The Anaconda standard., 1899-09-16
BUTTE News.
LATEST IN BEAR LIES
Experience of a Man Who Knows
All About 1t.
BY A SPOKANE ROMANCER
Caught a Bear, Killed Him and Cooked
Him and Never Laid Hands on
the Fierce Animal - No
Bricks Thrown.

John st. Vrain, Spokane visitor in
the city. who is spending a few Gays
with Tom Elwood, tne veteran pros-
pector, who has claims in nearly every
mining district in the West. ana who
says he could not get the price of a
plug of tobacco for all Of them If hey
were put under the hammer, .ells the
latest thing out in bear Les. He spent
a few weeks with Tom on Lion noun
tain and adjacent hills and has just
returned from the trip. They did not
find anything of value, but according
to st. Vrain's story they had a rafting
good time.
Il had a scare" said the Spokane
'romancer, "and if / live to be 100 years
old I'll never forget the experience.
You fellows no doubt hear great Geal
about bears, and it's pretty nearly so
that you don't believe all you hear
about them either. But I'll swear that
i caught a bear, killed him and cooked
him and didn't lay hands upon him
either"
Then he wondered who would be the
first to throw a brick at him, and he
put himself on the defensive at once
by pulling his knife out of his pocket
and cutting off a big chew of tobacco
from the navy plug he held in the
other hand. No one attempted vio-
lence and he proceeded:
TON had gone up the mountain after
a pail of snow. There was no spring
or stream near our camp, so we melt
ed snow in an iron kettle, depending
from a large tripod, over the camp
fire. There was plenty of snow just
above camp in drift probably 20 feet
deep. After Tom started up the noun
tain 1 set about gathering up some
wood for the fire. 1t was nearing the
time for supper. l laid the fire and
was in the act OF touching it off when
/ heard a creal1ing sound in the un-
derbrush short distance away. Look
ing around as any other curious per-
son would have done under the Circum-
stances, / was startled by the appear
ance of big black bear emerging from
the thicket and making straightWay
toward me.
''I sprang back into the tent and
grabbed my Winchester and prepared
for immediate action. But instead of
following me or even paying any at
tention to me, the bear walked straight
for the big kettle hanging under the
tripod. He shifted at the pot and eau
tiously poked his nose into it. 1t was
water he wanted, and there was his
chance, for the pot was about half
full of melted snow.
Il hesitated and didn't shoot. Rather
1 agreed to share the water with the
thirsty bear. So l lowered my gun
and awaited the dictates of my
thoughts. The bear poked his nose
into the pot clear up to his ears and
evidently relished his drink. But he
reckoned not wisely, for when he' at
tempted to take his head out of the
pot the iron handle caught him behind
the ears and he was entrapped. He
didn't try to pull out, but rather
sought relief by poking his snoot still
further under the loop until it fastened
its grip tightly over the back of his
neck. His eyes bulged out and the
tip of his nose rested on the rim of
the pot, and there he was. He danced
around, but only managed to more
firmly set the legs of the tripod into
the ground. His very awkward posi-
ton made it impossible to exercise his
muscular power to the required eX-
tent; so the only thing for him to do
was to wait while 1 applied a match
to the kindling wood and proceeded to
prepare supper.
by this time Tom had returned with
the bucket of snow and he saw the
bear and enjoyed the predicament
more than bruin did. I lit the fire and
soon the remaining water in the pot
began to boil, and the more 1t boiled
the more artistic became the two-step
the bear executed. Tom insisted on
shooting the bear, but I objected,
claiming it to be my right to do as
] pleased with the bear, as l saw it
first. I wanted to boil him. If l had
returned home with a plain everyday
story of shooting a bear the whole
thing would be forgotten in an hour:
but boiled bear suited my fancy The
steam came up in clouds and the bear