Evening star., 1899-03-13

ing up to his wounding by the bear is thrill
ing in the awful agony endured by the man.
and his cool intrepidty under the suffering.
He was met yesterday afternoon at the
Grand Central Hotel and said:
Il have pre-empted on a quarter-section
or land lying about eight miles back of Sc
rome There | have been living with my
family for the last six years, improving the
pace, raising some stock and cutting shin
gle bolts. In the latter part of last Septem-
Ger TWO of my pigs were killed by bears.
hunted and waited up of nights for the
bears, but could not meet them Then
euilt deadfall, placing it directly in the
only trail the marauders could reach the
pig pen by. September 2S on visiting the
Trap, found an immense brown bear in II
the largest | have ever seen during life
lilne @ spent IN the woods. The log of the
trap had fallen across its launches and
broken Its back. The animal was alive
however, and full of fight. I put two bull
lets from my Winchester into its head. and
the bear turned over as if dead
Il then climbed down into the nit to 500
the best means of getting 10 work at skin
nlng the animal. In doing this it was
necessary for me to pass my right arm
arm touched his head than, with a snaD
there was no avoiding, he raised and caught
me by the right arm just above the elbow,
sinking his tushes deep to the hone Ar tho
same time he sent his claws into the leo nf
my right boot. Fortunately, / had bronrht
my winchester into the pit with me, and
nad leaned 1t against the side. as it hap
pened. within reach of my left hand. The
bear had me securely pinioned and / could
feel his tushes crunching on the bone of INV
arm. What the agony was You can only
imagine; l cannot describe it, Getting the
rifle stock between my knees, I managed to
work the loading lever with my left hand
and, placing the muzzle of the gun fairly
INTO the bears right eye, fired. The shot
sent the big brute into it's dying throes
Like wise its jaws settled down on INV AL
ready crushed arm, until it seemed that
nesh and bone must sunder and the weight
of the bears head and shoulders uon15
tear the arm away.
However. endurance could not stand up
under strain long. Getting another car
fridge into the rifle by the same tactics as
before. / rammed the barrel of the gn,,
alongside this. where "A space showed he
tween my shirt sleeve and the bears
tongue G.arsen here showed the tusk with
the mark of the rife barrel upon iO. and
showing the weapon as far down the brute's
throat as my failing strength would allow
of, fired. ''
The bear was undoubtedly already dead
Dut oniy slight relaxation of its laws fol-
lowed the second shot. / could not free
my arm. The hold of the claw on nv boot
however, relaxed. With this advantage
gained: l dropped to my knees. and. using
mars jaws open. God only knows the
awful agony endured during that prying
operation. but at last I managed to free
nyse1. Wlth my relief my grit gave out
and neighboring rancher were beside me
IN the pit, endeavoring to stanch the bleed
ing from my arm. My wife had become
alarmed at my long absence. and knowing
my errand when l left in the morning. had
made her way to the bear deadfall, Unable
on account of her feeble strength to raise
me from the pit. she had walked three miles
to the next cabin adjoining ours to procure
the neighbors assistance
Il was taken to Fairhaven and thence
to Victoria. Everything has been done that
the surgeons of the northwest are capabI.,
of. and that is probably all that medical
science can attain, for have had good doc
tors. The crunched bone of my arm will
not Knit or form again. 1t continues to
work out in small pieces. Every time one
of these fragments of bone comes to the
skin 1t forms an ulcer or boil in its efforts
to free itself. The result is my arm, where
the bear S tushes penetrated, is a mass of
Useless flesh. The pain comes from it con-
stantly. l had decided to undergo an am
putation when a friend told me of a sur
geon In San Francisco who had performed
several difficult operations In cutting away
and pfecing out of diseased bone matter.
and am going to him as a last hope If
he cannot help me the arm must come off,
for ! cannot stand this awful, constant pain
much longer