Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-11-28
BRUIN IN A TRAP.
A HUNTER CATCHES TWO
BEARs IN AN ODD WAY,

Bruin Caught in a Trap Which
Swings Him About HeIpIessIy in
the ARA Ludicrous Scene and
Its Ending.
Absalom Quick, who has a cabin on
Big Hettle Greek, saw lively illustra-
tion Of the fun-loving propensity of the
Pennsylvania bear few days ago, which
eliminated in an exciting manifestation
also of the disposition of Bruin to tear
things. Quick was deer hunting, in
company with three other hunters, and
occupying his cabin. On returning to
the cabin one night the hunters dis,ov-
cred that bear had been prowling
around it, and had actually been making
an attempt to burglarize it. He had
given up the job for some reason or
other, but Quick, knowing thing or
two about bears, declared this bear
would be back again next day to COM
plete the job.
s1'm gointer git that bar" said
Quick, San I'm gointer git him pecu-
har."
Next morning Quick proceeded to lay
his plans to intercept Bruin. Among
the trees that were growing about the
cabin was whiteoak sapling, five inches
through at the butt. 1t tapered gIa1ual-
ly to the top, which was twenty-five feet
above the ground. The sapling was
straight from butt to tip. Quick climbed
it and trimmed it of its limbs. Among
his traps In the cabin was several feet of
small but strong rope. Quick deftly
tied smooth-slipping moose in one end
of the rope. By the combined efforts of
the four men the oak sapling was bent
over until its tip was within three feet
of the ground. While the tree was held
in that position Quick tied the rope Sc
eurely to the tip, and, by an ingenious
arrangement of pegs and notched sticks
he had prepared for the occasion, he
soon had the moose end of the rope fast
ened on the ground. By this the bent
sapling was held in place, it being neces-
sary to but slightly touch the delicately
arranged sticks on the ground to release
the rope and permit the sapling to slip
back to its place. The trap was set
close to the cabin door.
''I never ketched no bar this way,
said Quick; "but if it don't work, then
/ don't know bars"
The hunters then went out on the
ridge after deer, leaving the cabin door
open, with tempting piece of pork
Just inside the sill. A mile from the
cabin the men separated to go to differ
ent, runways. Soon afterward, while
Quick was making his way down q steep
pitch on the side of the ridge, he caught
his foot in a root and fell heavily to the
ground. Quick is genuine woodsman,
and if he had received any physical in
Jury in the fall it must have been seri-
GUS to cause him any great concern; but
In falling he broke bottle he had in
his pocket, and the contents were lost
There was nothing left of them but the
aggravating aroma that ladened the air,
1T was cold day, and there we're to be
possible long hours of weary waiting a.
runway for the coming of a deer
There was at the cabin more of what the
bottle had contained. Quick stood his
gun against tres and hurried back tc
headquarters. He stepped cautiously
over the bear trap at the cabin door
and was filling new bottle from a
demijohn when noise outside caused
him to turn his head and look out oi
the door. He saw D medium-sized beal
making bee-line toward the trap
Quick was only few feet back from
the door, but the bear evidently saw
nothing but the piece OF pork. The
bear never stopped, but slouched right
up to the snare that had been laid fo1
him, and got both forefeet inside the
loop. The sapling flew up with a noise
like a gust of wind in chimney. The
bear disappeared from Quick's view a
the same time. But the next second
he appeared on the line OF vision again
dancing and teetering around in the
open space in front of the cabin like 9
ball on an elastic string. The rope
had caught the bear around the body
Just back of the forelegs. With every
effort he made to free himself the sap
pling raised him foot or two from the
ground, and kept him dancing like 1
baby in baby jumper. The bear snap
ped and snarled and snorted. He STRUCK
and spared at the rope. Now anG
then, by some particularly vicious
lurch, he bent the sapling so that ht
could throw himself fiat on his back
but instantly the stiff and springy oal
would get its work in again and yanl
the bear back in the air until every
thing snapped. The involuntary antics
of the bear struck Quick as being SO ex
tremely comical that he at last had tx
yell with laughter. 1t was not unit
then that the bear discovered Quick
and he seemed to look upon the hunter
as being responsible for his extraordi
nary situation, for he at once made
desperate attempts to get in the cabi1
and have it out with Quick. He would
manage to dance and swing to the very
threshold, and then his frantic struggles
would give the sapling new chance a
him, and it would lift him up ant
snatch him away, his legs spreading
out to all points of the compass, like {
big spider swinging at the end of itl
depending web.
When this had been repeated three o.
four times Quick began to fear that b;
would burst with laughter and the beal
with fury unless something was done Il
put stop to the circus. Quick's gur
was mile away. He was about to lool
around and see what he could find tt
kill the bear with when he saw another
bear, o good deal bigger than the one il
the snare, come ambling out of The
bushes. This one stopped within q few
feet of where the first bear was bobbine
and sparring around in front of tht
cabin, gazed at the performance {