Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-09-25
eETwfxT BEAR AND SMOKE.
The Plight of n Man Who Was Freed
 tho Michigan Woods.

The Plight of'a Man Who Was Freed in
 tho Michigan Woods.
 Last Friday afternoon Peter Nelson, a Swede, who was on his way to Grand Ma rias, met with m adventure when about fifteen miles from that place which nearly resulted fatally
 Last Friday morning he started for Grand Marias on the stage road with a horse and blackboard. He travelled along slowly and was probably about fifteen miles from his destination when he heard a noise in the bushes and stopped to investi gate He had n Winchester along with him, and taking it from the rig he stepped of the road into the bushes Two bear cubs were playing together not more than two or three rods from him
 They could not have been more than one or two weeks old, and thinking he would like to capture them alive he made a few steps toward them. The cubs started to run, and Nelson started in pursuit, throwing aside his rife, a thing which moment later he regretted doing. He succeeded in heading one of the cubs off toward the road, which he had nearly reached, when he heard n sudden crash be- hind him, followed by an angry roar, and turning, he beheld, to his horror, the moth of the cubs not many feet from him. All thoughts of the cubs vanished from his mind. He thought only of his own safety. With greater alacrity than he had'shown in pursuing young bruin, he started for the road and reached it just in time to see his horse make n mad dash up the road. Nelson knew that his only chance ofescape was in climbing a tree. He had no time to select n tree, but "shinned" up the first one he came to, which was, fortunately. large enough to bear his weight, but too small for the bear to climb. "' Hardly had he got well out of the way before his pursuer reached the spot more enraged than ever at his escape. The ami nal paved the ground at the foot of the tree, making vain and desperate attempts to climb it, and accompanying these at tempts with roars of anger. Nelson looked on from his lofty perch with some alarm, and wished he had his rife for about one minute. The time was wearing away, though slowly to him, and he was becom- ing tired He wondered if he would be compelled to remain there all night, and he wondered, too, what had become of his horse. But the worst was yet to come, and it was not long before he realized this l fact.
 Smoke had filled the air for some time, but as it caused him no inconvenience he thought nothing of it. But it became | thicker and thicker. and Nelson at last | found it hard to breathe. On the ground | there seemed to be not much smoke, and | Bruin seemed to be determined to stay. l The cubs were but few feet away. The | wind became stronger, and to the great dis may of Peter Nelson the air was filled with | burned leaves and cinders. Bruin seemed | to be getting uneasy too But he could ! stand it no longer. as the smoke was suffo- eating him. So. taking his pocket knife, | he opened the blade and started to slide down the tree, thinking that possibly he | would be allowed to go on his way un- ! I E--l- necessary.
 The bear was then lying close to the | ground but short distance away. Nel- son dropped from the tree when about half l way down and starteCFOn q run up the road l in the direction his horse had gone as fast as his legs could carry him, but he had | gone but n few steps when he stumbled and fell. Before he could arise bruin was | up to him, and he received n heavy blow on the back from the animals paw. All 1 Nelson could do was to try and dodge the blows aimed at him. Several times the bears sharp claws pierced and tore his flesh. In the struggle Nelson finally sue ceeded in reaching the spot where he had left his Winchester, and with great deal of trouble managed to pick it off the ground. The pocket knife which he had thought of using proved useless to him in defending himself. But now, with rifle | in his hand, he felt as if he stood q good chance if he could only find m opportunity to use it.
 The bear seemed to realize this fact, too for she made several attempts to knock il out of his hands; but by dodging around Nelson managed to get in such position that he was enabled to fire three shots in quick succession at the animal, two oi which took effect.
 Nelson then killed the cubs, knowing they could not live without their mother
 He found that the horse had broken loose from the blackboard and run into the woods. The wind had changed and blowr the smoke away by that time. He did not however, go to Grand Marias. but "hoofed
 it back.
 His clothes were badly torn, and he was painfully but not seriously, hurt from the
 wounds he received.-New berry Democrat