The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-24
A STRANGE LOT OF PETS.
Two Young Bears, a Dove and SPUR.
rel that Live in Amity.
From The Ner0 York Tribune.

4 -~-~-~
west of this place, is great hand to catch
and tame young wild animals. His little
menagerie is very interesting, and Mr.. Cass
and his family take good deal of comfort
with the intelligent members of the collec-
ton OF duadrupeds First in order are two
tame yearling bears named Nick and Tige.
They are plump. playful, and cunning black
fellows, and the manner in which Mr.. Cass
got possession of them is worth telling.
A year ago last May, George Leasher,
one of Mr.. Cass's nearest neighbors, got
sight of a she bear and three cubs while he
was trudging through piece of thick hem
| lock woods on the west side OF a mountain
that is locally known rs Panther Hill.
Leasher didn't modest the mother bear and
her young ones then, but he told Mr.. Cass
! about her. and in a day or so Mr.. Cas-,
| Leasher and wOodsman named jerome
| Multer took a couple OF dogs and went in
search of the old bear and her three little
i ones. Mr.. Cass carried a rifle, and they
started out with the intention of capturing
| the cubs and letting the mother live, in case
she shouldn't give them too much trouble.
her hide was good for nothing at that time
in the year, and they made up their minds
to let her live if she behaved herself
The three men surprised the old bear and
| her cubs at about the spot they expectedsto
run across them Mr. Cass led the dog.
| Leasher and Multer carried axes. They
| came upon the mother bear and her young
ones so Suddenly that the cubs sought
safety by DESERVING their mother and climb
| ing to the top of O big hemlock tree. The
| cubs were three months old, and they went
to the TOP of the hemlock in short order.
AT this the old bear mounted a log directly
u, derneath the tree where her cubs were.
walked back and forth, snorted, growled,
and showed a determination to stay there.
| The dogs wanted to get at her. and after
awhile Mr.. Cass let them loose. They soon
drove her from the log, but she wouldn't
leave the neighborhood, and in the rumpus
one OF the dogs got hurt. Then MIR. Cas-
fired off his gun, and the old bear tore
through the woods and disappeared.
1t was sixty feet up to where the cubs
were hugging the limbs, and how to get
| them down without injuring them was the
| next question. The men finally decided
that it would be necessary to have a bed
cord, and Multer started off after one
! While he was gone, Leasher chopped a
hemlock so that its top lodged against that
of the tree in which the young bears were
trembling, and when Multer returned,
Leasher took the BEDFORD. climbed up the
slanting tree, and got into the top with the
cubs.
ssesHe wanted to hitch the cord around one
cub at time and lower it from the tree, but
the first cuo that he tried to catch scram-
bled out too far on the limb, lost its hold
and tumbled to the ground Mr.. Cass put
out his hands to catch it, but the cub was
falling pretty fast, and it went right
through Mr. Cass' hands, struck the earth
and as stunned. 1t soon came to all right.
and Leasher let the other two down with
the cord. They were the cubs that Mr.. Cass
now owns The other one Leasher kept.
but before it was six months old it got tau
gled In the rope that held it to it's pen and
hanged itself
Mr.. Cass had good luck with MS cubs
and he tanned them inside of a month He
began to call one of them Nick right away,
and the other Tige, and it wasn't long be-
fore they answered readily to their names.
Then he trained them to follow him. taught
them to be kind to his other animals. and
made them know their places. At times
Mr.. Cass confines the bears in log pen
with q fiat roof. Whenever ne doesn't care
to let them tag him over the place or
through the woods, he chains them to the
side OF the pen with chains so long that
they can climb upon the roof if they
want to. Nick and Tige are fond of
cheese, all kinds of meat, and above all of
honey and maple syrup. At the upper side
OF the yard that slopes down to the fence
there is little trough. Both bears cannon
get their noses IN it at once, and the moment
that their owner lets them loose in the ward
and places little honey in the trough there
is a lively squabble. If Nick reaches the
trough first, Tige grabs him around the
neck with his paws, pulls him away from the
sweet morsel, aud down the slope they roll
over and over one another, until the fence
stops them Then up they spring, and for
the trough they scamper ding I'D ths
bout by another tumble down the hill And
so it goes until Mr.. Cass puts bit of honey
In anotner spot, where one of them can lick
1t while the other is nosing in the trough.
The most interesting creatures on Mr..
Cass' place are tanned doe named Roxy.
and Spry, very intelligent setter dog
Roxy has been there year longer than the
bears, but she has never given birth to a
fawn. Two years ago last summer, when
Roxy was very small fawn, Spry caught
her in the woods ON Peachstone mount-
ain Mr. Cass was rambling through the
woods at the time. The dog accompanied
him. and every now and then Spry trotted
ahead of his master, dacted among the
| thick, low LEAKAGE, and was out of sight a
good part OF the way. Presently Mr.. Cass
heard doe snorting furiously in the bushes
short distance to his right. He hurried TO
the spot, and there stood the doe stamping
viciously with her fore feet and snorting
as though something had molested her little
one.
Searching around quickly, MIR. Cass soon
| found the fawn. She was lying by the side
of log, and Spry was holding her down
with his paws. He had not injured her at
all, and he didn't offer to bite her. He
seemed to regard the helpless little animal
as q nice playfellow, and when Mr.. Cas-
spoke to him he wagged his tail, licked the
fawn and mussed her over very tenderlv.
MIR. Cass lugged the fawn five miles to his
home. and from that day to this
the dog has shown most
remarkable affection for her.
bleat from Roxy win bring Sprv to her
side in q hurry, and he viii get fighting
angry it anybody abuses the doe. They
play together great deal, and at night
Spry and Roxy sleep in the same nest. At
word from Mr. Glass; the doe will rear up
and walk all around the dooryard on her
hind feet. Whenever she does this. Spry.
without being Id, gets upon his hind feet
too, and marches around behind Roxy. If
the doe happens to wander off into the
woods when the dog isn't near her. he
hastens to hunt her up as soon as he finds
that she isn't anywhere around the premises
Roxy is just as fond of Spry as he is Of her
and their antics together are amusing
Last winter Mr. Casss old cat caught
fine gray squirrel and brought it into tho
house by the nape of the neck. Puss hadn't
hurt the squirrel very much, and she placed
it on the floor and was going to torment il
"a spell before she killed it. Mrs Cass turned
the cat out of doors. and, seeing that there
Ill e. -, 81,