The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-13
DOWNFALL OF OLD JAKE.
a EALB OF 4 PIKE 90 UNITY BEAR
THAT HAD 4 REP UTATION.

Believed sy All lat o.e woeasnaa 70 Ne
Dead, He Reaepears-Hunted Down BY
That Wooasmau. Who Yet Would
Have Had No Joy from HE Elk
plsit but fer Little Betsy Decker.
was up in Pike county once looking up .
timber tract for our Arm" said q retired lumber
dealer of this city. and was sitting ono morn
ing In the tavern at Lords Valley. talking with
Red Drake. q noted w~oodaman. whom o man
came running in. very much excited.
Red said he to Drake. : Just como out and
look at It.! Come and look! It's o foot and a
half long. II it's an inch, and 1t amt Q hair scant
o. nine inches widev
ga mules collar shouted the man. No!
The track O. the bear that went along here
tome time last night
"a bear track wasn't anything strange to
see in that part of Pike county In those days,
and isn't yet. l guess; but q bear track Of the
dimensions this one was alleged to DO was
something unheard of oven in Pike county, and
Red Drake hurried out to see It followed, as
o matter of course. The bear had crossed the
road not q hundred yards from the tavern.
going southwest, toward tho High Knob. and
Swhere ne had stepped from the road at the edge
of the woods upon the previously untrodden
4 snow were the impressions of his feet The
footprints were scarcely of tho size the excited
informant had reported them to be, but they
wero enormous. Red Drake took out his foot
rule and measured one of them.
"''Leven and a-half b. six he exclaimed,
Its him. It's him. by fury! There wasn't
never no other bear had : hook on him IKE
that. It's Old Jake. sure a. sap IL run!'
"'Poohr calculated BIN Lord. who had come
on the scene. You re runnin' wild. Red
Maybe this bar mowt DO Old Jake's twin
brother. but how can he be Old Jaksi II you
think back you'll remember that Jake Bensley
killed Old Jake ten years ago. and q bear that's
been . ghost ten years Amt liable to have hsfl
enough on him to sink his foot rs deep as tina,
in the snow-'specially as his foot . darn nigh
AS big as . snowshoer
"'Jake Bensley thought no killed Old Jake.
replied Rcd. but / said at the time. and I've
said so over sence. that no didn't kill him
'oordin' to my idse, and I say so nowl This here
track 10 Old Jskes. and whore he's ever been
all these years. or whore he's come from now. ]
don't know. nor i don't care, but / know this ID
him. and / know that he's headed straight fol
Shades o. Death Swampl II he gifts there II
won't DO my fault =
RED at once began hasty preparations for
following the trail OF the big bear. l was eager
10 have . part in the hunt for this bear. and told
Rcd that l guessed l would 70 along with him,
"'This amt soln' to DO no rabbit hunt said
Red.
II said I knew it.
"'I s'pose you know the snow is somethin'
like two foot deep in tho woods p said Red.
IT said l know tho snow was pretty doep.
"'Shades o. Death Swamp 10 betwixt thirty
and forty miles from here,' said Red.
II didn't know that. but I said It was all
right.
"'Do you know why they call 1t Shades o
Death swamp p asked Rcd.
II said no.
"''Cause It's the big swamp that lots o. peo-
pie nyin' from the Wyoming massacres goi
stuck and lost in, and died there said Red,
'and I've heerd It's ha'nted by their ghosts
~ want TO go on this bear hunt aii the
same said !.
"'Well. you kin gov said Red. Nobody
Amt hinderin' OF you as | know Of, be theyT'
at was court week at the county scat, and
about every one from that part OF the country
was there. either as Juror. witness, or litigant
Otherwise, more than Red and / would have
followed the trail OF Old Jake, for Red In.