The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-11-30
A FLORIDA BEAR STORY.


Beast Acted Like Pike County Bear.
From the Ne,o York Sun.
when l was. down in Florida last
winter" said John Gilbert, the travelling
groceryman, "theY told me a bear story
which they earnestly asked me to believe,
and as l am nothing If not accommodating.
believe it. The bear this story was about
acted to me SO much like Pike county bear
that | couldn't help but believe thatit really
was one Of that county's perennial bruin
family who had gone down to Florida to
spend the winter. believed the story, SO
l don't see that there is anything in the way
of believing that the bear was from Pike
county. II he was he will never he seen
there again. and his folks might as well
know it.
According TO this story. party Of New
Workers were hunting somewhere on the
Florida coast when they came to a mass of
wreckage that had been washed up on the
beach from some unfortunate vessel. As
they approached the wreckage they we're
surprised to see a bear nostng around among
it. The bear was so much taken up with
his inspection of the miscellaneous articles
strewn about that he did not detect the
presence of the hunters, and they had q
good opportunity to watch his actions.
There were cocoauuts, oranges, ptneapples
and other things of that kind scattered
about, besides casks and boxes which
were still unbroken. When the party
first came in sight of the bear he was evil
IDENTIFY having his first interview with a
cocoanut. He looked at it with comical
doubt for minute or SO, and then smelt of
it cautiously. His Investigations thus far
being satisfactory, he touched it with one
paw, drawing the paw away quickly, as il
he were afraid the queer object was hot.
Then he tried it with the other paw, and
this satisfying him that there was no danger
concealed in the big nut, the bear sat down
in the sand with a contented grunt, took the
nut up in his paws and prepared to regale
himself on the new-found morsel. 1t was
plain that the bear had not expected to meet
with 80 much resistance on the part of the
nut, for when he brought his teeth down on
the hard shell his mouth few open and he
dropped the nut as il 1t had been red hot.
At the same time he clapped his paws to his
jaw and followed: 'Ow-w-w ow-w-wp for
all the world like man who had been sud-
denly struck with toothache pang.
"This was so comical that it came near
ending the show, for it was all the con-
vulsed spectators could do to keep from
bowling right out. But they held in and
by and by bruin made his next move. He
picked up the nut again, inspected it
carefully and closely for a long time. and
then held one side of it in his mouth and
1
that, he gave an angry snort and threw the
cocoanut as far from him as he could. Then
he fell on all the rest OF them that lay about
and scattered them about on the beach as if
he was the demon bowler in a cricket match.
When he had sufficiently vented his anger in
this way on the nuts he picked up an orange,
That suited him, and he sat down and Toasted
on oranges He ate all that were within reach.
and he then moved to get among some more,
when he got a sniff from keg that lay on
the sand. He paid no more attention to the
oranges, but had that keg upon its end in
less than no time. A piece OF the head was
out, and, taking the keg in under one arm,
he rammed his other paw through the open
ing In the head took it out, and carried it
to his mouth and sucked IL with such IN
mistakable gusto that 1t needed no words to
tell that the bear had found something that
lay way over oranges. He kept the paw
working to and fro between the key and
his mouth as rapidly as he could sop and
suck, 5ut that process was too slow for him,
and wrenchlng off another piece from the
top of the key, he pushed his head through
into it. According to the story, the bear
must have become conscious OF the fact as
soon as he got his head in the cask that he
couldn't get it out again, for he immediately
made the attempt to get it out. bis ears
and the big folds Of skin about his neck and
fowls wouldn't let it come. He raised on
his feet aud the keg sat on his shoulders like
helmet many sizes too large The breeze
had carried to the spectators by this time
the int lligence that the keg had Jamaica
rum in it-or rather did have until the bear
lifted it in the air, when the insidious con-
tents ran down and bathed bruin with its
redolence from head TO foot. The bear
howled, but within the confines Of the keg
his utterances sounded far off and hollow.
He clutched at the keg, first with one paw
and then with the other, but in vain. To
add TO the comicality Of the BEARS situa-