Year: 1867

the cat or dog, but not quite so large a


the elephant. They eat honey, fruits
aud roots, and sometimes humans, bu


as a general rule should be killed il


the old Of the moon. This is about al


that l know about them. Should yol


desire to know more of them and thei


habits you Will be obliged to call upor


some older citizen than myself. WheI


I was a young man, a good many were


seen around the swamp in Bristol anC
the north part of this town, but for tn,


past twenty years have heard but lit
tie about them, and should perhaps


never thought of bears again had it moi


been for an event which has Just trans


pired, and which the parties concerned


will please pardon for relating The


story was as follows:


Some two weeks ago DR.. NJ, of thi:
town Ia man too well, and too favorably
| known to require any comments, re


earding either his varacity or couragel


returned to his home between the


hours of 8 and P. n. The Doctor


had been absent from the house the


night previous on professional duty


and as natural consequence was
much fatigued; he therefore retired


early and soon fell into the arms oi


morpheus. The night was an inclem


ent one, it had rained most of the af


ternoon and at sunset the wind rose


and blew frightfully until midnight,


when it subsidized. This all occurred in
our last old moon, consequently the


night was quite dark, in fact it was one


of those kind of nights which Burns


describes in his Tam O'Shanter, when


he says


THE rafting shower rose on tie blast,


| The wind did blow as 'twould blow its last
| That night a child might understand


That tho Devil had business on his hand.


In the mean time Mr.. B., who had


been away from home, had returned


and was putting away and grooming


his horse; this done he was about TO 90


to the house. When near the barn door


his attention was attracted by the bar
/ king of his little poodle dog. Present.
ly there passed the door of the barn an


object which appeared larger than an
ordinary sized dog, closely followed by


the little poodle. The animal stopped
and retraced his steps; the little dog


seemed to understand that prudence


was the better part of valor, and kept
a respectable distance, advancing and
falling back as the animal seemed to
pace backward and forward in front of
the barn, the dog all the time barking


ct furious rate. Mr.. B, curl
osity was wrought up to high pitch.


He at first thought that he would 60
up to it, and ascertain just what it was,
but as he was about to do so it passed
through pair Of open bars, ne=r the
barn, into a pasture field. Again he
did not know but it might be some
rabid animal, and thought it best to
call help. He accordingly went to the
house and awakened the Doctor, who
was very 10th to gee up, being very
tired and not inclined to believe that
it was anything beyond some domes-
tic animal that could cause the alarm.
He however upon the suggestion of
Mrs. NJ, was induced to 60 out and
look after this singular visitor.


The Doctor and Mr.. B follow
ed through the bars into the pasture
field, and went nearly around the lot,
which contained about five acres. They
concluded the animal had escaped
them, and were about to return to the
house, when suddenly the animal
seemed to rise up from the corner of
the fence, and proceed in the direction
of the centre of the field, closely fol-
lowed by the little dog who was ma
king his best time on the bark. There
seemed to be a pretty brisk skirmish
going on between the animal or wha +
soeVer it was, and the little fellow
The frightened little domestic would
be chased clear across the field by the
creature, apparently a hundred times
larger than him self, and in turn would
seem to drive his foe back again, and
thus the affair continued for some
thing like an hour.


On consultation the Doctor and Mr..
B. concluded to fire at the ami
NAL, but first were compelled to 90 to
a friends for gun. They went to the
nearest neighbor and got him out
with his gun, and repaired to the spot
where the little poodle dog was still
encountering and to all appearances
the singular old brute from
getting away.


The question then arose a second
time as to the propriety of firing at the
creature. DR.. NJ. thought perhaps
it might possibly be some insane per-
son who was under some freak of ma
mia, he thought it would be a sad affair
to kill human being, and on consul
tation with the rest, concluded to wait
an hour or two and see what might be
developed. Another reason for not
shooting vas based upon the fact that
wild beasts and especially
bears became ferocious upon being
shot, when they were not instantly
killed. They thought advisable to get
more help, and more guns, if they were
10 fire upon him. They accordingly
about q dozen more neigh
Dors with their guns, when they deter
mined to fire by volley, when the ami
nal came around in right range again.
rhe time came, and whang went the
Iolley, but it seemed to produce little
,r no effect upon the creature, except
perhaps to hasten its pace little.


A new expedient was then tried.
)ne of the neighbors mounted a horse
md tried to rue him up to the spot
where the creature had seemed to lie
lown to rest himself, apparently tired
rom constant motion for the last three
,r four hours. Not however was this
tried, until the party with
,un in hand leveled upon the beast
t short range, to kill it should it
make any unkind movements. With
his precaution, and with whip in
land, he repeatedly tried 20 ride the
lorse up to the spot, but the horse had
frank in the spirit of fear, and would
ach time shy around the spot where
he brute was resting. The moon had
lready begun to make it little light,
md after an hours hard work the !
Iorse was finally forced up close
nough to see where the beast really
Tas. When this was discovered the RI
Ter with more than wonted courage
prang forward and captured it, strange
o say, without the least resistance.
Mr.. Chronicle, your readers
Till fail to be in terested in this story,
+ perhaps they may fail to see any
oint or joke in it, but if they will
all on any one of the party in South
ngton, they will have explained the
oint, also the joke. Especially can
)r. NJ. do this, whose best umbrella