Chock Full of Fun

1895

HOW MAX RANSOM LEARNED THIS TRAIT OF THE BLACK BEAR.

The Bear Stripped Him and Put on the Clothes — His Friends Seem to Doubt the Story, but as Evidence of Good Faith He Doesn't Shoot Black Bears Now.

"I don't care what anybody says or thinks," said Max Ransom of this city, an observant sportsman and one who thinks twice before he shoots, "but I am convinced that the predominating trait in the character of the great American bear is a longing for fun. I mean the black bear. The grizzly bear and all his near relatives, or, as some say, his descendants, such as the silver tip and the cinnamon bear, have no sense of humor in them.

"But the black bear, judging, as I do, from a personal experience, is simply looking for something to have fun with when he goes out. I had killed quite a number of bears before I had this little experience, hut I have never killed one since or attempted to kill one. I wouldn't have the blood of a bear on my hands for anything. Seems to me I'd feel as if I were a murderer. I mean a black bear, of course.

"The way I happened to change my mind about black bears and their disposition was this: Two or three of us were up in Pennsylvania one fall deer hunting. One day, after standing on a runway for two or three hours, and judging that the dogs had taken the deer in another direction, I put my gun down and walked away a short distance to a barberry bush to pick some of the tart berries. A frost had knocked the berries all off the bush, and they lay thick on the ground beneath it. I stooped down and was enjoying the refreshing mountain fruit when I felt something tap me on the shoulder. I looked up, and there, towering above me and with a grin on its face as near as a grin could possibly be on a face not human, stood a bear at least five foot tall, being on his hind feet, looking down at me, his fore paws hanging limp against his chest. It was the bear, of course, that had tapped me on the shoulder.

"Now, here was a situation. I couldn't get at my gun. I had a knife in my pocket, but with that universal belief I had always had that the bear is a fierce, ugly and pugnacious beast that wanders about with his eye constantly skinned for some one that he can pitch into and scatter about and chew up I didn't think it would be wise for me to rise from the base of that towering bear, right into his clutch, you might say, and defy him with a knife. The bear seemed to be waiting for me to do something. I was in squatting posture and really couldn't make up my mind what to do. So I remained just as I was, trying to think what ought to be done under the circumstances. I guess the bear must have got impatient, for he reached down and tapped me on the shoulder again. It was just a gentle tap, as if he were simply calling my attention to something or other. Then I made up my mind. I thought I might throw myself quickly forward, get to my feet, out and run and make a circuit among the trees, supposing all the time that the bear would be chasing me until I could got back to where my gun was. Once there, I would have no further apprehension as to the result.

"So I made a surge forward, but before my head had scarcely changed its position the bear's paw closed on my shoulder. In an instant he jerked me to my feet, turned me square around and there I stood, face to face with him, he with a paw on each of my shoulders. I thought my only chance now was to get my knife in action before the bear finished me, and I carefully slipped my hand in my pocket and got the knife. I was stealthily passing my other hand over to open the knife when the bear calmly reached down with one paw, snatched it out of my hand and threw it away. From the position the bear was in I might have given him a tremendous kick in the stomach and doubled him up so I could have got to my gun before he got over the effects of the kick, but I didn't think of it, and I'm glad now that I didn't. I wouldn't have known then what there really is in bears and would have gone on killing them in cold blood.

"After the bear threw my knife away he took off my hat, looked it over and then put it on his own head in a rakish way. He was more than grinning now — he was actually laughing, and his eyes twinkled mischievously. The next move he made was to unbutton my hunting coat and take it off of me as slick as could be. This he threw off to one side and then took off my vest. He laid the vest on the coat.

" 'Heavens!' I said to myself. 'This bear is going to strip me so he can chew me up better.'

