Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-01-22
BEARS OF tALAVERAS.
AN EXCEEDINGLY SMART FAMILY
OF PIG STEALERS
Henry Wilson Tells How Eruiu Entered
His impenetrabie Hog Pen-Eis Ad-
miration Was So Great That He Could
Not Kill the Thieving Brutes.

His impenetrabIe Hog Pen-Eis Ad-
miration Was So Great That He Could
Not Kill the Thieving Brutes.
Henry Wilson, of Calaveras. declares that
the bears of tuat county are smarter and have
more 'sabe" than the human inhabitants of
any other county in the state There are lots
OF them, too-black, brown, cinnamon, and
grizzly-and all as fat as butter. They have
nuts plenty and there is hardly a pig pen
in the county that they haven't raided
They got away with my pork in great
shape" said Wilson, when he was telling a
party of friends at the >Richeieu about the
surprising prevalence of ACCOMPLISHED bears
in the neight orhood of his rancho on Jones
Creek. 81 knew how bears liked pigs, and SO
| took extrs care of mine built high
fence of heavy pickets around the pens and
sharpened the pickets as..ine as needles, so that
no bear could go over them without punch
ing himself full of holes. Ia one pen kept q
dozen hogs and in another | had two sows
and two litters of fine pigs. ! saw the bears
strolllng around nights, but they didn't get
any of the hogs for some time.
The pigs were about three months old
and, as | sat around and watched them
grow, | calculated the number of rich roasts
would have out Of the lot, when one morn.
ing | missed one. There was no way for =
pig TO get out, or anything to get in, but q
pig was gone all the same. | couldn't under
staud the d lsappearance at all. Two DAYS
later another pig was missing, and in two
weeks my fourteen pigs had been reduced &c
six.
Where those pigs had gone was more
than | cUuiC make out. The fence WAS al
up, not picket was loose and the points
we're as sharp as ever | had sat up pretty
late several times TO watch the pens but
now decided 70 make an all night job of it.
| went 20 bed In the afternoon and snoreC
away until plumb dark, when | got up
loaded my + fle for the beat, and hid behinC
a log about sixty yards from my pig corral
The moon came out from behind soms
deecy clouds and shed pale light on the
premises. put in good deal of the night
bobbing my head up from behind the log
but no pig stealing ghosts, no maraudine
neighbors, no anything ever showed up.
1T was lonesome work, and | WAS getting
tired OF it, when through the haze | saw
big black bear walking along ON his hinC
feet. gesticuating with his paws, and grunt
ing complacently as he looked behind him
Another bear was following in the sam,
fashion, anC two cubs brought up the rear o
the procession. 1t seemed to me that they
were conversing together, and when the bos
of the gang pointed over TO my ranch l con
cluded that they were talking pork.
The whole outfit steered for my pig pei
and halted close to it. That didn't worry
me, as | couldn't see how the old bears coulC
get over the fence to steal my pigs. | founC
out pretty soon that | bad made the acuuaint
! ance of a very accomplished and clever fam
lily.
''The aud old marshal of the parad
Skinned up Al old oak that stood near tn
fence, made Il sign of caution to the Others
crawled out on big limb and waited fo
Mrs. Bruin, who Was following him, afte
| boxing the ears of both cubs to make then
keep quiet
Then ! saw what hadn't noticed before
The limb came we'll out over my pig pen. Tn
first old bear of this sty stormiug compan,
advanced along the limb, which gradual,
bent under MS weight until the tips of tn
bouSh touched the ground in one of the pens
His partner went out along the limb III th
same way, and when he dropped to tn
ground her weight kept the limb bent
There was the deuce To pay III the pig pei
by this time The old SOW was cbarcin,
pigs we're skipping about and keeping clos
| To her most of the time Bruin was on tn
GROUND sizing up the lay out, and when th
old SOW ma ie lunge at him as though to ri
him, he gave her a comical look as much a
TO say: oh what are you giving usP swipe,
her one on the side of the jaw and laid he
| out
Then he grabbed the fattest pig of the 10,
| htaI m xxh tci do
ner was no ding down for him and slowl,
wriggled uo toward the trunk of the tree
the she bea recedlng as he advanced
That performance just beat all my goins
a-fshing. The bears were coming down th
tree when recovered from my astonishmen
enough to remember that it was my pork tina
was disappearing Hold ON thereP yelled
that Is too stiff game, and whanged ava,
with my rifle into the tree. | didn't try t.
hit the bear, because l rather admired tn,
cleverness Of the old thief, and didn't wan
to burst up such an interesting family.
well, si', there was great tumbling anC
rustilug In the tree, the pig dropped squeal
ing to the ground, and down scrambled til,
two bears stern foremost looking good dea
discounted. As l blazed away "a few NOR
times | made little speech to the bears
Look here, said l, I'm let you off this time
but you come monkeying around my pig pei
again and you'll get hurt sure
The little bears had scampered away, ant
the she bear hurried after them soon a
she touched the ground. The big fellow
cooked his head on one side, and | think b.
winked at me as he went away.
"Well, do you know never lost any NOR
pigs. Thai pig stealing outfit of plantigrade
just took in the situation as well as | did
and we had complete understanding on th
subject OF pork from that time out That
| why maintain that the bears of Calavera.
are smarter than the bears of any othe
| county IN California San Francisco Let
ter.