Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1889-09-27
A Bear in a Fix.

July 9 Jared ". Bidgood of Covington,
Pa, caught a twenty pound swapping
turtle at Lake Henry. 1t was fine speci-
men, and Bidgo0d lueged it home and put
it in a sWil barrel, intending to iatten IL
there for three or four weeks and then take
it to Scranton and offer il for sale The
turtle thrived in the barrel of loppered
milk aud refuse from the table, and it
seemed tn be perfectly contented in its new
home
Between and o'clock on the morning
of Jnlv ~ Bidgood was aroused from
sound sleep by great racket near his
milk house. and he pulled on his trousers
and boots and ran ont To see what was mp.
The moon had arisen at about midnight,
and as the sky was clear the moons
mellow light enabled Bidgood to take in
the situation at n glance, What Bidgood
saw both surprised and amused him, he
said, for he had never witnessed anything
at all like it in his life.
A 300 pound bear with the turtle cling
ing to his nose was prancing around the
yard and morting as though he was in
great pain. The bear ran up to the fence
and tried tl climb over the moment it saw
Bidgood, but the turtle got between its
forelegs, and the bear beloved turned its
back toward the fence, sat up ON its hind
quarters, and tried To break the turtles
hold by paving vigorously at the turtles
thick shell with both paws. But the turtles
sharp teeth were so firmly set i'll the bears
nose that getting them loose in that way
was out of the question, and then the bear
ran over to the other side yard and made
an effort to mount the fence. The turtles
shell got between the boards and pulled
the bears head down and the enraged brute
gave yell and rolled over on the grass.
throwing the turtle this way and that rs it
tumbled and beloved. The grip of the
turtle got tighter and tighter all the time,
and the harder the bear worked to loosen
its grip the more pain it had to endure.
BY this time Bidgood had got his rifle
and was ready to give the bear bullet of
42-calibre in the head, but the rage of the
brute manifested in its failure TO release its
wonderful nose was such an unique sort of
entertainment that Bidgood concluded to
let the bear work his tactics for a few
minutes more.
The next thing the bear did was to turn
its head as far toward its rear as it could
and scratch at the turtle with its hind foot,
but that didn't work any better, and then
it stepped on the turtle and undertook to
throw it over its head, believing loudly
and butting against the fence when the
| turtle wouldn't let go. After that, Bidgood
said he rushed at the bear with his gun
uplifted and yelled at the top of his voice,
and the frightened beast made furious
dash at the fence and succeeded in climb
| ing over, the turtle still clinging to its
nose Bdgood said that he thought the
! fun had gone far enough and he leaped the
fence and fired bullet into the bears head
| at the butt of his left ear. The bear keel
ed over and died. and Bidgood cut piece
of the bears snout off and let the turtle
| keep it as long as it wanted to. 1t kept
| the piece of snout between its Jaws for Il
hours. when it got hungry and elected it,
| Bidgood fattened the turtle and then took
it to Scranton and sold it for Sc.