Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-22

by this time was quite calm again.
| grabbed up one of my meat hooks.
and, holding il in my right hand. 1
stepped over to the screen. AS soon as
the bear put his nose to II again i gave
him . whack with the hook. thinking
it would drive him away. Instead. il
infuriated him. and with a single blow
he tore a hole in the screen Aabout "a
foot lorg. / tried to hit him again, but
missed, and my hook went into the
screen, making the gap bigger All this
time. curiously enough, IL never occur
red To me to shout for help, although
the men in the bunkhouse could easi!ys
have heard me. ] simply waited, won-S
dering what the outcome Of it would
be-
Standing on his hind legs. the bear
now made determined effort to get
through the MOLE hit him with the
hook three or four times, making him
more and more furious, and he clawed
and bit savagely until the screen was
all torn to pieces. With this obstacle
ont Of the way, the grizzly, with his
forcfeet on the top boards, gave me a
terrible time, and only desperate work
with the hook kept him at bay.
Every moment my position got more
serious, for there was no mistaking
that the animal was in deadly earnest.
Holding my meat-hooks off with one
huge paw, he tried to lift himself over
the board with the other. ! struck at
him again and again, when all of a
sudden he swung himself up and plac-
ed his right hind leg on the edge Ter
rified | rained blows upon him aiming
his ,sNaS bllt without cilnppSS I,ct
then, as luck would have it,, i struck
against heavy cleaver. which lay on
a little table where | generally cut my
meat. Snatching it up, | aimed a vic
iogs blow at the bears head With "A
howl OF mingled pain and rage the
grizzly fell back, only to Jump up and
renew the attack more savagely than
ever. AS soon as he PUT his foot over
thu plank, however, ! hit him again.
splitting his paw nearly open. a third
time the great brute essayed,fto climb
tie wall, but l gave him two more
blows which sent him To the ground. |
heard Voices and shot rang out fred
from Mr.. Turner's automatic Colt [
learned later The bullet missed, but
the bear turned and made off for the
woods limping on one leg
I sat down on the meat bleek, too
weak and exhausted TO speak. The men
came round shouting for me and try
ing to break open the door. When I
unfastened it, and they saw I was un-
hurt. they began to laugh. asking me
why l had let the bear get away.
We decided to go after the bear as
soon as day broke, and about seven
O'Clock the whole bunch of us set out.
We had not far to go. Down in the
gulch, near the creek, we found the big
beast stretched out in the SNOW
dead. but still warm. His head was
badly cut about. and he had a gaping
wound ON the right side of his neck
which had severed the iugular vein. l
claimed the fur and took ii off during
the day, bur later had it stolen from
me. -"
1t is unusual to see a grizzly bear at
this time of the year, but my adven-
ture gave the men an excuse to pro-
vide themselves with rifles and shells
sufficient to kill thousand bears In
spite of all the hunting trips they ar
ranged and the bats they laid out.
however. we never set eyes on anotffel~1
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