The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-30
SERGT. LONGS SHOT.
A BEAR KILLED WHICH SAVED THE
GREELY PARTY FROM STARVING.
Weakened Men Excited by the News
That Bruin Was in Their Ncighbor-
hood.A Long Chase Over the Ice-Kin-
ing the Brute.

ing the Brute.
Sergt. Francis Long, of Brooklyn, a survi-
vor Of the Greedy Arctic expedition, tells the
following bear story, which has hitherto been
scarcely more than mentioned in the accounts
OF Starvation camp He says: "The day
before we came to our last round of rations I
had discovered the tracks Of q bear. had
followed them about until / was exhausted
trying to meet the beast, but had utterly
failed. This day a light snow fell in the
morning, Just enough to obscure the trail,
afternoon and returned to the camp. Brain
erd had gone to the shrimping ground and
was still absent when l laid by my gun
Suddenly he appeared, running down Gene
terry ridge as fast as his poor weak legs would
bring him. We all started up and waited
his coming in the most painful excitement
When he reached the camp he fell to the
ground all cut of breath. The men crawled
to his assistance and two of them raised his
head in their arms He gasped and looked
at US wildly.
"'Brairerd,' exclaimed the lieutenant
what Is itr
"'Bearl bearr was all he could answer, in
choking whisper.
"'Where, man, wherer 1 cried, reaching
for my gun. all trembling and guivering with
hope and fear.
"'There, he said. family, pointing towards
the ridge; he followed after me; he's
coming
IN A PERFECT FRENZY.
"How can tell the terrible excitement that
Prevailed The men were in perfect frenzy
Cruel suffering had made them worse than
unreasonable Some OF them could think of
nothing but cursing poor Brainerd for not
killing the bear, and were with difficulty re-
strained from falling upon him to wreak ven
geance. He did not take his gun with him.
Nobody ever did who went shrimping, and
they cursed and raved ut that and burst into
tears at their last chance for life Others
and they were the weakest men in the
party-were for starting out at once for an
all night hunt over the snow fields and ice
bergs Nothing could be more foolhardy.
They couldn't have gone beyond the top Of
the ridge without breaking down, to say
nothing OF carrying n gun and firing ac-
curately. The lieutenant used his authority
and my influence to quiet the men, and at
last the plan Of the hunt was arranged 1t
was really only q few minutes, but it seemed
an hour. Jan, the Esquinau and / started
up the ridge to meet the bear if he should con-
tinue towards us.
Hardly had we got a rod from the camp
when long white nose appeared over an ice
covered rock at the top of the hills The men
set up shout anil l think it unnerved me,
but it was a long range shot, nearly 800 yards,
and the target wa small. / raised my gum
and, taking quick aim, fired. The ball missed
but it did not go wide of its mark. The bear
was startled. He paused just too short time
to give the Esquimau n chance at him and
turned tail and ran. heard the howls and
groans Of disappointment and rage behind
me- believe that some of those poor half
starved, halffrozen men would have shot at
me In their anger il they hid had their guns
at hand.
Jan, said hastily, take the course to the
left and go round the ridge and keep well to
the west so as to get between the bear and the
water l will go in the same way on the
cast
THE faithful Esquimau understood the plan
at once, and set out without a word.
crawled to the top of the ridge as fast as
could, and saw the bear a long way out Of
range still on the run. He turned round for
q second and looked back, and then as if
satisfied that he was pursued, continued his
flight. didn't 60 straight after him, but
keeping out of his sight as much as possible,
crawled, and ran, and slid up and down the
icy slopes, making all the time for the wat :.
was feverish with fear 1t seemed as il
every possible obstruction got in my way,
and many a time 1 fell to the ground. 1t
was n terrible chase May 1 never have
another like it!
LONG CHASE
1T seems incredible now, but / actually
went ten miles out Of my way to get i'm front
of that bear l knew that he would stop run
ming when he got over his scare and saw no
body in pursuit, and had to take this round
about course to keep out of sight Mighty
little of that distance was passed on the run
Most Of it was crawled. But had no idea of
giving up. l plunged ON, and at last, two
hours and half after leaving camp, gained
the position I wanted l climbed a low hill.
and there was bruin l 600 yards away, sitting
down after his hard run, within thirty feet of
open water. had not succeeded fully in my
plan He could still escape, but his back was
toward me and did not despair Almost at
the same moment that saw the bear I dis
covered Jan, the Esquimau, at some distance,
and We both made for the beast With the
utmost care not to alarm him we crawled
over the ground, approaching nearer and
nearer to our prey. We had got perhaps half
the distance when Jan raised his gun and
fired. l think it was bad Judgment, for we
might have got much closer. But there was
no time for regret. Excitement gave me
more strength, and ran with all my might
straight toward the bear. He got ND and
looked at me, and seemed not to know whether
to run again or stand and make a fight of it.
resisted the temptation to fire at him until
was within $50 yards. Then stopped run
ming, threw my cap down, pulled off my nit
tens, and acted as deliberately as if / were
practising at target. My excitement seemed
to leave me, or, rather, to make me steady. I
took a long, careful aim and fired The bear
turned slightly, but it was evident that had
missed fired again quickly. Another miss.
MY heart sunk low. Jan had not been able
to get another shot, and was not now where
he could fire with any hope of hitting The
bear began to make for the water Ready to
die with despair il should fail again, took
another long aim
THE bullet struck the bear in the head, and
he tumbled over instantly, stone dead
1T was $50 O'Clock, and the place where
bruin fell was three miles in a straight line
from camp. We left the 400 pounds of food
lying ON the ice and returned to the anxious
a c-ef helm In, hrin