"After taking off my vest the bear pushed me down on the two garments and deliberately and expertly drew off my boots! Then he sat down opposite me and drew the boots on his own foot. After he had done that he yanked me off the coat and vest and tried to put the vest on himself. It was too small, but he got the coat on all right, and then he was a sight that made me tumble right down there and howl. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. My mirth seemed to please the bear, and he danced around like a tipsy raftsman, cutting all sorts of fandangoes and pigeon wings. I guess this lasted ten minutes, and I was sore all through from laughing, when suddenly the bear stopped, cocked his head on one side and listened a moment. Then he stripped my coat off and tossed it to me, and sitting down pulled off the boots and gave them back. To take off the hat and hand it over was only the work of a second, and then the bear hurried away into the brush and disappeared. He had hardly got away before along came my companions with their guns. The bear had heard them, and he knew what would happen to him from men with guns, and so he got away as quickly as he could.

"Of course my friends were surprised to see me sitting there half stripped; and when I told them what had occurred they acted as if they didn't believe me, and they've acted that way ever since." — New York Sun.

She Killed The Bear

1895

A YOUNG SCHOOLMISTRESS HAD AN ADVENTURE WITH BRUIN.

Miss Katie Didn't Show Fight Until She Had a Shade the Best of the Situation, but We'll Call Her Delay Generalship and Give Her Full Credit For the Victory.

Katie Rankin is a pretty 21-year-old schoolmistress in Cummings township, Lycoming county. She is also a heroine, as an adventure in which she was a leading character has proved. A 250 pound black bear was the other actor in the affair, and Katie's schoolhouse was the scene of combat. The structure in which pretty Miss Rankin conducts her school is located near the banks of Pine creek, in a sparsely settled district. Just back of the one story schoolhouse stretches a forest, up and across the mountain, which rises 500 feet or more. It is no uncommon thing to see bears or catamounts in these woods. The knowledge that there were wild beasts about caused Katie Rankin to carry a revolver, for her boarding place is fully half a mile distant from the schoolhouse. Diligent practice has made her a proficient markswoman.

One night snow fell in that locality to the depth of 20 inches. Next morning Miss Rankin started for her school, going quite early so that she could have the room warm before the pupils began to arrive. The task of trundling through the deep snow for a half mile was more than she had counted on, and when she arrived at the door of the little schoolhouse she was nearly fagged out. On opening the door she was surprised to find one of the windows in the rear of the room wide open. It had apparently been open all night, for the snow had drifted in.

Hurrying up the aisle to make fast the window, she was startled to see a big black bear lying on the floor close to the stove. She screamed, for she thought the form that of a tramp who had taken shelter in her schoolroom from the severe storm of the night before. She was about to flee when the black form raised up, and she was surprised still more to find it not a man, but a big black bear. Now, here was a predicament! Run she must. She sprang to the door; but, behold! in her hurry to get inside when she arrived, a minute before, she had failed to remove the key from the outside. The peculiar make of lock made it an impossibility to open the same on either side without the aid of the key after it had sprung shut, and thus was the now thoroughly alarmed girl made a prisoner, with a big black bear as a companion.

Old bruin sat up on his haunches and blinked at the terrified girl. It was evident that her screams had awakened him from a sound sleep, and that he was still drowsy was more than apparent from his lazy attitude. The bear had found the window of the schoolhouse open, and the aperture thus afforded being not more than three foot from the ground he easily got inside. That he had made himself at home was in evidence from the topsy turvy condition of affairs. A lunchbasket, left by one of the pupils, in which several extra pieces of cake remained, was on the floor empty. Books and maps and slates were thrown promiscuously about, and as the impertinent fellow sat looking at the timid little schoolma'am he seemed sorry for the disturbance he had caused in the schoolroom.

At last, having surveyed her to his entire satisfaction, bruin gave a loud grunt, showed two rows of teeth, then turned and shambled toward the open window. With his fore paws on the sill he looked back over his shoulder at Miss Rankin, who stood trembling at the door; then he raised his ponderous form and slid out into the snow. It was then that Miss Rankin bethought herself and rammed her hand into her coat pocket for the revolver. With this as a helpmate, and the bear on the outside of the building, all her bravery returned. She knew that bruin could not well get back if she barricaded the windows, and she did want to shoot a real, true bear so badly.

