Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-24
Ruby to the hunters son Milo "Some
body must come git himp"
ERrptu GINNING Brute-


Bruin Was . Cunning Brute.
Milo, being something Of hunter him
self, undertook the job. He went back
with Ruby. 1t needed only casual exami-
nation of the field for him to discover that
the bear was wise beyond his kind. Tho
trap the old hunter set had attached to it .
clog made of green beech, four feet long,
six inches through, and torked at the end
where the chain that held it went around.
The chain was four feet long. When the
bear found that he was only wasting time
trying to get the better OF the trap by fighting
it at Farmer Ruby's door, he had taken the
heavy clog under one arm and marched
away to the woods. Milo followed the
trail Some distance in the woods he found
where the bear had placed the crotch Of the
clog against q tree and broken one of the
forks off, in his efforts to rid himself of the
incubus Failing in this, he had dropped
the clog and gone tearing through the
woods, dragging it along. He had not pro-
ceeded great way when the clog had
caught under hemlock log 20 feet long and
2 feet through. The immense strength of
the bear was shown by the fact that he had
tugged at the chain by the trap fast to his
foot and turned the big log over and rolled
it out of its bed.
ga team couldn't have done It'll" says
Milo Lyman.
Novel Attempt at Freedom.
Then the bear went on. He climbed
dead pine tree 40 feet high. The top of the
stem was hollow, with Jagged shell around
it The bear wound the chain about one of
The shell broke, thus defeating the bears
intention of tearing his foot loose from the
trap by the fall Failing in that the bear
bore on through the woods. He came to
hemlock tree that had fallen and lodged in
the crotch of another tree. A big knot pro-
jected from one side of the hemlock near
the top. The bear had climbed the slanting
hemIock, whipped the chain around the
knot, and dropped as he had from the dead
pine. The knot broke, and bruin again
tailed of freedom.
By the appearance ofthe trail the hunter
knew that the bear had gone from the hem
lock wrought to the highest pitch of fury.
Some distance further on he ran the beech
clog under tangle of roots made by
fallen beech tree The hold was a strong
one. Thus held fast the bear could just
reach with his fore paws two small trees
and good sized hemlock. He grasped one
of the small trees and by it tried to tear
himself loose from the trap. The tree came
up by the roots. Then he tried the second
small tree. That bent to the ground. Then
he clasped his paws about the hemlock.
The hemlock was stanch. With one des-
perate effort the bear pulled his foot in two,
leaving half of it in the trap. Freed from
the trap. but crippled, the desperate brute
went on.
Chase for . Three-Footed Beast.
Milo Lyman found the clog and the trap
and the bears foot, and knew pursuit was
useless without dogs. He returned home.
got his fathers bear dogs Rover and Carlo,
and Hunter Jones, an experienced bear
hunter, and the chase was resumed, many
others joining in it. The dogs took the
trail, and followed the tough old bear over
the hills toward the Allegheny river. The
dogs caught the bear twice, but he whipped
them out both times, and kept on his course.
Bear Hunter Jones, knowing a runway
where he believed the bear would come out
on his way to the river, had hurried to sta
tion himself there. He got there just in
time to see the bear come down from the
hills, cross the road, take down a section OF
rail tence, hurry across field and plunge
into the Allegheny river. Jones ran to the
river. The bear was swimming with only
his ears and little bit of the top of his head
visible. 1t was small mark, but Jones
blazed away. Even the bears ears and
scalp then disappeared. Presently q big
wake broke the waves near the farther
shore, and the bear crawled out by the aid
Of some tangled roots and stopped.
The Story of a Thorn.
Jones plunged into the river and made his
way across. The big bear was hanging BY
the roots as dead as stone. Jones' bullet
had crashed through its brain. The bear
weighed 404 pounds. There were 81 persons
in the last hunt for him, and he was divided
into 81 parts. In dressing him five old
bullets were found in his carcass. relics of
previous adventures the big animal had
enjoyed.
Strangest of all, thorn three inches long,
very sharp at the point, and half an inch
wide at the base, was found imbedded in
the old bears flesh. No such thorns grow
in Pennsylvania or adjoining States, but are
common in Southern Missouri and Arkansas
''Be ought to had bed O. thorns, ding
him!" exclaimed Farmer Ruby, when the
thorn came to light. "He KEEP me on one
long enoughp' ED MOTT.