Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-10-02
THAT MAN UP A TREE
HOW HE TRANSFERRED A HEAVY RE-
SPONSIBILITY TO DR.. PALEN.

The Only Wild Bear the Doctor L'eA %"
In the Woods Confronted Him When He
Went to Help His Fellow Man There
Was q Hard Fight.
81 never saw but one wild bear in the
woods in my life, and lived in a back
woods locality until was nearly 80, F" said
DIR. Palen of Troy. mot that there weren t
plenty of bears in our woods, but l never
went out looking for any and didn't hap
pen to run against any in my travels
This particular bear and had fight, and
a good one, and will not conceal the fact
from you that the bear did not kill me.
But he mussed me up enough to satisfy
any bear and the man who caused all the
trouble never as much as had his hair
rumplcd. The man who introduced me to
the bear never saw before. l don't know
what his name was, and have never seen
him since.
Il was on my way to sec a patient who
lived seven or eight miles from town on n
backwoods farm. l was about half way
there when l heard some one hail me. l
looked in the direction of tho sound and
saw in the top of small maple tree. or as
near the top as he could climb, a man who
seemed to be excited. The tree wasn't
mofI than 90 yards from the road, and II
thicA growth of underbrush was between
it and where was. 1 stopped my horse.
"'Hellop hollercd the man. Come
over here an see what ye kin do to'ard
gittin feller down out o. this tree, won't
We? | got up here durn quick, but | got
to have help fore kin git down agin.
"'What aroeyou doing up there any
how?' l hollered back.
'Waitin to git down, replied the man.
Not another durn thing, an you kin help
me-
II got out of my wagon and made my
way through the thick bushes toward the
tree, thinking all the time that this was
queer customer had struck. got through
the brush and came out into quite a large
opening where the tree stood, and in
stantly saw that the man had good reason
for saving that he'd have to have help in
getting down out of the tree. Raging
about the foot of the tree was Il big bear,
mad all over, and evidently having it in
deep for the man up in the tree. | stopped
at the edge of the thicket as if l had been
rooted there The bear wasn't ten feet
away. As soon as / could regain posses
sion of myself l began to back cautiously
away, intending to get to my wagon and
let somebody else take the job of helping
the man out of the tree, but the bear had
discovered me, and linking me in some
way with the cause of the trouble between
it and the man up tho tree came rushing
toward INC with growl that betokened
Ike ugly temper bruin was in.
Il had u seven shooter with me, and rs
the bear came toward me l couldn't think
of anything better to do, so l pulled the
revolver and began blazing away. l put
five balls in the bear before he cleared the
space between the tree and the bushes,
but he came right on. l turned and made
for the road and my wagon in a way that
made those bushes crack, the bear smash
ing along after me. I'd have made the
buggy all right if it hadn't been that when
my horse saw the bear coming out of the
bushes he didn't wait for me to get into
the wagon, but went tearing away down
the road as fast as badly scared horse
could run. | sped after the runaway, and
the bear camo right along after me. He
gained on me, and l turned and fired at
him again.
II don't know where the bullet hit him,
but it knocked him down. He was up
again, though, in less than no time, and |
gave him my last shot, and as he didn't
fall l ran for high rail fence at the low
er side of the road, intending to get over
it and cut for farmhouse that was half
mile away, across lots. 1 got to the top
rail, but wasn't quick enough. The bear
grabbed me as | had mounted the fence,
the rails smashed down beneath our
weight, and over and over we rolled to-
gcthcr into the ditch at the side of tho
road In that short roll that bear man
aged to strip me almost completely of my
clothes from head to foot, and in tho tum-
bic my knee was spraincd, and my arms
and sides were dug deep by the bears
sharp claws. l thought it was all up with
me, and consequently was surprised, when
we landed in the ditch that the bear sud
denly relaxed his clutch, gave two or three
convulsive gasps and a kick or two and
didn't move any moro. l scrambled up
and sprang to the middle of the road, where
l picked up big stone, ready to use it on
the bear if he returned to the attack. Bat
he didn't. He was dead. And if he hadn't
been an unusually tough old customer he'd
have been dead long before. Every one of
my seven shots had gone to a vital spot,
as l found out afterward.
Before l limpcd on my way in the wake
of my runaway horse l glanced at the ma
PIE tree. Inc man VINO lad nailed me
wasn't there. had helped him down. for
fact, and he had disappeared. l had
limpod a mile or more, guess, when a
big, strapping, rcd faced fellow came out
of the bushes at one side of the road, and
with a grin said:
Did ye git him. cap'n?
ut was the man of the maple tree /
believe it was good for him that there
wasn't another shot in my pistol pull
ed it out Of my pocket anyhow, and the
man was swallowed up so quick in the
bushes that l hardly knew that he HAD
been in sight. l never saw him again and
don't know what had occurred between
him and the bear before he took to the
tree. A little way farther on 1 met my
horse coming back with man who had
stopped it, and told the man he could
have my bear if he'd go get it, which he
did 1t was more than a 300 FOUNDER, they
said. 1t sec11ed to me- when it landed on
me on that rail fence that it was 200
Dountnr Mt 1naSt nd that was the only