On going to the window she was surprised to find that the bear had not yet gone more than ten feet toward the wood. The snow was so deep and of such a feathery nature that it was next to impossible for the woolly coated creature to move. He first stood on his hind legs, and with his fore paws beat the snow from in front, but when he attempted to move forward he invariably tumbled headforemost into the snow, which at that point had drifted four feet high.

Miss Rankin judged that this was her chance. She did not stop to think that bears are not usually shot with a revolver. She watched bruin flounder in the snow and knew that he could not get back to her, even though the first few shots did no more than injure him. She waited until he stood upright, when she leveled the pistol at his head and fired. Simultaneous with the report of the firearm the bear jumped into the air several feet, then went rolling into the snowdrift. An instant later he was again on his feet, this time with his face toward the schoolhouse window. The sight of his pretty tormentor and the pain of the bullet wound in his head maddened the fellow, and his attempt to flounder through the snow back to the window was terrific.

Again Miss Rankin raised her pistol, this time taking aim for the bear's eye. The bullet went "home," and the bear fell again into the snowdrift. This time he was slow to rise, and before he accomplished this another bullet went plowing into his body, and he lay down to die.

The shooting at the schoolhouse was heard by those at a farmhouse just across the creek, and several of the men folks came hurrying through the snow, one of them carrying a gun. Upon arriving at the schoolhouse they were quickly acquainted with the situation.

The man with the gun made his way to where the bear lay and found that the beast was not dead. He raised his gun to fire the finishing charge, but was stopped before he could pull the trigger by Miss Rankin, who exclaimed, "Here, I want to kill that bear."

The man stepped back. Miss Rankin, from her position at the window, sent another bullet into the woolly mass that lay partly hidden in the snowdrift. That shot "fixed him," as one of the men said — when telling of the plucky girl's thrilling escapade.

Miss Rankin has had a rug made of the bearskin. It is an exceptionally fine one, and it will ever prove a ready reminder of the day that she was made prisoner in a country schoolhouse, with a wild beast for her only companion. — Pittsburg Dispatch.



An Embossed Shield

Figg — Suffrage is the shield that protects the American people.
Fogg — Yes, but a shield with too many bosses. — Boston Transcript.

How To Kill A Grizzly Bear

1895

The Only Safe Way Is to First Catch Your Bear, Then Cut His Throat.

"The only safe way to kill a grizzly bear is to cut his throat," said an old forty-niner who has come back to Louisville to end his days. "I learned this when I took that trip from Sacramento to Lower California with a herd of cattle and only a greaser and myself to drive 'em.

"We had been out for three days. On the morning of the third day, just about dawn, we were awakened by the bellowing of frightened cattle. We expected a stampede, and both of us jumped to our feet and on our horses. Then we began to ride around the cattle to keep them from breaking and running. It didn't take us long to discover the cause of the cattle's fright. About 300 yards distant was a big grizzly with his head down making for our camp. The Mexican saw him the same time I did.

"I unslung my gun and held it in readiness to shoot as soon as bruin was in range. The Mexican held up his hand warningly and yelled, 'Wait!' He took his lasso off the horn of his saddle, and digging his spurs into the sides of his pony rode down upon the bear as fast as he could go. He passed the bear, and when 15 feet behind him wheeled his horse. Then, whirling his lasso about his head, he let fly at the running bear. The lasso settled nicely over one of the lifted feet. The trained pony lifted himself on his haunches, and the lasso tightened his grip on the bear's leg. This angered the bear, and he turned with a growl and started directly toward the Mexican, who rode toward a little clump of trees just north of the camp. He kept drawing in the lasso and expected to tighten it and drag the bear, but bruin was fast upon his feet and kept in easy distance of the greaser.

"The horseman rode behind one of the trees and jumped from his horse. Bruin started after him and reached around the tree to get him. The wily greaser began to jump about from side to side of the tree, with the bear always following, but never getting any closer than just opposite. The result was that bruin was finally wrapped tightly about with the lasso and was tied to the tree. When the greaser got the bear in this position, he held on to the end of the lasso in his hand, and showing his teeth in a broad grin looked at me. Reaching down into his greasy sash, he pulled out a long, sharp knife and made one slash across the bear's throat. That did him." — Louisville Courier-Journal.

