Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1897-10-08
IN the GRIP OF A GRIZZLY.

of the coyete," said Johnson Blocker, a
sheep herder in the San Berndino
mountains of California. in a company
OF ranchmen at the store ver at War
ner's Springs the other evening. al
have a little on that subject to say my
self. | owe my life to pack of coyotes
up in Kern county, and from all that
can learn they are the same as all 9th
ers OF the coyete family. In 1873 |
was teaching u district school in San
Diego county and was all run down in
health and spirits. When the long
summer vocation came on | had an in
vitation from my brother Ned to come
and spend the ummer at his ranch in
the mountains in Kern county. ac-
cepted and went there on mule back,
because there were no railroads in
Southern California then.
The second day | was al my broth
er's ranch we went out for a week of
hunting in the mountains. We were
armed with the best Shapes rifles, and
our horses carried a big lot of ammu-
milton and camp stores. Ned soon
tired of hunting and after We had tum-
blCd over w wild eats and several an
telope, he wanted to 90 back to his
horses, sheep and vineyards. He told
me that the upper mountain canyons
were full of big game, and that he
knew from the loss of several calves
and pigs that summer, there We're
bears IN the heavy timber. That was
enough to excite my best e%ndeavors
with a rifle, and / stayed in the noun
tains while brother Ned went down to
his ranch. For a week more | got
nothing more than a deer, several ante
and for the sake of getting rid of
the mean varmints, | shot a dozen or
so coyotes.
IL spent one night ia a camp Of a
few miners who were washing gold in
a canyon and the next morning when |
rode away one of them advised me to
keep near to their camp, for they had
seen the day before grizzly bear tracks
in the mud about the springs two miles
away. laughingly assured the miners
that took pride in nay workmanship.
and was naturally cautious and cool,
so | thought no harm could come to
me. Along about noon of that day |
shot a buck some POO yards from me,
and as the wounded snimal bounded
away in a heavy chapparral | drove
my spurs IN my mustang and gave
1t vac easy to follow the buck,
because it left a trail of blood stains on
the ground and in the brush as it
bounded along. The deer ran down the
side Of the mountain slope for perhaps
a quarter of a mile and then suddenly
struck down the mountain. And so.
it, | came at last TO the edge
If the canyon with its large timber and
heavy underground. just rs | entered
his canyon / came upon the overturned
.runk OF an enormous tree which had
apparently fallen several months BE-
ore, turning "A hUge mound of clay
with its roots. The trail Of blood
,howed that the deer had leapcd over
ne trunk, bat my horse was no jumper
and / BEGAN hastily circliug around the
rec. A, turned the angle of the clay
mound at its root, with "a yiciou, snort
lu enormous grizzly sprang mp erect
mt OF the shadow, and faced me with
avs open. This ap@payation and the
sudden '>quatting of nay horse occu-
)icd one second. Before the next Soc
,ud was oyer nay horse had jumped
about fifteen feet, / should think.
lad gone over ms back i'm "a curve.
.urumg somcrsaults before / struck the
ground. My gun had gone clear over
he grizzly's head am. lay ON the other
idle Of him, and there ! was with Any
cg broken above the knee.
isn't it queer what funny thing,
.ou VIII think of in some awful mo-
lent OF sorrow or suspense? | lay
here, trying to imagine whether Ned
would find enough of my bones to ac-
ord me a decent burial whcr he came
o search for me. | was absolutely
in my pocket a little dizzily for
pencil and paper, so that ! could
"a few words, when the grizzly
anne. ,melled me over two or three
INES, and at last took hold of my left
houlder and began to drag me. Then
hc pain in my broken LEG and my tor
urtd shoulder OVcrcamc me and went