Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-02
An EXCITING BATTLE.
A WICKED ENCOUNTER BETWEEN a
fiAN AND : Scar.

It Ended IN CI;ucEs ara n Rol
Down q SNOW Covered Mountain
Sids-A Close Gail, Fp Which The
sInn Just Escaped with Ills life.
To roll down d snow covered noun
tain side tightly clasped in the embrace
of a grizzly bear is an experience few
men pass through and live to tell But
that is what happened to Frank Lecky
IF Fresno, and when it was all over he
had only few scratches and bruises
and big bearskin to show as signs of
his terrible encounter.
''It was the wickedest fight [ ever
got into" said Frank when telling OF
his experiences, land | have been in Il
good many, going out bunting in the
Sierras every winter, as DO.
''This big fight happened mp in the
Whitney country It was just Il few
miles east of the Minarets and in the
spot where fellow is always pretty
sure to find big game.
a"It was pretty late in the afternoon,
and l was all alone in camp, as the
other boys had not returned from deer
hunt they started on in the morning.
81 had been dozing in the tent all
day, but came ont TO have look at the
sky. AS 1 glanced along the top of
bluff few hundred feet from the camp
saw something dark moving about.
''That was enough for me. got my
rife and started right after it. The kind
of game l was going after didn't CON
Germ me at all. but really didn t ex-
pect bear. at least such big cantanker'
Gus bear.
>"Taking roundabout way through
the snow, l soon reached the top of the
bluff and began to crawl along care
fully in order to get good resting shot
and not come upon my game too sud
denly.
''Finally l caught a close view of
big dark body moving behind a clump
Of bushes. It was so large that for a
moment l thought l had been stalking
a COW and was ready to kick myself.
Then 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 a 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 bears attention. As the bear turn
ed and exposed his side / fired. Down
went the bear like bag of wheat, and
/ thought my rife ball must have gone
clean through its brain, Without stop
ping to consider whether my shot had
really been fatal. ! rushed forward. As
l stopped down to see where the ball
struck, the bear jumped up, and then
l knew l had only creased it-that is,
just grazed its head or spinal cord and
knocked it senseless for moment.
Before l could swing my rife for
ward TO get in shot the bear had
knocked it out of my hands and was
right On top of me. Somehow l man
aged to draw my knife and get in a few
jabs that did no damage. The bear
hugged me tighter and tighter, and
kicked harder and harder and jabbed
wildly with my knife Then we both
rolled on the ground, and the hear tried
to bite my face, but l kept off his fast
clawing blows by hugging tightly
against him. l jabbed and jabbed as
we rolled over and over, and the bears
face and claws were pretty badly cut
and one of his eyes was put out of SER