Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-11-29
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BRUiN HAD HER TREEO.
How Three Bears Broke Up Uncle
Jimmy spencer's Camp.

the bear-hunter of Powell's mountain.
has had almost seventy years expert
ence as a hunter and trapper in the
fore SITS and along the streams Of the
Allegheny Mountains in Virginia and
West Virginia. and still is straight as
an arrow and as hardy as one of the
mighty oaks under whose branches he
has slain hundreds of wild animals,
and whose leafy umbrage has shelter
ed him from the storms of winter and
heat of summer. A short time since
l stopped a few days with Uncle
Jimmy. and as heavy rains had made
it almost impossible to travel or go
out of doors, we passed most of the
time around IL pleasant fire. with the
old hunter telling stories of his expert
ences and your correspondent listening
and making mental notes of many of
the most interesting. One story which
he told of his early married life struck
me as particularly unique and interest
ing and | will give it to the public just
as ! got it from the lips of the old man
hmself:
at was away back in the 40's. when
these woods were alive with the finest
game in the world, that l settled down
at this spot, My wife aud had only
been MARI ed about year and we had
been looking about for Il suitable spot
on which TO build our home. 1t is
true / have always been hunter. but
then l always had a hankering for
home-some place where / could de-
pend upon comfortable shelter and
resting place during the warm weather
when there was no hunting to be done,
and the cold blasts of winter. Well,
we had selected this spot, after some
months search. and had removed all
OF our earthly possessions which
consisted of II bed and bedstead, /. few
kitchen utensils, and three or four
chairs to this valley. There was not
a stove within twenty miles, and for
that matter there are not many closer
than that to-day. As soon IA we got
here unhitched the horses under
tree and tied them up. and while my
wife was cooking our dinner went to
work cutting down trees for the house.
! BY the evening Of the second day had
! logs enough cut into lengths TO make
4 sulull bnt-lOOulbl 10Y CdDln rs II
starter The next morning | started
out on short hunt for some fresh
meat, thinking | would be able To get
deer in the course of an hour but
somehow the deer seemed mighty wild,
and did not get n shot until about two
hours after left camp. when | knocked
over fine doe. As soon as possible was
on my way back with the deer swung
over my shoulder. went swinging
along until l got within two or three
hundred yards of camp, when heard
some one screaming and calling for
me- / listened just long enough to
! find out that the yelling came from the
camp, when l dropped the doe and
broke into n run. 10 didn't take me
long to reach il, tell you. and what
do you think / found? 1t was
comical sight, and it | hadn't been
afraid something serious might happen
would have had to lay down and
! laugh. There was the camp, sure
enough, and there were two big black
! bears, but where was my wife? The
bears were upsetting every thing and
poking their noses into every corner
| of the wagon. A bedquilt would be
/ tossed up into the ar by their paws
and it would fall over the head of one
or other of the animals. which would
scramble and scratch to get out Will
! the other one seemed to enjoy the fun.
! Then basket was knocked out of the
wagon and went rolling of few feet
with black rascal after il. just about
! this time | saw something up IN the
tree close by the wagon, which looked
/ hoI
| / didn't have to look second time,
for the object gave a shrill scream and
called for me to como and relieve her.
called back to her to keep cool, as l
was coming.
Hurry up. jim; there's big bear
climbing the tree!' she yelled.
"Sure enough. just then l saw the
big black head of n tremendous be ar
Just rising above the limb away out on
which nv wife was sitting / got a
good bead on tho fellow and shot him
through the head. and down he tum.
| bled. He wnsn't killed. but he was so
badly hurt saw he couldn't get away,
so turned my attention to the others.
! There were no breech leaders in those
DAYS, and | had to reload my gun,
which it didd't take me long to do.
When had rammed home the ball and
primed the gun took aim Mt one of
the two on the ground and let m
have it. ! must have been little ex-
cited. | guess for | only succeeded in
shooting off the end of his nose. The
fellow gave a roar of rage and pain
and came galloping right at me. l
didn't have time to reload, and barely
time to swing my gun up over my
shoulder when the bear rose right up
in front of me. Whack! I took him
on the head and Knocked him down on
all fours. but he was up and ut rue
again. gave him ripper over the
eyes and he struck mo on the side n
belt which almost Knocked the wind
out of mo. Just then Caesar, my dog.
which must have been out hunting on
his own hook. came running through
the brush with yell and caught tn Q
bear by the hind leg. This saved me
from being killed perhaps, for it gave
me n minutes time-just enough to
throw in charge of powder and TO
drop in wet bullet. without wadding
/ threw open the pan. dropped few