San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-04-14
A BOGUS BEAR STORY.
Result of a Little Difference of Opinion
Between Two Farmers.

Result of a Little Difference OF Opinion
Between Two Farmers.
well, yes, matters are pretty rough out
our way yet" admitted the old farmer
from Montana. "Still we've made toler
ably rapid advancement, too, all things
considered. A large part of the state
which, being outside of the mining dis
trict, has long been considered worthless
is now devoted to farming and grazing.
With the advent of school houses and
churches and such things the whole terri
tory will assume new aspect. But just
now every man looks out for number one.
See that slash across my cheek here? That
was one of the terms of settlement of dis
pute about number of hogs owned by
neighbor of mine couple of years ago.
What did it2 a chunk of lead.
at was this way: l planted about halt
my farm to corn that year. Corn was lit
tie more than an experimental crop out
there, and | took great deal of pains to
give mine fair show Zeke Brown, whose
farm was next to mine, was also expert
menting a little, although in another line.
He was trying to make hog raising pay
He contended that old Montana was good
for something besides mining and grazing
anu IL u COIh uG "Oulu
raise hogs to eat it.
"And he did. Matters moved along
smoothly enough until Browns shoats
were about two-thirds grown. Then every
blamed hog developed an appetite several
sizes too large for him, and Brown expert
enced difficulty in finding an adequate food
supply. Finally, in desperation, he turned
the whole drove loose to root, hog or die,
and the porkers promptly invaded my corn
fields. 1t took three of us nearly half a
day to get those hogs back home again.
Zeke of course was surprised that his live
stock had broken out, and was profuse 10
his apologies for the trouble they had
caused. But the next week the perform
ance was permitted without the variation
of a single feature. grew suspicious that
Neighbor Brown had devised a scheme by
which he hoped to give his hogs at least
one square meal a week. This in itself
was quite commendable, but when my
corn was invaded for the third time sur.
missed who was expected to stand the ex-
pense of the weekly banquets.
81 didn't like to quarrel with Zeke, but
felt that couldn't afford to have my agri.
cultural experiments interfered with even
to boom his. So determined to study the
hog question little on my own account
After a good deal Of hard work my men
and | succeeded in cornering one of the
shoats and carried him kicking and squeal.
ing to the house The spring before one
of the boys had shot cub bear, and the
half tanned hide was nailed against shed.
We tore the bearskin down and tied il
upon the hog, fastening it securely. When
the job was ended that porker made a
pretty fair imitation of bear and when
we turned the animal loose he made bee
line for the corn fields to again join his com.
panions. Well, you know the bear is the
mortal enemy of the hog tribe and there il
nothing bruin likes better than fat, juicy
pig. ..
Perhaps you can imagine just what
sort of reception that bogus bear received.
The whole drove seemed to scent danger in
the air before he got near them, and sour
ried out of the corn fields squealing in ter.
ror The cause of all the disturbance ap.
parently was more excited than any of the
remainder of the drove-as indeed he had
good cause to be-and as he was good
runner the flight soon became a veritable
rout. 1t was the queerest sight l ever be.
held and | expect never to see its equal.
Imagine "a drove of hogs in stampede,
snorting, plunging, squealing and acting
as if all the devils in that Biblical story ac.
tually possessed themi And in the midst
of it all lean, bedraggled, lopsided bear
which half the time was ahead of the hogs
"That porcine regiment swept through
Browns farm like cyclone and went teal
ing out of sight in the distance 1t took
weeks to get the drove together again, and
when this had been accomplished several
were neither present nor accounted for.
couple of months later the government EN-
ployees in the Yellowstone park reported
the discovery of several wild hogs in the
geyser region.
"Somehow or other Brown charged his
losses to my account. He sent word by one
of the boys that if he saw any more bears
around his place he proposed to shoot 'eni
at sight. | understood what that meant.
and in the interest of my health also loaded
for BEAR We met one night just at sunset
on the old Yellowstone trail. / saw him
first and sung out, Good evening, Zeke'
"'Good evening, Bill
GAS he spoke his arm flew up, there was
a flash, a crashing report and the blood
was trickling from a smarting furroW
across my cheek. You can see the result OF
that argument yet.
Brown? Oh, / don't know anything
about him now. His oldest boy is running
the farm, though, and he manages hogs
great deal better than his father before
him did."-Chicago Mail.