Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-04-27
HARPOONING BEARS.
Dan sexton Tells Asear stories Un-
der Oath.

der Oath.
For some reason or other people looh
with suspicion on the "reminiscences o
old-timers. The chances are ten to one, /
you 90 into camp where a pioneer il
telling bear story, gold-find story, o.
any of the wonderful incidents with
which California was rife forty or fifty
years ago, there will be found more thar
one listener who thinks the old man il
drawing on his imagination. 1t was al
ways SO from the beginning, ant
many verscious facts in history
have been entirely lost to ths
world because actual witnesses
preferred not to relate them rather thar
do so and have them doubted. Now
here is old Dan Sexton, mountaineer
trapper, Dear hunter, pioneer. If he
hadn't been hailed into court and COM
PEELED to tell under oath about his ex'
periences with bears on the Potrero
Indian Reservation, near Banning, his
very interesting "reminiscences on that
and other pioneer subjects would have
been irretrievably lost. 1t seems, accord
ing to the Banning Herald, that Dan was a
witness in contest between Gird and
North, and that after having told his
straightforward tale, he was Cross
examined upon the subject of the
original fauna of the San Jacinto noun
tain region as follows:
"Q.-There were great many bears
there in those days? A.-Oh, yes! l
went out one time, one evening from my
camp, and l counted fifty bears within
gunshot of me, eating cherries:
"Q.-Wild cherries? A.-"They were
not wild; they were not wild because
they did not scare at anything; they
didn't know anything about being hurt !;
the Indians-they wasn't scared OF the
India ans. The Indians never killed the
bears.
"Q-What variety of bears were
they? A,-Grizzlies.
"Q.-Did you see them more than
once? A.-Mr. B. D. Wilson said
that he went up the noun
tain here to Bear Lake, and
fornians; and he said that he counted
100 bears at one time, and they turned
out and lassoed two and two together,
and they lassoed the bears, and he
brought them into camp eleven bears
lassoed-he brought them into camp.
"Q.-Did you kill any of them? Al
think did. 1 had pile of bears laying
there, and when Temple came out from
Los Angeles to get lumber | showed
him the pile, and asked him how much
bear meat there was in that pile. He
said he thought about ten tons. l think
there was more than that, because l
think there was more than fifty bears in
the pile, and l think they weighed more
than 500 pounds apiece.
"Q-Who killed all those bears :?
Al killed them. 1 harpooned
them. When / went to the raneherie
they didn't know how to make a har-
poon, and took harpoon. l set three
or four, and would have three or four
bears harpooned every morning-two or
three old grizzlies-and il you had been
there like was and had seen them with
q harpoon-three or four old grizzlies
with harpoons in them and dragging
log and chain after them-you would
never forget it as long as you lived.
"Q.-Were there any California lions
about there that were dangerous to
stock? Al never saw but one Cali
fornia lion in this whole country, and
killed him with an ak (maybe you think
that isn't 30 p and the way killed him
was this; didn't have gun with me,
and / went out to cut some timber with
an Indian, and had an ak and nothing
else, and the Indians dog run a lion up
o tree, and the Indian told me to 60 back
and get my gun, and told him you
will let him get away He was on
small limb, and 1 threw stone at him
and hit him between the eyes, and that
stunned him, and he turned tail and was
going to jump, and 1 happened to hit him
right and stunned him; and made the
Indian get stones, and l continued to
stone him for about an hour and a-half,
think, and went round and stoned him
on the spine. | stoned him until he
couldn't use his hind legs; then cut the
tree down and charged on him and killed
Kim with an AK"
Now, tenderfeet who are at the very
A B @ of frontier experience, will be dis
posed to doubt many things to which
Uncle Dan deposed under oath, as repro
duced above. 1t will appear to some q
little strange that the cherries were tame
and didn't scare in those days; but then
that was time of marvels. 1t doesn't
however, require any great amount OF
credulity to believe Uncle Dams stories
about the bears. Besides, he brings in
Don Benito Wilson to corroborate him,
and Don Benito was amongst the most
sagacious and veracious of all our pio-
neers. The harpooning story would seem
a little tough if it were not sworn
to. But then it seems natural
that an old whaler would introduce
the harpoon, and we know it to be very
effective weapon in expert hands. Lasso-
ing bears, everybody knows, was COM
mon pastime in early days. Uncle Dams
recollection as to how he killed that lion
might be slightly discounted if it were
not from the fact that he gives so many
details about it. The bare, unvarnished
story of itself would be incredible, but
the details stiffen it up into solid fact. It
is great pity that Uncle Dan will keep
mum on his pioneer experiences, and
only let them out when he is On the
stand. We think he could do much bet
ter in ordinary conversation.
Those Lies still Travel.
The Postmaster here has received the