Smyrna times., 1899-05-31
An EXCITING BATTLE.
A WICKED ENCOUNTER Between A
MAN AND A BEAR.

4
Down Snow Covered Mountain
Side-A Close Call, I'm Which the
Mas JUst Escaped With His Life.
To roll down snow covered noun
tain side tightly clasped in the embrace
of a grizzly bear is ap experience few
men PASS through and live to tell. But
that IL what happened to Frank Lecky |
of Fresno. and when it was ALI over he |
had only few scratches and bruises |
and tig bearskiu TO show as signs of |
his terrible encounter.
at was the wickedest fight 1 ever |
got into. said Frank when telling of |
his experiences land | have been in !
good nlany going out hunting ia the |
Sierras every winter, as do.
This big fight happened up in the
Whitney country 1t was just few
miles east of the Minarets and in the
spot where fellow is always pretty
sure to find big game.
1T was pretty late in the afternoon,
and [ was all alone in camp. as the
other boys had not returned from deer
hunt they started on in the morning.
II had been doing in the tent all
day. but came Out to have look at the
sky. AS 4 glanced along tine top of
bluff few hundred feet from the camp
l saw something dark moving about
"That was enough for uAe got my
rife and started right after it. The kind
of game 4 was going after didn't con
Germ me at all. but really didn't ex
pect bear. at least such big cantanker-
ous bear
"Taking roundabout way through
the snow. 1 soon reached the top of the
bluff and began to crawl along care
fully in order to get a good resting shot
and not come upon my game too sud
denly.
FINALLY caught close view of a
big dark body moving behind Chimp
of bushes. Ii was so large that for a
moment | thought had been stalking
a COW and WAS ready to kick myself
Then a long drawn sniff and deep
growl told me it was bear was sight
ing Instantly was all excited with
interest and strained every nerve to get
the beast in line and so plant bullet in
the right spot The bear. however had
a mind to keep his eyes on me and kept
moving about as he peered between the
branches of the brush.
"Suddenly one of the horses down in
the camp neighed loudly and attracted
the bear : attention AS the bear turn
ed and exposed his side fired. Down
went the bear like a bag of wheat. and
thought my rifle ball must have gone
clean through its brain Without stop
ping to consider whether my shot had
really been fatal. | rnshed forward. AS
| stopped down to see where the ball
struck. the bear jumped up, and then
knew had only creased it-that is.
just grazed its head or spinal cord and
knocked it senseless for moment.
'Before | could swing my rifle for
ward to get in a shot the bear had
knocked it out of my hands and was
right on top of me Somehow | man
aged to draw my knife and get in few
jabs that did no damage. The bear
hugged me tighter and tighter. and l
kicked harder and harder and jabbed
wildly with my knife. Then we both
rolled ON the ground. and the bear tried
TO bite my face. but kept off his fast
clawiug blows by hugging tightly
against him. | jabbed and jabbed as
we rolled over and over. and the bear
face and claws were pretty badly cut
and one of his eyes was put ont Of ser
vice. The snow all around was torn NJ
and spattered with blold.
Before knew it we were Just or
the edge Of the bluff and an almost
vertical wall of snow ay just below n,
for over a hundred feet to the bottom.
"This frightened me more than the
bear. for | knew what t meant. hut be
fore could think of doing anything W,
were over the edge and rolling down a.
lightning speed
at could not have AIKEN more thar
few seconds. but it seemed to me lik,
years. Now was ON top Of the bear
and now underneath Snow filled ny
eyes and ears, and | was scratched anC
wounded and bumped until | though
my end had come.
at seems to me that kept strikin;
at the bear as we rolled, or rather shot
downward. for we were going at tn
speed of cannon ball. Then there wa
a sudden bump while was on top, AM
the bear gave a moan of pain and lie
90 of me.
"That gave me my chance. and
drove my knife into his heart
"The skin measured over seven feet
found out while we were cutting hin
up that when he struck the rock at th
bottom of the hill he shattered hi
spine. 1t was just piece of luck tina
the bear struck the rock and not my
self San Francisco Call
short sighted