The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1905-06-30
NARROW ESCAPE.
had BY Hunter in a Hand-To-H Hand
Fight With Monster
Bear.
IDenver post.l

one OF tne largest SllVertlp DedTS
ever seen in this part of the country
aud mad dash down a steep hill
side to grasp the branch of a head
pine tree just in time. to fraction
of second. to save his body from
being torn to shreds by the madden
ed animal which had been shot in the
mouth and also through the heart, is
the thrilling story related by John 7.
Sanders. of Florence, Colo, a.Justice
of the Peace, whose reputation for
veracity is well known.
The exciting experience was had
by Mr.. Sanders, Isaac Sanders, his
father, and George Banks the latter
two being well known bear hunters
of these parts, a short time ago.
These three men, Mr.. Sanders Sr',
with shortgun loaded with birdshot
and hunting wild pigeons: Mr.. Banks,
with 45-lOO.caliber rife, who was
out for anything that was large
enough for his gun to kill. and John
Sanders who always fancied hunting
dogs, with his pack with him that
day, started out in the lower range
of the Greenhorn Mountains for
quiet hunt. They had not proceeded
more than 100 yards south of the
senior Mr.. Sanders home when he
three fierce-looking bears lying on
the outskirts of an oak thicket. Not
knowing the meaning of fear and
having only shotgun in his hand,
he raised the bears, which becoming
frightened, ran to the opposite side
of the thicket. Following them Mr..
Sanders again chased the trio back
to the starting point.
Again he proposed chasing them
to another position, hoping that the
junior Sanders and Mr.. Banks would
arrive with the rifle and dogs before
they made to the hills. Just as the
bears started up the hill the two men
appeared and Banks shot one of the
bears in the right shoulder, breaking
it
Even this severe wound did not
prevent Mr.. Grizzly from making
his escape, but before it and the two
companions did so they were forced
to put up desperate battle with the
bulldogs that were trained in bear
hunting and fighting. While the
dogs were engaging the attention, of
the frightened bears the older San
ders sneaked up to them and was
going to shoot. One of the smaller
ones of the lot saw him, and. with a
roar, gave chase after the man. 1t
was anybody's race while it lasted,
but Mr.. Sanders, being fleet of foot,
kept well ahead of the animal and
finally sprang up tree and out of
the way of the bear.
The animal kept on running and
received charge of shot in the side
from Mr.. Sanders's shotgun. The
animal was felled to the ground and
bit at the earth in furious manner.
Regaining his strength he ran over
the hills but was not pursued by the
hunters.
The dogs again took up the scent
of the other two bears and chase of
two miles was made before they
were located. They were found I'M
der the shadey limbs of a spruce tree.
hiding. Just the moment bruin dis
covered they were located they rush
ed from their hiding place and put
up a hand-to- hand fight with the
hunters and dogs, two of the dogs
being knocked distance of fully
two feet by heavy blows landed on
their sides by the bears paws. Isaac
Sanders and Banks dubbed the bears
with the stock of their guns for
several minutes, but the continuous
pounding of the bears heads did not
have the desired effect. By this
time the dogs had rallied from the
pounding administered by bruin and
again joined the fight. Their work
this time was effective, the bears
started to run away. While in the
running act Banks shot one of them,
he fell and the dogs were upon the
suffering animal in an instant. The
1