Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1886-04-24


the den Of the bear, see.. in the morning,
and the Indians had followed The bears
had come home from their morning walk,
and the result must have been disastrous
10 the Indians Although realizing the
fcrocious nature Of the animal. | was not
as fearful Of him as had been Of the In
diuns. A full-grown grizzly could hard
" squeeze his uar down the drift. and
wa, certain to kill him if h. tried to-
After a bit l crept carefully forward
until | could see into the chamber. 1t
was a sight To make one sick Two bears
lay dead on the floor. and a third was
licking the blood which flowed from sew
more. had two dead Indians in the
drift and five others lay in the chamber
bitten, clawed, and torn until the specta-
Gle was a hidcous one to gaze upon. There
Was blood everywhere and upon every
thing, and pieces Of bloody flesh were
mingled and mixed with patches of IN
dian dress and firearms
While | stood looking at the horrors
the wounded bear rose up with ii fierce
growl and attacked the corpses. His
hurts drove him mad, and he wanted
revenge on the dead. | saw him put
paw on the breast of an Indian, seize
the throat in his teeth and at one single
wrench he tore the head from the body
He seized another by the leg, just above
the knee, and | heard the bones crush
like glass as his teeth shut He ierked
and twisted two or three times, and the
LEG was torn off.
1t was the frenzy of death. As The
bear bit and tore at one of the corpses
he suddenly tottcred, braccd his legs,
and then sank down and rolled over. and
soon brcathed his last | was SO spell
| bound that it was two or three minutes
| before | could move. The spectacle was
even more horrible when | stepped ont
and secured stronger light. and directly
my ncrves>were SO unstr,lng at the rccollcc-
! ton of what had occurred that rushed
out Of the cave into the open air. As
| gained the outside it struck me that the
! Indians had doubtless left one of their
! number to watch the horses As | went
down the ravinc I determined, if this
was the case, to attack him, with the
hope of wiping out the whole party,
When crcpt out of the ravinc another
bloody spectacle awaited me. The In
dian ponies had been hobblcd to prevent
them from wandering away, and none Of
the party had been left in charge. The
grizzlies had come upon the horses first,
and every one of them was dead on the
grass, aud horribly mutilated. They
had not been killed to satisfy hunger,
! but to crafty fcrocious whm.
After few hours, during which time
, returned to my own camp, to find every
thing safe, I:rc-cntcrcd the cave and Sc
cured the firearms of the dead redskins
The stuff at their camp fire consisted of
blankets robes aRm"hi'lon' ana powder
While none of the party were in war paint,
there was nothing to prove that they Were
out on hunt They had perhaps defect
cd from some march to discover what had
caused the smoke.
Four weeks later when party of hun.
tcrs from Boise City, headed by Capt
IIalh stumbled in on me. turned over tc
them, a> relics of the singular three-cor
nercd fight, the firearms bows and arrows
the claws Of the grizzlies, two full suits Of
huck>bia2. three ~calp> of white men, anC
enough pipes, beads, knives, charms anc
feathers to start a museum These relic
are still on exhibition in the Sheriff
otiic, IT Boise and bear witness that
have given YOU trIthtul narrative :,
Nc 3orb >'a..
The Tune the Old Cow Died OF.