The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-12

and Lost His Bait Through the Cum
ming of the Animals.
Roulette. Pa. Cor. New York Sun.
The year this happened several bears
had been playing havoc with the spring
lambs Of the backw00ds farmers in the
Smedgely run district OF the Hemlocl<
Belt, and, although some Of the proving
lot were seen or heard frequently here %
there in the district. il seemed shat the
bears bore a charmed life. for they evadcd
bullets and buckshot with provoking per-
sistence, and played so shy of traps that
the superstid0us among the mountaiueers
and woodsmen declared that their guns
and traps were bewitched and consequent
ly poWerless against the marauding bears.
This was especially the belief OF old Joe
Rogers. who. in one month, had no fewer
than nine good. plain, open shots at bears.
but, as he put it himself. never cut as
much as a hair and he was one of the
most expert bear killers in the whole
Hemlock Belt
Sheep were an important factor in the
domestic economy of Smedgely Run, and
sheep cannot be pasturei in a barn and be
expected TO do well. They can Be brought
in and enclosed in places of safety AT night
provided their owner has place Of safety
In which TO enclose them, but that does not
protect them during the day, when they
must be turned into pasture again. II was
IN the day time that the smart bears OF
Smedgley Run made their raids on the
sheep pastures and matters We're becoming
serious. After things had been going on
in this way for "a month or more Noah
GrigsOn came In from the lumber camps
one day. GrigsOn was a product OF the
Maine lumber woods ana may IN some way
drifted over into the Pennsylvania forests.
he was a grizzlcd old hunter and trap
per as well as an expert lumDerman. he
soon heard about the marauding bears ana
the unsuccessful attempts tnat had been
made TO run any of them down.
WAL" said Noah. with his draWl,
nave you trap-gunned fer emp
There had been 10 trap-guuntng done
for the bears, and there seemed 10 he not
much of an understanding among the
Smedgely Run folks as 10 just what trap
cunning for bears was.
HUH" grunted old Noah And hain't
you LANDED for emu
LANDED for them! There might have
been some little idea at Smeugely Run
about trap-gunnng and its possibilities,
but there was positively not the slightest
idea here as to Landing for bears. This
surprised old Noah GrigsOn, apparently.
more than the ignorance Of Smedgely
Run about trap-gunning, and he eX
pressed his opinion about it with much
Then Noah explained TO the smedgely
Run folks the art of trap-gunning for
bear. fhe trap-gun is simply an ordinary
baited and placed in a cOrnheld or other
place where the bear has paid, and Is
likely TO pay again, a visit with fOraging
intent. The bait and gun are so ar
ranged that the instant the bear touches
the fOrmer-and for some unknown rea-
son he will fool with the bait on a gun
set for him in this way although he will
pass by that on every steel trap that may
be in the wOOds-the gun viii be dis
charged, and in nine cases out Of ten
the quantity of lead bruin receives in
his head and face loads him down so
effectually that when the farmer goes
out to look at his gun he viii find the
"But not awlers. not by Jug funW
said the yankee WoOdsman.. THE wust
feared up man or crestur' ] ever see was
a farmer down in Maine who had calki-
lated leetle too short one mOrnin' when
he went out to see how much his trap
gun had done fer him the night before
This mans name was Peter Harvey, but
IL mowt jest eZ we'll a been Sam Hill or
Abel Harrison ten minutes after he got
TO that trap-gun, cause nobody would
knoWed him.
Harvey had a farm in the woods back OF
Bangor, and bear had been a-usin' Har-
vey's farm to show that he was a reg lar
born and bred Maine bear a Maine bear
don't care nOtin' p tic lar about man.
He'll go into your yard after calf or
sheep or pig. into your orchard after APP
pies, into your corn Held after corn, into
your milk house after milk, OF carry off
one o. your bee skips under each arm, al,
though maybe you're standin not more'n
three rods away, with a gun, at that WAL
this p'ticlar bear had been dom purity
much all o. them things to Harvey and
Harvey seen that the only thing ne could
do was to rig up a trap-gun and turn II
loose. He want much of a hand at rig
gin up trap-guns, so he got Eb Johnson
who knowed how to do il, to fix the thing
fer him-and lucky thing fer Peter Har-
vey IL was that Sb done II, 'cauve' ED
maturity felt eZ if he'd like to see how It
worked, and so went our next mornin
with Harvey to look at IT.
Peter and Ed had got pretty near to
where they had set the gun, when they
heerd it 90 off. Way they went in tear
in hurry to see what the gun ketchcd.
They seen a Tremendous big bear rollin'
and kickin on the ground, and bellerin'
like a bull The gun had give II to nm,
awfel bad but not SO bad that he couldn' I
git UP and go fer Peter and Eb when he
seen 'em comm. He pitched on to Har-
vey and Knocked him down with one swol-
lop of his paw-knocked him plumb gone
senseless. Then the bear Clawed and
chawed Peter so that when Eb had pound
ed the bears head in with a club and done
for him nobodyd a knowed whether
it was Peter Harvey or a tub full o. sau-
sage meat Eb lugged Peter home on his
back fer dead, but they got him TO. and
silk thread SEWN up the rips and tears
the bear give him.
There amt no doubt but what I'm
s'prised that none o. you hain't thought O.
trap-gunnin fer bear but / guess maybe
it's lucky that you hain't, fer somethin'
could happen jest as easy here in Penn
sylvania as II kin in Maine, and there
niowtn't be so many of you left if you'd
sot out and done some trap gunnin. But
lambin' for bear! It's queer none of you
hain't LANDED for en-. That beats trap
gunnin' all holler. It's safe
e. bobbin' for catfish, an it's
heap o. fun. It's the surest was to git
a hull lot O. bear that l know on. Best
thing you folks kin do is to let me l'arn
YOU how to lamb fer bear. though there
amt much to Farm about il. A ten-year-
old youngster kin lamb fer bear easy
enough.
only willing but eager to learn how to
lamb for bear, and half of the settle,
ment turned out TO take the lesson. Old
Noah. though, said that four of five peo-
pie could lamb for and get as many bears
in the course of an evening as a whole
town full could so he took old Joe Rogers
and three others to give the lesson to-
''Fust thing we want to git" haid he.
sis a deserted lumber camp, or an ola
clearin' where there's a cabin on it that
you kin set up the door to it; Then we
want feed bag or later bag, and a
good lively lamb that kin blat ike all
sixty Then each of US wants gun load
ed with buckshot. The camp or clearin'
is where we do the lambin'. The bag is
10 carry the lamb there IN. The lamb 5
n call the bearS-cause bears kin hear a