Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1893-09-15
THE MOUNTAIN KING.
Terrible Ferooity OF the Bald Face
Bear.
VIC ~ Mopirch OF the sawtooth- Desperate
ep" NLtal Encounter with an Aniinat
Lore Dreaded han tho UriaIly-
An UnhecdpH Warning


There yet Remain in the United
states but tive great game preserves
wide sections of country, rough noun
uains, broad t;.blelands and forests al
most impcnctrn Bile, where the native
denizens OF century ago still range
without fear of the hunters rife. The
enterprise OF sportsmen and the cupid-
atty OF pot hunters have in a great
measure pursued to the death the small
game of the country. Coupled with the
march of civilization and the vigorous
pursuit of the larger animals of the
wilderness they have been driven to
the deeper and moro inaccessible re.
treats, until the remnant of the many
monsters which once roaried the plains
and Inhabited the wilds are found in
the olympia moI.atalns in western
Washington and the Sawtooth noun
tains In northern Idaho, says the San
Francisco Cav.
1hcse lraho mountains are in reality
: sppr of the great range. of the
r.e',.ies, which extend like vast but.
crosses across the entire middle west,
ern front of the United States. In
many places the Sawtooth range is in
expressibly rugged and there are
stretches and depths which have never
been explored by any human being.
I'm these vast wilds are to he found the
most dangerous animal of which there
is any record in this country, an ami.
NAL which as far outranlks the drrn tcd
grizzly as that monarch does the com
paratively little brown bear, whose
chief mission is to frighten children in.
doors after dark anH catch an occasion.
al straying shoat. Tbs animal is tho
paid.taced bear. He is emphatically a
royal edition of the grizzly, has all the
;enacity of life al "A is not only abso-
lutely fearless, brit persistemtIy apgres.
sive.
The "bald-fac o" owes his distinctive
title to face which Is white. He is
larger than the grizzly. Beginning
ABOVE ms eyes several inches, the dark
Color OF ! IS hoiy fades into dirty
gray, the ACE down to the point of his
nose "h' ION either side it becomes pure
Wilt Hence the name "bald-face."
- 80 grizzly will never run from man.
will move on it's course frequently
sfter it sights him; when wounded it
will pursue the hunter for reasonable
distance, and when bodily hurt ii some-
times gives up the fray and beats re-
treat. Herein lies the dangerous diff
ference between the two species.
Pioneers and settlers of Idaho who
are acquainted with the habits of this
bear, which is not found, SO rar as can
learn or ever heard, in any other part
of the United States, never think OF
attacking him. They never hunt the
bald-face for the reasons given. To
begin an engagement with him is to
simply mean fight to the death.
shall never forget an experience
had with one of these animals. 1t was
in 1892. In company with three other
young men, had gone into the Saw
tooth mountains to hunt big game
deer, bea.c and such like. We had been
told OF the baldface, but having ha6
no experience with him, and having
tTo grizzlies to our credit, our party
smiled increduously when Joe pcnning
ton, an old hunter and trappT who
had of late years devoted himself tt
the less hazardous pursuit of CHECKER
rounding near Boise City, told as to be
ware of the bald-facc bear. Icing ia
miliar with the mountains, after con
siderable effort we induced Pennington
to accompany our party. taking along
three excellent dogs, well trained ant
courageous.
But Joe stipulated that we were no
to get into "a controversy with tn
bald-face, because he said it woul,
mean the death Of his dogs and the re
treat of our party 10 the foothills, ]
nothing more serious.
We had been in the mountains
~cek; had killed several deer and blacl
bear and any number of birds. On tn
morning of the seventh day we left
young Englishman named Kingsbur,
lin camp, as on the day before som
animal had visited our quarters, cate
IA lot of bacon and played havoc geher
ally with supplies. There had been
good deal of chatting about the bald
face, and Pennington had grown tire
of warning us of the danger of an Ell
counter. However, rs we left camp tn
old trapper shouted out, as he whistle
ITO his dogs and walked away; "Say
Kingsbury, ii you sec bald-facc at
wise you to make break for the mul
and light out for the valley; for if yo
don't wei! never collect enough of tn
remains to ship back to the folks a
home"
The mule referred to was stal1ed on
about one hundred yards away in lev,
clear spot Tho Engl shman didn't RI
ply, but held up his rifle AMI hi
hunting knife as an answer.
We thought nothing more of the eli
cumstance. The days sport was fairl
good, one deer, one mountain shee
and several birds being the result {
che hunt We met at an agreed spC
some three miles from the camp an
proceeded together to our quarters, c,
pccting that Kingsbury would hay
prepared for us a substantial Dime
Reaching an elevation some distant
from camp we paused moment, whc
Pennington remarked: "By gosl
where's the mule?" We all looked, bl
no mule could we see. Possibly it ha
broken away and gone off, or it migl
be hidden in the grass, lying down, br
field glass failed to reveal the anima
Proceeding slowly toward camp, y
soon reached the space where the mu
had been left.
There was no longer any qucstiC
where the mule was. 1t was lying q
the ground completely disembowele
lie hacl, h,.nl,nn and It's hcnd Eicrnl