The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-22
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zEKE CAMPBELL'S LUCK.
His Newly Invented Bear Trap Proves
to be Great Success.
From The PIttgburg Dispatch.


Williamsport Pa. Dec. 15.-"Bears are
more plentiful this winter than they have
have been for twenty years." said zeke
Campbell of the Pine Creek region during
a visit to the town" the other day. Zeke
is one of the chaps who last winter in
vented a new bear trap that has proved
very effective. This new trap is a beer
keg with sharp spikes driven in it for the
purpose of holding bruins head fast when
once the inquisitive old fellow pokes his
nose in after the chunk of raw meat
which is fastened to the bottom of the
key. The key is chained to a tree, and
when once bruin gets his head fast he
becomes an easy prey for the owner of the
trap next morning. Zeke says he has killed
fourteen bears this winter already, one
of the number weighing $40 pounds, and
'rollin' in fat" And, by the way, this
same bear was taken in beer keg trap
TOO. He was seen prowling around an
old7fashioned log pen trap a few days be-
fore, but, this being too high for his form,
he contented himself with being taken
in the new-fangled way.
Zeke says he never saw a bear make
such fuss as did this big fellow. He said
it was not yet daylight when he left his
hut in the vicinity of the Black Forest to
make a tour of his traps, having with him
as companions a trusty rifle and his dog
Cub" a big bull. A light snow had fallen
during the night, and when within half a
mile OF his first trap he ran across the
track OF a bear--a monster footprint il
was too. Zeke reckoned it was the big
fat fellow that he had seen on several oc-
casions, and before he came within sieht
OF the spot where his beer keg was
chained he hea rd f,1e
1here was series Of squeals as though
hungry pig were trying to get out of a
PEN then the sounds would suddenly
change to the most dismal grunts imagin-
able. The dog Cub" whisked up his
ears, the hair along his neck bristled to-
ward his head, and the old fellow showed
his teeth in threatening manner. Zeke
knew what that meant but would not
allow the dog to rush forward, as he was
anxious to do.
Suddenly he came within sight of the
trap, and a funny thing he saw. There
sat big, black bear. with the beer keg
stripped down over his head. He sat on
his launches and with his forepaws was
trying his best to push the key off Every
push sent the sharp spikes deep into his
fur and neck, and the thing would not
off worth a cent. All this while the
squealing and grunting were kept up
with vim, and Zeke's dog was nearly
VIII W lush DIT AelpleSS DTuln. Inc Dear
evidently knew that there was dog about
for he tried harder than ever to force his
head from the key, and the way he tugged
at the trap and then at the chain was n
sight to see. Zeke watched the "critter,"
as he called it, for some time, then raising
his rifle he sent two bullets into the big
black body, which caused it to first lean
straight into the air and then roll at fun
length of the chain. A minute more and
the bear was dead, and Zeke removed the
key from the big fellows head. Then it
was found what a noble endeavor the big
chap had put forth to free himself. The
sharp spikes had worn a ring about his
neck and horribly cut the flesh from being
forced by the bears forepaws; his nose
was bloody and the hair worn off the
sides of his head. Zske says he thinks the
bear had been trying TO free himself sew
eral hours before he reached the trap
Zeke was in luck that morning He
not only captured a bear in his beer keg
trap, but also had the extreme satisfac-
ton of finding another in one of his log
pen traps. And more than that, when he
had reached point on the top of the ridge