Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1885-11-25
SOME BEAR STORIES.

ScAC1cHdH WHOSc uOm0 Is ucCOIdCtu
with four or five ugly bears skulls.
He is Mr.. Silas M. Locke, and he is
proud Of these trophies. Twenty years
ago he was a photographer in Lewis
ton. To-day he is thriving farmer
and the most successful bear-hunter on
the Swift River. Last June he killed
his thirtieth bear. He was a Jumbo.
His pelt measured seven feet from tip
to tip when it was tackled up against
the barn-door. 1t was one of the big
gest bears ever killed IN that region.
Think of bear standing up seven feet!
The news of the killing of such an i'm
mense brute spread rapidly and far,
and before the skin was dry Mr.. Locke
had half dozen applications for it.
He sold it for $15, and it now is rug
in a wealthy New York gentleman 5
house.
There are three bullet-holes in one of
those skulls, and they suggest to Mr..
Locke that bear is not easily killed.
Il shot that fellow in trap with my
rife," Mr.. Locke told US. "When the
first ball hit him saw the blood ooze
out, but he merely brushed the side of
his face with his paw, as if fly had
bitten him. I fired again. The bullet
hit him, but didn't even jar him. The
third time I fired laid him out.
Zone of those skulls fitted a bear
that gave a spring when he saw me
coming and landed in maple tree ten
feet away, with the trap hanging from
him. He dropped from that tree and
gave another jump, which took him in
to another tree, equally far from the
first one. That bear I killed last
June dragged two traps half way
up the mountain after he was
caught. I laid two heavy steel traps.
fastened together with clevis, and
then attached a heavy clog of green
beechwood to them. The bear man
aged to detach the clog. / don't see
how in the world he did it, as there
was limb on one side of the hoop and
spike on the other. but he did it and
started off. A fallen tree finally caught
the traps and he couldn't clear himself.
I tracked him up the mountain and
killed him.
Two toes of bear adorned Mr..
Locke's mantel shelf. ''Those belong
to bear that I mean to have, some
day. he said. II have had HIM in a
trap four times and perhaps five. My
neighbor Porter has two more toes,
which, think, came from the same
paw. I can tell by his track that there
is only one claw left on it, and l am
satisfied that the same paw got into and
out of Porter's trap. If ever get him,
1 must shoot him. It's of no use to try
to trap him. He knows too much.
I suppose I have set traps tor him fifty
times. I set one right into blind way
that an old dog fox walked right into
and was caught, and you know an old
dog fox is supposed to be the shrewdest
of the four-legged tribe. 1t was right
in old Monsters path, but I could
see where he had carefully gone around
it.
eyes, call him old Monster He
has killed a lot fmy sheep. He strikes
them with his forepaw, breaking their
ribs and tearing open their vitals. He
hits an awful blow. Bears never at
tack sheep with their teeth till after
they have killed them. Then they gen.
orally skin them and eat the meat.
Sometimes they take off the pelt so
neatly that it is salable. This old
Monster tears the pelt into strips, and
eats bones and all. OF the last sheep
he got could only find one hoof and
the slit pelt. I have been after him for
years, and I wouldn't begrudge a
month s time if I could kill him.
IL once found his home among some
berry bushes on Cave mountain. 1t
looked and smelled like barnyard. l
took up yearling lamb, tied him there,
and set three spring lambs for odd
Monster One of them was my Sharp's
rifle, loaded with pointed bullet, and
the other two were shotguns loaded
with ball and buckshot l arranged
wires so that if he should attempt to 90
into his home by either of the well-worn
paths-bears always travel in beaten
paths-he would spring one of the guns.
l kept that buck there for about week
but, old Monster did not go near him.
His mouth must have watered, but his
sagacity told him there was danger in
the bushes. @
lone time put three traps into his
wash-hole. You know bears never
wash in running water. They always
have some muddy pool in which they
roll. afterward rubbing themselves dry
against tree. found old Monsters
wash-hole and caught him there once,
but he got clear of the trap. He did
not 90 near that b ole for year. When
I found out he was going there again /
fixed three traps in the bottom Of the
hole and covered them with soggy
leaves. He came there, jumped in at
an unusual place, as though he smelled
danger. and the jar sprung one of the
traps but did not get him. I could see
the marks of the great scattering and
scratching he made when he heard the
click of that trap and bolted away from
the pool. know by his tracks that he
is a larger bear than the seven-footer I
killed last June"
MIR. Locke has daughter who is
quite bear-hunter. The young lady
teaches the district-school, besides &C.
companying her father on his bear
trapping expeditions.
An Affecting Incident.
During a hearing of divorce case
in Chicago few days ago an affecting
incident occurred. In the midst of a