and hungry, was let
into an enclosure, and Jack, armed
only with a large and reliable bowie
| knife, sprang in to the encounter.
| The proceedings we're very animated
though not p%rotracted. Jack succeed
! ed in plunging the knife into the
| animals heart, winning the fight.
but he was so badly cIawed and
| chewed that it was at first thought
his injuries would prove fatal. and, |
though he eventually recovered, n
long time elapsed before he resumed
his operations on Jackson county
emigrants. /
Bears ale very agly animals ia a
f1ghr, as many q hunter and trainer
of animals has proved K his cost.
They are very powerful brutes. agile
as cats almost for all their clumsy
looks, are natural sparrers Of no mean
ability and good wres' lers as we'll,
have very powerful jaws and sharp
claws, and are treacherous and cuu-
ming. Old "Grizzly" Adams, OF CAL
ifornla, who had probably trapped,
fought, and killed more bea's than
anybody else mot even excepting
Pike county's "Old Settler, "-ust d
to say that there was more Deepen l.
ence to he Put on a panther. or even
q woman, than on q bear. The bear
has a way of slouching along by his
keeper, seemingly Indifferent to his
presence and never looking up to
catch his eye, and suddenly wheeling
on him and seizing him by the leg.
That was the way one of them came
near to killing Harry Jennings q few
years ago, when he had his place in
White street. The brute had him
down, and would have finished him,
no doubt, but for the courageous
attack on it in his behalf bv his fam
GUS fighting dog, Waterford Jack.
The wrestlers Christol and Bauer
have both wrestled with bears before
the kublic in this city, but the pre-
cautions were alive VS. taken of hay-
ing the bear securely muzzled and
bis claws trimmed. But the public
always looked on the contests as the
mere hippodroming of a man with
his trained beast, and never took
to the sport.
It has recently been rumored that
John l.. Sullivan might, could,
or should 'knock out'' a bull
by blows of his fist. It is by no
means impossible that he could. A
London butcher. Bill Neat, it ia said.
knocked down an OK with q blow of +,
fist on various occasions, and 1t is =
asserted that a big butcher and great
in New York years agone,
named Harrington, had done the |
same thing. AS such things are con-
Quoted, it is a mere question between
the hardness of the animals skull. !
and the force of the blow dealt. The 7
bull or OK is hoodwinked, and the /
blow is treacherously dealt when he
expecting no danger, just as the
butcher would fell him with an ak.
Only a few months ago a darkey in l
Philadelphia had brutal fight with '
bulldog. He whipped the beast, s
out was very severely torn. A short, 4
surprise party sort Of a fight between q
man and a big mastiff came off in i
he old Sixth street market Of Gin y
,innati, in 1856. A butcher named
had a mastiff that he was =
'ather proud of as a dangerous dog. ii
butcher, named Bowling, r
offered t. bet $50 that he could whip
he dog. The bet was promptly :
aiken, and after business hours the
central aisle in the market place wa 4
feared for a space of some thirty feet !
he butchers and other men cr0wding
lrouud to witness the fight. The
,rute dashed at the mans throat.
Bowling, a very powerful man, had
'raced himself firmly, and as the dog 4
'prang at his throat, seized him firm 7
y by both sides of the neck, used the =
.nimal's impetus to aid in swinging
he dog in a circle overhead aud
hen brought his body down on the q,
tone floor with a slam that jounced |
he breath out Of him. The dog lay
for a minute or two, and then
rawled back under his masters
tall.