The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-11
he WAS a REAL GRIZZLY
s.sroS-THOMPSON DEFENDS wAHB,
THE HERO OF HIS STORY.
saws He Docs Not Draw on His Imag-
nation for His Animal Stories
Reply TO Rival Author.
,eu York Mail and Express.

stories. LdhCS G4CGkAAOh " NLC
thompson bears. more particularly to one
wabb. a grizzly, described In Mr.. Seton
Thompson's latest book. Mr.. Calkins says
Wahb is a bear-faced fraud and a fiction.
seton-Thompson calls his story The BIZ
ography Of a Grizzly" Calkins assumes
mat Biography implies a truthful his
forical record, yet after reading OF Wahb
he is haunted by a suspicion that. after all,
seton-Thompson pierced out Wahb's SAN
culinary career with 2 vivid imagination.
He says that Wabb does things which
grizzlies do not do, ard leaves undone
those things which grizzlies never fail to
do. He says Wahb is a literary bear.
Mr.. Seton-Thcmpson's bear" says Mr..
CaIkins. sis, indeed, generic. for it repre-
sents all the characteristics and habits of
the plantigrade family including the ant
lear. TIE coon and badger, and some which
rome OF these possess. If the story pre-
sented is simply a tale Of the imagination.
the creator of Wahb might reasonably be
credited With n pretty piece of fancy work
for the tale is truly of such stuff as dreams
are me- de Of"
Mr.. Calkins laughs to scorn the state
ment made by Mr.. Seton-rhompson that
grizzlies eat the big red anti of the
Northwest. He says if Wahb or any other
grizzly should attempt a meal of. big red
ants. the formic acid in the ants would
make him the siekest grizzly that ever
came over the divice. 1t would be more
easy 10 believe that the red ants eat the
grizzly than that the grizzly eats red ants.
In the single element Of ferocity Mr.. Cal
kins admits the SetOn-Thompson grizzly is
''tolerably well drawn, but In all other re-
spects il is either a black bear OF the
swamps or something which is not bear at
all"
Again, MIR. Calkins says that to represent
a grizzly as "a king of the forest is the
sheerest Of nonsense" The grizzly is es-
s~entially a creature of the open ground and
never seeks the dense forest. Excepting
when disturbed by direct attack or in de-
Tense of its Oun the grizzly, according TO
Mr.. Calkins. IS rather a harmless, amiable
sort of creature.
Mr.. Ernest Seton-Thompson was seen in
his apartment at No. ? West Thirty-sixth
street. He is a tall, loOse-jointed man, such
as may be found any day on the wild West
ern prairies. but his head spOils the picture.
1T is not the head of a Western man. A
photograph of Paderewski might, at a
pinch, pass for a likeness of Seton-Thomp-
wAHB DEFENDED.
YES said Mr.. Seton-Thompson, IT nave
read Mr.. Calkins's article-that Is. I
glanced through it and saw that It was not
pleasant; but 1 don't care to say anything
I'm reply, excepting. Of course, to defend my
bear. 1 don't know Mr.. Calkins. and have
no desire to say a word that would be dis
agreeable. 1 have here a book sent me by
Mr.. Caikins.
Mr.. Seton-Thompson took a small volume
from a bookcase and handed it to the
writer. 1t was entitled "The Cougar-Tamer
and Otner Stories of Adventure" by
franklin Welies Calfins. On the fly leaf
was the following inscription:
My Dear Mr.. Thompson-If you shall be
able TO find in this little book any small
fraction of the pleasure / have found in
reading your tales of beast and bird, then
will 1 gladly know that your generous and
most touching sympathy extends to the
hunter as well as to the hunted.
FRANKLIN
wyoming. Wis, Oct. ., 1899"
This would seem to be an Endorsement of
Seton-Thompson's stories by the very man
who now criticises him
"Wahb- is not felton," said Mr.. Seton
Thompson. 'TWahb really lived and died
as described in the book. / have here a
photograph of Death gulch, in which Wahb
died. and another photograph of the gulch
with poor Wahb's dead body in the fore
ground. and the bodies of seven dead bears
scattered about behind him"
Mr. SetOn-Thompson produced two pho
tOgraphs depicting the scenes as described.
Death gulch is a deep ravine between
two steep. fo%rbidding hills. Uttered with
powders and broken rocks. The Wahb In
the photograph was an immense beast. In
life he must have been anything but the
harmless. amiable creature" mentioned by
Mr. Calkins. If Wahb possessed such
characteristics an unkind Providence GER
tainly succeeded IN concealing them behind
3 ferocious muZzle and wicked little eyes.
HOW PICTURES WERE DETAINED.
"The photographs were sent TO me by a
gentleman who was with the party that
found wahb's body" continued the author.
HE wrote that when they came down the
side Of the hill and first caught sight of the
grizzly he looked so natural they thought
him alive and threw pebbles at the carcass
10 make sure before descending. There
were no signs of violence on Wahb's body
excepting scars of wounds received long
before death. Like the other bears whose
bodies lay near by, wahb had died from in
haling the deadly gas which hangs over
the surface OF Death gulch.
so far as Wahb'S reputation for kind
ness and gcntleness is concerned, / have
letters from persons living in the country
where the grizzly rOamed TO the effect that
he had killed some twenty people during his
life
How many does wahb kill in the book?'
Three. You see that part Of the story
was no. overdrawn. One man wrote me:
IL I'd a know.d he'd be so much talked
about I'd have taken a picter OF that griz-
Ely. for l seed him dead myself in Death
gulch.'
Il wish to emphasize ny statement that
1 do not write fiction. My imagination
plays no part in my tales of animals. TIL
beasts and birds are interesting enough as
they really are without elaboration"
Then Wahb really Hved?'
STORY OF WAHB is TRUE.
Certainly: a grizzly bear. whose life I
have described under the name OF Wahb,
really lived. and the story l told of him is
true. The bear did all the things 1 said he
did; bot I never said he was a king of the
forest Ny story of Wahb can be verified
In every detail. The animal was well
known to many people,
Mr.. Seton-Thompson repeated that he did
not wish TO be dragged into a controversy
with Mr.. Calkins about wahb. and de-
olined to further discuss the wicked old
grizzly.
BY way OF corroborative details TO his
statement that his stories OF animals are
taken from life and are not inventions of
n nNeiy imagination, Mr.. Seton-Thompson
tCoS the writer through his library and
stuclo. In one corner were an easel,
Patstte' brushes and the other p~arapher-
ana OF an artist. Running along two
SIDES OF the room were bookcases contain
ing, not editions OF the standard authors
OF the day. but bulky scrap and sketch
DOCKS, nhed with descriptions. notes and
STUDIES made by the authOr-artist during
the years ne has spent in close observation
or animal life The writer took down a
dozen OF these books at haphazard and
spent Il pleaSanf hale l1-. a. .--s- -