Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1907-09-19

KILLING A
TOUGH BEAR
by HARVEY POOLE.


Col. William Miner Roberts on his
preliminary survey OF the route OF
the Northern Pacific railway In 1859.
One 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 TO small
gully. or dry stream bed. In which
there were q number q mud holes, OF
waliow holes. There vas q 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 tho impressioe
Of q grizzly's forepaw.
From the spread OF the claw marks
In the soft earth the bears foot must
have been II inches or more In length.
and half that In width. The trail LED
US away from the gully, up . high ana
quite steep hill.
We had gone up the hill probably
not more than half q mile when tho
dog we had with US dashed OF into
the chaparral. barking and growing
fiercely. The bronchos pranced ana
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 gris'
ely. He had evidently been lying down
when the dog disturbed him. and had
not considered the presence OF the IN
truder Of sufficient consequence 70
ause him to rise to more than Q hall.
sitting posture.
The grizzly was monstrous speed.
men Of his kind. % his footprint had
indicated. He was more than o hum
dred feet away from Us, and when no
heard the frightened prancing OF our
bronchos In the brush and their snorts
Of displeasure the old fellow raised up
on his launches and glared at us In Q
way that made every man OF US mo
chanically reach for his rife. IL
seemed to me as II that grizzly stood
ten feet high.
We did not care to daily with him
long, 20 eight Sharp's rifles were
simultaneously aimed at him. ana
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 after
such q volley. 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 o
tremendous snort Of pain the brute
rushed toward NJ.
The bronchos turned and dashed 1t
fun speed down the hill, and We
NO longer tried to restrain them. The
race down that hillside was q fear.
full one. Ordinarily on smooth
around We could have run away from
the bear without difficulty, but the
ground we had to cover was mass or
powders, some Of them OF immense
sise, and thick with treacherous and
dangerous buck jumps or hollows,
which were constant menace to tho
footing Of our horses.
The grizzly, however. seemed to DO
n home on this rough area, and 1t
haA TO be an unusually large bowlder
TINT turned him from his course. Al
though he carried eight heavy rifie
halls In his body. he mounted and
clamhered over the rocks with APP
parent ease, and frequently, after we
haA 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 1t q short cut
to head us on.
The consequence was that he
pressed in so closely that II any bron'
cho had stumbled, or met with sec'
ond's undue delay in finding q way
round a bowlder or over 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 1t.
We reached the gully where we had
lirst discovered the presence OF the
bear BY his enormous footprint and
dashed across It. AS we raised the
bank out OF the gully some OF Us
cast q 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 at
once, paid no attention to his new
ones. and took up the chase with AZ
much apparent vigor as he had first
started with. We concluded that any
grizzly that could take as much inter-
eat as that in q fight, after receiving
into his system 16 Of the biggest balls
a sharps rife viii carry, was not an
animal to interfere with any longer,
and we sped away before him as fast
a. our willing bronchos would take
~.
The bear pressed us close for over
half a mile further before he gave any |
Indication that our 16 rife balls had
lone him vital harm. Then he began
10 fall behind and totter and sway In
he brush.