The times., 1899-05-22
FIGHTING A GRIZZLY.
4 Wisconsin Man Who Claims to
Have Killed One With N Knife.
(trom the New York Sun

lhht sucn tnlhg Is perhaps possible, but
say they have never known it to be done.
John W. Raught says that it has been done,
and that he is one man who did it. He is
a farmer living in the town of Mitchell in
this county.
Did you ever stand face to face with
a grizzly" he asked in speaking of his
experience. IF you didn't. you don't know
what bear looks like. / have hunted
and shot everything to be found on the
American continent, from red squirrels to
the grizzly and mountain lion, and the
king OF the Rockies is the only living thing
l ever was actually afraid of. II your i'm
agination is vivid enough. just picture
beast weighing l,200 or 1850 pcunds coming
at you like whole army of wildcats.
mouth wide open. foam dripping from his
long yellow teeth, tongue hanging
from his jaws and rolling side
to side, his little eyes cleaning and
glowering until they almost throw out
sparks, and every hair on his big body
standing on end and quivering as il 1t
had life of its own-just picture that com
ing at you with the speed of a locomotive
and half-sideways motion. and you've
some idea how a grizzly looks when he is
thoroughly mad and bent on mischief
saw only one under these conditions, but
that will last me all my life."
Mr.. Raught was in this city a few days
ago to see physician. A sleigh loaded
with wood had tipped over and part of the
load had fallen on him and injured one
arm. He went to DR.. Otto Book to have
his injuries dressed, and when he had
striped for the examination peculiar
condition of skin, flesh and bones was Ie-
vealed. The left shoulder had apparently
been crushed to pulp at some time. The
left arm had been broken in three places
and the bones in knitting had contracted
or had been improperly Joined, so that
the arm was left drawn and twisted. The
entire left breast bone had been crushed
in. and great white and red marks e1
tended down from the shoulder TO the
waist line.
II should guess said Dr. Book, that
you had been run through a threshing
machine in mistake for a bundle OF wheat
You bear all marks OF a very good thresh-
ing machine. too
Doc said the farmer, "if you can
think OF anything alive that is as bad to
tackle as ten or fifteen of the biggest
threshing machines you ever saw all rolled
into one you may guess what struck me. -
Not a grizzly?" said the physician.
Nothing else" was the reply, and
would you believe 1t? | went at him
with knife. How did ii come out? Well
I'm here. and you don't see anything Of
the bear, do you2 II you know anything
about bears you know that the grizzly
didn't quit until he was dead. as long as
you have evidence that I am alive
Then he told the story.
'On November 7. 1876" he said, my
partner and l were camping in the Siwash
Mountains. in what is now Pitlin county.
Col. The shooting was good. and we were
getting all kinds OF game except bear: We
had agreed that as long as the grizzlies
left us alone neither OF US would tackle
one OF them. That November afternoon
was as warm as day in June, and / hal
loosened up my shooting blouse. unbuckled
the strap supporting the little bag contain
ing my cartridges-they were not using
the looped belt then-and had sat down
under an evergreen tree 10 rest. / had
been clambering over rocks and powders
all day. and was nearly worn out, and in
ten minutes was half asleep. ! was awak-
ened by realizing that my eyes were fixed
on something that wasn't part OF the rocky
point before me; but it took fully a minute
to comprehend that ii was the muzzle Of
grizzly that was bobbing in and out.
The bear was not forty yards from me-
and why he hadn't scented or seen me /
cannot imagine to this day.
We'll. when / saw that grizzly down
there, within easy pistol range, | forgot
my promise to my partner. and had my
rifle up in second. i was using Spring
SlUBle-5uOt, 10 ~ Cdil-
bre as handy gun as a man could get in
those days l had heard that the grizzly
was hard TO kali, but knew had this one
nailed. as at forty yards that old Spring
field would put hole through him as big
as an apple.
II was sitting on the grass, and resting
my left elbow on my left knee. ! lined
the sights ON his neck, right back of and
below the left ear. His head went behind
the point of rock. then came out. Then
it went out of sight. and reappeared in
the same spot. Both times my sights got
precisely the same spot. The next time
the head went back and reappeared and
the sights were right. | touched the trig-
ger. There wasn't even a roar 10 answer
the crack of the gun. When the smoke
drifted up the. canyon the grizzly was on
the ground. his full bulk exposed by his
lunge forward. and he looked as if he
might have been dead week so far as
any movement was concerned.
II was excited, there is no use denying it.
and if 1 hadn't been excited / wouldn't
have started down that sidehill without
the little bag with my cartridges in it,
or at least without fresh shell in my gun.
Tenderfoot act? Worse than that: it was
an insane mans act. The fact is that
when l saw that grizzly there dead I lost
my head. At any rate | started down the
hill with an empty rife in my hands and
no cartridges about me. When l was with
in ten feet of the dead bear saw my mis-
take. There were two grizzlies, and one of
them was alive
Il didn't have time to move il seems =
me. before we were face to face. She
came at me like a dozen charging bulls,
all rolled into one; only that don't de-
scribe how she looked | knew what had
happened; | had shot a halfgrown cub
and now the mother was going TO wipe
me out. l felt that | had about twenty
seconds. or perhaps thirty at the outside
to live; and in those thirty seconds l
made very thorough review of my life.
Il never intended to fight that grizzly.
was a licked man as soon as l saw her.
just dropped my gun by accident and
pulled my hunting knife by instinct, l
guess, because don't remember intending
to do it. / should have thought a kife
with an eight-iuch blade about as effective
against a full-grown grizzly as goose
quill toothpick against a catamount
Il haven't much remembrance of that
fight There is a recollection of the rush
of the great brute and her foul breath in
my nostrils; there is a picture of her hair
all on end of her yellow-white teeth and
lolling tongue; then 4 crushing blow that
seemed to tear my arm out by the roots
and another glancing stroke that took
clothes and flesh and sinews and pieces OF
bone with it. Then we were all mixed up;
l couldn't tell, seemingly, which was me
and which was the bear. | knew that I
was thrashing around with my knife all
the time-cutting and lunging three times
four times, perhaps dozen times. Then
went rolling down the steep bank, think
ing as consciousness went that l was dy-
ing.
at was November that went out from
ha Jov of tho baar ha