Man and Bear Die In Fight

1920

Rancher Finds Their Skeletons, Still Clasped Together.

LIVINGSTON, Montana. — The skeletons of a man and a bear, clasped together, recently were found a few inches underground on Chicken Creek, near here, R. A. Fifield, a rancher, reported.

The skull of the human being was missing, and because the discoverer has been a resident of the district for thirty-seven years, it is believed the man was either one of the earliest prospectors or an Indian.

No weapon was found to show how the man, while within the clasp of the bear, was able to kill the beast.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 1.

MacMillan Party Intact

1916

Battle Harbor, Labrador, Sept. 8. — The Grenfell Mission schooner George B. Cluett, which went to the relief of the Donald B. MacMillan Arctic expedition in July 1915, has returned here, Only Captain H. C. Pickles and the crew are aboard, MacMillan, Dr. E. O. Hovey, who led the relief expedition, and the other scientists of the party having elected to remain for a time in the northern part of Greenland.

The MacMillan party wintered aboard the Cluett in Parker Snow Bay east of Etah and Captain Pickles reports that on July 28, 1916, when the Cluett left North Star Bay, Greenland, about twenty miles north of the expedition's winter quarters, all the party were in good health and had an abundance of supplies.

The MacMillan party were joined by Knud Rasmussen, the Danish explorer, who has been engaged in that region in mapping out the coast, and it is understood that they will return by way of Denmark.

The Cluett was just able to get clear of her anchorage through a narrow lane of ice, and after four weeks of battling with heavy ice, reached open water at a point about the latitude of Durban Harbor, forty miles north of Cape Dyer. Throughout August fog and southerly head winds prevailed. The hull of the Cluett on her arrival here appeared to be in good shape, in spite of the hard winter through which she passed, and her buffeting by the ice on her trip south. Her engine has been out of commission since last October and her propeller shaft and rudder chains are broken.

The crew seems to be in good shape, despite the shortage of food and other hardships through which they passed. The winter's diet of salt horse and bread was varied by a supply of birds and sea pigeons, which were netted in large numbers, and whale, sea walrus and Polar bear meat.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 6.

Arresting Three Bears

1916

A great fondness for sweet things not long ago spoiled the vacation plans of three bad bears, who were touring the western coast with their trainer. Though not very dangerous, the bears were full of mischief, and needed careful watching. One day, however, they cleverly escaped from their cage, and made straight for the nearest woods. While the three chose a certain spot in the woods as their headquarters, they did not spend all their time there, but made several foraging raids before they were captured. The people near were filled with terror. The bears' trainer was also worried. They were valuable bears, and he wanted them to come home.

Suddenly a friend remembered one of the tricks the three had often performed together — eating cookies and drinking sweetened water from a bottle. There wasn't anything they liked better than sweetened water, and they never failed to scent it long before it reached them. Perhaps the rogues could be trapped by this same treat; there was no harm in trying it, at any rate.

Loading an automobile with a number of bottles filled with sweetened water, one of the men set off toward the bears' rendezvous. Long before the man was within hailing distance, the three thirsty bears scented the treat in store for them and rolled rapidly up to the car. The man in the car slackened his speed, and the clumsy beasts climbed in, seated themselves, and greedily snatched the bottles they found. The car moved slowly off, and three cheerful prisoners were carried back to their cage. — Kings' Treasuries.

Who's Afraid of Big Bear?

1916

Not This Idaho Woman, Who Shoots One "Thoroly Dead."

BOISE, Idaho — What would you do, Miss or Mrs. Chicago, if you were suddenly confronted alone in the wilds and removed from call of help, by a huge bear?

Faint? Run? Scream?

Mrs. H. L. Walter of Boise, supervisor of the kindergarten at Margaret's Hall and wife of Professor Walter of the high school, was placed in just such a position recently at the Walter camp on Lambing Creek. She was placidly fishing in the creek. Glancing up she saw bruin headed her way under full steam.

