Willmar tribune., 1908-12-30

''and we shal' certainly see that it
is passed on. But how about
Mountains bear and the dogs? Tell
US about that"
"What, haven't you heard that
story? Well, sir, that was one of
the most exciting things that ever
happened in early Willmar. One
fall in the early seventies, Mr..
Mountain. who ran a meat market
on Smoky Row, Third street, at
that time. bought young bear
from some farmer up north. He
Kept the'bear chained up near his
shop for long time. The bear
was we'll fed, and from an Ursa
Minor he grew to be an Ursa Ma
jor. and was an object of consider
able curiosity to the passers-by.
was rooming down over the store
in those days, and one morning
was awakened by most unearthly
racket. 1t sounded as if every dog
in Christendom had gone plumb
crazy. | pulled on my clothes in a
hurry and rushed out. Mountains
bear had broken loose, and was
down in O'Brien's pig pen near the
slough, with every dog in town,
big and small, around him and
barking at the full capacity of their
lung power. O'Brien had three
large yellow mongrel dogs. which
he was urging on to chase the bear
away. The bear was apparently
enjoying his freedom and did not
seem to mind the dogs much, but
when one of the meddling ours
would get too close the bear would
give him a cuff with his paw that
would send the dog flying with a
bloody face. Finally the bear grew
tired of his prosecutors and ran
down to the east side grain house,
where he climbed onto the edge of
the roof. The roadway was built
high to permit dumping the grain
into the bins. and the dogs cou'd
reach the bear by making jumps at
him, which they continued to do,
eeged on by the constantly growing
crowd of SPECTATORS. The bear sat
there long time, however, pasting
the dogs whenever an oppor tunity
presented itself. He later dropped
down and took a position OF vant-
age under the driveway, where he
was secure from attack from The
rear. Bruin would no doubt have
made good his escape in spit of
the dogs had not the ingenuity of
man intervened. Landlord Jones
of the NARROW House Game to the
scene armed with a long pole, at
the end of which he had fastened a
large hook. This he passed aroun !
the neck of Bruin and pulled him
cut into the road. where he handed
the bear to ifs rightful owner, with
the remark. Here's your bear, Mr..
Mountain" Mr.. Mountain was
much chagrined with the fuss his
bear had occasioned, and turning
about to the he pless captive shook
his fist in his face ard said, "Just
wait, I'll fix you" The bear had
seemed docile enough after he felt
the ilon around his neck, but the
repeated threats from his owner
were too much for his patience, so
he rose up and with one mighty
swoop with both paws tore every
shred of clothes from his master.
The latter gave yell of terror and
cried for help. He was relieved
from his predicament, and the very
next day the bear suffered the fate
for which he had been fattened so
long"
where did the bear come
from?" we asked.
Some man by the name of
Nordstedt captured him, believe"
After jotting down the above, we
turned to our copy of the History
of Kandiyohi County and looked at
the index for the word "Bears.
Looking up one Of the pages given,
318, (History of New London Town.
>hip). we find the following which
corroborates the bear story related
ab1ve:
"ln the fall of 1872 Andrew
Nordstedt caught a black bear in
Sec. Z. and ever since that incident
the lake south of his place has been
known as Bear lake. Discovering
the fear when it lay asleep. he cut
small tree having a good, strong
crotch, softly approached the Sleep
ing bear had managed to pinion
him to the ground by getting the
fork over the bears neck. He
placed his captive in an improvised
Lookup unti' he had constructed a
cage. He then forced Bruin into
the cage and brought him to Will
mar, where he sold him to Hans
com & Mountain, the butchers. :"
Thus we have faithfully re-
hearsed two tales of bloody battles
in the history of the city of Will
mar.