Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1897-06-10
WHOPPED BY A BEAR.
HOW DEAD JOE ROBINSON GOT EVEN
WITH FEB WHITE.

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WITH FEB WHITE.
The Queer Tale Told by Zeb White, tn,
Postum Hunter of Tennessee-A Licke.
Man and What He Did-Robinson .
Rest In His Grave.
| "Folks jest look upon bar as {
bar" said Zeb White, the possum hun
ter of Tennessee, one evening as VIZ
roasted chestnuts in the kitchen fire
place, "but that's whar they make 8
mistake. A bar is more n bar. HI
knows heap more'n half the folks
walkin around on these yere Cumber.
land mountings."
whats the story?' / asked, know.
ing he had one to tell
"Waal, it's about bar what used
to hang around my cabin yere soon
after the wah. He was big Teller.
seed him one evenin up the road bit,
and he looked as big as 2-y ar old
steer. He was the fust b. ar had seen
fur y 'ars, and of co'se I was all up on
end to kill him. That same evenin sot
on the doorstep, smokin my pipe along
side the old woman, when the pesky
bar walked right out into the open
within ten feet of us. He looked at us,
and we looked at him. It was five min
its befo' I hitched back to- git my gun,
and when l cum out with it he had
gone. The old woman sot thar, lookin
powerful solemn, and when I cum out
she SEE to me:
4 4" 'Zeb White, yo' jest let that yere
bar alone! Don't hunt fur him and
don't shoot him if he Gums back.
What's the matter?' SEE I.
+ " I don't like his ways. While yo'
was arter yo'r gun he sot up, same as a
human bein. Looks to me like it was
the speerit Of dead man passed into a
bar
'Shoo! Whoever heard Of SIGH a
thing?'
But it's So Member Joe Robin
son, who was killed doorin the wah?
Waal, that bar minded me Of him,
and Joe Robinson was full of tricks.
I'm a-tellin Of yo', Zeb White. yo' let
that varmint alone or yo'll cum to
grief
Her words sort of skeered me, said
the old man, land put up the gun
and didn't go out. was feelin better
next mawnin, and arter breakfast I
shouldered my gun and started off. I
went off up the mounting to beat up the
laurel thickets, and it was about 'leven
O'Clock when stumbled over root and
pitched head first. WASH t much hurt,
but broke my rife, and sot down on a
stone to tinker it up. I was workin
away with my head down when I heard
sniff, and I looked up to see that pesky
bar a-standin befo' me. Bein as the ole
woman had said he looked like Joe
Robinson, looked at him powerfully
clus"
"And did he?' I asked.
"Suah's yo'r bon he did, sab. Yes,
sab, any man as had ever knowed Joe
Robinson would say that his speerit had
passed into that bar. 1t was most the
same as a photograph. He had wink
to one eye, grin on his face, and his
lower lip hung down, and it was jest
like seein Joe Robinson hisself once
mo-"
and so you lit outr'
No, sab, didn't I wanted to, but
the mint I rig up that Far knowed
what I was arter and waltzed up to me
and took hold for wrassle. I used to
wrassle with Joe and down him every
time, but he was different now as a
bar He laid me plumb on my back in
no time. got up and tried it ag in, but
it was dead easy fur him. Why, was
just plaything fur him. He throwed
me down SO easy that got mad and |
yells at him:
Joe Robinson, I'm KNOWN who |
you ar even if yo' ar bar! Yo' kin
throw me down cause yo' got claws on
yo'r feet to stick into me, but I believe
kin whop yo' the same as I did one
day befo' yo' was killed.
''That's what I said" remarked the
old man, "but was made to wish I
hadn't. The bar held up his paws and
began to dance around, and purity soon
he gin me whack on the ear which
knocked me ten feet. got up and went
fur him, but he knocked me jest as far
the other way. Then Igot whoppin mad
and sailed III. They used to say that I
was good fur any two men around yere,
but llckin bar and lickin two men is
a heap different At least it was SO
with that bar. I never got in on him
1T all. He jest cuffed me this way and
hat, and bime by he fetched me a
Nhack which took all the fight outer me
,nd left me as limp as rag. I was a
licked man, but knowed it and was
'eady to give up, but that bar wasn't
Fillin. He remembered the whoppin
IN ni-r when he was Joe Robinson,
md he kept on cu.z..-a NE till / tainted
lead away. When cum to 1sas senses,
Ie sot thar GRIMM and chuckln, and
8 soon as lifted hand he cuffed me. :
10 kin see how he tore my ears and c
eek and scalp, and I've got heaps of {
law marks on my shoulders I knowed I
hat he was arter. He wanted me to t
oller fur mercy, same as I made Joe a
oller, but jest wouldn't do it fur two t
ing hours. I called him names and fit b
ack and held out till I seen he was a
ound to kill me.' &
6 And then you gave in?" I asked. a
"Then had to give in, and drat his A
ssky hide, if I haven't bin ashamed of t.
every hour since! jest begged his II
ardon and told him I was a licked a
an and asked him to let up, and he :
lffed me twice fur luck and went off. F"
And didn't you ever see the bear
,ain?''
Never, sab. He was a speerit bar o.
I'd he jest disappeared and was never "
en- again. crawled home and was in b.
d fur two weeks, and, though I'm az
III huntin fur that b ar, don't reckon al
Il ever find him. It was Joe Robin os
speerit i'll him, yo' see. When Joe b.
t even fur that whoppin 1 gin him, NJ
was satisfied to lie in his grave for A
ermo', and SO the bar vanished off OF
e airth. Yes sab, vanished off the A
rth, and / was a licked man." II
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