The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1898-05-20


ben Pettibona looked the lay Of the
and al over. and then said:
T.. Come this way, boys. Well strike
Slippery Abner's track beyond that
c.ump of trees yonder.'
"There was Il fOur-inch fall OF fresh
snow Ny father led the rest over be-
yond the clump of trees, and there,
fresh in the snow, leading away from
the trees, was the track of a bear, the
immense size of which left no doubt in
any mind that it was the footprints OF
Slippery Abner: They followed the
trail TWO miles, and just as it led into
hicket one Of the party Ice / back
md saw Samson Juff come ct Ct the
thicket not so yards away. l. hadn't
seen the bear nor its trail.
"IIullo.' he shouted. What have
you struck?'
slippery Abner!' one of the hunt
ers shouted. And we've got the lead
on it tool
Samson grumbled out something
and disappeared in the woods. My re-
makable father led the chase an hour OF
more, but they never got as much as q
sight of the bear. The track kept on
going, and by and by it led into open
country toward Samson Jutf's cabin.
This made the hunters uneasy, and
ven Reuben Pettibone had misgivings
hat he might be ioiled, remarkable as
e was, and when the trail took them
within three feet of Samson's door, and
the bear tracks went no further, the
hunters kicked the snow until it flew
about as if in the face of a gale, and
they howled ard cursed and swore ven
geance against Samson Juff. The bear
tracks went no further than the cabin,
but from the cabin the footprints OF
two men, walking side by side, led away
oward the settlement, three miles
away.
"'That Internal Samson Juff has
gobbled Slippery Abner!' the hunters
howled. He went an cut back to his
cabin after seem us, an the bear hap
PENN to come along this way, he's
pinged it, an him an his brother Joe
S luggin' him into the settlement! We
ilON ,CSt as well NuIl.
"And every man of 'em swore he'd
shoot that miserable cur Samson Juff
he minute he set eyes on him. They.
were still vowing loud and bloody VEN
geance, when who should come on the
scene but Samson himself. Instantly
half dozen guns were covering him,
and if my remarkable father hadn't
been there that would have been the
end of Samson Juff.
"'Hold!' cried Reuben Pettibone.
Let the man speak,
"But they wouldn't give him a chance
to speak.
"'You can't fool us, Samson Juff!'
they shouted. You've killed our bear,
an it'll be the last one you'll ever kill on
he Sinnemahone.'
"All this time Samson had been ex-
mining the tracks that led away from
his cabin, and then he suddenly made a
dash into the cabin and as suddenly
dashed out again.
"'Both pair is gone, by the Great
Horn Spoon!' he yelled. AN they cost
me $1O.'
"Then he started away on the trail of
he two men.
'Fo.ler him. shouted the hunter.
Don't let him fool us an git away.'
Reuben Pettibone himself thought
'amson was acting a triile mysterious
md suspicious, and he led the way on
his trail. The trail the two men had
made circled round toward big swamp
nat lay over on the right about two
miles, and Samson tore along it like
mad, with Reuben Pettibone, now GER
tain OF Samson's guilt, and the hunters
dashing wildly after him. Just as the
procession reached the edge Of the
swamp the report of rife came from
1T, not far ahead, quickly followed by
another one. Then there rose the wild
est kind of shouts III the swamp, and as
the hunters went on in they saw two
other hunters dancing and yelling
around the carcass of an immense bear
that lay in the snow. The two hunters
discovered the others.
"'We've got him' they shouted.
We've gathered in Slipper; Abner at
last!'
"'There they be- Samson yelled.
I knowed it! There they be!'
with that Samson dropped down in
he snow by the side of the bear and
made grab for one Of his feet.
Then Reuben Pettibone used +.
say, we discovered that the bear h..
boot on each one of his four fee
What did it mean? PraXiteles. | don
nlnd telling you that Slippery Abrer.
wise, saGacious, cunning brute that he
was, had discovered early.in the da,
that | was on his trail. He knew tha
now something out of the ordinary had
to be done by him if he escaped that
day, and he was equal to the occasion.
rs he passed along by Samson Juff'e
abin he saw the door was aiar. HI
Jumped inside. When he came out AGAR
he made bear tracks no more. for he had
put on Samson's two pairs of hunting
boots, and, marching on. had left the
trails OF two hunters in the snowinstead
of his own! That threw us clear off
80 that is why my remarkable father
could never have been induced to Judge
a man on circumstantial evidence
even if he had lived a hundred years.
And that is why am shy of circun-
stantial evidence myself. And I be-
lieve, Mackinaw, that you would pause.
after having heard this, and ponder
long before you would hang a man on
circumstantial evidence. I don't be-
lieve, now, that you would even hang
me on it, Mackinaw.''
mo, Sinnemahone," said the man in
the red. blue, pink, green, purple and