The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1895-04-18
TIM AND THE CINNAMON BEAR.
an Exciting Episode in Which Bruin Was
Treated to "A Surprise.

Or all branches Of railway engineer
inc there Is none which brings the officer
into closer contact with a Woodworking
lot OF men than the maintenance Of way
work. Sometimes there are comical
features even in this department, and
one Of these was recently told to a
writer for the St. Louis Gl0Je- Democrat
By well-knOwn engineer, who hides
his real name under the pseudOym OF
jerry Sullivan. 1t Is q tale of one Tim,
a track walker, who came IN late one
night and reported to the other occu-
pants of the bunkhouse that he had been
delayed by an extraordinary encounter
with a bear.
Near tne ind of the section, said
Tim, close to the old tie camp, | was
comm along about $50 O'Clock and
just afther crossin' that little bridge |
heeTd a niZe Of sumthin' rustlin' in the
JIEhes down at the bottom ofthc dump,
and thiukiu' it was d rabbit | fired a
rock down into i'm, and in a second
there was a terrible slashin' around in
thin bushes, and | see big cinnamon
bear come out sneeziu' and rubbin' his
nOze, and thin, before | rightly come to
me sinseS, the bear seen me and up the
dump he come. Well, | started down
the track as tight as | could 90 but
hadn't went two telegraph poles until
look back and see the bear still comm
and gainin' on me livery Jump. So
dropped me adZe and riuch and
stretched meseif for all ! was worth.
But it was no use, the bear was still
gainin' and | was wouderin what on
airth | was gOin' to do whin | see the
iron pipe under the track near the cut,
and | made for that and wint in Just
clear, whin the bear iammed his head
in at the ind But he was too big to
go in, and he couldn't reach NE and
so he paved around and snorted and
bit the ind of the pipe, and tried first
one side and thin the other. But | was
safe, and lied there and painted and
blessed the man that invinted iron pipe.
We'll, | thought the bear would 20
away after a while, but he didn't; he
stayed right there, wild his head in first
wan ind of the pipe and thin the other,
and when he came round to the upper
ind | wished | had held on to the rinch
SO | could hit him a belt over the nose.
E14IEl bJlI III lltIC bN tl tNU uDtllS
begin gittin' cold, and | see somethn'
had to be done, and | thought I'd try
smokin' him out. So | managed to
light me pipe, and thin | smoked for all
/ knew how but the bear still kept his
head in the hole and | crawled up
closer and blew the smoke right in his
face. He snorted Il little. but wouldn't
back out, and seemed to be gettin' mad
der all the time. Thin. when | was
nearly froze to death, | happened to
think OF the stick of giant powder in
me pocket and, thinks /, Now, I'll
settle your hash. SO | puts fuse in
the stick of giant and crawls up and
threw it right under the bears head,
and thin touched off the fuse and backed
down to the other ind of the pipe |
guess that bear thought | was going to
run away. for he run across the track
70 the other ind; thin, whin | crawled
back to get me feet out Of his reach he
crossed back again and stuck his head
and neck into the pipe just rs the giant
wiut of. WidOut thinkin', | had made
a bic cannon out of the water pipe. and
whin it wiut oil | was fired out and
landed in the middle OF the river and
was nearly drowned before | knew just
where | was at. But | finally struck
the other bank and got ont and wiut up
to the station and tagged the passenger
and rode home. After climbin' up the
bank | looked back and saw smoke
comm out Of the lower ind Of the pipe
and the bear still lookin' at the upper
ind, and tryin' to see phwat in - had
happened"