Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-09-03

Bears-some Hard Fights Zig Tom Has
Had with Bruins-keeping Up a Fire
All Night to Keep the Game Up a Tree.
Around Asheville are many interesting
points, but none SO highly novel as the home
Of Big Tom Wilson, the most noted living
bear hunter in America
Big Tom has killed up to the present writ
ing just So bears, exclusive of the cubs he
has captured and killed.
He was born and raised at the foot Of
Black mountain, one of the highest peaks in
western North Carolina. and has been hunt
ing bear since mere boy.
1t is worth the ride OF thirty-fve miles on
horseback through the mountains from Ashe-
vile to visit the home Of, and see and talk
with, Big Tom.
A TYPICAL MOUNTAIN HOME.
A small log hut, with stick and mud Chin
ney, at the foot Of Black mountain and on
the edge of a small stream known as Caney
river There is not another house within
ten miles, and to any but the most expert
enced mountain guide the place is maccessi-
BILE, there being only one small gap through
the mountains by which it is possible to
reach the place, for Caney river short dis
tance below the hunters mountain bone is
suddenly lost from view and appears above
ground again miles away on the other side
Of the mountain
Thus Big Tom is monarch of all he sur
veys
Tom has a wife and fourteen children, all
of whom live in the one room Of the small
log cabin But children are not the only live
stock that Tom has, for around his home are
three large black pet bears These are his
dogs or his hunting companions.
Tom is q great burly fellow, 6 feet inches
tall, with broad shoulders and muscles of
steel His beard is long and black, slightly
tinged with gray. HIS hair is as straight as
On Indians, and hangs down over his shout
ders. His eyebrows are long and bushy, while
beneath them is as piercing pair OF gray
ewes as one could imagine. He is perfect
type of the ideal mountain huntsman, ana a
more glance ut him would indicate 10 the
most conservative that he could grapple with
and conquer, empty handed, the most fero-
cious bear.
But Tom has had one tussle empty handed,
and SAYS he never wants another. As a con-
seduence his face and body are covered with
scars, and one finger Of hisright hand is gone.
1t was in the fall of 1882. He had been
hunting over the mountains, and having
struck no game had rested his rife against
tree and lain down for a nap. He awoke
suddenly TO find big black bear on his hind
legs, with the gun cutched between his paws,
and almost over him. Tom jumped to his
feet in an instant. But the bear was equally
quick and, dropping the gun, made for Tom.
They grappled, and, as Tom expresses it,
"there was the greatest hugglng match for
half an hour you ever saw"
Tom held his own admirably at first, but
the bear bit and tore at his clothes until they
were all OFF, and then tore the flesh from his
shoulders In hunks Tom was choking the
bear with his great hands OF iron and the
bear was hugging and tearing at his arms
and shoulders He was bleeding from a dozen
different wounds and rapidly growing weak
when he stumbled on rock and fell, with
the bear on top. His back struck something
hard. 1t was his rife His hopes arose. and
with a great effort he turned, caught the
muzzle of the rife with one hand, pressed it
against the throat of the bear and quickly
pulled the trigger with the other.
The ball crashed through the neck and
brain of the bear, and he fell over dead. Tom
was saved, but, 10 use his own expression, he
twill never tackle another bar without ole
t-usty," his rifle.
TRAINED FOR HUNTING.
Tom was never known to trap a bear. He
saws that is taking an unfair advantage of the
CRITTERS"
Just after his single handed experience
with the bear Tom got three large ones out
Of one tree He and his boy were going over
the mountains unarmed. They were nine
miles from his cabin and it was late in the
afternoon when he spied three bears IN the
limbs of a chestnut tree eating the fruit dc
Immediately built large fire around the
trunk of the tree and sent his boy home for
his rifle while heremained to keep up the fire
and prevent them from getting away.
The trip vas a long and rugged one, and
the boy did not return until the next morn
ing, but Big Tom kept the fire burning and
watched all night. At sunrise the boy had
returned, and Tom got all three IN that
many shots
Big Tom don't hunt as much now as he
used to. but he never returns without game.
The three bears he has at his home he raised,
having captured them when cubs. They are
as obedient to his command rs dogs, and al
ways accompany MIN on his hunts. He says
they never fail to find bear, and as a wild
one seeing them viii approach, he can kill
them without difficulty. Two of them are
Scared and bitten up quite badly, for some
times Tom carries them out TO see them fight
with and kill the wlld ones around the noun
tains.
They sometimes, however, have very tough
fights ami on one or two occasions Tom has
been compelled, in order to save his pets, TO
enter the melee armed with knife and as
sist them in the fight
AT home they are generally chained, but
the big mans children play around them and
the little ones often ride on their backs
around the cabin.
Tom saws he Is getting old now, and is go
ing TO give up hunting, but those who know
him say he VIII never give it up until he is
600 old to climb the mountains. He is now
apparently about - years Of age, and per-
haps the most perfect specimen OF physical
manhood 10 he found in this couEtry.-Ashe-
vile u. ca Cor Atlanta Constitution
Common Sense and Pianoforte Playing.
Professor Watzoldt, the director for the
Flisabethschule "a girls school IN Germany,
has addressed very serious warning 10 pa
rents and guardians on one OF the evils of the
present system Of taaching girls. He points
ont the difference between the musician