Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1893-02-04

seat to shoot the bear with in case he
found that it had dragged the trap away,
and in the hind end Of the blackboard he
laid smoked ham that he was going to
trade for goods at the village store.
When Mr.. Tice had driven to point
in the Hitchcock woods nearest to the
spot where he had the trap he refined
the horse to the side of the road and
told his daughter that he guessed he
wouldn't bother to take the rifle along;
it wasn't at all likely, he said, that the
bear had got caught in the trap so soon,
but it wouldn't take him more than fif-
teen minutes to run over and see, and if
he found that the bear had logged the
trap away he would come back and get
the gun.
Miss Tice began TO read newspaper
as soon as her father had started for
the swamp. She became absorbed in a
story right away, but she heard some
thing moving behind the wagon. She
paid no attention to it at first, so deeply
interested was she in the tale. But
presently something pushed against the
back end of the blackboard, and looking
around she saw beaf clawing the
smoked ham toward it. Miss Tice
jumped up and shouted, ami the bear
seized the tow string in its teeth, yanked
the ham off the blackboard, wheeled
around and waddled away toward the
swamp with the ham swinging from its
jaws.
Seeing that her shouts had no effect on
the thievish brute, Miss Tice grabbed
the whip, sprang from the wagon, ran
after the bear and with all her might
began lashing 1t over the head. The
bear started off on IL run, and Miss Tice
kept up and piled the whip ut every step.
The cuts OF the lash made the bear
vince, but it chung to the ham as though
it was bound to lug it to the swamp.
The bear snarled and snorted whenever
the whip struck its head and nose, and
Miss Tice put on the blowsa all the harder
the more noise it made. She said later
that she was determined to compel the
bear to drop the ham, and that she
didn't intend to punish it afterward.
Between fifteen and twenty rods from
the wagon the bear flung the ham into
the bushes and with a savage growl
turned on TIE young woman. Miss Tice
gave it cut over the nose as she backed
away from it, but the bear was now full
of rage over the pain it was suffering,
and it plunged at the plucky girl and
almost struck her down. The bears
claw tore Miss Tees skirt loose, and
she turned and ran toward the wagon
and shouted rs loud as she could. The
bear chased her to the blackboard, where
Miss TiCe wheeled and cut it over the
head with the whip till it turned tail
and started for the swamp again.
Miss Tice happened to think of the
rifle then, and she pulled it from under
the seat, cocHed it, aimed it at the bear
and pulled the trigger. The gun cracked,
and the bear dropped on its knees with
below, and began to plow through the
bushes. 1t didn't go far, for the bullet
had lodged in the base of its brain, and
it was stretched out dead when Mr.. Tice
ran from the swamp to see why his
daughter had shouted and the rifle had
gone off. He hadn't found a bear in the
trap, and he was satisfied that Miss Tice
had killed the identical bear that he had
set the trap for. Mr.. Tice soon hunted
up the stolen ham, and then he and his
daughter loaded the dead bear on the
blackboard and took it to the village
Pennsylvania Cor. New York Sun.