The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1886-06-24
NO. Is
A Duel with a Bear.

One day we found some of the sheep
killed and some toted off ; so Jim proposed
to 60 out and make it hot for the grizzlies
for day or so, and having nothing par
ticular on hand, | went with him. had
a couple of mongrel dogs that were the
best on bear | ever saw, so we took them
along, and the next morning about 10 they
started trail and off they went whooping,
| we following. l reckon we must have
tramped it mile or SO, when we came to
a thick piece of brush, and into it the dogs
went with rush, and the next minute
there commenced the greatest yelling and
snarling you ever heard. was packing
the camp things, and so Jim jumped
through the brush and | after him, and
| there, in the centre of small clearing
was the biggest grizzly bear ever saw or
heard of. The minute saw him drop
ped my stuff and grabbed my rifle. The
grizzly was standing on his launches spit
ting fire and froth, just waiting for them
dogs to come within reach. and every now
and then making jump at them. With
out wasting any time, Jim stepped up un.
| til he was within four feet of the beast,
then raised his rifle and pulled trigger. He
had dead shot, but / heard the click of
the hammer and knew his rifle had missed
| fire, and the next minute the bear, Jim,
dogs and rifle was a-going it up and down,
in and out, up and over, in the greatest
roughand- tumble you ever heard of in
your life. For minute l was so tuck
back at the suddenness of the whole thing
that couldn It tell what to do, and then I
didn't care to shoot, they were going about
so quick. The dogs had the bear by the
hind quarters, and were biting and chaw.
ing for all they were worth. The bear was
on top mostly, but Jim had got out his
knife and carving for all he was worth,
and it's wonder he wasn't drowned in
blood. The only thing that saved him
from being clawed all in pieces was thick
buckskin suit he wore.
I lodged about for about five minutes
waiting for chance and all at once L got
it. The brute had pinned Jim down
square by the shoulders, and was just
taking hold of him by the throat or there
abouts, when clapped my rifle to his ear
and let fly and shot him dead. Jim was
about played out, but had strength to feel
that he was being squeezed too close for
comfort. 1t took all my muscle
to roll off the bear as it laid right
on top of him, but / did, and
yanked Jim out. And wasn't he sight
His suit was in rags, regularly cut up into
strings, and his legs were almost cut to
the bone in half a dozen places. When I
hauled him to his feet he had hold of his
knife and had to drop it, as it was foot
deep in the BEARS throat, and by actual
count, there were forty stabs in the bears
hide So you can tell what kind of fighter
he was What made you shoot 20 were
about the first words he said, and then
over he went in a dead faint. and if it
hadn't been cold he'd have bled to death
before l could pack him to the doctor.
which l did, though forty miles over the
mountains. Yes, he came out all right,
but for weeks he looked like one of those
crazy quilts. That was the first grizzly,
and never heard him banker for any more
at short range although he shot good
many after that in one way or another
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