The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-12-26
TIE ROANOKE TIMES, THURSDAY. DECEMBER rs, 1895.
TOBY AND THE BEAR.
A maNEuvER OVER WHICH THE WISE
OLD NATIVES DIFFERED.

tho Woods, and His Owner Wouldn't
Have Sold Him For 500. but He Wasn't
Gut Out For nm Acrobat.
II had q dog named Toby whom ]
was living up in tho Pennsylvania lum.
Der woods" said George w. Reynolds
of tho National Lumber company. "He
was 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 q good chance to escape from pur-
suing hunter just for the satisfaction of
waiting for tho dog that is yelping be.
hind him and taking fall out of him
when he comes up, n fall that usually
ends the dogs career, especially if it is
a dog not especially trained to hunt the
bear.
This dog Toby of mino was famous
all through these woods. He was ac-
knowledgod to be tho most accomplish.
cd dog when it came to getting the best
of boar that had over 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 man named Crowley, who knew
where n couple of bears wero hanging
out. The dog routed them out and drove
them plumb to Crowley, who could ems.
lily h0vo shot them both, but instead,
when he saw them coming, he cut and
ran. Tim Bull, who had gone along
with Crowley on tho hunt, said that
Toby just 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 Overwhelmingly at him
for q few seconds Then no omit and
went homo. Ever after that Toby would
snap and growl at Crowley whenever he
saw him.
'One day I was looking over log.
ging job had contracted for and discov-
cred signs of bear along tho creek. Next
day Toby and went out to SEQ what
we could do with the bear. We soon
struck the trail and Toby located the
bear i'll small patch of laurcls, from
which he soon routed bruin. He brought
the bear to bay in n little open space i'll
piece of chestnut timber There was
no necessity of the bear turning at bay,
but he evidently wanted to get q whack
at Toby. could have easily sent bull
let through the bear, but having tho ut
most confidence i'll Toby's smartness,
and seeing that the bear was anxious tc
put his smartness against tho dogs,
concluded to let him have the chance and
to enjoy the sport of q few minutes
mancuvering between the two.
1t was fun. Toby worried tho al
1v- 1C11 IL IL, 81.
quick movements until tho bear was
wild with rage. Do what he might he
couldn't get n blow or bite in OIL Toby,
while Toby got nip at the bear at al.
most every turn. This amusing dance
lasted for ten minutes, and I felt sc
proud of my dog that declared there
and then that itwould take good deal
moro than 500 bill to buy him.
Some wise old natives of those woods
assured me aftcrward that what this
bear finally did was premeditated act,
deliberately and successfully carried out
rs planned. Others declared that it was
an afterthought of tho bears. 1 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.
II at tho dog for ten minutes tho bear
put his back against q tree and breathed
hard for at least n minute. Then it sud.
denly dropped to all tours and hurried
toward another tree q rod or SO away
Toby followed, and as the bear started
to climb the tree seized it by ono of its
hams. Although the dog must havo set
has teeth deep in the flesh, tho bear did
not stop OH his way, but climbed OH as
If nothing was worrying him. Tho dog
held on and was lifted from tho ground
as the bear climbed. The higher the bear
Went the tighter Toby appeared to hang
on to its rear, and presently ho was
swinging in the air / 3 feet from the
ground.
The sight Was SO funny that I just
tumblod on the ground and roarcd The
bear stopped when about ] 3 feet up the
trunk of tho tree, chung there for mo.
ment, and then let loose. He came down
like pilo driver. When he struck al
tho bottom Of tho tree Toby was be.
tween him and tho ground. There was
faint yelp, and that was all Three
hundred pounds of bear had fattenod
40 pounds of dog out of all kind of
shape. The catastrophe was go sudden
and unexpected that before I could re.
cover from the painful surprise it gave
mo the bear had disappeared in tho 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 q
deador one when that bear got off OF
him. New York Sun.