The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-01-07
ONE MANS EXPERIENCE.
James W. Harvey Relates to "A Correspon-
dent AN Exciting Bear Hunt.

wolves, deer and bear roamed her
mountains and plateaus unmolest-
ed as yet by intruding man. And
most interesting thing to the
younger generation is a recital by
some pioneer of his adventures and
struggles in the forest. Any ma
tive of the county can recall how,
when a child, he would sit by the
old fireplace and listen, open
mouthed, to some old relative tell
how he had lodged the leap of
a panther or robbed a VOLTS den of
its whelps.
These pioneer citizens stand as
living monuments connecting the
present with the past. There
seems to linger about them yet an
atmosphere of the forest and they
still retain a love for excitement
and adventure.
This is called to mind by a man
old in years but young in vigor and
endurance, Jas. w. Harvey of near
Blaine, with whom the writer re-
Gently had the pleasure of a fox
chase. Bear and deer are gone, so
about the only true sport left the
old man is the chase and he in
dulges in it with all the enthusiasm
of the younger man.
On the morning of the chase Mr..
Harvey got up at four, ate his
breakfast, fed nineteen head of
cattle and walked three miles lead
ing his hounds to the place of
meeting before his companions
were out of bed.
1t was raining and showing so,
after about FIVE miles run, the only
fox raised made for shelter. After
dinner Mr.. Harvey proposed to de-
fy the weather and have another
chase, but his tender footed COM
panions desisted, so he had to con-
tent himself with recalling youth
ful and more exciting days.
When he used to live in West
Virginia bear were plentiful. He
killed quite number, but had his
mosteXciting experience one morn
ing when he went out to make
sugar troughs. He had worked
but short time when his dog be-
gan to bay something in the wood
below. Shouldering his axe he
went down to find large bear and
the dog in combat. Upon seeing
him the bear shook off the dog and
climbed tree. This Mr.. Harvey
chopped, but the bear out did the
dog and climbed another very
large tree. This one being too
large to chop he began to fall
Others against it hoping to brush
Bruln out ; but, failing in this, he
stoned the bear, and at last struck
and cut off one of his toes. En-
ragged, Bruin started down the tree
only to be met at the root by his
foe who struck at him with the
axe which missed and went whirl-
ing twenty steps down the hill.
Then happened what Mr.. Harvey
dislikes to tell-he ran. In the
scrimmage which followed between
dog and bear he recovered the axe
and struck for large leaning red
oak tree toward which the bear
was lighting. Both arrived at the
same time. The bear started
around the tree one way, Mr.. Har-
vey the other and they bumped
heads. He dealt the bear one blow
with the axe and Bruin scrambled
up the tree only to escape a second
blow which stuck the axe fast in
the bark high out of reach.
Tired out by the repeated conflicts
the bear settled himself in a crotch
about thirty feet high. Then Mr..
Harvey was i'll a predicament. He
didn't like to be outdone his
axe was sticking in the tree so
high he couldn't get it he was in
his shirt, sleeves and it was early
spring. The bear had prepared
for the night. Determined to have
his game he cleared a place where
he could jump to keep warm and
began to.hollo.
BillABiggs, who lived in Mary
IL. L.