The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-01-27
TERRIBLE FIGHT
WITH A BEAR.
Battle Ended With Death Of
Bruin.
TALE FROM I IN ]: TIE II. WEST. J.
An Old Hunter Has Desperate En-
counter With a Big Bear.
He Narrowly Es
capes.

( + :
Tibet rug said N. F. Order, has
a history-you bet it has! Thte bear thet
wore tf1et skin fought hard keep inside
| of it-aImost ez hard ez T did to set IT. I
| wuz lucky enough to put up the best
Eight, and tibet rug, all stuck full o holes,
| ez my trophy
| The old hunter settled in his chair. anu
filling his pipe, began his story.
ut wuz up in De, Ncrte county four
years ago, when wuz prospectin', and i
| wuz dom some incidental huntin' One
morning left camp and wandered AROUND
| until I wuz about four miles from home;
ez I wuz comm down into kind OF
leetle medder see big cinnamon Dear
| a-feedin' peaceably along by hisself. and
took a shot at him Onlucky didn't Kill
! him but only wounded him enough TO
| make him mad.
well, he came at me, and only he'd
I time to shoot onct before he wuz up to
| me: I he'd dropped my gun and wuz ma X
1 nj for a big sugar pine ez fast ez my
| heels d take me, an him after me.
| Il see I wuz goin to lose the race et l
! KEEP up straight line, an noticed that
| he WIZ not SO ninble ez | wuz on a turn,
| so. It took to lodging this way an that,
| till gained 6; !eetle on him, then 1 male
a dart fur the tree an got there
! II tell you he wuzn't fur behind ELMER,
| an didn't hev no time to smoke no pipes
fer leetle while. He wuz on one side OF
| the tree all the time, an it wuZ my en-
| deavor to be on the other side. we raced
| rcun' and roun' tibet tree 10 er ~ times,
| reckon. though naturally didn SIT Gown
! an keep count. The sugar pine war oout
seven feet through, and | reckon must nt
! been so.nethin' like 90 feet round, an
! eness the bark flew livelier off en- II than
II ever few often any tree that growed
| fer awhile.
II tried to keep pretty close behind
the bar, and could llev touched ms taii
eff had felt ike it, but didn't hev thae
| inclination My time was all taken up
with keepin close to his tam an a". ~
| frum the o''hed end of him. l hed 10
| watch out Ter his sudden stops. too'
| though I could turn quickern he could
..Naal, that got to be monotonuouS al'eI
while an. I thought I would peg out
| cuicker'n the bar at the rate things "a
| coin. so sized up big rock bout ~
| Yards away, and l though Ia make
run fer that. and by getting GOOD . 49,
! could land up on the rock Wild a hS IL
t,,n,r-an, would get a chance to rest
| IF rothfn' else So l waited TN ne hsu
| chased e,ch other around and l Wu2 eA
ac+,v where I wanted to start from, al
| bolted.
FIGHT TO A FINISH.
'.The b'r must a knowed Ia chanse
my tactics pretty quick. fer he "uA on 'ite
watch. an he bolted aIter m ,:.. a. an
him comm, and felt the dirt ny on
nv back. so knowed it was all up an 1t
| WIZ to be an out an out set to. l he'd my
| knife pulled out O. my belt and wheel
| ed round quick. and dodgin' leetle 10
one side, faced him.
| .'He was a great big teller, anu ne
slapped mighty hard. I tell you lie
would take a lunge and slap nrst WIN
! ore paw and then with another. ana
every slap counted; his big claws just
tore up the skin, an by the time we ned
| he'd {. few rounds I didn't hev nothin
| but rags on and my arms and legs war
/ all bleedin' an cut up. But warn
| idle with my knife 1t war long anu
sharp, an every time he come at me ne
got cut somewher' In ms nalomy.
had to strike quick and dodge lively. he
seemed to want to grab hold of me
| wors'n anything else. guess he knowed
! tibet a good, hard squeeze 'ud finish me.
+; WAL, I warn't ov a mind to hev him hug
! me eff I could avoid it, and | WIZ get
tin closer an closer to the rock all the
time. He 'ud knock me fiat every time
we come together. but I wuz liyehest
| getting to my feet, an would gain a
| few feet backerds before we'd set to
| again.
wall, war almost finished-I wuz jest
| about pegged out. tell you. when he
| made a last lunSe for me, an jest had
strength enough to dodge an miss one
paw, an to give him deep cut IN be-
| hind the shoulders-then I tumbled, an
would hev been gone UP but fer the fact
| tibet thet last cut had finished the bar.
| He he'd tumbled down an rolled over on
! his back slappin' his paws in the air ez
| if he war mad cause he had to stop. He
| died game an don't you forget It He
slapped them big paws round till the
| last breath war gone outen him, an l
! laid there not movin' a mite-fer couldn
eff it he'd been ter saw my life. I wuz
i wonderin' II he had pegged out fer good,
| and was watchin' eny minut TO see him
pull himself together and come at me
/ again, when his dropped his paws and
i kicked The bucket, you bet felt easier.
( ..Waal, you see these here scars on my
! arms-them's what he put there fer a SOU
/. venir Of the occasion, an he put a lot
! O. worse ones and longer and deeper ones
on my legs and my breast IS decorated
all over with his hand and seal
1 I laid there TILL wuz somewhat rested
then I dragged myself All torn to pieces
+ and bleedin' four miles to camp. wf>
the boys fed me up and patched me to-
1 gether, an we went back to pay our re-
! spects to the remains. We skinned him,
/ an thet's the hide
True enough. The rug was no. an es.
peciallly pretty one but it was ELOQUENT
j viii, little seams and patched places, For
/ every seam and patch Mr.. Order wears
/ dc.h1 scars.
/ slay the panther in hand-to-hand con-
dict. too?"
..Lord. no. That's californy lion thst
1 I met one morning in the trail, and not
] bein' found o'fist-ffghttn' any more,
made a sure shot. started out in the
first place after deer tibet tho dogs he'd
skeered up, and wuz jest goln' round a
j little bend of the trail SOS I could go
down into the canyon wher' the dogs wuz.
when I see this big fellow layin' In tho
tran. He wuz not ov mind to get out
4 of tho way. either. and showed plainly
! thet he wuz goin' to be ugly Ell he WIZ