The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-10-24

i
a forest, up and across the mountain,
which rises 500 feet or more. 1t is
| TO uncommon thing to see bears or cat
lamounts in these woods, The knowl-
I edge that there were wild beasts about
caused Katie Rankin to carry a reyol-
yer, for her boarding place is fully
half a mile distant from the school
house, Diligent practice has made her
! a proficient .marksWoman.
| One night snow fell in that locality
TO the depth of twenty inches. Next
morning Miss Rankin started for her
! school, going quite early so that she
could have the room warm before the
| pupils began to arrive. The task of
| trundling through the deep snow for
q half mile was more than she had
| counted on, and when she arrived at
| The door of the little schoolhouse she
was nearly tagged out. On opening the
door she was surprised TO find one of
| the windows in the rear of the room
wide open. 1t had apparently been
open all night, for the snow had drifted
in.
Hurryins up the aisle to make fast
the window, she was startled to see a
big black bear lying on the floor close
to the stove She screamed, for she
| thought the form that Of a tramp who
had taken shelter in her schoolroom
from the severe storm of the night be-
fore. She was about to flee when the
black form raised up, and she was sur
! prised still more to find it not man,
| a
a predicament! Run she must. She
sprang to the door; but, behold!
in her hurry to get inside when she ar
rived, minute before. she had failed
to remove the key from the outside.
The peculiar make of the lock made it
am impossibility to open the same on
either side without the aid of the key
after it had sprung shut, and thus was
the now thoroughly alarmed girl made
a prisoner. with a big black bear as a
companion.
Old Bruin sat up on his launches
and blinked at the terrified girl. 1t
was evident that her screams had awak-
ened him from sound sleep, and that
he was still drowsy was more than APP
parent from his lazy attitude. The
bear had found the window of the
schoolhouse open, and the aperture thus
afforded not being more than three
feet from the ground he easily got in
side. That he had made himself at
home was in evidence from the topsy
turvy condition Of affairs. A lunch
basket, left by one of the pupils in
which several extra pieces of cake re
manned, was on. the floor empty. Books
and maps and States were thrown pro
miscuously about and as the imperti-
nent fellow sat looking at the timid
little schoolma'am he seemed sorry for
the disturbance he had caused in the
schoolroom.
At last, having surveyed her to his
entire satisfaction, bruin gave a loud
grunt, showed two rows of teeth then
turned and shambled toward the open
window. With his fore paws on the
sill he looked back over his shoulder
at Miss Rankin, who stood trembling
at the door, then he raised his pom
derous form and slid out into the snow.
1t was then that Miss Rankin be-
thought herself and rammed her hand
into her Goa pocket for the revolver.
With this as a helpmate, and the bear
on the outside of the building, all her
bravery returned. She knew that
bruin could not very well get back II
, she barricaded the windows, and she
: did want to shoot a real, true bear SO
badly
On going to the window she was sur.
! pricnH find hat fhs nor ,,t-i
yet gone more than ten feet toward
the wood. The snow was 50 deep and
of such feathery nature that it was
next to impossible for the woody coated
creature to move. He first stood or
his hind legs, and with his fore paws
beat the snow from in front, but wher
he attempted to move forward he in.
variably tumbled headformost into thc
snow, which at that point had drffteG
four feet high.
Miss Rankin judged that this was hei
chance. She did not stop to thing thai
bears are not usually shot with a re.
volver. She watched bruin founder
in the snow and knew that he could
not get back to her, even though The
first few shots did no more than injur,
him. She waited until he stood up,
right, when she leveled the pistol a
his head and fired. Simultaneous
with the report of the firearm the beal
| jumped into the air several feet, ther
went rolling into the snowdrift. Al
instant later he was again on his feet
this time with his face toward tn,
schoolhouse window The sight of hi:
Z pretty tormentor and the pain of tn,
; bullet wound in his head maddenec
/ the fellow, and his attempt to founder
: through the snow back to the window
was terrific.
Again Miss Rankin raised her pistol
this time taking aim for the BEAR
, eye. The bullet went "home," and tn
: bear fell again into the snowdrift. Thi
time he was slow to rise, and before h
: accomplished this another bullet wen
blowing into his body, and he lay dow
t to die.
: The shooting at the schoolhouse wa
heard by those at farmhouse jus
: across the creek ard several Of tn
men folks came hurrying through tn
snow, one of them carrying a gun. Up
= on arriving at the schoolhouse the.
= were quickly acquainted with the stu
t | alton.
= The man with the gun made his wa.
to where the bear lay and found tina
: the beast was not dead. He raised hi