The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-15
FIRST BEAR KILLED
UNFORTUNATELY,T THE PRESIDENT
NEVER KILLED 1T.
BEAR WAS CAUGHT BY DOGS.
PRESIDENT REFUSES To ALLOW
BEAST TO BE SHOT.

| benr Is Carried to the Camp and
Hung Up as "A Trophy of the Hunt.
President Missing for Awhile
From His Companions Causes I'm
| easinesS-Many Deer Seen by the
Party While on the Trial of the
Benr-One of the Dogs Killed
when Quarry Was COrnered.
Smedes. Miss, Nov. IA lean black
bear which weighs 235 pounds. is hang
ing up at the Presidents camp on the
! Little Sunflower. but to the regret of
the entire party the first trophy of the
hunt did not fall to the Presidents
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 underbrush
in purusit Within few minutes the
dogs showed the direction the quarry
was taking and Collier, with the instinct
of an old bear hunter, Immediately
made up his mind where the animal
| would come out To save the Presi-
dent needless hard riding through the
brush, he directed Mr.. Foote to take
the President along the trail to a GER
tain cutoff. This was done. and the
President and Mr.. Foote rode to the
assigned station. On their way sew
eral swamp deer were jumped up, but
no effort was made to get a shot at
them. For several hours the
President and Mr.. Foote waited.
The trail of the bear carried the
the 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 re-
turned to camp for lunch. Had they
remained. the President would have
| had shot, as the bear, with the pack
at its heels, crossed at almost the ex-
act spot which Holt had indicated.
About a mile beyond this point,
Bruin, exhausted by his long race. ran
into a water hole and turned upon the
dogs. They were all over him in an
instant. The poor beast was too ex-
hausted to make much of a fight and
he grabbed one of the hounds by the
neck and crushed it through its
spine, killing it instantly. AS
the bear was making a
swipe with it's paw at another dog,
Holt Collier jumped from his horse.
and, clutching his rife. knocked the
game over with a blow on the head.
Then he blew his horn in token that
the quarry had been brought to BAY.
A messenger was sent back for the
President. Meantime Collier roped the
bear and tied him to a tree. When the
| President arrived he would neither
shoot it nor permit it to be shot.
Put it out of its misery" said he
to Mr.. Parker, and the latter ended its
ended it's life with his knife.
On the way back to camp with the
dead bear. the dogs struck
a fresh trail and the Pres
ldent, Mr.. Foote, MIR. Mangum Secre-
| tary Cortelyou and DR.. Lung followed
it. The Associated Press correspond
ent arrived at camp just as Collier,
with the bear slung across the horses
launches, descended the river bank
| opposite.
"If the Colonel had stayed whar
put him. said the aggrieved Holt, "he
would'er done got this we're one"
Mr.. Fish and Mr. Parker also re-
| turned to camp but at dark when the
| Associated Press correspondent left.
there was no sign of the President and
| some anxiety was manifested lest the
! President, in his enthusiasm, would get
too far away and be forced to sleep on
the trail.
The conditions were ideal for the
| Presidents hunt for bear. The sky
was overcast with clouds at daybreak,
| and a few drops Of rain fell but to-
wards o'clock the clouds broke away
| and the sun came out. The air was
soft and balmy, and old hunters said
| the dogs could work without distress
| About midnight "Bill'' Ennolds reached
here from the swamp country along the
Mississippi river with six bear dogs, and
Mr.. Mangum, despite his Illness start
ed with them for camp before day
light.
A messenger arrived from camp at
| II o'clock with the news that the
President and his guides started at
I daybreak and almost struck the trail
| of three bears. The tracks were fresh
and the guides felt certain that the
President would kill a bear before he
| returned to camp tonight Half of the
| party went off in another direction
for deer. The President had gone be-
fore Mr. Mangum arrived. and the six
dogs brought by the latter will be held
in reserve for tomorrow. The messen-
! ger reported that the President and
| bis party were well pleased with the
arrangement at the camp. The Presi-
dent was especially pleased to find that
| tic tdiiipiI6 OhNhl was VI the simplest
| character.
| A number Of newspaper men and
! photographers reached here last night
and tried every expedient to reach the
camp, but their pleadings were vain.
| The negroes on the plantation who
knew the trail had strict orders not
| to take any outsiders in, and the or
ders were obeyed. Some of them want
ed to make an effort without guides.
but they were warned that IL they did
not get lost in the dense forest they
would be stopped by the guides along
the trail. Several of them left in the
hope Of being able to penetrate the
| Presidents retreat from an
other direction. Everything pos
| sible is being done here
to prevent 1ntruders from interfering
with the Presidents sport. One en-
| terprising photographer, finding that
| he could not secure a photograph of
| the President induced a man who bore
| "A slight resemblance to the President
| to pose on horseback i'm a cotton field
and went away measurably satisfied
| that the counterfeit would pass for
the original. There is a report here
| that Bob Bobo has agreed 10 bring
his big bear hound pack of forty-ive
hounds and that they will arrive here
/ during the day.
The camp is admirably located under
some big oaks on the edge Of the Sun
flower The brush has been cleared
] away and three sleeping tents and one