The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-05-09
CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
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By ROGER POCOCK

liant fight was abandoned, and looking
back upon the fire which they had
failed to conquer: I'm the darkness
1t looked like the rush of a mighty
army"
Short of cowboys and lunatics, no
body could have imagined such feat
of Craftsmanship. OF that pattern is
frontier adventure daring gone mad !;
and yet it is very rarely that the
frontiersman finds the days work
worth recording, or takes the trouble
to set down on paper the stark naked
facts of an incident more exciting than
shipwreck, more dangerous than
battle, and far transcending the COM
mon experience of men.
Travelling alone in the Rockies, Col
onel Roosevelt came at shutdown to
little ridge whence he could look into
the hollow beyond-and there he saw
a big grizzly walking thoughtfully
home to bed. At the first shot, she
uttered a loud moaning grunt and
plunged forward at heavy gallop,
while raced obliquely down the hill
to cut him off. After going few hum
dred feet he reached laurel thicket
which he did not leave :.
AS / halted | heard a peculiar savage
whine from the heart of the brush.
Accordingly l began to skirt the edge,
standing on tiptoe and gazing earnest
ly In to see if could not get glimpse
of his hide. When 1 was at the mar
rowest part of the thicket he suddenly
left it directly opposite, and then
wheeled and stood broadside to me on
the hillside a little above. He turned
his head stiffly toward me, scarlet
strings hung from his lips, his eyes
burned like embers in the gloom. I
held true, aiming behind the shoulder,
and my bullet shattered the point or
lower end of his heart, taking out a
big nick. Instantly the great bear
challenge, blowing the bloody foam
from his mouth, so that saw the CLEAN
of his white fangs; and then he
charged straight at me, crashing and
bounding through the laurel bushes so
that it was hard to aim.
81 waited until he came to a fallen
tree, raking him as he topped it with
a ball which entered his chest and
went through the cavity Of his body,
but he neither swerved nor flinched,
and at the moment did not know that
/ had struck him. He came unsteadily
on, and in another moment was close
upon me- / fired for his forehead,
but my bullet went low, entering his
open mouth, smashing his lower jaw,
and going into the neck l leaped to
one side almost as / pulled trigger,
and through the hanging smoke the
first thing l saw was his paw as he
made a vicious side blow at me. The
rest of his charge carried him past.
As he struck he lurched forward, leav-
ing pool of bright blood where his
muzzle hit the ground; but he recov-
cred himself and made two or three
jumps onward, while 1 hurriedly
damned couple of cartridges into the
magazine, my rife only holding four,
all of which had fired Then he tried
to pull up, but as he did so his muscles
seemed to give way, his head dropped,
and he rolled over-each of my first
three bullets had inflicted a mortal
wound"
This man who had fought grizzly
bears came rather as surprise among
the politicians in silk hats. He had
the gentry at his back because he
was one of the few men of unques-
toned birth and breeding who had en-
tered the political bear-pit since the
country squires who followed George
Washington. He had all the army at
his back because he had charged the
heights at Santiago de Cuba with con-
spicuous valor at the head of his own
regiment of cowboys. He had the navy
at his back because as assistant secre-
tary of the navy he had successfully
governed the fleet. But he was no poll
tician when he came forward to claim
the presidency of the United States.
Seeing that he could not be ignored the
wire-pullers set trap for this inno-
cent and gave him the place Of vice
president. The vice president has lit
tie to do, can only succeed to the Office
in the event Of the presidents death,
and is, after brief term, frequently
barred for life from any further prog
ress. Teddy walked into the trap
and sat down.
But when President Mckinley was
murdered the politicians found that
they had made most surprising and
gigantic blunder. BY their own act
the cowboy bear fighter must succeed
to the vacant seat as chief magistrate
of the republic President Roosevelt
happened to be away at the time, hunt
ing bears in the Adirondack wilder
ness, and there began frantic search
Of mountain peaks and forest solitudes
for the missing ruler of one hundred
million people. When he was found, and
had paid the last honors TO his dead
friend, William Mckinley, he was
obliged to proceed to Washington, and
there take the oath. His women folk
had a terrible time before they could
persuade him to wear a silk hat and
frock coat, but he consented even to
that for the sake of the gorgeous time
he was to have with the politicians
afterward.
and 10 men, picked from Swiss Of
,,1hlouiehad charec far and I'm tha