Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-09
BEARS FREEZE no DEATH.

Ranchman sehnss Tefs About the Cold
Westher that Drove 3 ears to Seek Fire,
Denver News
Ranchman J. G. Schiles, who is now in
Denver, will probably never forget an
experience he had st his ranch near
Piedra Psrada, during the cold spell in
January. Pieds Parade is q small settle
ment south Of Pagosa Springs, in Archu-
leta county, snd is the last place between
Psgosa ana the New Mexican lire. Mr..
Schiles only went in last summer. and
mas comfortable little house under the
shelter OF the foothills. His present visit
is the ftst tine that he has been away
from the ranch in four months. The
weather preceding the cold spell in
January, he saYs, had been beau
tiiul, and he was out on the
range every dSy. On January Is it
begsn TO get cold, and the thermometer
dropped from 46' above z5ro to 150 below.
Or, the following day it went down with
lightning rspidity, and his spirit thermom-
eter showed So below atnjghtiall Each
day for week was colder, and the lowest
point attained by the mercury YVES, if his
thermometer is accurate, 50 points, which
was noted in the afternoon of Jan. II.
Mr.. ScaileS remained at home during
the cold spell, and for four days did not
lesve the house. On the opening Of the
third cold day be noticed that deer and
bear, which had been unusually plentiful
during the winter, began to come down
to low ground, and on the morning of the
fourth day he opened his door TO get some
wood, but Was brought 10 at close range
by low groWl. Upon looking up he saw
four bears within twenty feet Of his cabin.
They were gres big fellows, and Mr..
Schiies made up his mind to have one.
He got mig rife, out the bears seemed to
diviae his motive srd got out of range.
The dense cold prevented him from fol-
lowing, sni after laying in enough wood
to LIST two or three avs, and filing his
water barrel, he went back into the house
and remained there until the cold weather
had passed.
During the day the bears returned, snd
deer End two antelope, the first he had
seen for u yeSr, moved duwn into the
immature valleyi in which his shack stands
That night the weather was 30 cold mat
Mr.. SCbiles WAS sfraid to 20 to sleep, and
kept roaring fire in the stove all night
The night was made hideous, he says, by
the coyotes and bears. The animals
pressed close against the house, and he
could hear them t1ghtiag for places par
tlcularly neSr the two windows from
which the light emsuated. Once or
twice one Of the animals, probsbiys bear,
would dash Sgainst the house, as If
to break it in, and the deer were heard
altering plSintive cries during the night.
At 8 O'Clock Mr.. Schiles drew lis spirit
thermometer In from the roof by way Of
the chimney hole and found the thermouI-
eter still at So below, the same that it
had been twelve hours before. He thinks
1t WSs great deal colder, and thst the
chemicals had been frozen. The night
was terribly l0rg one, and ct O'Clock
in The morning, when Mr. Schiles Rwoke
from snort nsp, the animals had moved
aWsy, and the weather moderated con
siderably, the mercury showing only Is
points below zero.
Ga opening the door OF his house,
which he did cautiously, he sew TWO
bears, deer and d coyote lying on the
ground. The deer sud coyote had been
killed during the night by the bears, but
the two bears had no marks and had evil
IDENTIFY frozen to death, IS their bodies
were rigid. TIE snilers On one OF the
deer were broken { f, and the coyote hor-
ribly mAugleG.
TIE animals thSt had been ABOUT the
night before hsd disappeared, and were
not seen by Mr.. Schiles again, He says
that the Wezther continued to mCderate
and is now like spring.