The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-24

ings. l saw the bears skin. I was a
small boy then, but ] remember that il
was a very big one. and that the nose
and a little of the forehead were gray
ish white, while the rest of his pelt was
black. Those who saw the bear aid
his white face gave him a very vicious
look-such an expression as n blaze
faced horse has.
This bear had a history that ran
through half a dozen years. He was
first seen catching fish at a brook that
comes into the lake a few miles above
Greenville, and II was the only honest
thing that ever was laid to his credit.
The man that saw him had no gun. but
he stayed to see the bear fish. keeping
well out of sight himself. 1t was i'm
midsummer and the brook was about
dry. with little pools along the bottom
In which the ~fish-trout. sinners and
redfins-had gathered. The bear would
jump from a high place into a pool filled
with fish and make a great swash, send
ing water and fish out over the dry sand
and gravel around. Then he would
scramble out and nail as many fish as
he could with his claws before they
were carried with the water back into
the pool again. The man came home
to G~reenville and told what he had
seen. They believed what he said about
the bears fishing-that's a trick of the
animal which every old hunter knows
but when he said thai the bear was
white-faced he got laughed at for a
liar. People believed his story after
ward. though. for 1t wasn't long before
old White Face was heard of again. and
he soon got his name up in Piscataquis
county.
HE killed sheep all over the county.
visiting the farmyards and pastures as
regularly as tn. snow went away i'm the
spring to I'LL up after his winters fast
ing. and he always made another aid
In the fall before he went to sleep for
the winter. Between times he would
vary his diet with berries. and he usu-
ally managed to scare a few BURBERRY
pickers half to death every season. He
was a cheeky fellow who wouldn't turn
out for a man. and he got more inde-
pendent every year. He stopped the
Bangor stage between Shirley and
Greenville. and made it wait In the road
until he got good and ready to move
out Of the way. The four horses at
sight OF him were all on their hind legs
at once, and the driver had hard work
to keep the stage. with its Dad of pas
sengers. from going over into the ditch.
The same bear met Levi Philbrick on a
corduroy road built through a swamp
and drove him OFF the logs into the
water and soft mud, and IL was a mira
Gle that the man ever got clear OF the
mire and back on the road again after
the bear had passed. Levi always held
a uuSC aSdifiSl thdt otdf ditti tbios
and, queerly enough. the time came at
last for him to pay it of.
There were more stories going about
the doings of White Face than l could
tell you IL / were to talk the whole
night long. He was hunted n shot at
every year.. but 1t mad no sort of diff
ference with him.. The hunters would
come back with the story of a dog or
two killed. and White Face would turn
up as usual when IL was his date to
come round for mutton. But his time
came at last. and IL vas in this way:
"It IA well along in the spring. and
Lev Philbrick. VINO was a log survey
or, was coming down Moosehead lake
on the boat. The sun and rains had
made the ice unsafe for teaming. but
Levi. on snowshoes. O the risk for
the sake of easy travelling. keeping near
shore as he went. A few miles above
Greenville old White Face came out of
the woods on the shore. He was lean
and hungry and didn't wait. but start
ed straight for Philbrick. 1t was near
midday and the ice had softened since
morning. 1t would bear Levi on his
snowshoes. but White Face went
through into the water six rods from
shore and the ice gave way under him
upon IL. He could neither fight nor run.
and the laugh was with Levi this time.
"'Drive me into a swamp again, will
you. you white-faced old reprobate,'
Levi said. and Knocked the bear in the
head with his axe. Some fishermen
who came along helped get the e a
from the water. and he rough the
skin into Greenville that night"