She picked up her trusty rifle and proceeded to shoot Mr. Bruin until he was thoroly dead. Her steady aim proved she was not in the least flustrated.

A. B. Zu Tavern of the high school faculty, who tells the story, says he saw a handsome skin hung on the cabin to dry. Its size, he says, tells the story of what might have happened had Mrs. Walter not been a good shot.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Animals Asleep

1901

The Attitudes Some of Them Assume During Slumber

The chimpanzee, as far as I have been able to ascertain, never sleeps upon its back, its favorite position being on its side, with one arm under its head. In this respect it resembles children of from 4 to 10 years of age. The only gorilla which I have had an opportunity of observing also apparently preferred this attitude, but occasionally seemed to sleep comfortably in a crouching position, with its head bowed down between its knees. This latter attitude appears to be the one adopted by nearly all the lower monkeys.

When turned out at pasture, all horses, except those which are crippled by disease or injury, lie down at night with their legs folded beneath their bodies. Some of the short limbed and thick jointed animals, such as the elephant, hippopotamus and rhinoceros, find a difficulty in bending their legs under them after the manner of their more slender kindred. Hence they sleep upon their sides in a pig-like attitude.

Bears, as far as I have been able to observe, have no characteristic sleeping attitude, for you see them lying in all sorts of grotesque positions, as if they found one quite as comfortable as another. Indeed, a well favored bear. covered with a good layer of fat and a thick coat of fur, may be said to carry his bed about with him, and any part of his skin will serve either for mattress or coverlet, as occasion arises. Nevertheless, the bear, when sound asleep, tends to curl himself up with his nose and paws inward, and this is probably the attitude which in cold climates he adopts when hibernating in his den during the winter season.

Kangaroos also appear to be quite indifferent as to the position of their bodies during sleep. Any sunny afternoon at the zoological gardens you may see them sprawling on the straw in all imaginable attitudes. The only things they seem to demand in order to be perfectly comfortable are reasonable warmth and plenty of elbow room. — Dr. Louis Robinson in Pearson's Magazine.

Can Cope With Wolves

1902

A New Breed of Staghounds Combines Speed With Ferocity

William A. Richards, assistant land commissioner, is a hunter of no mean prowess, and in his home near the Big Horn mountains, Wyoming, has killed more than one grizzly and mountain lion. Several days ago Mr. Richards was talking over sporting matters with a Washington Post reporter, when the conversation turned upon dogs and the value of the several breeds for hunting purposes, when he said:

"In my section we have at last secured a breed of dogs that is highly satisfactory. As wolf dogs they cannot be excelled, and the only time that to my recollection I ever saw these dogs turn tail was on an occasion when they faced four grizzlies. Even then they showed fight, retreating only when it was absolutely necessary. Several years ago we began experimenting with a view to securing a breed of dogs sufficiently heavy and ferocious to attack and kill wolves and fleet enough to run them down. After many trials we found that a cross between the old Scotch staghound and the common greyhound proved far superior to any of the experiments we had previously tried.

"These dogs combine the fleetness of the greyhound with the strength and ferocity of the Scotch staghound and as a result are being extensively bred all through the west. A coyote stands no show whatever with these dogs, for as soon as the pack overtakes him he does not strike the ground until he is literally torn limb from limb. The gray wolf is a better and harder fighter, but even in a fair fight one of these crossbred wolf hounds is an even match for the gray wolf. In fact there are some of my dogs that are almost as wild and fierce as the wolves themselves.

"These animals do not hesitate to tackle the black bear and generally make life a burden for him, while in hunting the grizzly bear they are quite useful in holding the game at bay until the hunter arrives to give 'Wahb' his coup de grace."

