The Arizona sentinel., 1888-07-21
TEASING A BLACK BEAR.
An Exciting Chase in Jacksonville.
 Florida.
A Cracker Who Thought He Would Like to Find Out Exactly How Mad Bear Could Get-A Success
 full Experiment.

Of course it was a common Florida black bear, and, although not quite full grown, his activity and enterprise fully compensated for his youth and ineXperience.
 The bear being of greater bulk than the panther or wildcats, always ex- cited the greatest fear in the mind of the visitor. Whoever came to the menagerie always steBbed in front of the bear, wondering and fearing, and said: My! I'd hate to meet him alone in the woods!'' All visitors, from the bloated capitalist of the North to the cadaverous cracker of the back woods, met on the common ground of that great original remarkable same that every mammal taxi derInist hears about a thousand times a year. Black Joe, who took care of the animals, always took it as a personal tribute to himself and the success which marked his management of the stock. He began to expect it of every visitor, and although he was satisfied to have one member of a party say it for all the rest, if it was ever omitted entirely he took offense at being defrauded of his just due, and the way he would stir up the animals with long pole was a caution to cata- mounts to make a better showing of and al fiI1on
 Black Joe's bear was not really sav- age, nor was he exactly tame, either ''sorter betwixt and between" as a cracker once expressed it. He was tame enough to keep chained to a stout pole in the yard, but not tame enough by half to ever let loose. To Joe he was tame enough, and even friendly, but when that was said it was all said. No one else dared take any liberties with him, or even trust him self within the circumpolar regions he had marked out at the end of his chain. No one but Joe ventured to pass the dead line, for Billy's we'll developed teeth and claws always seemed to be loaded and at full cock.
 One day cracker from up the river came into town with an OK team and a load of wood, and in the course of his post-commercial wanderings about town he finally fetched up in the back yard, where the live animals were. He was long, lank and slab-sided. He wore old gray trousers tucked into old gray boots, long-tailed coat, and long hair. In his hand he carried his ox-gad, a stout supple-ended switch, about six feet long, which soon devel- oped into a storm center of the first magnitude.
 The cracker came to a halt in front of Billy, who sat curled up with his back against his post, at peace with all the worA, and looked at him with that preoccupied, day-after-to-morrow air common in people who have few thoughts and seldom use them. He said never a word in regard to meeting him alone in the woods either at night or any other time. Black Joe was V, and when he saw that the great original remark was not likely to get in on schedule time he felt defrauded and scowled darkly on the unconscious cracker. At last the sphinx spoke. "Ugly?" he asked of Joe, pointing with bis chin at the bear.
 ''You bet he's ugly,'' said Joe, em- phatically. Don't ye go near i'm or he'll ketch holt of ye quicker'n double geared lightnin".
 The stolid native showed signs of being interested. The bear certainly did not look very thirsty for human gore as he sat there playing with his chain. The cracker thought that just as like as not it waren't loaded, and that feller was just trying to skeer him. Leastways he'd see.
 He reached out with his ox-gad, and with a gentle flick brought the tip of it nearly across Billy's well-shaped nose. Instantly the bear sprang up and came to ''attention" and ''front face" The cracker backed off step or two. then reached forward with his pad and vibrated the supple end of ii SD near the bear that it switched the end of his nose. With savage growl Billy sprang forward to the end ot his chain, which brought him up with Jerk and made him madder still
 Let dat beas aloner' said Joe, in tone of authority ''Ef e gets loose, ell claw ye all to pieces, sho. An mos wisht he would, too," he added to himself. 'I do hate to see blamed fool poster animal. :"