The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-15
PRESIDENT MISSES A BEAR.
LEAVES HIS POST Il LITTLE TOO
SOON.

Another Member OF the Party Shoots
the sAntmaI-PresIdent Arrives Later
aud Gives Instructions TO Hurry the
Beast Out of Its Misery Efforts of
Newspapers Men 10 Reach thS Camp.
Smedes, Miss. Nov. IA lean black
bear, which weighs 2S5 pounds, is hang
ing up at the presidents camp on1the
Little Sunflower, but to the regret of
the entire party, the first trophy of the
hunt did not fall to the presidents Win
chester. The bears trail was struck
by the hounds soon after the party
started this morning.
The members of the party except the
president, Mr.. Foote, Mr.. Parker and
Holt Collier, had been stationed at the
various crossings, and as soon as the
dogs gave tongue, the president and his
guides plunged through the dense un-
derbrush in pursuit. Within a few
minutes the dogs showed the direction
the quarry was taken and Holt Collier,
with the instinct of an old bear hunter,
Immediately made up his mind where
the animal would come out. To save
the president needless hard riding
through the brush, he directed Mr.
Foote to take the president along the
trail to a certain cut off. On their way
several swamp deer were jumped up
but no effort was made to get shot at
| them. Then for several hours the pres
| ident and Mr.. Foote waited. The trail
of the bear carried the yelping hounds
out of hearing and shortly after noon
Mr.. Foote abandoned hope that the
quarry would come back their way and
he and the president returned to camp
for lunch, Had they remained, the pres
ident would have had shot, as the
bear with the pack at its heels crossed
at almost the exact spot which Holt
had indicated.
| About a mile beyond this point Bruin,
exhausted by his long race, ran into
water hole and turned upon the dogs.
They were all over him in an instant.
| The poor beast was too exhausted to
make much of a fight, but he grabbed
one Of the hounds by the neck and
crushed 1t, killing it instantly. AS the
bear was making a sweep with its paw
at another dog Holt Collier jumped
from his horse and with his rifle knock
ed the game over with blow on the
head. A messenger was sent back to
the president. Meantime Holt roped
| the bear and tied him to a tree. When
| the president arrived he would neither
shoot it nor permit 1t to be shot.
Put it out of it's misery" said he to
Mr.. Parker. and the latter ended its
life with his knife. 4. +,..
On the way back to camp with the
dead bear, the dogs struck fresh trail
and the president, Mr.. Foote, Mr.. Man
gum, Secretary Cortelyou and DR.. Lung
followed it. The Associated Press cor
respondent arrived at camp just as
Holt Collier, with the bear slung across
the horses launches, descended the
river bank opposite.
"If the colonel had stayed whar I put
him." said the aggrieved Holt, "he
woud'er done got this yere one
Mr. Fish and Mr.. Parker also return
ed to camp but at dark there was no
sign Of the president and some anxiety
was manifest lest the president in his
enthusiasm would get too far away and
be forced to sleep on the trail
The camp is admirably located under
some big oaks on the edge of the Sun
/ flower.
| The president expressed his satisfac-
ton at the simplicity Of the arrange
ments. His tent contains four cots,
which were occupied last night by HIM
SELF Mr.. Fish, Mr.. Dickinson, ana Sec
retary Cortelyou. None of the small
army of newspaper men and photog-
raphers who followed the president here
succeeded in reaching camp to-day The
only newspaper men allowed there were
the three press association representa-
tives who came with the party. All
kinds of expedients were attempted by
the others to get to camp, but without
avail. Every trail leading out of the
woods was guarded and no negro could
/ be found who cared to risk making an
attempt to guide. Two outside newspa-
per men, however, did succeed in get
ting within half a mile of camp, but
were stopped by two negro guards with
guns.
| The correspondents left with vague
| threats of legal proceedings against the
guards, but as the camp and country
for miles around is the private property
of the Illinois Central it is not probable
that a legal action would stick.