The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-07-22
RRuIN LIKED WHISKY.
\ Funny Accident taicii Made Him {
In~briatc for Life.

\ Funny Accident which a!ade Him
In~briatc for Life.
WAY back IN the fiftics | was tempo
rarilv handlinc the Hncs far The Sacra-
meuto Overland Stare Company. and il
was over lots IF Land. / JeL yeu Tor m
route ran through the ruu~hcs, section
of the Sierra Nevadas, says a writer in
the Kansas City Star. One night about
sunset | was swinging along the rocky
trail at a pretty good pace, As wanted
to reach Rabbit Creek before dark,
where we changed horses and got sup
per.
had three passengers. all men, and
for freight carried Il barrel of gin
strapped on behind The stage. There
WAS rin for Red Mike" who ran Il
fr,.,.-and-casy at the mining camp OF
Rabbit Creek. Suddenly my attention
was called Dv one OF the passengers To
a novel race which WAS goiu" on down
the side Of the mountain between
miner and grizzly bear. with the nau
about a hundred feet ahead running
like a deer. But the bear was gaining
rapidly and 1t seemed that H. had him
sure. when suddenly the miner turned
and darted of in another direction The
grizzly was slow in stopping but
when he did get Strengthened the
way he anuihilatcd distance was
caution to catamounts. Scv-
c-al times the miner played this
trick. and on each occasion gained CON
siderable ground in one direction. but il
could be seen he was rapidly firing and
unless something happened the bear
was dead sure 10 get him. We We're
woddering what we could do TO help
the poor fellow when suddenly the lead
el.S s,mcllcd the grizzly. They snortcd
and pranccd and started OF on dead
run put on the brake and 1t was al
/ could do to stop them. and wouldn't
have succeeded only the trail was up
grade.
Wen. when the horses made their
Jump the barrel Of gin broke loose from
its fastcuingS and went tearing down
the mountain side toward the man and
bear. who We're coming along on Il dead
run The man saw the barrel coming
and avoided It, but not 50 the grizzly
lie stood up on his hind lc~s and reach
ing ont his paw, grabbed it. The way
that barrel rolled him down the noun
tain would make coyote laugh.
The impromptu journey was brought
To a sudden ending 10y an immense
bowlder against which the bear and
barrel rolled. The shoclz separated
them. and strange to say the barrel
stood right up with the head broken
in and only a small portion OF the con-
tents was spilled. To say the bear was
surprised would be putting it light.
lie thought he had his quarry and when
he discovered it was only barrel his
face took on an expression of intense
disgust. However. a, Is natural for a
Il Il.
which had been sprinlllcd with some Of
the gin. The taste was apparently
agreeable as he kept ON absorbing the
liquor with his rough tongue until the
flavor disappeared. Then he went over
and smclIed Of the barrel. The insPec-
tiou was undoubtedly highly satisfac-
tory. as nc inserted his suout and took
Il sup. then he took a long draUEht ana
in less than half an hour that bear was
drunk as Il lord.
We watched the proceedings with in
tcrest, and after we were satisfied that
the bear had q jag ON we went down.
tied him up with ropes, dragged him up
the hill and threw him inside the stage.
We drove on to Rabbit Creek and sold
the drunken grizzly TO Red Mike for
one hundred dollars. who chained him
up in the corner of his saloon and kept
him aS q curiosity TO draw trade.
Well, he did draw trade. Mike" gave
him quart Of whisky a day. and after
awhile hc became so dOcile that his
chain was removed. After that for
many years he would sleep around the
barroom. and when one OF the boys
would come in and ask the house to drink
the grizzly would walk up to the bar,
stand on his hind legs and wait TO be
served with a lineup fall of whisky. lie
was source of great income. bat un-
fortunately, being attacked with de
liriUm tremens one day. he killed the
bartender and a miner with one blow Of
his powerful paw and it required twenty
Winchestcrs and about one hundred
pounds of lead to cure him of his un-
cOntrollable passion for intoXicants.