The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-16
SAVED ny COYOTES.
4 California Herder Protected by
Them From a Hungry Grizzly Bear.

From the Philadelphia Times.
Now that you've told all your stories
about the meanness and cussedness OF the
coyote" said johnson Blocker. the sheep
herder in the san Bernardino mountains
I'm a company OF ranchmen al the store
over at Warmers Springs the other even
ing. 4 have little on that subject 10 say
myself. owe my life 20 pack otcOyofes
up IN Kern county, and from all that / can
learn they are the same as all others CT
the coyote family. In 1913 / was teaching
district school in San Diego county and
became all run down IN health ana spirits
W hen the long summer vacation came on
/ had an invitation from my brother Ned
10 come and spend the summer al MS
ranch IN the mountains IN Kern county
I accepted and went there on mule-bachs
because there were no railroads IN South
ern California then.
The second day / was at my brothers
ranch we went out for a week OF hunt
ing in the mountains We were armed with
the best rifles, and our horses carried Dig
lot OF ammunition and camp stores. Ned
soon tired OF hunting, and after we had
tumbled over two wildcats and several an
teiope he wanted to get back TO his horses,
sheep and vineyards. He told me that the
upper mountain canyons were full OF big
game, and that he knew from the loss OF
several calves and pigs that summer that
there were bear in the heavy timber. Ihat
was enough 10 excite my best enueaVors
with the rifle. and l stayed in the noun
tains while my brother Ned got down to
his ranch. For a week more l got nothing
more than a deer, several antelope, and
for the sake of getting rid OF what you
call 'varmints,' l shot dozen or so CO.
votes.
I spent one night in a camp Of a few
miners who were washing gold in a
canyon, and next morning when l rode
away one of them advised me to keep.
near TO their camp, for they had seen the
day before grizzly bear tracks IN the muq
about the spring two miles away. l
laughingly assured the miners that i took
prize in my Workmanship and. was natu-
rally cautious and COOL so 1 thought no
harm could come to me. Along about
noon of that day ] shot buck some 20
yards from me, and as the WOUNDED
animal bounded away in the heavy chap
arral l drove my spurs in my mustang
and gave chase. II was easy TO follow
the buck because il left trail OF blood
stains on the ground and in the brush
as Il bounded along. The deer ran down
the side of the mountain slope for per-
haps three-quarters Of mile and tnen
suddenly struck down the mountain. And
so, following 1t, came at last TO the edge
of the canyon, with its large timber ana
heavy underground. Just as l entered
this canyon / came upon the overturned
trunk Of an enormous tree, which had
apparently fallen several months before,
/ turning out huge mound OF clay with
its roots. The trail of blood showed that
the deer had leaped over the trunk, but
my horse was no jumper, and began has
/ tily circling around the tree As l turned
| the angle of the clay mound at its roots,
1 with a vicious snort an enormous gliz-
| zly sprung up erect out of the shadows
and faced me with jaws open. This APP
/ partition and the sudden squatting OF my
/ horse occupied one second. Before the
/ next second was over my horse had
| jumped about fifteen feet, l should think
I / had gone over his back In curve turn
/ ing somersaults before l had struck the
| ground My gun had gone clear over
/ the grizzly's head and lay on the other
/ side of him, and there / was with my
4 leg broken above the knee The ends OF
1 the broken bones protruded through the
/ flesh and blood ran down the legs of my
/ isn't it queer what funny things you
/ will think of in some awful moment Of
| sorrow or suspense? / lay there trying
| to imagine whether Ned would find enough
of my bones TO accord me decent burial
| when he came to search for me. l was
| absolutely feeling in my pocket little
| dizzly for a pencil and paper so that l
came, smelled me over two or three times,
and at last took hold of my left shout
der and began to drag me. Then the
pain in my broken leg and tortured shout
| der overcame me, and l went OF into
/ blissful Inconsistencies. When l began
TO find myself again the loud bowling,
me back into the world. ! found the
grizzly standing over me, while all around
great, gaunt, hungry coyotes. They had
gathered in great numbers, and | saw
in moment what had saved my life that
far. They were afraid RAID to to venture upon on
could not begin devouring his captive
while they stood around, strong in num-
Der and e1nboldened by famine. When.
take hold of me the coyotes began to
crowd nearer, whereupon he raised his
head with growl and they ned to
safer distance. This occurred not once
or twice, but a dozen times. The very
fact that ] am here to-day, gentlemen
is due to gang of coyotes that would
have torn me into good many rag
ments if they could have had their way
but the brief respite came to an end
The bear. tired of being defrauded of hii
meal, decided to drag it to some secure
place. and there feast at his leisure. HI
made one last charge upon the coyotes
and then rushing back seized my shoul
der again and started off in a trot. A few
moments of agony were followed by an
other fainting spell, and once more, hap
PLY, was unconscious. When recovered
the same bowling, raging pandemoniun
was going on around me. Added number
I had made the coyotes more courageous
/ and they were pressing close upon tn
? grizzly. He had not yet begun to devou
; me- He would stand over me and grow
for moment, and then make onslaught
upon the enemy, scattering them Xix
chaff AS I turned to watch him in one o
! these violent attacks / was startled 4
} find that l was lying just before the doc
of one of my brother Ned's bear pens
traps in the lower mountains. 1t was
! little house built and rooted with logs sc
curely clamped to the lever that con
nected with the trigger inside. had help
, ed build a dozen Just like the one near a
hand. At first my only thought was 0
, the grim joke it would be upon Ned
bear trap to have his brother devoured b.
a bear right in front of IL. Then somethin
else occurred to me. The bear came bac
! and stood over me. His mouth was abso
! lutely open to shut down upon my nee
! and finish this story for me. / could fee
his hot breath on my face, when the co
votes made a rush and one of them alb
ASufferer Cured