Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-01-30
THE FIELD OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND OAR
ING DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.
stopping GriZzly-An Incident of
the War-A Cowboy Dragged by
Frightened Horses.


Frightened Horses.
IC X LTHOUGH I have done
~ considerable hunting in
NJ the Rocky Mountains I
have but one grizzly bear
to my credit; and if I'd known the
beasts capacity for carrying off
magazine load of lead at canter I'd
never have meddled with this one,"
said @. F.. A. Peck, once of Idaoo.
"It was three years ago last August
that went up against Ephraim in his
native hauuts and came off best by
scratch. With my guide, Jim Snyder,
half breed, l was hunting elk in the
Rocky Range north of the Big Horn
Mountains, about eighty miles from
Burke, Idaho. We made our camp
always in the valleys, where there was
plenty of grass and water for our
horses, and the nights were not so cold
rs in the uplands. Another reason
for camping in tho valleys was that
the bears had left the low grounds to
follow the elk up into the mountains,
and Jim did not like bears.
'He had sound reason for wanting
to take no chances with the brutes,
for it was owing to an encounter with
u grizzly that he had to shoot his rifle
from his left shoulder. On the right
side of his face three great scars ex-
tended from scalp to chin, where the
bears paw had raked it. destroying
the sight of his right eye.
"On this day we had hunted in poor
luck, an !: toward the end of the after
noon, were returning to camp. The
sun was about half an hour high above
the range, and we were hurryiDg along
SO as to got out of the toughest of the
travelling before darkness should fall.
We were following down the edges OF
a ragged ravine, tine guide on one side
and | On the other. Coming to
point on the bank where the ravine
narrowed and deepened to depth OF
more than u hundred feet. with very
steep sides, I turned to look for him,
but had outstripped him and he was
not in sight. rustling sound across
the ravine drew my attention, and,
looking. I saw beyond the ravine. near
the edge, the shaggy head and shoul-
ders OF grizzly bear sitting upright
on his launches among the bushes,
eating blackberries. With one paw he
was drawing the bushes toward him,
and with the other raking the berries
from them into his mouth. NV rifle
was 3S.44 Winchester with maya
zine capacity of sixteen shots. At a
hundred yards away the beast present
ell so tempting mark that, disregard
ing the cautions I had received,
dropped on one knee and let drive at
his shoulder. l sighted Il trihe too
low, and the bullet, instead of break
ing his shoulder, penetrated the lungs.
With loud, snarling roar he Iell, but
in IN instant he was up again, gave
one look to locate where the attack
came from, and then, showing his
teeth, made for me.
"A bear struck by bullet charges
straight for the smoke of the rifle.
For this reason experienced bear
hunters, after firing at II grizzly, at
once run to left or right, SO that he
shall miss them in his first rush, giving
them at the same time the advantage
of fanking fire as he advances. I
was not up to this move. and remained
where l was as the bear, breaking
through the bushes, rolled and tumbled
rather than ran down the opposite
side of the ravine. I fired twice during
his descent, but both shots missed, and,
striking with a splash in the rivulet at
the bottom, he came like cat to his
feet and rushed up the nearer side
toward me. saw that had got my
self into more serious business than I
had intended; but thele was nothing
for it now but to stand my ground and
pump lead into the bear in the hope
of stopping him before he could get
to me. Five times 1 fired rs he came
up the slope, every bullet striking the
head. Three of them glanced from
his skull and two passed through his
left ear. With blood bubbling from
nose and mouth from the wounds in
his lungs, he came on, apparently re-
garding my shots us little as if they
were peas from n popgun. My sixth
shot, striking his nose, caused him
to vince; but he barred his teeth and
rushed forward as resolutely as before.
The seventh bullet glanced from his
forehead, and rs / pulled back the
lever for the eighth shot the bear was
not ten yards from me. If this shot.
possibly l might get one more in as
he closed with me--failed to stop tho
bear, it was all day with ms. l fired,
and the beal stopped short and felt
dead in his tracks. The bullet had
struck him in the left eye and entered
the brain. New York Sun.
An Incident of the War,