The Irish standard., 1890-05-10

the California forests would Still walk
'salone as rhinoceros" in almost every
wild canyon Of Coast Range and Sierra.
Men learn to give him the track when
ever they can, and if they go on the
war-path it is with profound respect for
their antagonists strength and courage.
I once met five or six San Luis Obispo
farmers who had shot huge grizzly.
They took their guns and went down
into the gulch where the bear lived.
They found him where he was compelled
to cross the ravine to get to them, and SO
they were able to put over twenty bull
lets into him before he died at their
feet. They had just skinned him and
spread the greet hide on the rocks when
I rode up. I asked them how they felt
about it and the leader said: eve none
of us want to tackle another. If he had
been on our side of the gulch instead of
on his own most Of US would have been
killed before we could pump enough
lead into him" And that seemed to be
the gen eral conviction.
There were two Americans in the
Santa Clara valley at an early day,
brothers, named Howard and Michael
Ov cracker. They owned large farms,
had wide acquaintance and were very
popular. They were also the best rifle
shots and the most cool and successful
hunters in the county. have seen
Michael, at a turkey match, kill his bird
at six hundred yards. They used to kill
wild geese, coyotes, mountain quail and
hare on the run with their Henry rifles.
Still, though they had shot hundreds OF
deer, antelopes and elk they never went
grizzly hunting. AT last, in 1858, In
the San Benito mountains, Howard
Overacker had his bear adventure, and
the details are very characteristic OF the
habits Of the grizzly.
The elder Overacker was then in the
prime of life, extremely strong, wiry,
lean anu quick in his motions. His
brother and man named Ferguson
formed the rest of the party. They left
camp and separated, taking nearly par
allel ravines. Howard was slowly work
ing his way through the dense, thorny
bushes, called by Californians chapparal,
when he suddenly came upon a large and
old grizzly at close quarters. The ami
NAL was less than twenty feet distant,
and at once, with a. roar OF rage, threw
himself upon Overacker. The hunter,
with that marvellous rapidity which such
men acquire, put bullet into his foe,
threw out the shell and had pumped an
other cartridge into the rife when the
giant of the wilderness struck him. The
blow delivered with the right paw struck
him on the face and neck, hurled the gun
into the bushes and felled him to the
ground. The grizzly instantly caught
him in three places--one paw over the
ribs, breaking two and tearing them
loose; the other paw on the ankles, rip
ping and crushing the flesh; the
teeth and jaws closed on the thigh,
mangling the flesh and tearing
it from the bone. Overacker,
though perfectly conscious, lay without
motion through this terrific assault
The bear suddenly let go his hold on
the thigh and caught Overacker by the
she .lder, breaking and crushing the
bones together. From the time when
he rose against the man to the time
when he dropped him bundle Of broken
bones and torn flesh, the grizzly had
seemingly put forth but one tremendous
effort. Overacker said afterward that
he was no stranger in the bears grasp
than cat would be in his own. The bear
left him moment, walked about in a
circle, returned suddenly and bit pieces
of flesh as large as marble from vari-
Gus parts of Overacker's body, and then
+oo1> !, ic fno1 6onorturn
Qyeracker, few minutes later, seized
the branches overhead and struggled to
his feet, but, to use his own phrase, ''al
turned black and his companions
found him half an hour later. For
weeks he was not expected to live, but
his wife's nursing and his magnificent
constitution pulled him through. Two
years later Overacker returned to the
same region and shot two large grizzlies
without any assistance. One OF them
received eight Henry rife bullets before
he succumbed. This little sacrifice to
his vanity being accomplished, he hunts
no more bears, and even discourages the
light-minded sheer at the California
grizzly. asked the veteran whether
he would have used bowie II he had
had it while in the grip Of the forest
king. Overacker smiled grimly: ut was
a very large bear as large IS an OK. Il
John Sullivan had been in my place.
and had driven bowie-knife through
the bears heart, he would have been
killed in the death struggle. As for 9
revolver, it would have been suicide 70
have tried 1t. But IL the bear had been
fifty feet of when ! saw him. instead Of
twenty feet, I could have kept out OF
the way long enough g ill ldL,lIl s." -
Charles q. Shinn, = chicago Inter g T e
Ocean,