Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-07-27

the fiy-wheel. and as the bear raced
down that side of the engine. the mar
jumped the belt and started up the
other side. The bear paused only an
instant when he came to the flying
belt, then over he went, and chased the
man on around the cylinder end.
/ Round and round the engine they
ran, jumping the belt, slipping and
sliding on the slick, oily floor. but get
ting faster and faster all the time.
There was nothing in {. room thai.
do would for 4 weapon. and Russell
| could form no plan of escape. his great
est desire for the moment being to
keep the engine between him and the
grizzly. Even this became impossible,
as the bear gained on him, ard the
distance between them gradually les
sened till they were running only a
few feet apart.
The engineer shouted again and
again, but he had very little hope OF
any ones hearing him because of the
great noise made by the machinery;
ana even If they did hear, they could
rot get in to nelp him, for the door
was locked, and he could not spare
time to fool with that lock just then
1t was simply maddening to him t.
think thai there were twenty men il
the mill only few feet away, all ready
and willing to help him if he could
only let them know of his plight, and
yet TO have that relentless brute chas-
ing him around like a rat in trap.
A few minutes OF this wild running
exhausted the engineer, and he would
have stopped and lie. the grizzly do his
worst had it not been for the dread
lul blood-curdling noise made by the
animals claws as he scuttled over the
slippery floor. The bear lunged and
plunged along like a great awkward
calf, growing prodigiously The while,
put he made astonishing speed for such
an notwithstanding beast. and was
fast overhauling the man in spite of
his utmost efforts.
once, as the exhausted engineer
leaped over the belt, he thought that
to drop on 1t and be crushed by the fly
wheel would be an easier death than
TO be torn to pieces by the bear, and
ne almost decided to end the dread
ful chase the next time he came
around. But when he saw the belt
running so swiftly to certain death his
heart failed him, and he waited till
next time. Not so the bear. Almost
as the mans feet touched the floor af-
ter the leap he heard an awful roar.
and the next instant a badly mashed
bear struck the ceiling and dropped
like a shot.
That timely event is easily explain
ed. As the man and bear ran round,
centrifugal force caused them to swing
cut farther ana farther from their CEN
ter of motion, the engine; and the
bear, being heavier than the man, flew
farther out till he came to a place on
the slanting belt where it was too high
for him to jump. Then he put his
forepaws on it, intending to climb
over, and that was the last of him.
The belt, running at that high speed.
jerked him in like a feather. and ran
him through between it and the fly
wheel. When the fy-wheel got done
with him, it threw him off at the top,
as dead as a herring and not much
thicker than one
The engineer, however, firmly be-
lieves that the spirit of his little
daughter influenced the engine to save
his life by killing the bear; and who
can say it is only fancy? The next
week he sent TO Chicago and had the
silver plate made and put it on "Old
Alice and he declares that she is
quite proud of it.