The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-10-12
Editorial Sketches.
MONTANA STORY TELLERs.

! MONTANA STORY TELLERS.
! The old-timers in Montana, especial
ly those who came originally from
Missouri, beat all creation telling
stories, and can be as solemn while
discoursing about the ground hog as
they would be in going over the dips
and angles of an Indian fight. The
joke comes in when these yarns are
printed in the Butte papers, and just
now there appears to be a competitive
contest going on between the reporters
of the Inter Mountain and the Stan
dard over a reward of merit to the
one who gets next to the most YER
satile liar in the state. The latest
stories told by the pioneers and get
! ting into print are about bears, and
to say that they are wonderful addi-
! lions to Munschausen literature is Civ
| ing to the reporters of the Butte press
and the story tellers only half the
credit they deserve.
! A Butte hardware man, John E..
Davis, who went out for duck shoot,
| gives to the Standard a thrilling night
experience with Bruin on the outside
of his tent. eating all the grub, while
| the hunters gun remained in another
| tent, as useless for defense as the
Dutchman's anchor. The Standard de-
scribes the terrible plight of the hard
ware man in glowing language, and
we reproduce one paragraph to show
that the literature of the greatest min
ing camp on earth is not behind any
turned out of Boston or New York.
LAS the ravenous beast munched and
munched,'' says the Standard, the
lone dweller of the canvas castle lived
on and on, passing through generation
after generation, his hair gradually
turning gray and his form bending I'M
der the weight of torment. OF course,
once the pile of grub was disposed of
the bear would evince cannibalistic
proClivitieS and leave nothing but we'll
licked bones of a man to hold silent
watch within the walls of the tent. 1t
was useless to give the alarm. The
bear was master of all he fastened his
vicious eyes upon. Thoughts of home
and friends coursed through the brain
until there came a dizzy sense OF OBJ
livion. And the bear continued to
MUNICH and fill up on the good things
the hunter had brought from town"
Meanwhile the man in the bed re-
solved to take his death philosophical
ly. He quit breathing, and thus gave
the bear a fair start on his mission of
humiliation. But the bear did not an
initiate, else Davis would not be in
Salt Lake selling hardware and telling
this story. Instead, Bruin ambled off
in the direction of the lake.
Next morning, loaded with courage
and gun, Davis espied the bear lying
on his back near the lake and in evil
dent distress. Not wishing to take
chances, the hunter put ball into the
animal. Instantly there was a report
that shook the whole camp. 1t was
like charge of dynamite in prospect
hole.
Developments followed. 1t was found
upon inspection of the grub pile that
had been attacked in the night that
the bear had eaten 10-pound package
of dried apples. 1t was further dis
covered that the bear had gone TO the
edge of the lake and had drank water.
how much will never be known; but
enough, however, to agitate the dried
fruit to such an extent as to cause
the bear (using the vernacular of Mis-
sourD to swell up and bust and pass
in his chips. In proof that the story Is
true. Mr.. Davis exhibits the hide of
the bear.
a
The above is a pretty good story, but
the Inter Mountain beats it by another
and it is not told by Postmaster George
Irwin either, nor by Colonel Saunders.
An old prospector relates it, one who
was in the state before Butte and Ana
con&a were ever thought of. That's
lucky for the prospector, because on
this evidence his story gets into the
Salt Lake Herald. Briefly told, the
prospector shot the bear amidship, the
charge from the gun making a bay
window clear through his body The
animal fell and began licking the
wound on the opposite side of the hunt
er, and in doing so he saw the hunter
through the window in his body. The
animal started towards the prospector,
but in some way got his head damned
into the bullet hole. In his efforts to
eXtricate his head, the bear fell and rcll-
ed down the mountain side, his carcass
resembling the letter P as he sped
along. The hunter beat the bear to the
blacksmith shop IN the race, land
there" says the story teller, 81 dropped
my rifle, seized a pair of tongs and a
hammer and, as the bear rolled past
me. 1 reached through the bullet hole
with the tongs. caught the animal by
the tongue and beat it to death with
the hammer
These stories, over which Montanans
have lots of fun, are published in the
eastern newspapers as grave facts and
garnished by illustrations in the yell
low journals. 1t is small wonder, then,
that Yale students are sent out there
with quires of paper and cameras to
make reports on observations taken
while Butte is sliding down hilI,' in
the same manner as party of scien-
lists are sent to Africa or somewhere
else to observe the transit of Venus or
an eclipse of the sun.
A FORTUNE TO CHARITY.