Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1892-08-26
Mrs. Townsend Shot the Bear.

Edgar Townsend, Dutch Mountain,
Pennsylvania, woodsman, left his cabin
door open when he and his wife went
to bed OF one of the hottest nights this
month. The bed was only few feet
from the door, and the baby was asleep
in cradle at the foot oft. On account
of the heat Mr. and Mrs. Townsend
were unable to get to sleep until nearly
midnight. Then they slept soundly,
and after awhile MIR. Townsend
dreamed that he had broken one of his
legs while chasing bear in the woods,
that the bear had turned on him when
it saw that he was crippled, and that,
instead of trying to injure him, it lay
down by his side and went to licking
his face. He was surprised, he dreamed,
at this exhibition of friendship on the
part of the bear, and when it had licked
his face and neck for some time he
dreamed that it got up and coaxed him
to get on its back; that he finally sue
ceeded in straddling the bear with his
broken leg, and that the bear then car
ried him through the woods to his
house. He also dreamed that his wife
helped him off the bears back on to
the lounge, and that the bear ran to the
woods when it saw that his wife was
taking care of him.
Mr.. Townsend snored so loud while
he was having this peculiar dream that
Mrs. Townsend woke up. Her back
was toward him. and he was making
such a noise with his throat and nose
that she turned over and went to nudg-
ing him to make him stop. He was
lying fiat on his back, and Mrs. Towns
end thought that he would snore less if
she got him to roll over on his side.
The moon was shining into the cabin,
and when Mrs. Townsend turned her
face toward her husband and the open
door she saw bear squatting close by,
with its paws on the bedstead
The sight of the bear made her
speechless. 1t looked up when it saw
her face, gave little sniff, glared at
her for moment, and then lowered its
nose and went to licking Mr. Town
sends face and chin. Mr.. Townsend
continued to snore as though he was
dreaming dreadful dreams, and the
bear kept licking his cheeks and fore
head as if it had found something that
suited its taste perfectly. Mrs. Town
send was all of a tremble for fear that
the bear would bite her husband, and
she was afraid that it would surely kill
him if she stirred or made any noise.
So she pulled the bedclothes over her
head as quietly as possible and began
to pinch Mr.. Townshend as hard as she
dared to, to make him wake up.
She was unable to rouse her husband,
and in a minute or so she heard the
floor creak, and peeping out she saw
the bear waddling toward the window,
where her spinning wheel was standing.
The bear sat upon its launches and
gave the wheel several turns with its
paw, and when the wheel stopped it set
it to whirling again. Mr.. Townsend
was snoring as hard as ever, and Mrs.
Townsend was so deeply interested in
the bear, as it played with her wheel in
the moonlight, that she forgot, for the
moment. to attemptto awaken her hus-
band.
Presently the bear became tired of
the wheel, turned to the foot of the bed
and started to nose over the baby in the
cradle. At that Mrs. Townsend shook
and pinched her husband as hard as she
could, but he was sleeping so soundly
that she couldn't get him to even roll
over on his side, and he still snored as
hard as he had done when she awoke.
Finally the baby began to cry while
the bear was nosing over it, and Mrs.
Townsend's heart came to her throat
for fear that the brute might harm it.
A loaded rifle was hanging over the
head of the bed, and when Mrs. Town
send realized that she couldn't arouse
her husband she took down the rifle
and cooked it as she stood up in the
bed. Her movements startled the bear,
and it sprang from the cradle and
made for the door. Mrs. Townsend
was too puick for it, and just rs it
reached the threshold she pulled the
trigger and sent bullet into the bears
right side, back of the shoulder.
Mr. Townsend jumped clear out of
bed the instant the gun cracked. The
bear dashed out of the door and
brought up against a log fence few
yards from the cabin, where it bled to
death. AS soon as Mr. Townsend was
fully awake his wife told him that she
had fired at bear, and Mr.. Townsend
grabbed the rife out OF her hands, ran
after the bear, and found that it had
cot all the lead it needed. Then Mrs.
Townsend snatched the baby from the
cradle, and learned to her great
relief that the bear hadn't in
iured it q particle. When her
husband came back she told him all
about her efforts to waken him, and
Mr.. Townsend then told her the re-
markable dream that he had had while
the bear was licking his face.