News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-08-12
A FINE TIME WITH BRUIN.
"REMINISCENCES THAT A VETERAN
SETTLER TOLD 'ROUND ACAMP.
FIRE.

Good Deal of Trouble In TRAPPING and
Transporting the Bear, hat $40 was n
Big dncement-However, tho Beast
Behaved Badly, and the Railroad COM
pany Spoiled the Speculation,
Away back in P ke County, July 8,
we were smoking our pipes after a saw
ory supper of trout. for which we had
whipped the alder bordered mountain
stream all day. Old Joe, CUR camp
factotum, who has lived in the woods
for fifty years, fell into a reminiscent
mood and spun off yarn after yarn
about his own exploits and those
of fellow -woodsmen. The bear and the
panther entered largely into the struc-
ture of these reminisceAces, and if the
ghosts of all Tie Specimens of these
wild animals that Old Joe has sent 10
their last account, according to his
stories, could have then and there ap-
peared, the woods certainly would not
have been broad enough to accommo-
date the shadowy packs and herds.
"The rippinist OF struggle with a
bar hit ever had" said Joe, "was on
q railroad keer, the first an unly time I
ever rode on the keers, an I've been
down on railroads ever sense, an fight
shy of 'em. were huntin' back on the
Paupack Ridges one fall. The railroad
had list been built up through the
Lackawack Valley, an all the folks tht
lived thin ten miled of it was crazy to
ride on the keers. A city chap ez had
ben huntin' over on Paupack had lef'
word th't he'd give $40 to any one ED
ketch him live bar an oliver it at
the mouth O. the Lackawack. | heerd
O. the offer, didn't wait fur it to git
cold fore were on the trail o. that $4O
hunk O. meat. l dropped a few traps
aroun' in the swamps, an one fine
mornin' in October foun' nice fat, half
crowd bar in one of 'em. He objected
to bein haltered, an l had to rassel
with him over an acre or so fore l could
coax strap 'roun' his snout an hitch a
rope TO his hind leg.
''Pooty soon we began to biz along
like blue racer after a huckleberly-
picker. l sot thar gawkin' roun' the
keer and wonderin' if the gol-darn
IQlD0 WOuittu'J DuSJ SOIIlb ~ lore we got
to the Mouth, wen feller come a tear
in inter the keer with his face whittier
thin dead mud suckers snoot an his
hair standin' up like the prickers on a
chestnut burr. His eyes were bigger
an shineyer thin a ehiny nest-egg.
90 Great Gabriel he hollered, run
MIN up to me, yer dod blasted bars
fetched loose says he. He's treed the
baggage-master,,' he says, 'an' is iist
more thin wipin' up the floor with trunks
and things says he.
But 1 got thar by an by, an yanked
Mr.. Bar inter the Paupack settlement.
fur the mouth of Lackawack, but the
folks all said ez that wouldn't be hardly
a fair shake lords the railroad, witch
orter be Encouraged for spendin' its
money to give that part O. the country q
chance to ride on the keers, an that
orter give it the job O. cartin that bal
an me down to the Mouth. 1t wa'n't
stitch a powerful stretch cross kentry tC
the Mouth, but if | went by the keers
had to walk nine miles to git to 'em
an then had bout eighteen miles furdel
| to ride. But not wantin' to hev the
railroad throw it up th't | were going
back on 'em, an sayin' th't thar wan
no use o. buildin' keers if nobody e
patternize 'em, yanked my bar the
nine miled to the deepo an loads him
in the baggage keer. | wanted to take
| him in the keer with me, but they
wouldn't let me, an l right up an tol
'em to their teeth th't l thort they wa
putin on durn many airs with fel
ler who'd logged all the way in from
Paupack jist to help their darned oil
railroad along; but they only kinde
laughed an snickered, an l tied m,
bar in one corner O the baggage keer
an went forrid an foun' seat fur my
self in t'other keer.
"Wall, WANT p'tic'larly worked VI
bout the baggage-masher, AID ez flu
trunks an things they want mine, an
| want thar to keep an eye on 'em
But that bar was sumpin' th't mean
business fur me, an had started to gi
him to the mouth O. the Lackawack
an l didn't tend to let him spile hissel
chawin' trunks. So l piled back inte
the baggage quicker'n a chlpmunl
could run a panel O. rail fence. Sarte1
ez beeswax thar were Bruin iist havin
leetle cellybration an high OF break
down. TIL was a beam runnin' crost
WAYS O. the keer, not more'n foot iron
the roof. The baggage man wer
squeezed in 'twixt that an the roof
howlIn' fur somebody to fotch a gun an
kill the bar. He hadn't no coat tail
to speak on, an the seat O. his pant
were gone; so | c'ncluded to wunst tn
mebbe my bar had kinder reached fu
the baggage man ez he clumb onter tn
beam. The bar has got his muzzle off
an had busted open three trunks ar
hustled a consid able O. toggery 'roun
an bout the keer. He were list goin
ter Famine inter the contents O. tn
fourth trunk wen l bounced in ar
grabbed him.
ltd did yer hearts good to hev Sc
wat follered. Talk about rascals! Tha
were rough an tumble th't feller witt
snap in him could jist laid back al
inj'yed. An wy not That bar wer
wuth $40 to me alive, but he wan
wuth $40 to me ez hide, meat an taller
So l didn't wanter kill him, We kin bet
an jist buckled inter him to git hir
down an muzzle him ag'in an taste
him. In less'n two minutes | hadn
hardly clothes 'nough on me to make
ball o. carpet rags, but | were boun' t
save that bar if had to go hum dresse
no better'n Adam an Eve was arter tina
leetle apple-cut O. their'n in the garden
"We fit an we fit, me an that b'a
did, up an down that keer, an the ha
an rags flew like chaff out'n thrashir
machine; but fur all that, if it hadn
ben fur piece o the properest kin
O. good luck, I'd had to cart him in c
dead ez beefed steer. The train fellel
got kind o. tired O. seein' me an tn
bar maxim mince-meat o things in thu
keer, an so a couple of 'em come
pilin' in with axes, an in less'n a mil
ute more they'd pounded the life out
the bar; but fort'nitly. the slidin' doc
on the side o. the keer were open, a,
fore either o. the fellers could Git
whack at the bar, whizzl me an Brui
went a-sailin' out'n that door like
Fourth O. July baloonl
Lucky? Wall, l sh'd say SO.
happened tht th'were the pootiest kin
of raftin' freshet in the Lackawac
an at the pint whar me an the bar gc
off'n the kcers the train were runnil
clus along the river bank, witch wei
sumpin IKE thirty foot high lust thar.
never let up an inch on the hug | ha
on the bar, an the bar never Ioosene
his clinch on me, an we list went dow
that bank ez slick ez if we'd a ben bi
Injin-rubber ball, an bounced more
twenty loot out IN the river, an lande
suuar' in the middle of a raft n, save