The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-29
NO MORE BEARS THERE.
ALL KILLED p RI THE BEAR
LIlR OF SAN CARRIED CANON.


Therefore the Expedition or Rem E.termina.
tors. sent Out from I.oa Angeles, Rcturnsa
to Their Homes Empty Handed. Though
Their Heads Were Heavy with Hear ~stories.
Los ANGELES, Cal, Aug. GA man from
San Gabriel canon came into town recently
and told bear stories to Prof. Carl Sawvell. and
tho professor told the stories to other people.
The main point OF the San Gabriel mans tale
was that he had found n den inhabited by two
grizzlies. He had seen the bears and was
nightly afraid of them, and he wanted some
body to go up there and cNterminntc them, 30
that he might work his mining claim unmo-
lcsted and u%nnfraid. Tho professor, being
gullelcss and confding, believed the tale, and
he tried to obligc tho man from San Gabriel By
promoting an expedition OF determination. Sew
entcen men replied TO his overturcs with tie
original remark that they hadn't lost any
bears" Since 1919 that has boon the standard
bear joke Of America, and 1t must he funny,
because everybody uses 1t, and expects the
other man to laugh.
At last the professor found three men who
rofraincd from being funny on the subject Of
bears, and promptly consented TO go 10 the res
cue Of the man In San Gabriel canon. Those
serious persons were Don Rornulo Pico,
nephew of the last Mexican Governor OF CALI
fornia, and an eager hunter OF big game; Col.
Harrison q Otis, who fought In Major McKinley'a
regiment, and thinks that n%nything that wears
gray is legitimate game, and the man who took
Monarch. the big grizzly of Golden Gcte Park,
to San Francisco, and therefore thinks he
knows something about bears. These three,
with Antonio Sepulveda rs guide, went into
San Gabriel canon with their guns loaded for
bear, which was a grievous crror-they should
have taken clubs loaded for the tcllcrs of bear
tales. An expedition properly outttted TO hunt
bear liars rather than bear lairs could load .
four.horse wagon with game in the San Gabriel.
Old Bill Potter, who wears his beard in cork
screw curls and lets out soro-backed horses and
low-grade, refractory burros by the day to de-
luded hunters, intinatcd very plainly that the
Man who-was.afraid could not he depended
upon to give bed rock facts about bears, and
that he, Old Bill, was II well of truth in that
line. He. Old Bill, had killed many hears in
teS G4non; o fr e o,Ser lef bu sneqsh f III rIN S,S Ss en-.
killing was heaps of fun. He ran across three
in a bunch. shot one, drowned another in tho
found a den OF bears, he had been telling that
iioved it. but nobody else did. The man up the
creek had the nerve to, pretend that HIS fa-
butcher knife, and anybody acquainted with
bears ought to see through that sort OF man
Tho man up the creek, the original locator Of
the. denful Of grizzlies, had his opinion of Old
b Ihs canon as "a 5 ,Ssyt tho Of o SeHrs bear It 0 Mss R RSto oTs@ 81, in
was a hfty.pound cub that stole a string Of
trout from under Biil's nose nif,e waded the creek:
gun into the brush and hitching frantfcally
along "A fallen spruce under the impression thab
getting too old and rheumatic to hunt, but no
had had a little sport with bears in his time. He
t ten or a dozen ~ s years. ago ste0 lie i had had b taGle ouer on on
the Iron Fork hunting for a stray mule and was
coming back through the canon after dark.
| 1t was darker than n stack of black cats in thO
canon, and when he bumped up against a bear
IN Rn, the 1Tsil he couldn't sIasb to see fb to E Sstt in ami his Z badS.
handed cut to the right, severing the tendons of
both front Paws-and SO he made a lunge for
general results and then Skinned up a sycamore.
scrambling up the tree behind him. and he
and siraddIed a big branch in the fork, where
he could get a firm seat and have the free use
dark bulk OF tho bear as the beast crawled
ciumsily up the slanting trunk in front Of hin,
einsped the trunk. he chopped at il with hiS
heavy knife. The bear roared with pain. In
5 ;ust aynd ss 1 9SeF srm f%E'G sriHin at The he f Ssas'i 10 sG sSss
beast let go all holds and fell heavily to the
For a minute all was silent, Then the
growing began again and he heard the scratch.
the dark fiti bull ipe Of the bear appeared again in
front q him. and again he drove the knife TO
yelling. the bear slid back down. the tree and
bumped heavily on the ground, but in q mo-
ment there was another attack.
The man up the tree was much puzzled 70
account for such remarkable vitality and
perse verance, but he braced himself for the COM
bat. and at the proper moment chopped VIC
iously at the bears forearm and felt the blade
sink into the bone. This time he got in three
good hard lunges, and when the bear fell he
had no doubt that the fight was ended.
But II wasn't a minute before the whole
thing had to be done over again, and the man
varied the performance by reaching around and
giving the bear q whRck in the neck that nearly
cut its head of. This sort Of thing was no.
peated at intervals for two or three hours, but
at last the attacks ceased and all was still AZ
the foot OF the tree. The man was weary, and
to tell the truth was O little confused. He did
not deem 1t wise to come on his perch ant
take any chances Of trouble on the ground SO
he strapped himself to the branch with his bell
1t was gray dawn when he awoke. HG
rubbed his eyes and looked down at the ground
Then he rubbed them again and pinched him
self and glanced at the rocks and trees e
make sure that he was not in a trance. he
said TO himself. being a reader OF the poets:
Can such things be, or Is visions aboutT.
1t was no dream. and the man up the canon
said IL was no lie.
Lying about the foot of tho sycamore wers
nine dead bears weltering in their gore.
This explains why tho Don and the Colonel
and the rest OF tho expedition Of extrrmina.
ton returned forthwith to Los Angeles without
having seen a bear. There are no more bearA
The man up the canon killed them all.