The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1895-04-17
TOBY AND THE BEAR.
a MANEUVeR OVER WHICH THE WISE
OLD NATIVES DIFFERED.

Toby Was the smartest Bear Dog In All
the Woods, and His owner wouldn't
Have Sold Him For 500, but He Wasn't
Cut out For an Acrobat.
"r had 4 dor named Toby when '
was living up in the Pennsylvania lum-
ber woods" said George W. Reynolds
Of tho National Lumber company. "Ho
was bear dog Bears, MS every one
knows who ever lived among them, hate
dogs beyond everything else, two legged
or four legged and will frequently give
up q good chance to escape from pug-
suing huutar just FOR the satisfaction Of
waiting ior the dog -hat is yolping be-
hind him and taking fall out Of him
when ho comes up, fall that usually
ends the dogs career, especially If IL Is
q dog not especially trained to hunt tho
bear
"This dog Toby Of mino was famous
oil through these woods. io was ao-
knowledged to be tho most accomplish
ed 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 IL wasn't the
dogs fault. Once Toby was borrowed
by a man named Crowley, who knew
where q couple Of bears wero 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 gazcd in amaze
ment aftcr 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 savagcly and threateningly at him
for q 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 n log
ging job had contracted for and discov-
cred signs of bear along tho creek. Next
day Toby and went out to see what
we could do with the bear. We soon
struck tho trail, and Toby located the
bear in small patch of laurels, from
which ho soon routed bruin. He brought
the bear to bay in 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 tho bear, but having the ut.
most confidence in Toby's smartness,
and seeing that tho bear was anxious to
put his smartnoss against the dogs,
concluded to let him have the chance and
to enjoy tho sport of q few minutes
manouvcring between the two.
''It was fun. Toby worried the al
ready ugly old chap with tricks and
quick movements until tho bear was
wild with rage. Do what he might he
couldn't 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 l felt so
proud Of my dog that declared there
and then that it would take good deal
more than q 500 bill to buy him.
''Somo wise old natives Of those woods
assured me afterward that what this
bear finally did was premeditated act
deliberately and successfully carried out
as planned. Others declared that it was
an afterthought of tho bears. l myself
held and hold yet that it was entirely
an accident, because l will not admit
that there ever was 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 q tree and breathed
hard for ut lonst q minute Then it sud-
denly dropped to all fours and hurried
toward another tree rod or 80 away
Toby followed, and as the bear started
to climb tho tree seized it by one of its
hams. Although the dog must have set
his teeth deep in the flesh, tho bear did
not stop ON his way, but climbed on as
If nothing was worrying him. Tho 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 cir 3 feet from the
ground.
''The sight was so funny that / just
tumbled on the ground and roared. The
pS"A oNoPPNt Nl'h hbbhh AZ icbb tilI
trunk of tho tree, clung there for O mo-
ment, and then lot loose. Ho came down
like pile driver. When he struck ut
the bottom of the tree, Toby was be-
tween him and tho ground. There was
faint yelp, and that was all. Three
hundred pounds Of bear had fiattened
40 pounds Of dog out of all kind of
shape. The catastrophe was SO sudden
and unexpected that before COULD re-
cover from the painful surprise it gave
me the bear had disappeared in the lau-
rels. There never was smarter bear
dog than Toby, but he wasn't cut out
for an acrobat. There is where he made
his mistake. There never was smarter
dog than Toby, nor was there ever a
deader one when that bear got off of
him. New York Sun.