The Colfax chronicle., 1888-12-15
turbed that he pitched at the Dutch

| AuOuS COOu u0 AkdQ SIlOhO0 OuO nO
started to run, and the way he yelled
for help, with the bear almost on his
heels, was comical enough to make a
jackass laugh. He roared and beloved
a good deal louder than the mad bear
did, and his little dog put his tail be-
tween his legs and got out of sight in
no time. One OF my men rushed down
and split the bears head open before
he had done the Dutchman any injury,
but the frightened greenhorn didn't
stop running till he got clear out of the
woods. Then we chopped the tree
down and found that the bear had
made himself a very comfortable nest
in shoulder Of the big trunk. He had
holed up there before the snow fell,
and there were no tracks around the
tree. sWe never could get the Dutch
man to smoke out any more coons after
that.
"Many years ago wonderfully large
bear had his home among the thick
scrub oaks between Tobyhanna and
Stauffer's mills. 1t was impossible for
any body to get at him or to get q shot
at him when he stayed among the oaks.
He had killed number of dogs that
were foolish enough to tackle him, and
he had lugged many a sheep and pig
into his hiding place. Two or three
hunters had got glimpses of his head,
and they told me that he was SO old
that he had begun to get gray around
the chops. They said that he was the
biggest. Oldest, savagest and cunning
est bear that any body had ever seen
in that part of the Pocono region. He
had torn his foot out OF one trap, and
after that they knew his track when
they saw it in the snow, but they
couldn't get the old fellow to jump into
q trap again.
81 had heard so much about the gray
old bear and the mischief he had done,
that along in December concluded to
spend week trying to trap him, and
to give him up as too tough and cunning
for me If didn't succeed in catching
him at the end of that time. So on a
Monday morning l had one of my boys
drive me to the place in sleigh.
took two Of my best traps along and a
lot of fresh meat for bait / had nv
rifle and good sharp hatchet, too, and,
after had looked over a part of the
rugged region in which the old gray
bear was supposed to be in hiding, l
made up my mind that trap set in a
certain hollow near one of his runways
would be pretty apt to catch him.
II knew he hadn't holed up for the
winter, because I found some of his
tracks, and because he had stolen
sheep from Ly Sander Bushnell only
day or two before. So / set one of the
traps In the hollow spoke about,
building up little higher fence than
usual around 1t, and fastening the trap
to a good-sized log that 1 knew he
couldn't lug away very fast. Then
hung the bait up about six feet from
the trap and left 1t. The other trap 1
set in the same way in another hollow
fifty rods to the southeast, hitching the
chain around stone that would weigh
in the neighborhood of thirty pounds.
Three mornings went and looked at
the traps, and each time found them
just as had left them, and began to
think that my week would be fooled
away.
"But on Friday morning found that |
the old bear had been around, for, by |
the life, when l got in sight of the first |
trap l saw that the bait had been re-
moved, while the trap hadn't been |
touched Looking closer, saw that a |
bear had leaped clear over the fence
and trap, hooked the bait, and then
pushed the fence down near where the |
bait had hung and mogged of. That
was mighty cunning trick, thought,
and began to believe that all the |
stories / had heard about the old gray |
bears carryings-on in the scrub oaks
we're as true as preaching. judged |
BY the leap he had made that he was a
long-legged and long-bodied old rascal, |
and gave up all hope of ever getting
him. Then sprung the trap and put
It on stump, and after that started
'or the place whore had set the other
rap.
"What do you suppose found when
got thereP Well. by the life. found
hat the bait was hanging just as had
put 1t, but the trap wasn't there, and
hen knew that there was some fun
lhead. had caught bear, as sure
vs. the world, but whether it was the
I'D gray one or not / had yet to find
tut. The tracks in the snow were those
II large fellow, and this fact led me
o hope that had trapped the gray
awed one that SO many men had tried
o kill. Jha stone at the end Of Tho |