West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1901-06-27
A HUSKY BEAR.
He Made Things Lively for Two
Hunters

n man who looked as III he haC
been trying to hug the cylinder of /;
threshing machine when il was il
motion was seen yesterday offering
a pack of furs to a dealer up town
says the Portland Oregonian.
"You are rather late getting you
furs to market" said reporter
who happeded to be present. ayes
was the reply, "but | have beer
laid up and could not get to towr
before"
"What has been the matter with
you ?" asked the reporter, who wa.
anxious to know how the man hac
been so fearfully scratched.
"The matter with me was an at
tack of bear"
"You had it bad, judging from
your looks"
eyes, had it bad and no mis-
take, but you just ought to see my
partner"
els he in a worse fix than you 7'i
ga great deal worse. He had so
much scratched off one side of him
that he had to carry a weight in his
jacket pocket to enable him to
walk straight.
The sale of the furs having been
completed, the old trapper was ask
ed for the story of his encounter
with the bear.
He said his name was Hans Olsen
that he lived on the edge of the big
bum, in Clackamas county, and
last winter he went out on the head
waters of the Clackamas trapping
with Peter Hanson, who lived in
the same section. They had good
luck for a while, caught many
minks, some fishes, and found a
swamp and small lake, where
there were many beaver, and were
getting lot of them, when deep
snow came on and about spoiled
their trapping. After a while the
snow became so deep that they
could hardly move around and
could not get out of the mountain:
at all Then provisions ran short
and they had to hustle and Kill
something to eat. They went on
on the lake one day and cut a hol,
through the ice to see if they coulc
catch some fish, but did not get any
On their way home toward night
as they were crossing a little ravin,
on fallen tree, Olsen slipped ant
fell near the roots of the tree anC
came down plump into a bears del
The bear was very lively for an an
imal supposed to be asleep and a
once attacked him. He had
knife and small Ratchet in his bel
and he got out the Ratchet and be
gan to chop and yell. Hansen
who was behind, had a gnn, blu
was afraid to fire down in the darl
for fear of killing his friend, and a
length, drawing his knife, jumped
down with him and the bear. Their,
was lively time there for a while
and the fur~and clothing and flesl
flew but finally Hansen, who wa
the worst used-up man of the two
managed to reach vital spot will
his knife. The bear keeled owe
and the two trappers keeled over
also. They managed to make ;
little fire with some of the leave
and twigs from the bears nest, anc
there were plenty of rags to ban
dage their wounds, for they wer,
all rags. 1t was several days befor,
they could crawl to their camp will
a hunk of the bears flesh, which
had been their only food durin,
their stay in the den. 1t was moi
till few weeks ago that they were
able to get out of the mountains
as the snow was very deep anC
stayed on the ground longer thar
usual.
Olsen says he intends to 90 trap
ping again, but he never wants t
meet bear in his own den again
His partner is able to walk arounc
and go down to the creek and catcl
a few trout and look after the bee
hives; hut he expects to be alrigh
by next fall.
/