Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-01-05
a FIoR,DA. eEAR s7oRY.


At Least the scene Was Florida; the Beast
Acted Like q Pike County Bear.
'.When 1 was down in Florida last
winter" said John Gilbert, the travel
ing grpceryman, 'they told me bear
story which they earnestly asked me to
believe, and as I am nothing If not ac-
commodating. I believed it. The bear
this story was about acted to me so
much like Pike county bear that
couldn't help but believe that it really
was one of that county perennial bruin
family who had gone down to Florida
to spend the winter / believed the
story, so 1 don't see that there is any
thing in the way of believing that the
bear was from Pike county. If he was
he will never be seen there again, and
his folks might as well know it.
According to this story, party of
New Workers were hunting somewhere
on the Florida coast when they came to
a mass of wreckage that had been
fortunate vessel AS they approached
the 1reckage they were surprised to see
a bear nosing around among it. The
bear was so much talsen up with his in
spection of the miscellaneous articles
strewn about that he did not
detect the presence of the hunters.
and they had good opportunity
to watch his actions. There were
cocoanuts, oranges, pineapples and
other things of that kind scattered
about, besides casks and boxes which
were still unbroken. When the party
first came in sight of the bear he was
evidently having his first interview
with cocoanut He looked at it with
comicaf doubt for minute or so, and
then smelt of it cautiously. His inves-
legations thus far being satisfactory. he
touched it with one paw, drawing the
paw away quickly, as if he were afraid
the queer object was hot Then he
tried it with the other paw, and this
satisfying him that there was no danger
concealed in the big nut, the bear sat
down in the sand with a contented
grunt, took the nut up in his paws and
prepared to regale himself on the new
found morseL 1t was plain that the
bear had not expected to meet with so
much resistance on the part of the nut,
for when he brought his teeth down on
the hard shell his mouth flew open and
he dropped the nut as if it had been red
hot. At the same time he clapped his
paws to his jaw and hollered, 'Ow-w- w!
ow-w-wr for all the world like man
who had been suddenly struck with a
toOthache pang.
This was so conf cal that it came
near ending the show, for it was all the
convulsed spectators could do to keep
from bowling right out But they held
in and by and by bruin made his next
move. He picked up the nut again, in
spected it carefully and closely for a
long time and then held one side of it
III his mouth and tried to crack it with
his teeth. Failing in this, he gave an
angry snort and threw the cocoanut as
far from him as he could. Then he fell
on all the rest of them that lay about
and scattered them about on the beach
as if he was the demon bowler in a
cricket match. When he had sufficient
ly vented his anger in this way on the
nuts, he picked up an orange. That
suited him, and he sat down and feasted
on oranges. He ate all that were with
in reach, and he then moved to get
among some more, when he got sniff
from a keg that lay on the sand. He
paid no more attention to the oranges,
but had that lSeg on its end in less than
no time A piece of the head was out,
and, taking the keg in under one arm,
he rammed his other paw through the
opening in the head, took it out, and
carried it to his mouth and sucked it
with such unmistakable gusto that it
needed no words to tell that the bear
had found something that lay way over
oranges. He kept the paw working
to and fro between the keg and his
mouth as rapidly as he could sop
and suck, but that process was
too slow for him, and, wrenching off
another piece from the top of the keg,
he pushed his head through into it.
According to the story, the bear mus
have become conscious of the fact as
soon as he got his head in the cask that
he couldn't get it out again, for he inn
mediately made the attempt to get it
out. His ears and the big folds of skin
about his neck and jowls wouldn't let
it come. He raised on his feet, and the
keg sat on his shoulders like helmet
many sizes too large. The breeze had
carried to the spectators by this time
the intelligence that the keg had
Jamaica rum in tor rather did have
until the bear lifted it in the air, when
the insidious contents ran down an
bathed bruin with its redolence from
head to foot The bear howled, but
within the confines of the keg his utter
ances sounded far-off and hollow. He
clutched at the keg, first with one paw
and then with the other, but in vain.
To add to the coInicality of the bears
situation, bruin had become tipsy and
tottered and staggered as he clawed
and howled.
THE hunters yelled with laughter
that no one tried longer to keep in, and
the bear was still sober enough to
know that there was company about
that meant no good for him, and he
Strengthened up for a second as to get
his bearings, and then started,
blinded by the keg and nearly
drunk besides, to make his
escape if he could By accident he
headed straight inland. but had to GO
up quite steep rise. He veered and
staggered up the hill. but at the top
tumbled heels over head, and rolled
back to the bottom. right in the midst
of the hunters. He picked himself up,
and growing inside the keg with
drunken fury, he danced about, stril1-
ing out with his paws like a genuine