Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-10-02
LASSOING A BEAR.
A COWBOYS SINGULAR ADvEN-
TURE.


BruiH was Fond of Fat Yearling
Cattle-An Unarmed Cowboy
Catches the Monster With a Rope
Dragged to Death.
The finest rope-swinger in all the
Southwest, gays Fort Davis (Texas)
letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, is
Bud Carraway of Reeves county, Tex.
1t was my good fortune to be with
roundup party of cowboys last week
who were out after stray steers, and
among the number was Bud Carraway,
the prince OF lariat throwers. One
night while sitting around the camp fire
smoking and telling stories the subject
of bears came up.
"Tell us of the best true story you
know, Bud" said one of the boys, sand
don't be modest about it. Give us
yarn" 'I'll do the best l can,n
answered Bud, ''and what's moro I'll not
stretch it bit, but give you straight
facts.n He filed the bowl of his pipe,
lit it from live coal and settled back
for the story.
'Last fall, you know, I was working
for the Mill Iron Ranch Company on the
south folk of Red river. There were q
great many nice fat yearlings on the
range, and every day or two one would
be missing, but as he had our brand on
his hide we thought of course that he
would be found at some one of the
round-ups. Thsround-ups came, steers
and cattle were gathered in, but only a
very few yearlings were among them.
After awhile the foreman set watch by
stalking out calf on the prairie
| over night. and next morning
we discovered bear tracks, and big ones,
too. Our boarder was in fact big black
bear, who required a yearling at least
| once In two days, and what was more, he
preferred to do his own slaughtering.
He was an old customer, for we had
heard of him before in some of the ad-
| joining counties. He had scorned all at
tempts to shoot or trap him, and actually
fattened on lead, winked at pitfalls,
sneezed at traps, and cunningly turned
up his nose at poisoned meat.
"We did not know what to do. The
fellow was cautious enough to keep out
of sight, and every attempt or expedi-
ton against him failed until, at last, by
pure accident managed to catch him
myself when least expected such piece
of luck. One afternoon in September l
was out on the range horse hunting,
when, as l was passing near u thick
bunch of chaparral, saw a monster black
bear jump out of the bushes, knock a
young heifer down with his powerful
paw and draw the carcass back into the
bushes again and out of sight. l could
scarcely believe my eyes.
"Fortunately my mustang was good
one, and would not stir or move until
gave HIM the signal. I had no weapon
was alone and miles from the home
ranch, and only my pocket-knife and a
trusty lariat with me. rode around the
bushes two or three times, feeling sure
in case of danger that my mustang was
fleet and quick enough to keep me out of
trouble, but, to own the truth, did
not know what on earth to
do. Unslinging my rope, I got
it ready anyhow to use should an oppor-
tunity offer, determined to give him a
toss if he dared show his snout. Would
you believe he actually did that very
thlng2 Well, he did. He saw me, poked
his nose out to get better smell, and
then showed his whole head out, l sup
pose to get better view. This was my
chance. Giving the moose a couple of
turns to settle the loop, let fly, and
down it dropped snug over his head,
my eyes if he didn't take his paw and
lift it clean off. Then he dashed back
into the brush and was no better off
than before. / waited some time and was
about to go away when heard crash
ing and rustling some distance away.
Looking to see what it was, blamed if
the bear hadn't stolen march on me and
was racing off across the prairie in the
opposite direction"
'What fool!" calculated one of his
listeners.
"Well, I should say he was fool.
You fellows know that on the open
prairie, with no tree or stump or hole to
hide in, big animal, be he steer bear,
or anything else, has no show, and that
rope is the best weapon on earth to
have. l left Nance CO. and before many
minutes was within reaching distance of
the black old sinner. Swinging the rope
again, let her fly, and caught him the
first cast right around the neck. He
couldn't get it off this time, for it was
range work with Nance and l, and she
never let slack or kink get into the
line; so we had him fast.
"Now, you fellows know how to throw
steer, so you can imagine l had no
trouble with the bear. raced around
him until the lariat trailed from the neck,
and when had it about the height of his
knees l gave short, quick jerk and
pulled his feet from under him. Down
he went like cyclone, rolling over and
over in the dust. You never saw more
surprised bear in all your life. Every
time he rose up and started to run, did
the same thing until at last he got very
tired of the performance. The fun soon
came to an end. He got up for last
run and started off like steam engine. I
let him go and waited until he was doing
his level best, and then gave him good
one which nearly broke his neck. He
lay there stunned and quiet, and could
see the breath had been knocked clean
out of the old rascal's carcass. Caution
ing Nance to hold taut, the same as for a
steer you are going to tie, approached
carefully and with my jack knife gave
him a dig in the throat which settled his
case for good. Invent back to the ranch
and got a team and hauled him in.
When dressed he weighed TAO pounds.
| y, Ill