The sun., 1904-12-25
QUEER BEARS THAT ARE
~ DOWN FLORIDA WAY
The Alligator Bear And His Habits
And He's Not a Marker on
the Fat Texas Bruin.

tbS &At ACAos otuus
ORANoH, Tex, Dec. A.-4Have you
bears anywhere about these parts7-
He had put himself down on the Holland
Hotel register as "a. Damn, Florida
His query was put to Col. Jim Furlong. the
landlord. and the Colonel said:
Heaps Of 'em up In the Big Thicket.
Heaps of 'em. Old Man Simmons has
run down and hung up ten, hear, sinos
Thanksgiving.
Mr.. Damn pondered for q while the
three pound ounce that Dominic Horn
brought In from his fruit ga rden and placed
on exhibition on the hotel desk and then
said
-Alligatorsi Any alligators to speak or
1Swads Of en- replied the Colonel.
ANY time during good alligator weather,
when they come to the surface to sing and
smile. you could trip across the bayous
on 'em without getting your feet wet"
Mr.. Damn gave passing and uninter-
ested glance at the bag Of twenty-five
woodcock and nineteen jacksnipe that Park
Gray had just come in with, and said:
Then, OF course. you have alligator
bears.
tNos iCopouICu NOl' Olill, DcdIb
just the ordinary. everyday run Of hide
and hair bears with bobtails and all their
bony parts inside OF themselves"
A. Damn of Florida inspected for
moment the ten-foot stalk Of sugar cane
that came from the Gunstream farm just
beyond town. Then he said:
ITO be sure. But what I meant was
bears that hunt alligators. Bears that hunt
nothing else but alligatoH. Bears that
get their living by hunting alligators. This
ought to be a fine field for alligator bears.
We have 'em over In Florida
+Yes?' said Col. Jim.
The eggplant that won't 60 into a two-
quart pot and which grew in a truck patch
up Lemonvile way Interested Mr.. Damn
briefly. and he returned to the subject.
where I came from, yes said he.
Florida. We have alligators, and quite
a few alligator bears. 1t seems strange
to me that there has never been any more
said about the alligator bear than there
has, for he is a very interesting creature.
He is a fair to middling sized bear, very
powerful, and he never gets fat think
this is because he has to work so hard for
his living. He didn't seem to care for any
thing but alligator tongues, and he can't
gather alligator tongues like he might
go out and pick oranges Before he gets
his alligator tongue he has got to get his
alligator. And al igators amt the kind
of bird that squats down and lets you put
salt on its tail and gather it in without
a murmur
1Yes?" said the Colonel.
Il never saw one Of these bears out after
tongue but once. ] was on the lookout
for gator myself, and when / heard
one believing over toward the bayou |
at him. When 1 came in sight of him | saw
that he was Tremendously worked up over
something, which something | discovered
was one of these al igator bears.
There wasn't much Ct a fight, just a
rush of alligator and retreat Of bear,
and retreat Of alligator and rush Of bear
repeated several times. But at last, to
my surprise. for did not know then what
the tactics Of the alligator bear were in a
tongulng contest, the alligator, wrought
grand rush upon the bear, his jaws thrown
open to their full extent, and the bear braced
himself and stood his ground.
Then / noticed for the first that the bear
had stout stick. foot and half or two
feet long in one of his paws: When the
shivered in expectation of hearing the
bears bones crunch between the awful
jaws Of the big saurian. Bruin stepped
deftly to one side, showed the paw that
held the stick right into the alligat Irs
jaws, and left the stick upright there, one
end braced against the inside OF the lower
jaw and the other end against the roof of
the alligators mouth.
And there the alligator was. He couldn't
shut his mouth. and he couldn't open it
any wider so that the stick would fall out,
and consequently his dangerous jaws were
harmless. And while the astonished rep
tile was paving at his head in efforts to
reach and dislodge the stick, the bear
grabbed him by his bony tail. swung him
clear Of the ground, and smashed his head
against the trunk of cypress tree.
THAT ended the fight. Stretching the
shipped of the reptiles tongue with his
sharp claws, sat down on the carcass, and
calmly, but with gusto, ate the dinner he |
had earned. Oh, the alligator bear is |
really very interestin' creature. and am |
rather surprised to hear that you don't |
have any Of them over here
But they don't get fat. said Col. Furlong.
mo. they don't get fat" replied A. Damn |
OF Florida
Ever been in the Texas Panhandle''
asked the Colonel.
Mr.. Damn hefted the seven-r ound yam
from Farmer Hanfords Cow Bayou planta-
ton; n yswned as If he were bored and said:
.They have a bear up there said Col. /
JIM meekly, and as If in depreciation OF the |
crea ture compared with the alligator bear,
: but there isn't much you might say about |
him % e1oept that wh he insists on taking fat
me as II the priest Kind Of p1s prne pig % could i'd
do anything else but look skinny alongside
Of one Of them Texas Panhandle bearsI
'One time up there got hungry for bear
meat and went out TO bag Panhandler. |