The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-25
WERE BEAR TRACKS SAYS TWO EXPERTS
And Now Redding Folks Are NervoQsIy On Watch For
 the C1itter.
Some of the Young Folks More Intent on Gaterpillars Than Bears Personal
 Tax Problems.

Bedding, Feb. 25-When the folks
 now take their walks abroad in the
 lower part of the town adjacent to
 the Jump Hill district of Easton they
 go warily and somewhat in a spirit
 of adventures This state of nerv-
 ous apprehension comes from what
 ming across a bear. the large black bear which young AIeek McCollam
 saw from his bedroom window one
 night recently, The light from, the. window below showed only indist1nct-
 ly the outlines of the eritter, but to
 the boy they strongly suggested a
 bear, as the animal moved across
 darkness. Not wishing to give what
 might prove to be a, false alarm he
 said nothing about the incident until
 the next morning. Then Hugh Mo
 CollaIn, his father, looked over the
 lawn and found clear. bear-like soil Tn MT. McColIom's s opinion the
 marks were bear tracks beyond a doubt and he ought to know as he
 has traiIed and shot bears in Canada
 Perciva1 Nash, a nefghbor, was call
 ed to the scene to pass. Judgment on
 the case and fully agreed with MT.
 McCollaIn. As MT. Nash has also
 been a bear hunter in former days
 his opinion on the subject may also be cIassed as an expert one. No one has since seen the bear but this is not strange as the country affords plenty of wooded and unfrequented
 spots where it could remain in hid ing What is believed, however. to be corroboratiye evidence of it's pres
 ence in the locality has been foun d
 in a. field on the Green farm to. the north where the partly devoured car
 caSS of a horse was dragged several rods from it's former resting place. Dogs could not have moved the mass which weighed 300 or 400 pounds It will be recalled that a strange ani- nal which tIae. observers took for a bear was seen 4on the Sunset Hill about Christmas time This and the McGol1am bear, assuming both to be the real thing and not merely con jeetural, may have been the same.
 When Collector Duncan asks the seIectmens at their meeting next week, for instructions regarding the prosecution of delinquents in the matter of paying the personal tax ne will probably have to be content
 with generalities, the same indicat- ing disp osftion to dodge the issue. As a matter of fact the officials while strongly desirous of collecting the tax are averse to taking extreme meas ures. Fhe we'll to do may be re- lied upon to pay some time and it seems little short of cruelty to send to jail or place the added burden of fine and costs upon the other class-those who are only half a lap ahead of Restitution or perhaps in destitution's grip. Tn regard to the poll tax, which the personal tax has superseded, the law and the officials were more .eonsiderate. Exemption from payment was granted the indi- gent and the inf1rm to the extent and ten per cent. of the voting list and the assessors and board of relief met
 in joint conc1ave to designate those who should have exemption Some times considerable property owner was exempted because of poor health, apparently on the queer principle that he should not be required to pay ua- less he earned the tax by his own labor. Under the old system, how ever, the town was a loser only by what it did not collect, such poll taxes as were collected going to the 1 town treasury. The personal tax, however, goes to the state and the town must make good for every name 1 on the list The subject of the per sona1 tax can of course ask the se- 1ectmen for abatement on the ground of inability to pay, but in this town there have been few if any appeals of this kind, probably because those inclined to ask relief understand that the chances are against their ob- tadning it.
 Quoting the rule laid down in a supreme court decision the select
 men would probably answer such appeals by saying that they were warranted in granting abatements5 9nly in eases where refusal was like
 v to make the applicant a town
 harge
 Before passing upon the appeal of