The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-03-19
Wrestling With q Bear.

Times gives this scene from the daily
life at the Hot Springs, Ark: A street
car passes, drawn by melancholy-look-
ing mule. On the car hangs a placard:
BLACK DAN AND THE BEAR
WILL REsTLE TO-DAY
AT CASTLE PARK.
/ board the car and am carried through
an entirely new part of the town, north
ward of and above the Arlington The
valley widens again. We pass the Jo-
sephine cottage, the Avenue hotel and a
number of very pretty private residences.
These become rarer after awhile and at
last the mule is trudging between the
tracks over country road. Again the
strains of martial music assail my ears
and l discover third band playing fu
riously in one corner of little twO-acre
enclosure. A man at the gate relieves
me of a quarter and I am free of the
place.
There is a cottage in the rear occupied
by Frenchman as a restaurant. In one
corner, chained to tree, lies a gigantic
bear.-the biggest black bear ever saw.
A notice is pasted on the tree:
BEER FOR THE BEAR
% CTS.
dred or so of spectators / do not like to
show Ignorance by inquiring the meaning
of the placard, but quietly wait Pres
emily young man, evidently not a mem
Der of a red-ribbon society, gently APP
proaches the bear, who looks at him
lazily and blinks his eyes. The young
man displays bottle of beer. The big
beast (the bear, l mean,) rises on his
launches and licks his jaws in token OF
approval. The biped, after one or two,
feints, rolls the bottle over to bruin, who
seizes it, uncorks it with his teeth and
takes a tremendous pull. After a rest he
takes another. This time he has emptied
it, and letting it roll to adistance gazes
at it with an expression half melancholy
and half comical. Treating the bear"
is daily amusement with the visitors
here. His powers are great. He has
been known to make away with twenty.
five bottles at a sitting, or rather squat
ting, without hanging out any signal OF
distress or behaving himself otherwise
than as perfect bear Whether he had
headache the next day or not no one
knows.
"Timen is called for the wrestling
bout, and negro in a ragged suit OF
clothes steps forward and prepares foI
battle. This, it seems, is Dan. The
bear at first seems disinclined to move,
but is prodded into activity by the blows
and insults heaped upon him. He shows
considerable skill ami does not lose his
temper. Occasionally he handles Dan
pretty roughly. In the first round Dan
pulled a hat of some tough material
down over his eyes and made dash at
bruin, The latter lodged, and, clutching
Dan, who had slipped and fallen back
ward into the bears hug, laid hold OF
his arm with his teeth, pinching il
severely, as was evident from
the expression of Dams face. The
negro finally freed his other arm and
struck bruin a terrific blow on the snout,
at the same time shouting: What's de
matter wild yo' bari" The bear loosened
his hold and Dan hauled off for repairs.
After pausing to regain his wind Dan,
evidently little disheartened, made an
other rush, but the bear stopped, caught
him nimbly, and falling backward, flung
him bleeding and half -senseless into a
pile of rubbish twenty feet away. Poor
Dan picked himself up and retreated
toward the house, turning from time to
time to bestoW farewell curse upon his
late adversary, whose eyes shone with a
merry twinkle as they followed the
vanquished man.
1.-THE show" was ended, and the crowd
made a rush for the bob-tail cars.