The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-05-21
AND THE BEAR
A MANEUvER OVER WHICH THE WISE
OLD NATIVES DIFFERED.

Toby Was tho Smartest Bear Dog In All
the Woods, and His Owner wouldn't
Have Sold Him For $780,. but He Wasn't
Cut Out For an Acrobat.
Il had a dog named Toby when l
was living up in the Pennsylvania lum-
Der woods, said George w. Reynolds
of the National Lumber company. He
was a bear dog. Bears, as every n
knows who ever lived among them, hate
dogs beyond everything else, two legged
or four legged, and will frequently give
up a good chance to escape from a pur-
suing hunter just for the satisfaction of
waiting for the dog that is yelping be-
hind him and taking a fall out of him
when he comes up, a fall that usually
ends the dogs career, especially if it is
a dog not especially trained to hunt the
bear.
This dog Toby Of mine was famous
all through these woods. He was ac-
knowledged to be the most accomplish
cd dog when it came to getting the best
of bear that had ever been in that coun-
try, and if any hunter didn't catch a
bear when Toby was along it wasn't the
dogs fault. Once Toby was borrowed
by a man named Crowley, who knew
where q couple Of bears were hanging
out. The dog routed them out and drove
them plumb to Crowley, who could cas-
lily have shot them both, but instead,
when he saw them coming, he cut and
ran. Tim Bull, who had gone along
with Crowley on the hunt. said that
Toby just stood still and gazed in amaze
ment after the flying hunter. Crowley,
seeing that the bears had got away, soon
came back. The dog showed his opinion
Of Crowley by bristling up and growl-
ing savagely and threateningly at him
for a few seconds. Then he quit and
went home. Ever after that Toby would
snap and growl at Crowley whenever he
saw him.
Zone day l was looking over a log
ging job I had contracted for and discov-
cred signs of bear along the creek. Next
day Toby and l went out to see what
we could do with the bear. We soon
struck the trail, and Toby located the
bear in a small patch Of l~aurels, from
which he soon routed bruin. He brought
the bear to bay in a little open space in
q piece of chestnut timber. There was
no necessity of the bear turning at bay,
but he evidently wanted to get a whack
ut Toby. ! could have easily sent a bull
let through the bear, but having the Ut
most confidence in Toby's smartness,
and seeing that the bear was anxious to
put his smartness against the dogs, l
concluded to let him have the chance and
to enjoy the sport of a few minutes
maneuvering between the two.
1T was fun. Toby worried the al
ready ugly old chap with tricks and
quick movements until the bear was
wild with rage. Do what he might, he
couldn't get a blow or a bite in on Toby,
while Toby got q nip at the bear at al
most every tnrn. This amusing dance
lasted for ten minutes, end felt so
proud of my dog that l declared there
and then that it would take q good deal
more than a 500 bill to buy him.
"Some wise old natives of those woods
assured me afterward that what this
bear finally did was a p~remeditated act,
deliberately and successfully carried out
as planned. Others declared that 1t was
an afterthought of the bears. myself
held and hold yet that it was entirely
an accident, because l will not admit
that there ever was a bear smart enough
to get the better of Toby by design.
AFTER sparring and rushing fruitless-
ly at the dog for ten minutes the bear
put his back against a tree and breathed
hard for at least a minute. Then It sud-
denly dropped to all tours and hurried
toward another tree a rod OF so away.
Toby followed, and as the bear started
to climb the tree seized it by one Of its
hams. Although the dog must have set
his teeth deep in the flesh, the bear did
not stop Oh his way, but climbed on as
if nothing was worrying him. The dog
held on and was lifted from the ground
as the bear climbed. The higher the bear
went the tighter Toby appeared to hang
on to its rear, and presently he was
swinging in the air Is feet from the
ground.
~. .o sight was SO funny that l just
tumbled on the ground and reared. The
bear stopped when about 10 feet up the
trunk Of the tree, chung there for q mo
ment, and then let loose. He came down
like q pile driver. When he struck a
the bottom Of the tree, Toby was be
tween him and the ground. There wa
a faint yelp, and that was all. Three
hundred pounds Of bear had fattenet
40 pounds Of dog out Of all kind O
shape. The catastrophe was so suddel
and unexpected that before I could re
cover from the painful surprise it CAV
me the bear had disappeared in the lau
rels. There never was a smarter bea
dog than Toby, but he wasn't cut on
for an acrobat. There Is where he mad
his mistake. There never was q smarte
dog than Toby, nor was there ever
deader one when that bear got off
him. New York Sun.
mrs. Huntington's Baths.
MIA C. P. Huntington recently got
OF. :~ro<oA hor Ahnnk Il