Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-06-23
BEAR AGAINST MAN,
An Awf ul Grnppie in DendfaII PIT In
Washington.

It is doubtful if more vicious MEM
entos were ever carried about in the
pocket of man than those in the pos
session Of Ambrose Larsen, of Sehome,
Wash
Larsens narrative of the incidents
leading to his wounding by a brown
bear and the securing of four tusks as
mementos is as follows:
Il have pre-empted on quarter Sec
ton of land lying about eight miles
back Of Sehome. There l nave been
living with my family for the last six
years, improving the place, raising
some stock and cutting shingle-bolts.
In the latter part of last September two
of my pigs were killed by bears.
hunted and waited up of nights for the
bears, but could not meet them. Then
l built deadflll, placing it directly
in the only trail the marauders could
reach the pigpen by. On visiting the
trap, one day, l found an immense
brown bear in it, the largest l have
ever seen during lifetime 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. | put two bullets
from my Winchester into its head, and
the bear TUNED over as if dead.
Il then climbed down into the pit
to see the hest means of getting to
work a skim .ng the animal. In doing
this ii was necessary for me to pass
my right arm under the bears head.
No sooner had my hand touched his
head than. with SNAP there was no
avoiding. he raised and caught me by
the right ARA just above the elbow,
sinking his t.ao3 deep iutu the bone.
At the same time lie sent his claws
into the leg Of my right boot. For
tunatey, had brougat nv Winchester
into the pit With ne. and haa leaned
it against the size. IS 1t happened.
within reach Of my LETT hand. The
bear had me secui ely riIioneG. and
could feel his tusks cgunching on the
bone of my arm. What the agony WAS
you can only imagine; I cannot de-
scribe it. Getting the rifle stock be-
tween my knees, l managed to work
the loading lever with my left hand,
and, placing the muz2le of the ~un
fairly into the bears right eye. fired
The shot sent the big brute into its
dying throes. Like wise its jaws set
tied down on my already crushed arm
until it seemed that flesh and bone
must surder, and the weight Of the
bears head and shoulders would ter
the arm away.
However. endurance could not stand
up under a strain long. Getting anoth-
er cartridge into the rife by the same
tactics as before, rammed the barrel
of the gun alongside this, where a
space showed between my shirt sleeve
and the bears tongue" G.arson here
showed the tusk with the mark of the
rifle barrel upon iD. 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, but only slight relaxation of its
jaws followed the second shot. | could
not free my arm The hold of the
claw on my boot, however, relaxed
With this advantage gained | dropped
to my knees. and. using the rifle bar
rel as a pry, forced the animals jaws
open. God only knows the awful ag-
only | endured during that prying oper-
alton, but at last | managed 10 free
myself. With my relief my grit gave
out, and l tainted. The next | knew
my wife and a neighbOring rancher
were beside me in the pit, endeavoring
to stanch the bleeding from my arm.
My wife had become alarmed at my
long absence, and, knowing my errand
when | left in the morning had made
her way to the bear deadfall. Unable,
on account CT her feeble strength. to
raise me from the pit, she had walked
three miles to the next cabin adiOin-
ing ours to procure the neighbours as
sist9nce.
Il was taken to Fairhaven and
thence to Victoria. Everything has
been done that the surgeons of the
northwest are capable of. and that is
probably all that medical science can
attain, for | have had good doctors.
The crunched bone of my arm will not
knit or form again. 1t continues 20
work out in small pieces. Every time
one of these fragments of bone comes
to the skin it forms an ulcer or boil
in its efforts to free itself. The result
is my arm, where the bears tusks pen
etrated is mass Of useless flesh. The
pain comes from it constantly. had
decided 10 undergo a. 4Aputau.
when a friend told me of surgeon in
San Francisco who had performed sew
eral difficult operations in cutting
away and piecing 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"
I