The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-22
sNICKERsvILLE BEAR SCARE.
Graphically Described By old Man
Nubbins to the Little Schoolmarm.

Washington Post: The little teacher
finished reading aloud from the last
paper an account of the havoc played
by bear in a Tennessee mountain vii
lage. With a SILVER she asked:
oh Mr.. Nubbins. are there any wild
animals around here. like bears and
oanthers?"
Old man Nuhbins reflected a moment.
and raDlied.
We'll, miss. I've bin Twin in these
parts fur many year. an I've tramp
ed these here mountains lots Nv times.
but l amt never seen no dangerous
beasts, 'ceptin' a wild cat now an then
and none of them lately. But that story
you Jest read about the bear brings
back to my min scare we had round
here once"
This with the characteristic chuckle
that shook the good old fellow frame.
was q satisfactory signal that story
was coming. and the ''boardin' people"
gathered around him. the little school
marin crying eagerly:
DO tell US about it. Mr.. Nubbins.
SO love TO hear your stories.''
The com pliment TO his powers greatly
pleased the old man. and he proceeded:
It's quite while back sence it hap
pened. but my! while it lasted is wus
excitin', sure huff. 1t was in the fall
Nv the year, and one evening. about
dark, some Nv US was setting around
in the postoffice talkin. when all NV
suddin We heerd the bigges' lot NV yell
lin and screamin' up on the mOnntain
side back of the store, an a crashin'
an breakin' NV bushes an twigs. mix
ed with cries NV oh, Lordy, Lordy,
save me. save mer' an such like. Pick
IN ,xrt y ir-cr wa n
to. we rushed out. calm. what's the
matter? Where are YEP An the next
thing we see wus Hen Pollard's boy
Tobe comm to'ards us on the jump,
with his eyes big as butterplates. an
cryin' out. oh. Lordyi he ketched mel
I'm dead: save me-
by this time he'd cum to us. but it
was some time before we cud make him
tell what wus the matter. When he did
m down a little. he sed that comm
down over the ridge, on the way to the
store. he had run plum into a great big
black bear as big as a horse, and it
tried to git hold NV him, an he jest
run for his life. We didn't see nOthin'
an couldn't hear nothin'. so we told
him he imagined it; but se stuck to it
so strong that we believed him. and
noticed some Nv the party start off for
home right peart, keepin' a strict
watch on all sides
We'll. 'twarn't long before the story
got around, and then everybody got
to SEEM that bear; but its wus always
after dark. Some NV 'em seen him
crossin' the road; some wud see him
runnin' thru the open spaces in the
woods, an around the fields: and the
whole region was upshot and scared
None Nv the wimiFnn folks wud leave
the house after dark, an wus Uneasy
about it in the day time; an the men
wud only go in parties. with guns an
pistols, an even axes. Nobody knOwed
where an when that beast wus goin'
to jump, an it got so that the church
meetin' wus broke up. The situation
wus so serious that a meetin' wus call
ed to see what cud be done. Miss. so
many come from all round the cOun-
try that it looked like a bush meetinS.
Well. after a lot NV talkin' it was de-
cided that right off, that night, sev-ral
huntin parts NV men wus TO divide
the neighborhood into sections like. an
hunt that bear down.
The old man here put in one of his
effective pauses. and the silence that
had fallen while he spoke was broken
by cries of GO on-tell the rest-did
they get him? ?" and he continued:
well, my party had five in it. an
we started our hunt up at the tollgate,
and worked the ridge down past the
village. eW all had our guns loaded
heavy with buckshot. and I'm homes
huff to say [ felt nervous. Howsomever.
after beetin' about for some hours. we
heard a crashin' Nv underground ahead
NV us. an keepin' clost together, we
follered. feelin' sure we wus on the
right trail Presently we heerd him
tryin' TO CHM fence or push it down.
there was such crackin' sound. an
we moved on with guns ready to blaze
away. II didn't take long to reach the
SPOT, the noise gittil' louder all the
time, an there agin the little light
made by the stars we seen his big
thick BODY a-rarin' in the air, tryin' TO
git over the rails. We closed in. all ex-
cited to death. an raised our guns
The narrator stopped; the little teach
er's face was pale with excitement. and
the others We're in a state of rigid at
tention.
What happened-fnish it?" they
cried.
Old man Nubbins commenced a tan
chuckle. but stopped to pro-
coed:
1--WE wus just about 10 shoot when
the turrible beast lifted up his voice in
q little sart 'b-a-a-a.' an when we
struck a light. whit did we see but
pore critter of a stray black sheep,
that had been trying 10 git away from
US. an had caught its head between
the rails of the fence an cudn't get
It out"
The sly old yarnspinner burst out
into a loud guffaw at the disappoint
ment OF his hearers, and concluded:
But that was the end of the scare.
cause il wus easy to see that an in
nercent black sheep in the daytime cud
mighty quick be turned into a big
bear after dark, specially when folks
was as scarf as we wus."
1870
Us;11-ro1fc