Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-03-25

Michigan Man Tells of a Flor
ida Bruin That Fattened a
Pig to His Liking


Il.
CHICAGO, Ill.-The worlds welter-
weight champion bear story was thrust
forcibly upon Cy De Vry, head keeper of
the Lincoln Park Zoo, few days ago.
II came by mail, and, after attempting
to assimilate its monstrious details, Mr..
De Vry flew into the metropolitan section
for relief and succor.
The writer of this geological catapault, il
seems. was prompted to do so by lecture
recently delivered by Mr.. De Vry, in
which he stated that from observation he
came to believe the bear more intel
lectual beast than the lauded monkey.
The amazing missive dated from Niles,
Mich, follows:
Mr.. Cy De Vry,-Dear Sir: i see that
you, in a lecture, claim for the bear a
higher grade of intelligence than that of
the monkey.
II have long held this opinion myself,
and in several ways 1 have felt myself
confirmed by this conclusion.
Some years ago / was one of the early
settlers in Orange county, Fla, and
my shack was on the edge of the thick
pine woods. 1 was working twenty acres
and had an outfit about like the usual
'cracker'-a small field of corn and two
pigs, mostly shoats. One of them was
fat and slick, but t'other was lean and
hungry and 1 couldn't get him fat. One
night in September 1 was awakened by
squeals and growls and hurried to my
pig pen, only to find that the lean and
hungry shoat had lost its mate, and by
daylight / saw by the tracks that a
bear had annexed, my fat pig to his
distant household in the thick woods.
''I laid in wait for Mr.. Bear for several
nights with the only army Springfield
musket heavily loaded, but no further
trouble ensued for some two weeks. The
bear then paid me a second visit and.
much to my disgust, 1 was left pigless
and shoatless.
THE third night after finding myself
in this precarious condition 1 was awak-
ened by the growls of Tige, my faithful
coon dog, and, stealing cautiously from
my humble abode, / saw a shadowy
form in my corn patch and heard the
rustling of the stalks. 1t was a large
black bear Overcome by curiosity,
watched to see what Mr.. Bear was
hunting for knowing that he was not
fond of corn. The moon was full, and
IL was almost as light as day. The bear
separated a good armful of stalks, the
corn not having yet been husked, and
tucked IL we'll under his arm and took
up a pumpkin. which he balanced on
his head and held it there by one paw.
Then, rising to his hind feet Qegs or
paWS)s ne started lot his nome. MY
curiosity was so great that 1 followed
him carefully and full of wonder.
after about two miles and a half he
arrived at ravine where he had a pen
IN which was my pig, and the new pro-
prietor of the pig proceeded to feed him
part of the corn and pumpkin, while l
cooked on with mouth and eyes wide
open.
The bear rested his elbows on the
fence and looked at the pig, seemingly
with great satisfaction, as near as
could tell, as I was distant some eight
or ten rods. The bear was fattening
that pig. was so impressed by the evil
dent intelligence of the bear and so much
astonished that I had not the heart to
blaze away at him with the old musket,
though l had it pointed his way, so
that in case he heard me 1 could shoot,
for l felt sure that II 1 was discovered
l was lost. Yours,
BILL MONTGOMERY"