The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-12-16
IN A BEARS Den
BUTTE MAN TELLS OF AN Elk
FERrrNcE OF BoYHooD.
NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH
Goes Hunting with Friend, and Is
Later Rescued From Danger by
His Father and the
Aeighbors.

How would you like to spend Christ
mas day in a bears winter retreat. with
a wounded bear as your jailer?
The question was asked by Butte
man yesterday, while talking with
party of friends. AS no one replied, he
continued:
That is where spent the time honored
holiday several years ago. when resi-
dent of small country town in Wis
cousin. 1 was boy of tender years at
the time but the memory Of that day
will never be effaced from my mind
even though I live long enough to have
grandchildren gather around me in the
CHEEKY light of an open fire on some
Christmas day yet to come and beg for
"just one story
Thirty years ago, Wiscensin-or rather
several portions of twas not so thickly
settled as it is at the present time and
wild animals of all kinds were numer-
Gus.
This was particularly true as regards
bears. Although there are many of the
animals in the northern part of the
state at the present time, 80 years ago
they We're more than numerous and they
greatly annoyed the settlers by killing
and carrying away young pigs, and now
and then calf, or, perchance, a small
COW.
Bears Very Troublesome.
One fall the bears had been very
troublesome in the vicinity of the town;
nearly every resident there about had
sustained more or less loss, which was
very hard for the settlement, as the
people We're poor and depended largely
on their farm animals to help carry them
through the winter.
At the suggestion of the selectmen of
the township meeting was held and it
was decided to inaugurate hunt. the
idea being to round up as many of the
bears as possible and exterminate them.
All arrangements were made for the
hunt which was to take place on Sun
day, but something happened the pre-
ceding night which knocked all the ar
rangements into a cooked hat and threw
the entire settlement into spasms of ex-
citement.
On Friday night, while every one in
the little village was wrapped in SUM
Der, a bear probably the Oldest and
meanest fellow in the whole state, broke
into Job Ruggles' pig pen and did all
sorts of things.
+ Neighbors to the Rescue.
The neighborhood was awakened by
the commotion. Half dozen or more
men ran out of their houses, each one
carrying a gun or club.
AS the crowd approached the pen
where the porkers We're confined, the
bear made a rush, caught one of the
pigs, threw him over his shoulder as
easily as full-grown man would Shout
der a sack of flour, and with a growl
climbed through the hole he had broken
and disappeared in the darkness.
Shot after shot was sent after the
four-f footed thief but none of the bull
let's touched him, apparently, as he con-
tinued on his way at rapid galloU
which soon put him beyond the reach
of the excited farmers.
Bright and early Saturday morning
all the men of the settlement who could
leave their work started on the trail
of the bear, / accompanying my big
brother on the expedition.
The trail was followed for many a
weary mile. through the heavy timber
and over the cleared places, but finally
all trace Of the animal was lost, just
after the hunters had come to the par
TALLY devoured carcass of the hog.
The Bear Vanishes.
The bear seemed to have vanished in
air-absolutely no trace of him could
be found-and so, after a long search,
the hunters We're forced to return to
their homes. For some reason the hunt
scheduled for Sunday was called off,
and the matter was dropped for the time
being.
just before Christmas, while out hunt
ing rabbits with a friend, 1 came to a
big tree in the woods which had evil
IDENTIFY been overturned by the wind dur
ing the previous summer. The roots,
in tearing away from the ground, had
pulled large quantity of the soil with