The aegis & intelligencer., 1899-04-07
THE Wild HORSE WON
BUT HE PAID FOR THE VICTORY WITH
HIS OWN LIFE.

A Vicious EnttIc to tae Death Ee-
tween Two Straup!n,+ EI;g Bears
and "a Little North Carolina Noun
tain Bred stallion.
In North Carolina ran across Il crowd
of $50 excited mOuntainCyrs and asked
one of them the reason for the meeting.
'Waal, stranger, there's goin To come
Oft right away the gosh durndest fight
you ever saw. it's ole Jim Bells s'alyun
that's goin to lambaste sam CartCr's two
big bars, an let me tell you, stranger, it
will be fight to member for many Il
year, an I'm a-hcttin on the stalyun.
There ain no liVin crittcr on four legs
can down him. That Stalyun's wiped ont
half Il dozen bars, killed Il painter an near
bout cleaned out the creek of men an crit
tiers the last year. He's da!s, rs as din
mite, an nobody can handle Kim 'cGptin
Dlr .Jim'S boy.
Where can l find this terrible aiimal:'
Right over there in that pen, replied
my informant, pointing to Il big stockadc
of heavy timhcrs.
When l climbed up and stood upon Il
wide shelf or string of logs which extend
ed entirely around the 30 foot st0ckadc
and looked over at the occupant of the
pen, Twas forced to confess that the hunter
had not exaggerated, at least so far as the
horse was concerned. The animal looked
upon was IL wild stallion nf the mountain
breed, common in the highlands of North
Carolina.
Although not above 14H hands in
height, he was certainly the most vicious
and savage looking brute of the equine
species had ever looked ut. lie was black
.irh foil
with limbs of perfect symmetry, and but
for the manner in which he rolled his eyes
and curlcd his lips above his long, glisten-
ing teeth as he snapped at the people on
the shelf he would have been q perfect
beauty. As it was, his actions showed
him to be incarnatc.
l had scarcely taken all this in when
four men came up leading two trcmcn-
dous bears, either of which would have
tipped the scale ut 400 pounds. The crowd
| followed, and almost before the men had
opened two small gates at the bottom of
the stockade to let the bears in Il human
| belt cncirclc:l the stnckadc. The bears
We're let i'll At opposite sides, and almost in
Il fash there h~.c&n the most terrific and
| bloody battle had over seen.
The bears had barely tiI:r to straightCn
| up after their entrance before the black
| stallion gave Il Snor5 of rage and bounded
toward the big bear, which stood almost
below my feet. Bruin saw him coming
and rose 10 his hind feet, his little yellow
eyes swapping with rG-C and hunger. The
horse was too quick fup him, however, for
before the bear could strike with his pow
erful arms the stallion reared up. drove
both forcfcCt squarcly into the bear face
and neck, knocking him six feet away.
i
stallion gathered to kick, but before nc
could launch out bear No. ? came up on II
gallop, and just as the horses heels left
the ground the bear gavc IL quick snap,
catching the hide about ii foot above the
fctlock and tearing away IL strip of hide II
foot long and an inch in width. With IL
scream of rage and pain the horse bound
| ed into the air, clear over the bear, and
| whirlcd, it appeared. so quickly was it
done, almost in mitlair, and before No. ,
could face about the Stallion's sharp teeth
| closed over one of its cars.
A snap, rip of tearing flesh, and one
car and big piece of hide were gone. The
bear, growling with rage, was on its hind
| feet in IL second, but only in time to catch
| Il vicious kick with both hind feet, which
sent it over on its back. As before, the
horse was compelled to whirl about to face
n second enemy, for bear No. l had got oil
its feet and was rushing to the fray.
Then, for two or three minutes it appear
| ed but which probably was not much
| more than as many seconds, there was a
| mix up of hide hair and heels, mingled
with growls, savage snorts and swapping
teeth.
One bear was dCTn ard badly hurt.
The other bear. No. ,. was bleeding pro-
fuscly about the head, and one of his legs
seemed to Ec crippled. AS for the stallion,
he was fcarfully torn on every one of his
four legs.
But before could take in the full cx-
tent of injuries given and received by the
three fighters they were all again on the
move. The bears this time ;, ;jarltcd to
attack the stallion from different quarters,
but the horse whirled and charged direct
ly ut one of them, and rs the bear attempt
ed to gain his hind fccC he wheeled and
launched both hind hoofs with IL sicken-
ing thud against his ribs. l could plainly
hear the snap of broken bones us the bear
topplcd over, hut before the stallion could
dodge or throw up his head out of reach
No = struck him on tie nose with his
claws.
,, Down went both, ho0fs and claws fly
ing. \ ScCU!.d after, the horse. which now
seemed :. E:;is}s of tern and bleeding, flesh,
bounded into the AIR and came down with
all four feet on his PROSTATE fec crushing
bone. flesh and muSclc beneath. Then,
scarcely giving his dying foe II glance, tie
craZcd stallion Sprang at his other enemy,
who was trying vainly to regain his feet
Again the stallion sprang into the air,
with his four feet gathered into bunch,
and again there was Il sickcning crunch
of bone anG flesh Both bears We're now
dead, crushed and kicked into two bloody
masses of wcul, bone and flesh.
After his last dash tie horse walked
away few steps, then, turning, staggered
up to the first bear he had knocked out,
knclt down ard literally tore skin and
flesh from the bears body; then with
bloody head and glistCning teeth the say
age brute managed to staggcr over to tho
other mass of wool and flesh, which he
served III the same manner.
After tearing and battCring the body
into mass of broken bones and mangled
flesh, the stallion tossed his head, from
which the bloody foam flew in long flccks,
gave Il neigh of triumph and fell lifclcss
to the ground. The stallion had won the
battle, hut IL had cost him his lifc.-Phila-
dclphia Presg.
All by Accident.
HDo YOU think it DrOpcr, " said the man