The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-03-11
BRUINS GRATITUDE.
HI SAVED THE LIFE OF THE MAN
WHO DID HIM A SERVICE.
An old Time Incident From the Meua-
sains Of csatrAl Pennsyiv.aiH-- The STORY
Nss smith nss Been Telling For Half
. Century.

. Century.
IN the mountains Of central Pennsyl-
vania there lived until q few years ago .
celebrated hunter and trapper named Ma
thaniel Smith, who could tell many hair
breadth escapes and encounters with the
wild beasts Of that mountainous section.
One of his favorise stories which he used
TO tell until the day Of his death, was of q
most exciting visit to bis cabin In the dead
of night OF huge black bear which after
ward saved his life. In his own words the
story was as follows:
along In the forties lived In Q cabin
In the mountains Of central Pennsylvania
and followed hunting and trapping. In
those days bears still carried of the farm
ers' pigs, deer psstured in the wheat, ooons
ate his corn, and the wolves and foxes
helped themselves to his property. You
may we'll guess that those were thu days
when the hunter was in his glory.
sin the late fall of 1s4s had been fol-
lowing deer trail all day. 1t was rather
htO at night when 1 got to my cabin,
which had a small chimney or fireplace at
the farther end from the door, where /
kept a good fire of big logs during the
night. My bed was just behind the door.
was not long in getting bite OF supper
and going To bed, as l was very tired. AS
l undressed I hung my clothes up at the
fire to dry, my rifle and hunting knife on
a rack at the side of the chimney.
II was aroused about O'Clock in the
morning by n scratching at the door. l
listened, and at the same time was trying
to remember whether 1 had pulled the
latchstring in before going to bed. How
ever, before had settled the matter in my
mind the door swung open, and something
about as tall as a man came hobbling In.
my fire had burned very low. There
were only few large Goals that cast a fee
BILE light through the room. heard
low moan and a scratching on the floor.
Cold chills began to run up my back as
the thought struck me that my untimely
visitor looked in the uncertain light like
bear. Just then the Goals of fire flickered,
and in the momentary light l saw the
largest bear of my life. Astonished?
Well, yes, l should say so.
~ lay quiet, studying how was to en-
terrain my unlimited guest, while every
minute its moaning would CRATE on my
ears. The room seemed to become gradu.
ally lighter Then thought of the moon
being in its last quarter, and, just rising,
was casting its feeble rays through the
open door,
ain few minutes l could see the old
fellow pretty plainly and watch his actions.
"He would draw himself together, then
draw one Of his hind feet TO his nose and
lick it with his tongue then roll and moan
again, all the time keeping that foot raised
from the floor. My curiosity got the bet
ter Of my fear, and watched him with
increased interest / must have looked at
him more than an hour, when l said to
myself: Nat Smith, you are tarnal old
fool to let that groaning old critter keep
you in bed till broad daylight, when you
ought to be looking after your traps. Be
sides that you must fight this fellow with
your hunting knife; the rifle is not load
ed Now that it was light in the cabin l
thought l would look him over and then
chase him out or fight. 1 saw streak on
his forehead, commencing just above the
nose and running at an angle up across
his face TO the left ear, about inches wide
and bare as my hand. Then, as he held
up his foot, l said, Great Scott, what a
footp 1t was swollen and about four or
five times the size of the Others. l slipped
out at the foot of the bed and moved to-
ward the shelf where my knife lay, fearful
that he might start the fight before L was
ready. However, / got the knife. With
tight grip was about to plunge it into
his heart, when he stuck up that foot, &C
companied by such a suffering and plead
ing look that / put my left hand on his
foot and moved 1t all over the sole.
'To my SURPRISE he held still and seem
ed to be pleased. As i continued to rub
felt what l took to be the big end of
white thorn. 1 took my knife, and, with
a sudden jerk, pulled it out Jehosi-
phat With yell of pain the bear scooted
out the door as fast as his lame foot would
let him.
There, said 1, Smith, by your fool
ing with that thorn you lost a bearskin
worth at least So, not to say anything
about "a quantity of fine juicy bear steaks.
well, some six or eight weeks after that
we had fine tracking snow. ] started out
IN the morning and not far from the cabin
l came across "a bear track which fol
lowed until some time after noon. 1 was
satisfied now that the tracks led TO a small
thicket number of yards ahead which /
knew TO be "a fine place for my game to
conceal itself. l approached IL with great
care, with my rifle to my shoulder while /
thought L saw the bushes slightly move,
when something came down on my head
and shoulders that knocked me TO the
ground. AS / fell my head struck some
hard substance and knew no more. How
long lay do not know. AS / became
conscious felt air In my face; it seemed
TO me like the breath of some animal.
With my right hand l carefully reached
for my knife and with firm grip of the
handle l opened my eyes to deal n death
blow to what animal it might be- Imag-
inc my anger and surprise when / looked
straight in the face of my recent midnight
visitor. That scar on his forehead was as
plain as the nose on your face.
Just as l was about TO give him the
full length of my knife he backed off and
trotted down the mountain side. L jumped
up quickly to get my rifle before he got
out of range, when for the first time
noticed blood drop from my face. My cap
was gone, my coat torn to pieces and L
felt as though had been roughly handled.
/ said, Smith, you must kill that bear If it
takes year to do it, Thinking had had
sport enough for that day began to look
around for my rifle and cap, when found
large wildcat lying on the ground close
BOD A. "a n a.. a.