The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1893-12-30
HUN TING WITH CANN ON,
WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER OF
GRIZZLY BEARS. "


VITO oLESALE SLAUGHTER OF
GRIzzLY BEARS.
{ Ihe Carcass of q Horse Formed the Bait
avjth Which the Animals Were At
s$ itracted ana Two Howitzers Formed
She Weapons of Destruction. = -'->-
sAlong in the early fifties the grizzly
bears We're SO plentiful in the canyons
near tss' 3 Fort Fillmore, N. M, that
domestic animals were in constant
perl from their nightly incursions.
"a TACT, they were dreaded by lore
travellers almost as much as the saw
ageEand hostile Apaches.
is1 had occasion during my sojourn
IN FL Paso, Texas, at that early period
OF the history of that country to visit
FORT Fillmore. was detained there
several s days and made my headquar-
tersnt the post with the sut1er.
The second day after my arrival
one spf the cavalry horses, while play
ing in a corral, received vicious
KICK from another horse On ex-
animation it was thought to be i'm.
possible for the poor brute ever to
recover from the wound 80 as ito be
ofany use. and to put him out of his
misery he was shot and hauled up
the canyon, about a milo from the
fort.
t As it was we'll known that there
would be q grand carnival of the
grizzles and other wild beasts over
the carcass that night, the .'boys, ="
that is Lieutenant Cook and others,
consisting OF quite respectable COR
poraps guard, concluded to witness
the feast. The sky was clear and in
that soft, transparent atmosphere the
full moon lit up the canyon almost
equal to midday.
I s We selected two small brass howitz-
ef5 from the battery of six guns and
loaded them almost to the muzzle
with grape shot and canister. We
then hauled our ordnance to within
epnvenient range of the carcass and
sscreted ourselves in ambush behind
aclump of cacti.
/ We waited some three hours,
which seemed almost an age to the
eager watchers, and about 10 o'clock
the first intimation of the approach
tng carnival was made known by the
distant howl Of a pack OF hungry
coyotes. They were not long, how
ever, in putting in an appearance, in
such force that it was all. we could
dp to prevent Sergeant McGilvey
opening the battery on them: We
Reserved our charge for the larger
game, as We knew the grizzly would
10 attend Che feast: .ssk
had begun to despair of the
coyotes leaving anything for the
behr, when, fortunately, a monster
spotted tiger appeared on the scene,
putting the coyotes to flight. and tax
ing possession of the banquet, pro-
ceeded in the most ravenous manner
to conduct the interesting ceremonies
alone He did not enjoy his mo-
nopoly long, however, for a few min
ute5 later the awe-inspiring growls
of three large grizzlies were heard in
chorus over the banquet table and in
turn putting to flight that beautifully
freckled but somewhat discomftted
iaguar.
BY the time we had placed our
guns in position two more monster
grizzlies had arrived at the feast,
making five of the huge beasts, that
caused the ground to tremble by their
roars and savage growing as they
tore the carcass to pieces and fought
each other like demons.
Suddenly the deafening roar OF the
two guns, almost simultaneously,
awoke the echoes of the canyon, and
also the fears of the two remaining
grizzlies. leaving three Of their num-
ber dead and wounded on the BATTLE
field.
from my position, and l remained
secreted under that cactus Ca large
variety of what is generally known as
prickly pear) until the guns had
been heavily charged again. and I was
fully atis6ed that the bears were in
no condition to give further trouble.
Two Of the bears were killed out
right, says the Philadelphia Times,
being literally torn to p eces by the
canister, and the third was so badly
mangled that he lived perhaps half
an hour in great agony.
BY the time we had taken a topo-
graphical survey of5the CORY field it
was past midnight. and we concluded
"to make a night of it" hoping for
return Of the coyotes.
About o'clock in the morning the
distant wall of a hungry coyote told
us of the commencement of their
march to a second banquet at the
augmented table of good things. It
seemed, that the wall of that lone
coyote was re-echoed by thousand
rayenous throats, and in less than
thirty minutes bowling mob of
them were tearing to pieces and
fighting over the remains of both
horse and bears. sss.z
When the guus again belched forth
the deadly messages the earth trem.
=bled, the carnival ceased and quiet
once more reigned over the scene.
In looking over the field of destruc-
I I. L. l. 4