The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19
FIGHTING WALRUS
 AND POLAR BEARS
Capt. F. k. kleinschmidt and Party Have Thrilling Experiences on
 Ice Floes

Capturing walrus, polar bears, brown bears. Kodiak bears, antelopes and strange birds and studying seals at short range, Capt. Frank E. Kleinschmidt and his party of IS made tl.sir leisurely way
 far northward through narrow straits and difficult ice floes last summer in a | three -masted schooner fitted with auxil- lazy power, says the New York World. The expedition was partly scientific and partly sporting, and was unusually sue- cessful in both fields The sportsmen brought back splendid trophies and sev- eral museums are the richer for rare specimens that Captain <leinschmidt ob- tsined. He is an experienced explorer, indifferent to the dangers of arctic travel and enthusiastic about its pleasures With him on this trip were his wife, who was born in Alaska, the daughter of one of the first missionaries sent to that country, and their twin children six years old.
 Of the various kinds of game which men go in search of Captain Klein schmidt holds that nothing surpasses the walrus. A member of the party who the year before had been after big game in Africa, where he had shot lions. ei- raffes, tigers and other animals of the jungle, agreed with him after his taste of the walrus chase on this trip The element of danger in 1t is greater than in shooting animals that have to be pur- sued on the land. There" as Captain Klenschmidt pointed out the man can get in his deadly work before the animal has a chance to do any damage. With the walrus it is different. It is peculiar animal and comparatively little is known about 1t. You know it Is practically ex- tinct on the Atlantic coast Why, last summer more than 900 were slaughtered for commercial purposes in the far north ern waters by one company. The skin is valuable for belts and many indus trial purposes, and of course the tusks are sought for their ivory.
 The walrus starts north as soon as the warm weather sets in, following the ice. We saw herds of them and pursued them to the ice floe, on which they take refuge. The reason why it is so difficult to cap ture walrus is that he is hard to kill, and if he is injured he falls into the water and sinks immediately. One fla nous experience we had was when we started to fight the walrus in the old way. We put two kayaks, skin boats, together that makes a fine catamaran-and the Eskimos sent out in it to spear the wal rus, while I followed in another boat with my moving picture apparatus all
 
 We'll we got one. We moved out toward the ice, and suddenly I saw a large COW walrus in the water, which is wonder fully clear. I called out to the Eskimos and they prepared to spear her. How ever. she did not wait for them to act, but dived deep and came up under the boat. ripping it with her tucSs and cut ting through the sealskin leggings of one of the men, gashng his leg horribly. It was fortunate that there were the two boats, for the one was gone completely and the walrus- was still diving and com ing up with the evident purpose of doing more damage. She was diverted, how ever, by my boat and dived underneath it. but luckily came up at one side. AS she was about to make attack l fired straight into her face and killed her. She was an enormous creature.
 You can't get a walrus unless you hit it in the head, but you do not need heavy gun. Many persons blaze away and fill the beast full of shot. A clean shot lodged at the base of the brain from a .S0-calibre automatic, Is about right. Oh. yes. we got enough walrus to satisfy our most ambitious sportsmen and to send some fine specimens to museums in the United States.
 Captain Kleinschmidt had very good luck with his bear shooting. He made a record by getting five of the rare Kodiak bears, four in one place, and he shot three polar bears standing within 20 feet of the camera. One day, when he was trying to get some good moving pictures of bear capture, bear swan right through the water clambered up on the land and came forward to attack the pursuer. Again, wehn he tried to capture a cub by throwing a moose over it the mother put up such splendid fight for 1t that he let it go. He wanted it, too, as a com panion for another cub that he had ob- tained for western geological park. Several very large brown bears were shot by the sportsmen of the party. Captain Kleinschmidt pursued one. a female, with two cubs. to the mountains to which they are accustomed. to retreat in order to protect their young against the males, which are likely to destroy them.