St. Paul daily globe., 1888-01-29
BEARS IN A SNOWDRIFT.
How a Hunter Stirred Up Two
Lively Animals and Slaughtered

How a Hunter Stirred Up Two
Lively Animals and Slaughtered
Them.
Just as he had struck match he
heard bear Snarling and growing in
the dark den, and he backed from under
the rock and grabbed his ak. Before he
had time to turn around with his face to
the hole an enormous bear issued from
the darkened space and struck him in the
small of the back. There was so much
force and weight behind the big paw
that Wilcox was sent spraWling over
the edge of the bluff into a Snowdrift
fifteen feet below. He struck on his
hands and knees and was very nearly
buried in the newly dritted snow, hay
ing lost his AK and almost all his breath
in his headlOng plunge. One of his
wrists had been sprained by the fall and
he was otherwise bruised, but his first
thought was TO regain possession Of his
AK.
So he fioundered out of the snow as
fast as he could, but before he had got
hold of some saplingS that he was
struggling to reach, in order to pull him.
self up to the side of the ledge to a
point where he thought his ak might
be. the maddened and apparently hun
CRY brute clambered over the bluff and
plunged at him again, forcing him into
the snow up to his waist. AS good
luck would have it the bear landed in
snow up to his belly, a little to one side.
and when Wilcox came to his senses
again the bear was roaring Savagely
and wallOWing with all his might to
reach Wilcox. The snow was a godSend
to the wOodchopper, for the more the
bear tried to reach him the deeper he
got i'll the drift, and while the roaring
beast was fioundering around and MAX
ing every effort he could 10 crush the
wOodchopper Wilcox worked himself
out of the drift, says the New York
Sun.
All at once he felt tremendous
thump in the back, and the next thing
he knew he was sailing down the bluff
again. In his flight he saw the bear
still walloWing in the drift, and he
wondered what the mischief was the
matter. Wilcox caught hold of
small tree and thus stopped his
flight and then he saw that he had been
tackled by second bear, and that this
bear was making for him. His fingers
were numb with the cold, but he pulled
off his mittens in a hurry, and got his
lack-knife out Of his pocket and opened
1t. 1t was the only weapon he had, and
He clung to the tree with his left arm,
the wrist of which had been sprained,
and in his right hand he held the knife.
An instant later the bear bore down
upon him and nearly forced him from
the sapling. He jabbed the blade into
one of the bears eyes and
made the animal finch. With a
murderous roar the bear rushed at him
again, and lie pierced the other eye with
tie sharp point of his knife, still cling
ing to the tree. Again the bear tried to
get at the plucky wood-chopper, but it
had been blinded by the knife thrustS,
and Wilcox saw that his time to
slaughter the brute had come. He
put OIL his mittens again and
rushed at the blinded bear, stabbing it
in the threat. His knife was so small
that one thrust failed to draw much
blood, and the bear thrashed around
so much that it was three or four
minutes before Wilcox got another
chance at it. After awhile he succeeded