The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1906-03-14
FIGHTING A GRIZZLY
FEARFUL CLOSE RANGE BATTLE BE-
TWEEN HUNTER AND HUNTED.

Rain of Bullets That Only Made
Bruin More FerOciOus - The Bear
Killed His Victim Before a Desper-
ate Shot Ended His Career.
They had met by chance in a corner
of the lobby Of the Waldorf-Astoria
and had been telling stories which had
made the eyes of some Of the bell boys
bulge. All of the narrators were dress
ed in evening clothes and to all ap-
pearances had never so much as soiled
a finger with powder smoke One had
recounted his sporting exploits In the
Adirondacks and had told with great
gusto how many deer he had shot in
one day and how many of his guides
had compIimented him on his skill.
Another said that duck shooting was
his special hobby and that he had come
clear from Cannes, France, every au-
tumn to Kill these birds along Chesa-
peake bay. There were also stories
about the shooting Of partridges and
grouse, and one member of the group
related, with great many lands" "
''thens'' and "suddenlys," how he kill
ed three quail. He had just received
the applause of his hearers when a
lean individual strobe into the circle,
pulled down his slouch hat another
notch and growled:
ever hunted grizzliesw
The voice so nearly initiated griz-
zly's growl that it captured the atten-
ton of the hunters at once, although
none of them answered the newcomer.
"Hope l amt butting in," said the
lean faced man, "but that quail story
made me think Of how an old Ephraim
tackled a pal of mine once. AS the
bear put up little more fight than a
quail would, my pard isn't able to tell
what happened, like our friend the bird
hunter"
It was plain to see that the group Of
sportsmen did not welcome the new
conner, yet his last remark aroused
their interest despite themselves. Be-
fore one of them realized what he was
doing he asked:
''Did the bear kill himw
The question did not evoke a direct
reply. 1t only made the intruder rub
his eyes, as if a mist had fallen over
them, and then clear his throat before
he said:
st reckon my pard had the most ter
rible hand-to-hand battle with silver
tip as was ever fought. Before it end
ed the beast had fifty-four bullets in
him. I'll tell you how it happened.
Up in the foothills of the Rockies, in
the state of Washington, where we
had a ranch, some Of our cattle got
loose, and we started out to find them.
There were six Of us, and after we
had found the trail Of the steers and
was fording a mountain stream called
Teapot creek one Of our bronchos be-
gan to snort and rear up, as if he was
in agony. But he wasn't, or, at any
rate, the agony was only mental. The
horse had hardly begun to dance when
we heard the peculiar growl Of the
grizzly, which, as you may know, has
something of the grunt of hog.
''And tell you he was big fellow.
AS soon as saw him had a touch Of
that ague which petrifes man SO he
can't raise gun and just lets the
beast walk right up and swallow him.
Ephraim was standing on his hind
legs and eating off the service berries
from the bushes. AS is the way with
these animals, he did not attack us, but
just growled, as if to scare us. A
grizzly usually does not pick a quarrel.
although he is the most ferocious Amer
lean born beast alive when put on the
defensive. thought all Of us were go
ing to leave the brute alone, when one
of the party by the name Of Alf Ken
nedy, a cowboy and almost as danger
Gus as grizzly when aroused, shouted
out:
"'No, sir. Pm not going to leave that
silver tip insult me that way. If he
wants fight he can have it,
Kennedy jumped off his horse, be-
cause he regarded man who would
shoot from the saddle as a craven. He
led his mount to point about hun
dred yards from the bear, turned the
horses head away from the game and
then looked at the magazine of his gun
to see if it was full. The next moment
he fired, and 1 could see the head Of
that bear go back as If it had been
struck with a bowlder. I thought he
was goner but he wasn't. That brute
just doubled up in order to stretch him
self out the bigger. He jumped up on
rock, and, getting good squint at his
enemy, he started for him on lumber
ing trot.
Kennedy kept pumping the bullets
into the bear as fast as he could pull
the trigger, but his fusillade seemed to
have no more effect on the critter than
II he was shooting with popgun. All
at once we saw him throw down his RI
de. He had emptied its magazine. I
thought he was going to leap on his
horse and dash away, but Kennedy
was not that sort Of fellow. He sim
ply stood there, although he must have
seen that his horse at the sound Of the
rife falling on the rocks had stepped
several feet away, making his position
still more dangerous. One Of us shout
ed to him to get back near his horse,
but Kennedy made no move. He SIM
ply pulled out his revolvers, one in each
hand, and blazed away. But it was
useless. Those bullets only increased
the anger of the bear and made him
bound forward as fast as a great mas
Tiff. When only eight feet away, a dis
lance so small that he could easily have
cleared it with single bound, the griz-
Ely stood up on his hind legs and fold
ed his fore legs together, as IL he had
his victim already in his embrace. The
cowboy fred the last charge Of his re-
Volvers into the heart Of the animal and
1T last turned to spring on his horse.
"Just imagine what sick, sufrocat-
ing. smothering feeling came over me
s~-I ~ - 4 v y - =
and leave Kennedy standing there
alone face to face with that gaping,
roaring monster. In utter desperation
he threw away his pistols, grabbed up
MS gun and dealt the beast blow over
The head that would have killed a half
dozen men. The force Of the impact