Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-07-27
HANCOCK COUNTY DIANA.
Bluehill Girl Kills Bear and Earns
a Bicycle.
From the Lewiston Journal

| From the Lewiston Journal
Miss Lenore Jordan's encounter with a
800 pound bear is one of the most daring
adventures recorded in the county since
the days when Dan Moran had the wrestle
with one near Herrick's grove and beat
bruins. brains out with a hemlock knot.
The only difference with the two stories is
that nobody believes that Moran ever killed
a bear in his life, while Miss Jordan has
the hide to show that the bear is dead, and
several small children who say she did the
shooting are yet in town.
Last Thursday while all the men were at
work haying, Lenore with several chill
dren decided to go over on the ridge for
some raspberries. The distance from the
house is less than half mile, SO with the
men all in plain sight less than three
! quarters of mile away, they felt reason
| ably safe, even though it had been re-
ported several times that bear was in the
neighborhood.
The girls were in the woods not more
than twenty minutes when suddenly two
small cubs appeared and ran right in be-
tween them, squealing with fear, and
making toward large hemlock tree. The
smaller children began calling for Lenore,
who was busy alone, to come over and see
the woodchucks up the tree.
When the little girls began to shout and
clap their hands in glee she started over to
join in the fun. After leaving the clump
OF bushes she was obliged to pass through
smaller clump of low pines where the
lower limbs nearly touched the ground.
While going through, bending the limbs
back with her hands, she came suddenly
face to face with the mother bear, who
stood upon its hind legs and with open
mouth.
Lenore screamed. Then catching her
breath she uttered another volley. Run
girls, rum Rum girls, rum A bear, 4
bear-r-r! Oh-o-o-o! Run, girls, rum
And they did run. So did Miss Jordan
and so did the bear. But they ran in diff
ferent directions. Lenore made straight
for the house, while the children scattered
in different directions into the woods.
When she arrived at the door she found
that nobody was there to hear her call.
She suddenly changed her course. In
stead of fainting as most girls would,
she went to her brothers room and took
his Winchester rifle and started back to
find the small children. When she got
back into the woods she could hear them
crying at some distance away. While
making toward the children she again
encountered the animal, and a well-d
rected rifle ba II did The rest
The men in the meadows heard the
children's cries but did not leave their
work till the report OF the rife brought
them to the scene. The rifle was found
in clump of bushes where it had been
thrown after the fatal shot had been fired,
and bruin lay dead in the centre of the
pathway with bullet hole fairly planted
between its eyes.
Lenore had pushed her way through
the tangled bushes till she found the
frightened children, not knowing that her
sharp shooting record had been made
When she returned she was as much sur
prised as any of the men folks When
Ephraim McCollom calculated that her
days wages would aggregate twenty
three dollars, bounty and all, she cried
with delight: Nov | can buy me new
bicycle'
The cubs have not been captured yet.
Miss Jordan is not vet nineteen, and is
claimed 10 be the youngest female bear
killer in the State.