The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1907-06-25
KILLING "A
TOUGH BEAR
BY HARVEY POOLE.

had once a good opportunity Of
judging Of the amazing tonghness and
tenacity OF the grizzly bear was
one of the party that accompanied
Col. William Miner Roberts on his
preliminary survey Of the route Of
the Northern Pacific railway in 1869
cne day eight of us were riding
through the thick chaparral and sage
brush, about eight miles south Of what
is now Butte City We came 10 a small
gully. or dry stream bed in which
there We're number Of mud holes, or
wallow holes There was d sloping
bank on each side Of the gully, which
was probably ten feet wide. and on
the right bank, opposite one Of the
wallows we discovered the impression
of a grizzlys forepaw
From the spread of the claw marks
in the soft earth the bears foot must
have been IA inches or more in length,
and half that in width. The trail led
us away from the gully, up a high and
quite steep hill.
We had gone up the hill probably
not more than half a mile when the
dog we had with us dashed on into
the chaparral, barking and growing
iiorcely. The bronehos pranced and
bolted, and could scarcely be kept
from turning back down the hill.
A few rods further on, where there
was something of an opening in the
brush we came in sight of the griz-
zly. He had evidently been lying down
when the dog disturbed him, and mad
not considered the presence OF the in
truder of sufficient consequence 10
cause him to rise to more than a hair
sitting posture.
The grizzly was monstrous speci-
men of his kind as his footprint had
indicated He was more than a hun
dred feet away from us, and when ne
heard the frightened prancing OF our
bronchos in the brush and their snorfs
Of displeasura the old fellow raised up
on his launches and glared at us in
way that made every man of us me-
chemically reach for his rifle It
seemed to me as il that grizzly stood
ten feet high.
We did not care to daily with him
long, SO eight Sharps rifles were
simultaneously aimed at him, and
eight heavy balls went crashing into
various parts of his enormous BODY.
We had expected to see the bear tum-
BILE to the ground Immediately altef
such a yolley. But he didn't tumble.
he staggered under the force Of the
shower Of lead, but remained in his
Upright position. A stream Of blood
spurted from his breast and quickly
crimsoned his shaggy front with q
tremendous snort of pain the brute
rushed toward us.
The bronchos turned and dashed at
full speed down the hill, and we
no longer tried to restrain them. The
race down that hillside was fear
| ful one. Ordinarily on smooth
ground we could have run away from
the bear without difficulty, but the
ground we had to cover was a mass or
powders. some of them OF immense
size. and thick with treacherous and
dangerous buck jumps or hollows,
which were a constant menace to the
footing OF our horses.
Tre grizzly, however, seemed to be
at home on this rough area, and IL
had TO be an unusually large bowlder
that turned him from his course. Al
though he carried eight heavy rife
balls in his body, he mounted and
clambered over the rocks with APP
narent ease. and frequently, after we
had twisted and turned through some
contracted pass to get around rock,
we would come almost face to face
with the ugly monster as he scaled
the bowlder and made II a short cut
to head us off.
The consequence was that he
pressed in SO closely that If any bron-
cho had stumbled, or met with a sec
onds undue delay in finding a way
round bowlder or over a confront
ing buck jump, that broncho's rider
would have been scattered to the four
winds of heaven in less time than IT
takes to speak of it.
we reached the gully where we had
drst discovered the presence of the
hear by his enormous footprint and
dashed across It, As we raised the
bank out of the gully some of us
east a look behind and saw that the
grizzly had stopped on the first bank,
and was licking his wounds, the pain
Of which had probably by that time
| become unbearable.
we stopped our horses and fired
another round OF eight balls into the
bear. He forgot his old wounds al
once. paid no attention to his new
ones. and took up the chase with as
much apparent vigor as he had FIRST
started with. We concluded that any
grizzly that could take as much inter
est as that in a fight, after reosiyine
into his system l6 Of the biggest balls
a Sharp's sfle will carry, was not an
/ animal to interfere with any longer
and we sped away before him as fast
as our willing bronchos would take
us.
The bear pressed US close for ove'
half a mile further before he gave any
indication that our l6 rife balls had
done him vital harm. Then he began
to fall behind and totter and sway IN
| the brush.