St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1891-01-24
a Bear On the CoWCatCher-


! ph.S, Tennessee.
! a Bear on the CoWCatCher-
IT RIDES TEN MILES CLINGING TO A LOCO.
MOTIVE PILOT AND ESCAPES
ONLY To BE SHOT.
OLCUT Run, Pa, Nov. lion We'd
nesday afternoon, as the Warren accom-
! mediation troin on he E3drt d and South
east Branch Railroad YVES passing through
| WIlder's Gut q deep and mario. pas agt
| through the rocks ten miles east of this
/ station, Engineer Dan Elwood WIS sur
! prised to see q bear come into the cut al
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. II seemed paraI
! wed at the sight of the locomotive rush
| irg toward it, and stood mOtiOrlesS until
! the engine was almost upon 1t, when i
arose on its hind iee; The train wa
running about ffteen miles al hour
through the cut, sad inStanty en- seeing
the bear on the track the engineer shu1
down steam. The distance between th~
train and the bear was too short for the
speed of the train TO be reduced much, and
the pilot ploughed under the b. ar, the
sharp p.sint passing b7twe,n the animal :
widespread legs. This quickly threw the
hind ps4 of tue body ahead, and The ami
ual fell with his fore paws and upper OaIt
of his body forward on the cowcatcher.
Engineer Elwood put On steam again
ana his fireman clined out OF the cab win
dow and ran along the guard rail TO the
front of the engine and picked around to
see what had become of the bear BIuin
was lying on his stomach against the cow
catcher, his head nearly touching the
headlight. Bo,h hind feet were safely
planted between the lower bars of the
pilot one on each side of the tip, and his
fore legs were tightly hueging TIE bars at
the top. The collision had evidently not
done any injury to the bear. 1t was plain
that be did not intend to take any chances
by voluntarily getting off the cowcatcher
while the train was in motion, and he was
guarding himself we'll against being thrown
Oft so the engineer concluded that lie
would run Bruin into O!clt and trust TO
luck for the subsequent proceedings.
Station Agent Dick Jacobs stood in thu
depot door at this place when the train
came pulling in, and the sight Of a bear
on the cowCatcher had such an effect Oh
him that he stood as though rooted TO the
spot, gazing with open mouth and eyes a
tue extraordinary spectacle. As soon as
The train stopped the bear saw that its OPP
portunity to escape safely from its peril
Gus position had come, and it dropped of
the cowcatcher and made a break for lib
erty. This brought him toward the spot
wh7re the station agent was standing
mute and motionless with smaZement. As
the bear left the engin Dan ElwoOd be
gan to shout for somebody to get gun
The advance of the bear aroused Jacobs To
the situation, and he rushed into the de-
pot, slammed the door shut, dashed out o.
the rear door, and tore up Dorr street,
shouting, Bear bear bear ~ at the top
of his lungs.
In the meantime the bear, with Dan Ell
wood and his fireman at his heels, ran
across the Street, jumped on one end of the
long piazza of Longs Hotel, ran the entira
length of the piazza, turned into Cady
street, and hurried away in the direction
of Cady creek, which runs along the east
ern edge of the village. A crowd quickly
gathered and followed the bear, yelling
and pelting the poor animal with stones
The bear had gone but short distance
down Cady street when John Cameron's
big shepherd dog bounded out of the yard
and boldly pitched into Bruin. There
was a loud and lively fight for minute,
which resulted in the death of the dog.
The bear then hurried on toward the
creek, but at the corIer of Cady and
Water streets lawyer Giles Beers met hin,
with double barrelled rifle. The bear
turned on being confronted by Beers and
the gun, and ran down the narrow alley
leading to Guly's livery stable The alley
ends a. the stable and the bear found his
further flight suddenly cut off Beers fol
lowed the bear down the alley, and tn.
yelling crowd followed Beers Bruin,
finding that he was brought to bay, backed
himself against the barn, raised on his
and awaited bis foes Beers
sent two bullets into the animals breast
The bear dropped to his feet and charged |
on Beers and the crowd, blood pouring
from his wounds in streams. The crowd |
scurried back through the alley, aud in the
rush John Csrmody, 10 years old, was
thrown down and trampled on, one Of his |
legs being broken. Beers managed to slip |
another cartridge in his gun before tbs
Dear reached him, and sent it clean through |
he animals head, killing the bear in its
racks. The bear weighed 800 pounds.
1t was not until the besr had been killed |
hat Engineer Dan Elwood and his fire.
nan remembered that train load of pas
ergers were at the depot waiting for them
o carry them the rest Of their journey.
The two railroad men were in at the death
# the bear they had brought in on their
owcatches, but as the train was held
early twenty minutes at the station while
he chase was going IN, the chances are
hat the bear hunt will be a dear one to
be engineer and fireman.