Morning journal and courier., 1889-05-09
Great Days for Bears.

From the Banning (Cal) Herald.l
 A contest by Messrs Gird and North over 8 portion of the Potrero Indian reservation, near Banning, is in progress. Daniel Sex
 ton was put on the witness stand recently
 before the United States commissioner, and
 made the following remarkable statements:
 On cross examination Daniel Sexton de-
 tailed some bear stories of such fabulous proportions that we have begged the stenog- rapher for @ verbatim copy. We do not as- pire to eclipse the Arabian Nights Enter
 tainments," and would not publish these recitations were they not verified by oath and part of the records of a federal court.
 MT. Sexton's appearance he launched forth his memories of these marvellous events was picturesque. With eyes closed and
 course flowed through facile channels from a
 bounteous source.
 o. There were great many bears there in
 those days?
 A. Oh, yes! I went out one time, one
 evening from my camp, and counted fifty
 bears within gunshot of me eating cherries. Q. Wild cherries?
 wild because they didn't scare at anything;
 they didn't know anything about being hurt; the Indians never killed the bears. Q. What variety of bears were they! A. Grizzlies.
 O. Did you see that more than oncel A. MT. B. D. Wilson said that he went up the mountain here to Bear Lake, and he had he said that he counted one hundred bears at one time, and they turned out and lassoed two and two together, and they lassoed the bears, and he brought into camp eleven bears lassoed-he brought them into camp. Q. Did you kill any of thema A. think I did. I had pile of bears laying there, and when Temple came out from Los Angeles to get lumber I showed him the pile, and I asked him how much bear meat he thought there was in that pile He said he thought about ten tons. I think there was more than that, because I think there was more than fifty bears in the pile and I think they weighed more than five hundred pounds apiece.
 Q. Who killed all those bears7 A. I killed them. I harpooned them When 1 went to the rancherie they didn't know how to make a harpoon, and l took g harpoon. I set three or four, and l would have three or four bears harpooned every you had been there like was and had seen them with harpoon-three or four old griz- zlies with harpoons in them and dragging @
 log and chain after them-you would never
 forget it as long as you lived.
 2. Were there any California lions around
 there that were dangerous to stocki A. I never saw but one California lion in this whole country and killed him with an axe (may be you think that isn't so, and the way killed him was this: I didn't have 8 gun with me, and l went out to cut some timber with an Indian, and had an axe and nothing else, and the Indians dog run lion up tree, and the Indian told me to go back and get my gun, and told him you will lei him get away He was on small limb, and threw stone at him and hit him between the eyes, and that stunned him, and he turned tail and was going to jump, and happened to hit him right and stunned him
 and made the Indian get stones, and con-
 tinued to stone him for about an hour and @
 half think, and I went around and stoned
 him on the spine. I stoned him until he couldn't use his hind legs; then cut the tree down and charged on him and killed him with an axe.