El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-30
How a Tame Bear
Saved the Life
of a Little Child.
A TRUE TORY OF AN INCIDENT IN THE SIERRA MADRE

Last fall while out on a prospecting
trip in the Sierra Madre mountais.
north and east of Dos Cabezas." said
c. G. Shropshire an English mining
man who has bee prospecting in Mex
leo for several years, Il had the pleas
pre- of taking a shot at bear that has
since done me more good than any
shooting l ever did in my life. 1t was
not a shot with a gun but shut with
a camera.
Il had secured my outfit at Casas
Grandes, and had also secured the ser
vices of young Mormon boy from
Colonia Juarez, who had been raised
in that section.
Il always carried with me a kodak,
that l might secure photographs of any
interesting bit of scenery that 1 might
see on the way. l secured some very
interesting and pretty scenes on the
trip; but none that afforded my friends
as much interest as the one am going
to tell you about. In addition to my
kodak my guide carried a 5000 Win
chester, that he used to good advan-
tage in keeping our larder we'll sup
piled with veniSon, bear and turkey.
We had been out about two months,
and as | was on a still hunt for some
thing. l preferred to take my time and
not hurry by some good thing, conSe-
quently we were not getting over the
ground very fast but were having a
good time and enjoying ourselves, and
believe that if I had not found what
was after. pretty soon. would have
grown so feShy hat it would have
been impossible for me to get in the
saddle to ride back to Casas Grandes,
distance of about seventy. miles.
Our supply of flour was running
low and my guide proposed that we
should go over to a Mexican ranch
some twenty-five miles distant, for
new supply-this we did, starting ear
ly the next morning.
About half way to the ranch my
guide espied something coming up the
trail: the rancher himself on horseback
and being followed by a queer some
thing that at a distance looked like a
giant dog. OF course my curiosity was
Immediately aroused. and 1 asked my
guide what it could be. but he only
looked wise and said to wait until we
met the rancher and let him tell his
own story. this l was forced to do, and
the following is substantially his
story"
Il have lived in this section pretty
near all my life and am well acquaint-
ed with the antics of wild animals, but
my life. and 1 must tell you about
him. for 1 never tire of it. Especially
is this so, because OF the fact that he
was the means of saving the life of a
person very dear to me-
Saving life!,' l said all as
founded, for my knowledge of bears
had left the impression that they were
not much of life preserver. especially
when the least bit angry.
Yes. he saved the life of my little
daughter" he continued. You see 1
married when but a young man. and
settled on this very ranch, where /
have lived ever since. In the course of
time a daughter came to bless cur
home, whom we called Maria.
"One day, when Maria was about
three years old. while 1 was out hunt
ing in the mountains 1 ran across an
old she bear and two cubs. The old
bear l killed, and one of the cubs l al
so captured. the other got away in the
brush. and as l was afraid old Mr.
Bru1n would step in at any moment
and spoil my catch. 1 die not waste
much time in looking for the lost cub.
The carcass l left there where it
was. and tying the feet and mouth of
the little cub and throwing him across
the back of my horse, 1 mounted and
started home. On reaching home 1
turned the cub loose in the house.
fastening all the doors and windows
so ne could not get out. he was not
long in making friends with the little
girl, who also exhibited a strong lik-
ing for the bear, and from time to
time on they practically grew up to-
gether.
after the bear got full grown we
were not afraid to allow him and Ma
ria to go off in the woods together and
be gone for hours, for we felt sue that