The Portland daily press., 1900-09-06
FINISHED THE BEAR.
A Meal That Was a Little Too
Hot For Health.

An Engineers Narrative of His 1--we.
Iy Adventure With a Certain Mrs.
Bruin In the EARLY RaiIroading
Days In Pennsylvania.
The fat engineer had been trying to
make himself heard for some time and
finally succeeded in getting the attention
of the members of the roundhouse stove
committee.
Eyes, yes" he said, pennsylvania used
to be wild state in the days when l did
my first throttle pulling on the Royal
Blue line and many were the hair rails
ing experiences we had. Bears? Why,
they were thicker than dead flies on
sticky fly paper. They were a little
shy when the road first went through,
but after the novelty wore off they got
so they enjoyed a ride on a freight train
as much as any hobo living, and it was
no uncommon sight to see a bear sitting
on the edge of box car, letting his legs
dangle over the edge, just like a real
brakeman. Yes, yes. That's fact.
''In about the widest part Of the coun-
try we ran through there was a passing
siding which was called Haskin's Switch.
This was a regular hanging out place for
the bears. One day an old female bear
was giving her cub a boost to get him
up on a fiat car for a little outing when
he slipped and fell under the cruel
wheels his young life being crushed out
instantly. The old mother bear took it
real hard and did some ugly growing as
she passed by the engine.
"The incident faded from my mind
very soon. A couple of days after that
we came along to Haskin's and had to
take the siding for a passenger train.
The boys of the crew and my fireman
thought they would go up in the woods
about quarter of a mile and get some
good spring water, as we had a few min
utes to wait before the first class train
came along. They left me all alone with
the train.
''The running gear of the engine on the
left hand side, forward under the boiler,
had been working badly, so 1 thought I'd
look things over. l took my long necked
oil can and lighting my torch, got off
the engine and went forward to look over
the troublesome gear. I found that a
link hanger needed attention, necessitat,
ing my getting down fat on my belly
under the engine with legs projecting
over the rails. l had been at work in
this position for some minutes when I
felt a strong tugging at my left trouser
leg.
:" It's the boys back from the spring.
! thought to myself, and they're trying
TO get gay with me- I'll just pay no at
tention to them whatever
Il kept right on at my chore, but the
boys kept right on fooling with my legs.
Finally my temper got the better of me
and I shouted angrily:
" Harry, by jiminetty, if that's you,
I'll come out there and kick you so hard
that you won't be able to sit down for a
week Harry was my freman's name.
NThe only answer / got was a low
growl. l viii admit that / got frighten-
ed, although such a thing is unusual with
me. Nevertheless having finished my
work, began to back out from under
the engine, keeping my torch and oil can
in my hands.
''Well, you could have knocked me over
with a feather, for when I got out SOS
could see, the first thing my eyes lit on
was that old she bear, sitting on her
launches waiting for me to come out +
She was ugly, too, and growing. The
look on her face seemed to say: You are
the cause of the death Of my offspring.
If you'd been more careful, it wouldn't .
have happened. I'm here to settle with
you
''When I got out, she made several .
movements toward me- but / kept her at
a comfortable distance by waving my
torch in her face. She was getting holder
all the while. however. and l knew I
would have to devise some scheme to get
on the engine, as ! didn't want to try an
argument in close quarters with her, be-
cause a bear in as ugly a mood as she
was is not a thing to be sneezed at.
$50 I set my wits to work. CHANGING
around / saw that / was nearer to the
pilot of the engine than l was to the
step on the side Of the tank. and If I
could reach the pilot before the bear did
I could get to the cab via the running
board along the side of the boiler and
l0ugh~at Mrs. Bear.
Il decided to try for II, and, making a
feint lunge at my animal friend with the
torch to get her farther from me, dust
ed for the pilot. / reached it before she
did, but just as was drawing my leg up
the bear grabbed 1t with both her fore
paws. / tried to break away from her
hold, but it was useless. Turning I saw
her jaws wide open within easy reach OF
my arm, and something superhuman
seemed to tell me what to do. I stuck
the torch in her wide open mouth. With
the other hand ] brought my oil can into
play and poured the coal oil from the can
on the lighted torch in the bears wide
open mouth. The effect was very disas-
trous for the bear. The in6ammable oil
took fire going down her throat, and, ex-
ploding almost blew her head off, killing
her instantly.
''The boys got back shortly after that,
but they wouldn't believe my story until
I showed them the bears carcass" New
! York Sun.
Phillips Brooks as Nurse.
DR.. Brooks was calling on some Of his