Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1895-06-22
TOBY AND THE BEAR.
A MANEUVER OVER WHICH THE WISE
OLD NATIVES DIFFERED.


Cut out For 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 one
knows who ever lived among them, hate
dogs beyond everything else, two legged
or four legged, and will frequently give
up good chance to escape from pur-
suing hunter Just for the satisfaction of
waiting for the dog that is yelping be-
hind him and taking fall out of him
when he comes up 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 ao-
knowledged to be the most accomplish
ed dog when it came to getting the best
of bear that had ever been i'll that coun-
try, and if any hunter didn't catch
bear when Toby was along it wasn't the
dogs fault. Once Toby was borrowed
by "a man named Crowley, who knew
where "a 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 lust stood still and gaZed i'll 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 few seconds Then he quit and
went home. Ever after that Toby would
snap and growl at Crowley whenever he
saw him.
Zone day | was looking over a log
cling job had contracted for and dlscov-
cred signs of bear along the creek. Noxt
day Toby and | went ont to see what
we could do with the bear. We soon
struck the trail, and Toby located the
bear in a small patch of laurels, from
which he soon routed bruin. He brought
the bear to bay III Il little open space in
piece of chestnut timber. There was
no necessity of the bear turning at bay,
but he evidently wanted to get whack
at Toby. | could have easily sent 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, |
concluded to let him have the chance and
to enjoy the sport of "a few minutes
maneuvering between the two.
lit 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' get blow or bite in on Toby,
while Toby got nip at the bear at al
most every turn. This amusing dance
lasted for ten minutes and felt so
proud of my dog that | declared there
and then that it would take 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 premeditated act,
deliberately and successfully carried out
as planned. Others declared that it was
an afterthought of the bears. | myself
held and hold yet that it was entirely
an accident, because | will not admit
that there ever was bear smart enough
to get the better of Toby by design.
after sparring and rushing truitless-
" at the dog for ten minutes the bear
put his back against tree and breathed
hard for at least a minute. Then 1t sud
denly dropped to all fours and hurried
toward another tree rod or 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 on 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 it's rear, and presently he was
swinging in the air feet from the
ground.
THE sight was so funny that ! just
tumbled on the ground and roared. The
bear stopped when about 10 feet up the
trunk of the tree, chung there for mo-
ment and then let loose. He came down
like a pile driver. When he struck at
the bottom of the tree, Toby was be-
tween him and the ground. There was
a faint yelp, and that was all. Three
hundred pounds of bear had tiattened
40 pounds of dog out of all kind OF
shape The catastrophe was so sudden
and unexpected that before l could re-
cover from the painful surprise 1t gave
me the bear had disappeared in the lau-
rels. There never was smarter bear
dog than Toby, but he wasn't cut out