The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-07
THE REPORTER
AND The BEAR.
BY EVERETT M'NEIL.

THE funniest bear hunt 1 ever had
took place nigh twenty years ago"
said the old hunter. as he poked "a
fresh bowl full of tobacco down into
his pipe with his finger. and resumed
his smoking and his storytelling. I'm
them days these mountains an valleys
were covered with a heavy growth of
timber an full of bears an wolves an
wild cats. an such like critters with
long claws an sharp teeth. l lived
over on Dog mountain, just across Sas-
s'fras valley from here, in as
snug a little log cabin as you would
want to see, an used to earn moren
enough To keep me in tobacco an pow
der an balls guidin' in the hunters who
came up from New York an Boston to
kill bear an deer. But they weren't no
real hunters, leastwise not many OF
them; an if they got a bear or deer
it was usually my old rifle what killed
it. But l suspect they didn't tell it
that way when they got back to the
city; an as they always paid me well
L kept mum. But that amt my story.
'One day, as l sat on a log in front
of the door of my house, shaving the
fat off a bear skin, 1 heard someone
yellin' down in the woods.
Hello, there the yell said
Hello, YOURSELF l shouted back.
Come down to the road. I've got
a guest for your hotel an then I
knowed it was old Dave Utter, who
sometimes drove the hunters up to my
place from Cats Eye Mills. nine miles
down the valley. He couldn't come no
nearer to the house because of the
trees an the rocks so he yelled.
Il went down to the road to see what
Dave had brought me.
Here's a Teller that's after bear.
Can you take him.? Dave shouted the
moment he caught sight of me.
81 reckon. Let him jump out with
his valuables.'
The man was a tall. thin specimen
of a city chap, with an uncommon large
mouth an a long. thin nose, a-loomin'
up between two high cheek bones He
worn't old. not more'n % at the most.
" Are you Luke Jones. the bear hunt
err he asked. looking at me.
That's my name 1 answered. an
kill?'
u reckon
'''An right. Help me with my traps
up to your place
He had a great handbag that |
about a ton, containing am
milton enough to kill all the bears in /
ma gazine rife L ever saw. a big horse /
pistol an a long knife were stuck in 1
a broad belt around his middle. Sure, /
an he was loaded for bear.
Within ten minutes he had told me, /
that he was a reporter /
IN a big New York daily, an had run /
up just TO kill a bear, so as TO tell +
MS readers exactly how il was done /
soon discovered that he knCWed more /
4 hears
earned in all my trampin' up an down
he woods. Leastwise. he thought he
lid, an l didn't care, for it gave him
whole lot of satisfaction, an 1
moved that tomorrow was a-comin'
IN had in mind the identical old she
,ear / would turn him loose on.
That night, after turnin' in, he
cleaned his rifle at least dozen times,
IN every time he told me just how
lie was a-goin' to kill the bear, an
.autiOned me, under no circumstances,
o do any shootin myself. Find the
,ear. an I'll do the rest he said.
THE next mOrnin' the dog-goned
dot woke me up at O'Clock an told
ne TO get a move on me. as bears We're
Uncommon early risers an would be
losin' round for their breakfast long
,efore sunrise, an he wanted to kill
lis bear an be back in New York i'll
ime to get his story in the paper that
light 1 never saw a Teller SO ALFRED
lot for bear as he was.
We'll. we had our eat an were
eadv TO start by { O'Clock.
You might leave your gun here
e said. as he saw me pick up my rife.
I'm to do all the shootin'. you know
We'll. l won't. L replied, shortly.
Where l goes in these woods my gun
oes.'
oh. he said. you needn't be afraid.
could pump bear as full of holes as
sieve with this here gun of mine
fore he could touch you. The maya
inc holds sixteen Shots an he smiled.
. 'Goldarn your old pump 1 says :
ack. When l shoots bear 1 shoots
hem with balls. l don't pump holes
nto them 1 was considerably riled;
ut 1 didn't say more, because l had in
lind the old she bear an 1 knowed
nough about bear nature an man |
AZURE to know there'd be trouble when
hem two collided. I
1T was a beautiful mornin'. The air ,
melled sweet an fresh, with just a ]
ouch of pine in it, an the sky was as
lear as whistle. 1 felt sure l could
-alk right onto the old bear, nestlin'
own under the roots of great tree, f: