The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-01-24
GRIZZLIES.
MEN WHO TELL ABOUT KILLING
THEM WITH KNIVES
Are Able Liars, Says a Man From the
Foothills of the Rocky Noun
tains-A Huge. Strong
and Savage Brute.

Il n "on .e"' uny' 'hing IN ntne
vegetable line unless he
can't get meat, and black bear won't
eat meat unless he can't get nothing in
the vegetable line. Bear story writer's
are responsible for impression being
about that grizzly bears Just dote on
killing men and eating them There
isn't any doubt that grizzly bears
have killed n great many men, but no
| grizzly bears ever ate man. The
grizzly will eat every kind of flesh ex.
cept man flesh. The big savage would
starve to death rather than swallow n
piece of man. He seems to have n
horror of that kind of flesh as vic.
| tuals.
Grizzly hears nre tough aud no
mistake, but not any tougher than
some OF the stories that are told about
them. An average-sized grizzly will
weigh about half ton, and he can
break steers neck with one blow of
lis paw. And he handles that paw
with a quickness that comes about as
near 10 the movement of lightning as
anything can. Yet the number of men
out in the grizzly bear districts who
will stand up and tell you how they
have killed grizzlies in hand.to.hand
fights, with no weapons but their
hunting knives, is simply amazing.
Any one who has ever stood and
pounded lead from repeating rifle
into one OF these Rocky Mountain ter
rors, and seen it keep right on in its
savage charge toward him until his
magazine was empty and he had to
take to his heels to save his bacon,
knows how likely q man is to stand up
against grizzly and slay him with n
knife. i have known as many as
eighteen heavy bullets to be shot into
one of these big and tough beasts be.
fore he even showed any sign that he
was being incouvenienced by the bur
den of lead. l have heard Of one that
received ten explosive bullets in his
body before his charge upon the
hunter was stopped, and then when he
was not two PAGES away and the last
bullet was fired into one of his eyes.
The grizzly bear doesn't mind shot
in the heart even little bit, but if
you can send n bullet through his kid
neys it will break him down at once
and stop him, ut it won't kill him for
II good while after the wound is given.
Nothing but a bullet in the brain will
drop grizzly III his tracks and kill
him on the SPOT. and it's a difficult
thing to put bullet there. The bony
guard that surrounds that vital spot
is as Impenetrable almost as the steel
| -. a u
the sturdy mountaineers go right on
tackling these half-toa, bundles of
gristle, bone and ferocity, and slaugh.
tering them with their knives with
the same impunity that they would
stick pig. They always shove their
knives through the unfortunate grlz-
zly's heart
GAS matter of fact, if grizzly bear
should stand erect, spread his paws
wide open, and make no opposition at
all, u man would have to have helper
with q slclg hammer to pound his
knife through the bears armor before
1t could touch the heart. Then, again,
unlike the common black bear, which
is big if it weighs one-third as much
as a grizzly, the grizzly bear never
stands up Oh its hind feet when il has
Il Zoe to meet. 1t charges on all fours,
and a man with a knife waiting for it
might Just as well be standing in the
way Of locomotive coming at him
wide open.
'When grizzly bear is right good
and hungry he doesn't think anything
at all OF coming down out of the
mountains, walking straight to the
nearest ranch, breaking the neck os
steer and Juggling it away with him.
When buffaloes were part OF the wild
animal population of the Rockies, the
grizzly would pounce on one of those
powerful and ugly beasts with as much
assurance and confidence as he attacks
n tame COW or steer. Sometimes he
would be met with the fierce resist
ance OF few ponderous bulls in
| herG, and would have to kill them be-
fore he got away with the animal he
had selected for his dinner, and some.
times be would himself fall before the
assaults of the bulls. Once, in those
/ days, | came upon four buffalo balls
| lying dead OF the plain, the carcasses
| being all near one another. Every
bulls neck was broken. Close by lay
a dead grizzly, the biggest one | ever
saw. He was ripped open from his
flank to his shoulder, literally Gisem-
bowelled. The story these bodies told
was plain enough. The grizzly had
! come down on Eerd of buffalo seeking
his dinner. Bull after bull attacked
him He killed four. but lost his own
life in the terrible fray, some tough
and wary old bull having caught him
right and ripped him open with his
| ho.ns."