Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1894-11-15
Saint Maru's Beacon

into town from Tehunga canon,
just north of this city, yesterday
with the skin Of q grizzly bear,
which he had killed a few days be-
fore after a thrilling encounter.
The skin measures fully II feet
long, and has the paws attacked,
each of which measures five by ten
inches, showing the enormous size
of the big beast. The bear weighed
over 1000 pounds.
Sweitzke owns a little bee ranch
up in the canon Of Tehunga, one of
those openings in the mountain
range which shows itself just above
San Fernando. He keeps a hun
dred or more stands Of bees, from
which ordinarily he derives his liv-
ing. One morning recently he went
to attend his bees and found a
couple Of hives overturned and the
bees in the widest commotion.
One glance sufficed to show that
thief had been there and had robbed
his bees of their honey during the
night, and the tracks in the ground
showed that the thief was bear of
enormous size. Switzke says that
had he known it was a grizzly bear
he would have picked NJ his camp
and moved or let the bear have what
was left. He supposed the bear to
be of the ordinary brown variety,
which are easily put to flight if not
killed, and he determined to kill
the bear.
Sweitzke, after the first assault,
stood watch nightly with the rifle,
but the bear did not make his ap-
pearance. The watcher was begin
ming to think of giving up his vigi-
lance three nights ago, and had re-
turned to his cabin, when he heard
something approaching from the
opposite side of the canon. He
kept out of sight and awaited de-
velopments. Almost before he
could realize it the bear was within
100 feet of him. Without ado,
the bear knocked over a hive and
reached for the contents.
You may laugh, but do you know
that the bear looked as big as an
elephant to me when | finally got a
good look at him. said Sweitzke,
when he told about his encounter.
lie did not lose any time, however,
in trying a shot at the bear, for the
loss of his honey made him angry.
The first bullet, which was from a
1896 cartridge, made the bear cease
his feast. The animal whirled a.
round with a growl of rage and
started for the beekeeper. 1t took
but q few jumps before another shot
was sent after the first, with the
effect that it seemed to momentar-
lily check the bears progress. II
WAS only for moment, however,
for the next second the beast was
within ten feet of Sweitzke and in
an upright position, with paws
raised, mouth wide open, and in q
frenzy of rage.
Sweitzke said that he knew that
if he turned to run he was lost, as
he could not reach cover in time to
save himself. His only course was
TO make the next bullet find some
vital point, and then if it was case
of hand-to-hand struggle he would
fight it out to the last. He said he
can yet see the frightful fangs and
the big scarlet tongue of the beast,
with its ears laid fiat and its eyes
glowing, as it advanced snaIling and
growing. The bear was just with
in reaching distance when Sweitzke
pulled the trigger. The bear stag
gered, then fell and began a strug-
gle to regain its feet. But the
wound was fatal. The bear had to
give mp, but in its struggle, even at
the last, it tore up the ground in
all directions.
When the animal was skinned
three bullets, beside Sweitzke's
were found embedded in the skin,
showing that some other hunter had
taken a shot, probably from some
safe distance at the bear in the
past. All of his own bullets had
taken effect in vital parts, the last
one penetrating the heart. He
was monster, aud although
Sweitzke has seen many bears and
had many encounters. this one was
the largest he had ever seen in
Southern California. He will never
tackle another grizzly, he says,
L L r.