Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-08-06
MANGLED BY a BEAR.

permitted themselves TO dream
MANGLED BY a BEAR.
Trooper Barrett's Mortal Hurts Under the
Aim of Forty Rides
In 1876 i was in the service as
scout on the Big Horn expedition We
| were on Rush creek, a branch of the
Big Horn. in Wyoming, and the scouts
Were riding ahead keeping a lookout
| for Indian signs In the advance were
Bill Cody, old California Joe, Barrett.
the trooper, and myself Just behind
| US was NJ troop of the Third cavalry
Seeing someth ing moving in the
sage brush. about two hundred yards
away, 1 called the attention of the
| others to it In moment Cody said-
| It's a bear: give 1t to him, Billy and I
banged away. The bear broke cover
| and ran into the creek, and all of Us
fired at him Some of the bullets hit
him, but he didn't stop. He tumb led
down the high bank and crossed the
creek on beaver dam. Barrett dis
mounted, slid down the bank and fol-
lowed the bear across the beaver dam
There was large pool above the
dam, and between the pool and the op-
posite bluff was a rank growth of tule,
into which the bear had gone oat of
sight California Joe shouted to Bar
rett not to go into the tules- That
bars hurt said Joe, and he'll fight in
| that brush All of us told Barrett to
be careful, but that only made him
mad Think i never hunted bar be-
foreT he growled, and paying no atten-
ton to our warning he began making
| his way into the tuleS
The firing had brought the troop MP
in la hn1
was strung out along the bluff watch
ing Barrett Perhaps Barrett had
hunted bear before, but he did the
most foolish thing ever saw done by
a man in this world. Instead of hold
| ing his carbine in both hands and part
| ing the tules with the barrel as he adj
| vanced, he held it in his right hand by
the middle of the barrel and pushed the
| tules out of the way with his left
| hand
I'm a moment the tules closed behind
1 him, and the next instant his carbine
came whirling through the air and fell
into the pool Then came the most
| awful shrek I ever heard God,
| can hear it now. The tules swayed and
cracked, and out came Barrett and the
| bear, locked together and wrestling for
life. Barrett's back was toward us,
and he was struggling with all his
| might to drag the bear across the mar
row strip of open ground to the water.
| Forty carbines and three long rifles
were cooked and leveled in an instant
but Barrett was between us and the
| bear and we dared not fire.
| Don't take your eye from
the head said Old Joe to
me. Watch for an opening and let
GO And there we stood, more than
forty men, on the top of the bluff and
| not more than fifty yards away, watch
| ing that death struggle on the narrow
strip of sand, the muzzle of every gun
| following the motions of the man and
| bear, and every finger aching to press
| a trigger. Three men of the plains
and a whole troop of veterans stood
there with every nerve strained and
not shot could be fired
But while we old frontiersmen stood
there sighting our rifles to.no purpose,
one of the troopers, a raw recruit
named George Pennyroal, from Penn
sylvania, slid down the bank, crossed
the beaver dam and ran up to where
Barrett and the bear were fighting
STOPPING down beside them the trooper
poked the muzzle of his carbine into
| the bears mouth and pulled the trig-
ger, and the whole top of the bears
head went up in the air.
''Old California Joe looked at the boy
in admiration, and, turning to Cody, he
said: Bill, we've let a tenderfoot come
along and show us how to tackle bar
He's got more sense than the whole OF
us
Barrett was fearfully hurt great
piece of flesh was torn from his breast
and the muscles and cords of his left
arm were all laid bare I'm worth a
dozen dead men yet said Barrett No
bar can get away with me, and then
he swooned- Toward shutdown Lar
| rett's face began to turn ashy gray,
and / knew he could not last much
longer. The chill of the night breeze
came, and i saw a little tremor in Bar
rett's frame. 1 put a spoonful of
| brandy to his lips and he opened his
eyes and looked at me blankly for a
moment Then he recognized me-
Didn't I tell you, Bill, that bar
| could kill and his chin dropped
| upon his breast and his eyes turned up-
ward under the wide-open lids.-ASt
Paul Pioneer-Press