Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-18

out the mans collar bone and broke three
or four ribs. He never recovered from the
shock and died that night"
Second Case of Homicide.
The second authentic case of homicide
by Old Ephraim which came to Mr.. Roose-
velt's personal knowledge occurred to a
neighbor who had a ranch on the Little
Missouri" This neighbor, with several
companions, one Of them a German, was
prospecting near the headwaters Of the
Little Missouri, when suddenly the German
stumbled on the lair Of a grizzly, probably
asleep. If awakened, the bear was still
30 fully awake in an instant that the In
truder had no time to fire his rife. His
companions, hearing his cry, and the roar
Of the bear. turned Just in time to see him
struck "a terrible blow on the head, the
claws of the great brute SCATTERING his
skull like an e~ggshell." The bear left his
fallen foe to charge the living and fell
only after numerous shots from their re-
peating rifles.
In addition to these cases from his per
sonal knowledge" Mr.. Roosevelt knows OF
one other authentic case Of homicide by
q grizzly with modern habits. 1t was re-
ported to him by the army surgeon who
was called to attend after the fight OF two
soldiers detailed as mail carriers from Fort
Wingate. When the men were missed and
searched for they were found In the bush,
one dead and the other dying. The dying
man told the surgeon that they had seen a
grizzly and pursued 1t on horseback with
their Spencer rifles. Closing with 1t, one
| OF them fred into its side. The bear turned
to bay, and with one blow struck down
both horse and rider. 'innicting a CHASTITY
wound on the man." whose companion at
once diBmounted and came to the rescue.
The bear then turned on his new assailant.
struck him down, threw itself on him and
deliberately bit him to death, while his
groans and cries we're frightful to hear
When sure Of the death Of its victim It
turned and walked into the bushes with
out again offering to modest the already
mortAlly wounded victim OF its first as
sault."
HIS First Grizzly.
With such authentic information as this
In his possession Mr.. Roosevelt was nat
urally more than usually interested when
with his foreman. Merriheld, he started out
to bring home his first grizzly. The search
was long, but at last he heard a shout, "the
familiar ho-koh-h-h OF the eattlemen,'
which meant that Merriheld had found a
| bear. 10 MT. ROOSEVELT disgust IL turned
out to be merely a black hear, which Mer-
riheld had already killed and strapped II
his saddle. That evening Mr.. Roosevelt
killed a bull elk. and next day traces Of
grizzlies were seen all around the carcass
as well as around the place where the BLACK
bear had been killed. They followed ouI
Of a forest Of pine into a ravine which
sloped to the Big Horn river, and finally
found the long-hoped-for grizzly, mot ter
steps on, slowly rising from his bed amonl
the young spruces." Merriheld, who wal
in advance, dropped on one knee, his fac
fairly ahame with excitement" but still
evidently too self possessed to take tn,
long-eoveted FIRST shot from Mr.. Roosevelt
who "strods past with rife at a ready.
The bear had seen them, but was evidentl.
slow in making up his mind what their in
~tentions were, for. after rearing up in Al
attitude OF defense, he dropped once NOR
I on all fours. As the animal sank down MI
Roosevelt raised his rife, and, seeing tn
top OF the white head, fairly between tn
small. giittering evil eyes," pulled tn
trigger. The bear half rose and the
dropped In the death throe. "the ball hav
ing gone into his brain, striking as fairl
between the eyes as II the distance ha
! been measured by q carpenters rule"
Mr.. Roosevelt recalls in such connection
as this the old Morse maxim that any swor
10 lOnG enough for men who close in quick