Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-07-10
wrssten for the Ledger.
PuGNIS ct CALCIBUS.


By W. ". cLKNDKStS.
with no other weapons than those
that nature has provided him with
one would not think that a man would
stand any show In an encounter with
a grizzly bear, and yet the writer once
knew q nan who whipped q grizzly in
a fair Hst hght.
In 1850 Captain RsddIck took up q
ranch at the foot OF the mountains In
the Santa Clara valley, about 10 miles
southeast Of San Jose, California He.
built his house near q cool spring OF
water In a fine grove OF live oak trees
and a short distance from the mouth
Of a deep canyon.
lie was a powerfully built man,
standing fully six feet In his stock
lngs, and was muscled like a prize.
fighter. On the right side Of his fore
head, near the temple, and Just above
the inner corner OF his right eye there
were two round holes In his skull near
" half an inch deep and they were
grim reminders Of his terrible strug-
gle with a bear, that he carried with
him TO bis grave.
One day In 1856 | met the captain In
as tore In San Jose and heard him tell
the story of the bloody light with the
grizzly. He said:
"When / first settled there ! had
no trouble in obtaining all the fresh
lmeat that l needed, as there vas an
abundance Of all kinds Of game all
around me and | seldom had to go.
further than a few hundred yards
from the house to kin a fat deer when
| wanted one. One day, late in the
fall, it rained steadily until about four
O'Clock In the afternoon, when the
clouds broke away and the sun began
to shine and, as / was out OF fresh
meat, l took my rifle and started up
in the canyon to find a deer. There
were no deer TO be found In the canyon
that afternoon, but when | had trav-
eled about a quarter Of a mile up it /
discovered a big grizzly feeding on
acorns under a live oak tree that
stood on the left bank OF the little
stream that ran through the canyon.
A few steps to the left put me out Of
sight Of the bear and / walked right
up to the side Of the tree before l
could look over the bank and see where
he was. He was standing right under
me and not six feet from the muzzle
of my gun and, as he had his nose to
the ground, he did not see me. /
aimed for his heart and pulled the
trigger and at the crack OF my rife the
big fellow stood straight up On his
hind legs and threw his powerful
arms around the tree. That tree was
fully two and a half feet In diameter
and get, when he clasped 1t In the
agony Of death he shook it as though
1t was a bush and the eorns fell like
a shower OF hail. / never could have
believed, until | saw 1t with my own
eyes, that q bear was endowed with
the enormous strength that that big
grizzly displayed. When l looked
down at him, after he had fallen dead
1t made a cold chill creep down m,
spinal column when l saw what a mar
row escape | had made. II / had beer
In the place Of that tree the life
would have been crushed out Of me IL
a moment.
about noon one day a stranger
came to my house and said that hi
was very anxious TO kill a grizzly
! bear and he also said that he woulC
deem it a great favor II / would b.
kind enough to show him one. III
i had a splendid rifle and said that h
knew he could knock a grizzly gally
west II he could only get a crack a
lone. He told me that his name wa
Kentuck' and that be had only beer
|. in the valley a few days and wanted t
bag a few grizzlies before he left.
afWell, said |, If you viii come il
and take dinner with me and then
wait until about 4 O'Clock In The
afternoon l viii take you up on the
D mountain and show you the anima
! you want to find.' AS be had told me
{ SO much about his great marksman
D ship l did not take my rife with me
when we went up the mountain thai
afternoon, as l wanted togiyeh him The
t first chance Of his life to kin a bear. A
D long, open ridge led from my house VI
to within a few hundred yards OF the
summit, where the timber set In, and
lust below the timber there were sew,
/ eral dense thIekets Of poison oak
brush. l saw a bear go into one Of
! those thickets and l told Kentucl
: that II he would stand about sixty
| yards below the brush ! would &c
around to the ~upperside Of the thickci
and scare the bear out, and then be
! could easily kill It when IL reached
the open ground.
when l got above the thicket !
threw a club into it and shouted a.
loud as l could and the bear bolted
out and charged straight at Kentuck,
Instead OF shooting the grizzly, as
thought he would, he lost bis nerve
and threw bis rife on the ground and
, sprinted for an oak tree that stood
about sixty yards away. Seeing that
the bear would catch him before he
could reach the tree ! ran down 20.
wards it and shouted TO attract its at
~tention In order that he might escape
and the consequence was that / got
caught myself. He soon had me fat
on my back and was trying his level
best to bite my head of, but / caught
him by the long hair on the back Of
his neck and got onto my feet in spite
Of all that he could do TO hold me
down. As soon as | was up | began 10
send my fist into his ribs like a pile
driver and at every blow | struck |
made him grunt loud enough 10 hear
him half a mile away. But be soon
had me down again, for the internal
brute could turn himself In his loose
hide like a badger aud on that account
l could not hold him. Then 1t was up
and down, tooth and nail and fist and
skull. How many rounds we fought /
do not know, but | do know that /
pounded him in the ribs with NV fist