The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-02-06
TWO BEAR STORIES.
Capt. Bullene Tells of Boys
Hunting in Wisconsin.
eRUIN LIKE sAmsoN's FOXES.
The Hunters' Courage Dozed Out-A
Iexan's Bad Predicargent-Pray-
ers and Oaths sIixed.

any person who knows MIN would not
dream of his telling falseslood, even for
the sake of giving embelis sment to good
story; therefore the following experiences
related by him may be accepted as the
only absolutely true bear stories on record:
When he was II years & age his father
made a trip to Wisconsin, -aking the boy
with him and leaving the r5,,st of the fam
lily in New York state. Wisconsin was
then very wild country. I'm fact. young
Builene was the first white boy to make
his appearance in the country around
Prairie du Chen. That was away back in
1884 and 1885, The first WRITER there were
so few settlers that they ju.t lived among
the Winnebago Indians. Fne next year,
when the family came out, shey all settled
down near the southern boundary of the
state and gradually the nuulber of settlers
increased, though the HOUSES were mighty
far apart for long time.
The country was full q coQns and as
soon as the settlers begans raising corn
they became very annoying They would
60 right through the field sand eat part
of an ear of corn here and tzlere, destroy
ing much more than they ste. The boys
in the neighborhood frequently went out
on coon hunt. but the olS folks would
not allow any of them totake firearms,
lest they should shoot each. other. They
would sometimes be out neatly all night,
but generally brought back ( coon or two,
no matter how long they hate to stay out
to do it.
Everybody kept q dog ami everbody's
dog was of course the best Soon figher in
the neighborhOod. They Gould spread
out over the field and keep raoving about
until some one Of the dogs got onto q
scent and began barking, tE-us giving no.
tice to the Others that there was '.some-
thing in the wind" Then tSere would be
break for the point where'the bark was
heard. The coon would make for the
woods and up tree. and taen the real
fun commenced. The dogs gathered about
the foot of the tree and kept barking until
one of the boys climbed up and knocked
the coon out with club When he
dropped to the ground the Digs would all
jump onto him, and there wa sure to be
desperate fight.
Well, on one occasion theyhad been out
the whole night without any suck. 1t was
near daylight and they h.i just deter
mined to give up the chase. when one of
the dogs set mp q fearful c7elping and
started for the timber. In an Instant every
dog in the pack was out after aim and the
boys knew there was sometcc ing in store
for them. When they reaches. the timber
they found all the dogs at Che foot of a
beec tree. barking like declons. They
concluded from the noise theE made that
they must have very large coon freed
this time. One of the boys stae.ed 10 climb
the tree but an old man Fed Harris,
who was great chum with GALL the boys
and always went with them, Thought the
game was probably too large .eor the boys
to bring down, so he insisted Sn going up
himself.
The branches of the tree serted out al
most from the ground and theleaves were
still all on, though it was lat in the fall,
beech trees retaining their icaves much
later than the others. Harrls~hinned ND
the tree and was soon hiddet from view
by the leaves. They all stt>od around
waiting for the coon to cofse tumbling
down. The dogs were all on tse alert and
nervously moved about, as :.hey peered
upward, eager to hear the fif:,t rustic of
the leaves give evidence thai the game
had been dislodged and was filing down
through the branches. 4
But the first thing they hear was some
thing go "Ugh!' and then 4 chopping
sound, like hog gnashing itsAeeth. The
next second there was a craslis and some
thing came tearing down through the
branches and landed right in le midst of
the dogs. Scarcely had it 81 uck before
every one of them pounced upc:, it, and
voice cried out:
For Gods sake. save me! save mer'
The boys realized then that it was the
old man and not the game that had come
down, and they beat the dogs off before
they injured him badly. He jumped up,
and not paying any attention to the in
juries he sustained by falling and being
bitten by the dogs, exclaimed in q halt
suppressed voice;
"Oh, Lord! It's bear!"
Then the whole crowd ran fer the corn
field. but the dogs remained around the
tree. On holding council Of war and
finding out that Old Harris was more
scared than hurt, they all took courage at
the persistence of the dogs and decided to
60 back. build a tire and keep she bear in
the tree until daylight, as they had heard
that bear would not go near fire.
They kindled big fire some distance
from the tree, being afraid to go close to it.
After standing around for a time, one of
the boys. just to show how much courage
he possessed. took big hrebrand and
carried it over near the tree. He would
not dare go under, but stood at a distance
and threw it. 1t landed near the base.
and then another boy. determined not to
be outdone, took another brand a little
nearer, and another took one stall a little
nearer, until finally they got up pretty
close but none of them would dare go
clear UP to the tree.
AS all stood around waiting fer daylight
so they could send for a ride and shoot the
bear the boys became very brave and each
one would boast about what he would do
if the bear should come down before they
got the gun.
IF Just had good revolver and bowie
knife and my dog was along with me,
wouldn't be much skeered OF bsar,n said
one.
Yes. that's all right" replied one of
the Others, but I'll bet that a beard Just
make mincemeat out of your Old dog so
quick YOU wouldn't know you had one;
and you couldn't get revolver that'd
shoot through his hide. Then what could
YOU do with bowie knife after he once
got his claws on vou?"
well, ia just like to see the bear that'd
make mineemeat out of Tige,'s retorted
the first boy. IN bet he'd have to be a
big one. OF course no dog caa whip a
great big bear, but I'll bet nay dog agin
yours that he'd tackle him no matter how
L