The Irish standard., 1892-05-28
BRulN q liked WHISKY.
A Funny Accident Which Made Him -
Inebriate for Life.

BRulN LIKED Whisky.
Funny Accident which Made Him -
Inebriate for Life.
'Wav back in the fifties / was tempo
rarily handling the lines for the Sacra-
mento Overland Stage Company, and II
was over lots of land, tell you, for my
route ran through the toughest section
of the Sierra Nevadas, says writer IN
the Kansas City Star. One night about
sunset was swinging along the rocky
trail at 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 a barrel OF gin
strapped ON behind the stage. There
WAS grin for ''Red Mike" who ran a
free-and- easy at the mining camp OF
Rabbit Creek. Suddenly my afternoon
was called by one Of the passengers TO
d novel race which was going on down
the side of the mountain between a
miner and grizzly bear, with the man
about a hundred feet ahead running
like a deer. But the bear was gaining
rapidly and 1T seemed that he had him
sure, when suddenly the miner turned
and darted off in another direction Ihe
grizzly was slow in stopping, but
when he did get Strengthened the
way he annillilated distance was
a caution to catamounts. Sew
eral times the miner played this
trick. and on each occasion gained con-
siderable ground in one direction, but it
could be seen he was rapidly firing and
unless something happened the bear /,
was dead sure to get him. We were
wondering what we could do to help
the poor fellow when suddenly the lead.
ers s1ne]led the grizzly. They snorted..
and pranced and started Off ON dead;
run. put on the brake and it was ali
I could do to stop them, and wouldn't.
have succeeded only the trail was up,
grade. :.
Well, when the horses made their
Jump the barrel Of gin broke loose from
it's fastenings and went tearing down
the mountain side toward the man and
bear, who were coming along on dead
rum The man saw the barrel coming:
and avoided it, but not SO the grizzly
He stood up on his hind legs and reach
ing out his paws grabbed it. The way
that barrel rolled him down the noun
tain would make q coyote laugh.
The impromptu journey was brought
to a sudden ending by an immense
bowlder, against which the bear and
barrel rolled The shock 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.
He thought he had his quarry and when
he discovered it was only a barrel his
face took on an expression of intense
disgust. However, as is natural for
bear. he began to lick his shaggy coat.
which had been sprinl1led with some of
the gin. The taste was apparently
agreeable. as he kept Oh absorbing the
liquor with his rough tongue until the
flavor disappeared Then he went over
and smelled of the barrel. The inspec::
ton was undoubtedly highly satisfac-
tory, as lie inserted his snout and took
a sup, then he took a long draught and
in less than half an hour that bear was
drunk as a lord. ...
We watched the proceedings with in
terest, and after we were satisfied that
the bear had jag on we went down,
tied him UP with ropes, dragged him up
the hill and threw him Upside 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 a curiosity to draw trade.
Well, he did draw trade. Mike" gave
him quart Of whisky day, and after
awhile he 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 or his hind legs and wait to be
served with a lineup fall of whisky. He
was a source of great income, but un-
fortunately, being attacked with de
liriuln tremens one day, he killed the
bartender and miner with one blow Of
his powerful paw and it required twenty
Winchesters and about one hundred
pounds Of lead to cure him of his u1,-
controllable passion for intoxicants.