Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-18
SOME GRIZZLIES He HAS NET
Former Meetings Between President BOOss-
welt and the Terror Of Yellowstone"
SHALL OLD ACQUAINTANCE Be FOReOT7
Tall Tales of struGgIer and Triumphs
Recorded In the "HuntiuE
Trips of q Ranch
man,

Old Ephraim Is also known as ursus ferox,
and It is said on the best scientific author
ity that che is the most ferocious animal
in North America, often measuring more
than nine feet in length, with claws on his
~forefeet more than six inches long"
AS 1t is not convenient, as a rule, to be
photographed in the vicinity Of Old
Ephraim. all snapshot artists have been
omitted from the presidential party. and
so many other precautions TO insure strict
privacy have been taken, that II Is possible
to follow what may be happening only by
finding authoritatively what has happened
under the like circumstances ~already-that
is, by reading the presidents own accounts
Of his adventures with the grizzly bears he
has hunted already.
These accounts make up the most inter-
esting information obtainable of the habits
Of the grizzly" as he has been changed
by a century Of civilization. According to
President Roosevelt's account, as given In
Hunting Trips OF a Ranchman' and else
where, this change of character is marked.
The grizzly bear" he writes, undoubtedly
comes In the category Of dangerous game,
and is perhaps the only animal in the
United States that can fairly be 80 placed,
unless we count the few jaguars found
north OF the Rio Grande. But the danger
Of hunting the grizzly has been greatly ex-
aggerated, aud the sport is certainly very
much safer than it was at the beginning OF
the century"
Ability of Bear.
This change, the president thinks, Is due
to the ability Of the bear to recognize the
meaning of the Improvement in firearms,
including the difference between a modern
repeating rife, carrying an ounce ball, and
the ancient muzzle-loading rife, carrying a
ball the size of a pea. A ball Of that size
located between the eyes of the bear from
a distance OF sixty PAGES was as effective
in it's time as half a dozen shots from a
modern magazine rife, but IL 1t did not
enter between the eyes 1t amounted merely
to an insult. Insulted by such a ball in
any other place than the brain. back Of
the eyes or the top of the heart, the grizzly
expressed his sense Of dignity by imme-
diately closing in and matching his six-inch
claws in shoulder blows from the right and
left against the single hunting knife which
was all the man WITH the muEzle-loadins
pea rife had to rely on after his single
shot. AS for shooting the bear through the
tip of the heart instead of the top, the
president found by experiment that this
was interpreted merely as an insult, even
when the ball came from his own repeating
rife. A bear he had shot, first through
the tip of the heart and again through the
body, continued to advance, reached him as
he was reloading his exhausted magazine,
struck at him in charging, and only dropped
In the death agony on attempting to turn
and renew the charge. In spite Of such
traits as this, however, still observable in
the grizzly, he Is, in Mr.. Roosevelt's opin-
ion, fully aware when he sees a man with
a repeating rife that the best thing to do
Is to leave the vicinity as soon as possible.
UyAo- oNta- A. A-H.--uI-- g.
the mayoralty Of New York City, in which
he had Henry George for an opponent, Mr..
Roosevelt went west to the Bad Lands and
/, the wilds Of the Little Missouri, he set his
heart on a close acquaintance with the
} grizzly bear, as the climax of the life Of
what was then sometimes called on Park
/ Row. New York, the "Rowdy West" That
"keenest Of sportsmen and truest of
friends,' his brother, Elliot Roosevelt, to
! whom he dedicates his hunting stories, had
! told him stories Of adventures with tigers
! in India which made the acquaintance Of
any American game of less reputation than
/ the grizzly bear seem commonplace. So,
) though he killed grouse, wild turkeys,
mountain sheep, black-tailed deer and, at
last. elk in such abundance thai the hearts
I of many sportsmen might have been salts
fed, Mr.. Roosevelt's mind was still set on
the ursus ferox, the American grizzly, of
whom, under his Bad Lands name of old
Ephraim," the hunters and cowboys Of the
! Little Missouri told him anecdotes enough
to make a ten-volume set Of a de luxe
3 limited edition. with etohings by Frost.
{ They did not know that Mr.. Roosevelt's
mind at the time was passing through its
period of higher literary and historical
criticism, as a result Of which, by the
) comparative method. he eliminated s5 per
z--A - a.. 49, IA - 49, -
:. dotes and held the remaining 8 per cent
under Amusement without accepting It as
authoritative.
When They VIII Fight.
Still before his own actual acquaintance
Q with the grizzly began, Mr.. Roosevelt had
s accumulated authentic material for a relia-
2 BILE character sketch. In summing up for
n this purpose. he says that "a grizzly will
: only fight II wounded. or, at least. II he
n thinks himself cornered." In that event,
: the animal will now do through fear what
in the case OF the Indians or the nrst
hunters he did through hunger or ferocity-
will turn and hunt the hunter. Otherwise,
seeing the approach Of the hunter, the
q most ferocious Of modern grizzlies will
initiate the inoffensive, awkward, pitiful
bears OF the Yazoo bottoms which shambls
e of as fast as possible when they see q
negro boy with a shotgun Of the make OF
1865. still the grizzly makes exceptions to
d his modern rule. and Mr.. Roosevelt 'hal
known personally OF several OF these ex-
ceptlons. A friend Of his, a California
ranchman. missed a sheep from his ranch
and found bear tracks which accounted for
the loss. With several of his men, he fol-
lowed the trail until it LED to a mountain
cleft, where the bear was eornered with nc
way out. The animal then turned and
charged direct for the hunters, attacking
y one of them who was on horseback and
" pulling him from his horse. The grip Of tn,
n bears jaws on the mans arm broke Il
like q pipestem," and Il was only after {
J. desperate tight that the man was rescued
The bear made repeated charges and "a
X one time drove every one Of his assailanti
from the held." but they returned and thei
improved firearms proved too much for tn
range Of his six-inch claws.
Only two cases had come to Mr.. ROoae
velt's personal knowledge OF actual homi
M eide by the grizzly acting IN self-defenss
- In the FIRST, a hunter at the foot Of the Big
=, ~ horn mountain chased and finally wounde
- the bear, which, on feeling itself wounded
turned and charged. The hunter nred an
missed. The bear closed in as another @