Fergus County argus., 1890-12-04
BRUINS FATAL RIDE.
Struck by Train He Travels Safely on the
Cowcatcher. He makes Good Fight but
is Hunted to the Death at the End
of His Journey.

| - AAuheSu " eA&S DcatA At tAC Suu
of His Journey.
OLIT RrN, Pa, Nov. 20. .-Thi,
afternoon as the Warren accommo
dation train on the Eldred and South
east Brarch railroad was passin.
through Wilder's Cut, IA deep and mar
row passage through the rocks ten
miles east OF this station, Engineer
Dan Elwood was surprised to see a
bear coming into the cut at the west
end, only twenty yards away. The
bear appeared suddenly around the
edge OF the rocks and stopped on the
track facing the engine. 1t seemed
paralyzed at the sight OF tine locOmo-
tive rushing toward it, and stood
motionless until the engine was almost
upon 1t, when it raised up on its hind
feet.
The train was running almost fifteen
miles an hour through the cut, and
instantly on seeing the bear on the
track, the engineer shut down the
steam. The distance betw ween the train
and the bear was too short for the
speed OF the train to he reduced much.
an the pilot plowed under the bear,
the sharp point passing between the
animals wide spread legs. This quickly
threw the hind part OF the bear ahead
and the animal fell with his forepaws
and upper part OF his body forward
on the cowcatcher.
E,.,,... Eimaa1 ,,uf pn .t.,,,
again, and his fireman climbed out OF
the ecab window OF the engine and peeped
around to see what had become OF the
bear. Bruin was lying on his st omach
against the cowcatcher, his head near
~ touching the headlight. Both hind
l-et were safely planted between the
lower bars of the pilot, one on each
side of the tip, and his forelegs were
tightly hugglng the bars at the top.
The collision had evidenely not done
any injury to the bear 1t was plain
that he did not intend to take any
chances by voluntarily getting OF the
cowcatcher while the train was in
motion, and he was guarding him
self well against being thrown oil; so
the engineer concluded that he would
run hrlIen into Olcut and trust to
luck for the subsequent proceedings.
stat ION Agent Dick Jacobs stood in
the depot door ut this place when
the tram came rolling III, aud the sight
ol "a bear cliuging To The cowcatcher
had such an effect on him that he
stood rs though rooted to the spot,
gazing with open mouth and eyes at
the extraordinary spectacle. As soon
n the train stopped, the bear saw
that its opportunity to escape safely
from its perllous position had come.
and it dropped of the cowcatcher and
made break tor liberty.
As the bear left the engine, Elwood
began to shout for somebody to get
a gun. The advance oi he bear aroused
Jacobs to the situation, and he rushed
into the depot, slammed the door
shut, dashed ont of the rear door and
tore up Dorr Street, shouting: Bear,
Bear. Bear at the top OF his lungs.
In the meantime the bear, with
Elwood and his fireman at his heels
ran across the street, jumped on one
end OF the piazza OF Longs Hotel,
turned into Cady street and hurried
away IN the direction OF Cady Greek
which runs along the eastern edge OF
the village. \ crowd quickly gathered
and followed the bear, yelling and
pcitins the poor beast with stones.
The bear had gone but a short dis
tancc down Cady Street when John
bls shepherd dog bounded
out of the yard aud boldly pitched
into bruln.
There was lively fight for "a minute,
1 Il. l.
The bear hen hurried on toward the
creek, but at the corner ol cady and
water Streets l.aNer GILES Beers met
him with double barreled rifle. The
bear turned, on being confronted by
Beers and the gun. and ran down the
narrow alley leading to Gully's livery
stable.
The alley ends at the stable, and
the bear found its furt her flight sud
denly cut OIL, Beers followed the bear
down the alley and the yelling crowd
followed Beers. Bruin, finding that
he was brought To bay, backed him
self against the barn. raised on his
and awaited his foes. Beers
sent two bullets INTO the animal :
breast. The bear dropped to his feet
and charged on Beers and the crowd,
blood pouring from his wounds IL
streams.
The crowd scurrled back through
the alley and, in the rush, John
Carmody, II years old, was thrown
down and trampled on, one of his
legs being broken. Beers managed
to slip another cartridge in his gun
before the bear reached him, and sent
il clean through the animals head,
killing the bear in its tracks. The
bear weighed 300 pounds. 1t was
not until the bear had been killed
that Engineer Elwood and his fire
men remembered that "a tralnload oi
passengers were mt the depot waiting
Tor them to carry them the rest oi
their Journey.
The two railroad men We're III at
the death of the bear they had brought
in on their cowcatcher, but, as the
train was held nearly twenty minutes
at station while the chase was going
on, the chances are that he bear hunt
would be u dear one TO the engineer
and fireman.
The Sovereign People.