Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-07-08
TAUGHT BY GRIZZLY
How a Big Game Hunter Learned
The Golden Rule;
NO LONGER KILLS FOR KILLING SAKE

MI L0NGER KILLS fUR klLLlNG SAkE
Well Authenticated Story o: Remark
B.. able Experience in the WiIds of
British Columbia.
Literary Digest
A low and sudden rumble like far
away thunder stopped the blood in the
hunters veins. He had not expected
his bear was within two or three miles
of him. 1t was in a wild and unlimited
part of the British Columbia noun
tains and. he had gone out alone on
trthis particular morning, leaving his
man to follow with horses and the
Airda,e pack. A few days earlier the
hunter had come upon the trail of an
enormous bear. In a patch Of mud the
animals feet had left tracks that were
fifteen inches from tip to tip and so
wide and deep were the imprints that
he knew he had come upon king OF
bears and forthwith gave him the
name Thor. From that moment he was
possessed with 4 great desire TO Kill
the monster. In his book GODS
Country" Cosmopolitan Book Cor
poration, New York;, James Oliver
Curwood tells how his experience with
Thor was the climax of his hunting
days. that turned him against the wan
ton killing of beasts. AS he heard the
rumble Of the bear, he climbed little
rise and there. he writes:
Ahead of me, on the edge Of little
wallow of mud, stood Thor. He mad
smelled me and, I believe, it was the
first time he had ever smeled the
scent Of man. Waiting for this new
mystery in the air, he had reared
himself up until the whole nine feet OF
him rested on his launches and he sat
ike q trained dog. with his great fore
| feet, heavy with mud, dropping IN
| front Of his chest. He was monster
in size and his new June coat shone
a golden brown in the sun. His fore
arms were almost as large as a man s
body and the three largest of his hve
knifelikc, claws were five and a half
inches long. He was fat and sleek
and powerful. His upper fangs, sharp
as stiIleto- points, were as long as
mans thumb, and between his great
laws he could have crushed the neck
of a caribul. l did not take IN al
these details in the first starting
moments; one by one they came 10 me
later. But I had never looked upon
unything in life quite so magnificent.
Vet did I have no thought of spaflng
that splendid life. My rifle was at my
saddle horn in its buckskin Jacket. !
fumbed it in getting into actloh anu
in those precious moments Inor lower
ed himself slowly and ambied away.
ared twice and would have staked my
mfo thotI had missed both times. Not
until later did | discover that one OF
my bullets had opened furroW TWO
iuchos deep and foot long in the Hesh
NJ Thors shoulder Yet | did not see
him finch. He did not turn back, put
went his way.
Shame burns within me as write OF
the days that followed; and yet, win
that shame. there is a deep and aDid.
ing iov, for they were also the days OF
nv regeneration. Day and nlgnt' my
one thought was TO destroy the @ U.s
grizzly. We never left his trali. Inc
dogs followed him like demons. flve
times in the first week we came Wltniit mn
long shooting range, and twice we MI
him But still he did not wait FOR us
nr attack us. He wanted to be ieft
alone In that week he killed four ol
the dogs and the others we TIED up to
s,vn thr m. We trailed him with horses
and afoot and never did the spoor Oh
other game lure me aside. The ueslle
to kill him became passion ia nte.
He outgeneraled me. He beat al oul
gomes of lrickc"y. But knew that we
Zero bound to win-that he was SLOWLY
weakening because OF eXhaustlo,' al'.
the sickness Of his wounds. we io0seu
the dogs again and another was Killed
And then at last came day wheH
Thor, master Of the mountain sho"eo
magnanimity that made the hunter
feel contemplate, for all his human
| shane and soul He was Climbing the
mountain when he had Il mishap ana
the account runs:
came to IL sheer wall or rock that
rose hundreds Of feet above me. Along
this ran a narrow ledge and followed
| if The passage became craggy anu
difficult and in climbing over a broken
mass of rick | slipped and fell. Ehad
| brought q light mounta in gun with me
and in trying to recover HSseil
! swung il about with such force INA
the stock struck Il sharp edge OF rock
ard broke clean off. But had saved
mvse'f from possible death and was III
:, frame uf mind tn congratulate my
self rather than curse my luck. Fifty
fee, farther un came to "pncKel
in the cliff. where the ledge wiaeneu
until, at this particular place II was
like u fiat table twenty feet square
Here I sat down, with my back 10 the
urecipilous wall and began 10 examine
my broken rifle. .,,,,,
| laid it beside me. useless. Slraishse : !
uu AT my back rose the sheer race oi
the mountain; in front of me- llaa
leaped from the ledge, my BODY Wou'o
have hurtled through empty air lor
thousand feet. ,
And then, suddenly. there came
sound to my cars that seemed 10 stoi'
The heating Of my heart. | had hol
heard it until it was very ncar-aP1
pfoaching along the narrow ledGe; /.
! was the clirk-click--ciick Oh c'u""
rattling on rock! ,,,a
did not move. hardly breatRcd;
And out from the ledge had followed
rume Il monster bear!
With the Swiftncss Of hghtnihE !
recognized him. 1t was Thor: hhd' III
the same instant, tile great neasl 81"
me. ,;ro+i,,o
In thirty seconds | lived li1etlne'
and in those thirty seconds Whlt piss,