The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-02-28
DEATH OF H PINTO BEAR.
4 BIG, WICKED Old GRIZZLY WITH
ASTONISHING VITALITY.

dSfONiStffNt FlfdLffts
ne R.vnsed the Cattle Range. ana Herds or
sheep Tor Years with Impunity rnti He
Came TO nm End That May seem Incredible,
hut Ia True, George Gleason Declares.
Los ANGELES, Cal. Feb. 2l.-This bear story
may seem Incredible, but It Is true. George
Gleason told II to a man who knew, tho bear so
well that he thought the old Pinto grizzly be-
loneed 10 him and wore his brand. and rs George
IL no bear hunter himself. but q plain, ordinary,
truthful person, there is not the slightest doubt
that he related only the facts. George said some
of the facts were incredible before no started In.
lie had never heard or read Of such tcnacity OF
life in any animal. But there arc precc.
dents. even II George has never heard
OF thcm-fo Instance. that man whose
brain was traversed by n taInplng bar
In a New England quarry many years ago. Tho
man lived twelve years after the accident and
his skull Is now in the Harvard Medical Mu.
scum. Aud other mcn have survived very ser!.
Gus damage to their brains. Smnll animals are
not always instantly killed by bullets through
the brain. The man who owned the Pinto
grizzly once shot AWAY the front part of n gray
squirrels brain. and tho squirrel trnvcrscd the
branches OF u tree and came down tho trunk to
the ground. and tho man killed him With II stick.
Almost any hunter cun remember similar cases.
The vitality OF the California grizzly is aston
ishing. as many n man has sorrowful reason to
know. and the tcnacity OF the old Pinto's hold
on life was remarkable even among grizzlies.
This Pinto was a famous bear. His home was
among the rocks and manzanita tbickcts of la
Zebra Mountain. n limestone ridge southwest
OF Tchachepi that divides Gen. Bcalc's two
ranches. Los Alainos y Aqua Calicnta and la
Zebra. and his range was from TETON Pass TO
San Emigdio. His regular occupation was kill.
ing Gen. Bcalc's cattle, and the slopes OF the
hills and the cicncgas around Castac Lake were
strcwn with the blcachcd bones Of his prey. For
twenty years that solitary old bear had been
monarch Of all that Gen. Bcale survcycd-to
paraphrasc President Lincolns remark 10 Sur.
veyor-Gcncral Bcalc himsclf-and wrought such
devastation on the ranch that there had been u
standing reward Of $50 for his head.
Men who had lived In the mountains and
knew the old Pinto's infirmity OF temper were
wary about invading his domains, aud not a
vaqucro in Gen. Bcnlc's outn, could bc induced
to go afoot among the manzanita thickets Of the
limestone ridge. The man who thought he
owned the Pinto followed his trails for two
months about eight years ago and learned many
things about him: among others that the track
~ his hind foot measured fourteen inches In
length and nine inches in width: that the hair
ON his head and shoulders was nearly white:
that he could break a steers neck with II blow Of
his paw: that be feared neither man nor Ills
works; that while he would invade n camp with
lcisnrcly Indifference. he would not enter the
stout oak.log traps constructed for his captures;
and finally that 1, would he suicide To meet him
Oh the trail with anything less efficient than IA
Calling gun.
Old Juan. the vaquero. who live in q cabin on
the fat below the alkaliuc POOL called Cdstac
Lake, was filled with II fear ~ Pinto that was
akin TO superstition. "" told how th" bear
hid follow ed him home and bcs!cscd him III
night In the cabin, and be would walk I'VE miles
10 catch u horse to rid" two miles ~ the hills.
To him old Pinto wac mHcho didLiO, and q
shivering terror made his eyes roll aud his
voice break in trembling whispers when he
talked Of the bear while riding along the trails.
The snrySssyors who Tsn = pTelim.nary line i2r
year, ago were ON the old Bears visiting, list.
and he called ut their Cgllp near Custac Lake
one afternoon, frightened the cook half TO death.
and made "A selection OF cdiblcs from their store
OF provisions, Stories have since bccn printed
by the new journalism telling how ths Caste
bear tackled a locomotive on that new line and
was knocked out, somewhat Ia. the dctrilnent Of
the engine. but as the only evidences NJ the new
line are n few pegs left 10y the SURVEYORS, and tho
whistle of the locomotive never has been heard
in that country. the stories are defective.
About three years ago an ambitious sportsman
Of SIN Francisco, who wanted 10. kin something
bigger than u duck and more ferocious than 9
lack rabbit. read about Pinto and persuaded
himself that he was bear hunter enough To tackle
the old fellow. lie went 30 Fort TETON. hired u
guide, and made an xpc1ition to the Castnc. The
guide took the hunter TO spikc.bHck Spring,
which l. Al the head of a rayinc under the lime:
| stone ridge. and showed 10 MINI the footprints oil
tie big bear In the mud and along the bear trail
That crosses the spring.
One glance at the track OF PlntHs foot was
, gu riCient 10 dispel all the dimc-novel day dreams
u the SPORTSMAN and start a readJustinent OF
his plan OF campaign. After gazing ut that
directed shot from the rncrring' rife was a
feat that los. its beautiful simplicity. and AZ
.umel heroic proportions. The man from san
Francisco had intended to find the bears trail.
follow II on foot, Ovcrtakc or meet the grizzly,
aud XII him in his tracks, after the manner of
the iulrppil luntFrz that he had read about.
but he sat on u log and debated the matter with
the guide. That old timer would not (o'nntGSr
told the man from san Francisco that II D..
wanted TO tackle a grizzly all by his lonely self
u tree. and wait for the bear TO come along.
50 the man built II platform! in a tree about ten
up to the platform, and waited. The bear came
along and killed The cali, and the man in The
and changed his plan again; lie laid himself
prone upon he Biatff9Tmn; .a held ra atI breath rGa ,hr and
loudly enough to attract the bear attention.
The bear ate his III OF the quivcring veal, and
then rose upon his hhunches 10 survey the sur.
rounding-. The man from san Francisco sol-
cmnly assured the guide In the morning when
he got back to camp that when Pinto, sal up
and could have walked over TO The tree and
picked him OF Ike a rip. ,pcrsiminon' and he
into Pinto's head that that would he u good
thing 10 do. SO the man from san Francisco
broke. camp and went nome with some now ana
which was the very clear idea that he did not
That is The sort o: bear old Pinto was. emf.
ncntly entitled 10 the name that Lewis and
Clark applied Ia his tribe rsusr crOr.
He was n " bravo" and n Killer. a solitary.
Cross-gruincd, crusty tempered old outlaw Ot the
range. What he would or might do under amy
circumstances could not be predicted upon the
basis OF what another one Of his species had
done under similar circumstances. The man
who gcncralizes the conduct ~ the grizzly Is
liable to serious error, for the grizzly lnGivid.
ual!ty H. strong and his disposition various. Be
cause one grizzly scuttlcd INTO the brush NJ
sight of u man. II does not follow that another
grizzly will behave similarly. The other griz.
zly's education may have been different. ono
bear lives In a region infested only by small
game. such ~ rabbits, wood mice. ants and
l:rubs, and when he cannot get n meal by
turning over fiat rocks or stripping the
bark from a dcCaying tree, he digs roots for u
living. lie Is not accustomed 10 battle and he Is
not q killer, and he may h, tinorous In the
presenc" ~ man. Another grizzly hunts the
cattle or sheep ranges and II accustomed to
seeing men and beasts fee before him for their
lives. He lives by tlc strong arm, takes what