Bear Saves Child From Its Mate

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Oct. 6. — Frightfully mangled by a captive bear in Idora Park, 10-year-old Selma Lewis, daughter of Fred Lewis, was saved only by the interference of the companion bear in the cage. The little girl was feeding acorns to the bear when it suddenly reached through the bars of the cage, scalping her, frightfully mangling her right arm and biting off three of her fingers. She screamed and the other bear in the cage rushed at its mate, compelling it to loosen the hold on the child. The girl was taken to the city hospital, where her death is expected at any moment.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Oct. 9, 1909.

Grizzlies Feast on Sheep

1905

Early one frosty October morning when the little Nimrod was sitting in a crevice of the mountain's side basking in the sun he espied way down in the valley three grizzlies, says a writer in the Metropolitan. From the former trailing he had done he knew them to be a great male and two females as his mates.

As the boy watched them he says that they went off in different directions, one ascending the face of the opposite mountain, while the other two worked their way around either side of its base before commencing the ascent. As he watched them he noticed that while the bear that was climbing up the mountain's face took things leisurely the other two were going much faster and that they were heading up toward the back of the mountain.

The lad, wondering what the bears were about, began to scan the mountain and discovered a band of big-horn sheep feeding on the mountain's front very near the top. Standing Wolf felt sure that something of interest was about to happen, so he watched the bears and the sheep attentively. After awhile, when the lower bear, the only one now in view, had climbed to a point which revealed him to the sheep, they became restless and began to ascend rapidly. Whenever the bear was seen to quicken his pace the big-horns would at once quicken theirs.

Up, up, up the rugged precipice they scurried and ever faster followed the bear. After an exhausting ascent of the steepest cliff on the mountain's side the band gained the top and for a second rested. Then, as two great forms rushed out among them, confusion seized the herd and they dashed away in all directions, many leaping panic-stricken over the precipice.

A moment later, after having killed the couple they had seized, two grizzly bears that had ascended the back of the mountain waddled forward to the edge of the cliff and, stared down at their accomplice feasting upon sheep that had been mangled upon the crags below.

Bruin as a Fisherman

May 1902

Old hunters say that the black bear does a good deal of fishing at this season. It is said that carefully studying the sun and approaching so that his shadow will not be cast upon the waters, bruin creeps cautiously to where he sees the telltale fins, and dexterously throws the fish out of the water with a sweep of his paw.

A couple of lads came across a different kind of bear at St. Mary's Lake, near Hull, Canada.

This one preferred having some one else do the fish catching for him.

The boys had got a good sackful of pike, which they had left near a stump while they amused themselves on a raft they had thrown together. They looked ashore after a time to see a big bear walking off with the bag of fish over his shoulder.

He paid not the least attention to their shoutings, having, as it transpired, taken the precaution of breaking the stock of their gun across at the grip before carrying off the fish.


Lovers' Thrilling Experience

Fred Tieman and Miss Rosie Beard, living a few miles below Evansville, Ind., in trying to reach a preacher's house to be married, were forced to cross a long streak of bottomland covered with about ten feet of water. The buggy was upset and the occupants thrown out. Tieman held his sweetheart in his left arm while he cut the harness, freeing the horses from the buggy. The lovers then held on to the horse's tail until the shore was reached, a distance of nearly a mile. The wedding ceremony was postponed for a day. — St. Louis Republic.

Child Saved by a Bear

1898

Residents of Apalachin, N. Y., had a bad scare recently, when the four-year-old child of Henry Rathburn started out alone to look for trailing arbutus. It was half an hour before she was missed, and then all trace of the little one was lost. Her distracted father and his neighbors joined in the search.

While passing through a ravine they were startled to see an uncouth object shambling toward them some distance up the road, carrying a bundle in its mouth. Closer inspection proved to the terrified searchers that the object was a bear and the bundle a child. It is many years since a bear was seen in this section, but the men, though unarmed, prepared to give battle, one of their number going back for help. But the bear trotted toward them as though totally unconcerned, and when a few yards away carefully laid down the child it was carrying by its dress.

When the men approached and took up the little one the bear did not show fight, and a closer investigation proved he had a ring in his nose. Later it was found the bear belonged to an Italian who was camping in a nearby barn, making a tour of the country. He had purchased the animal when a cub and reared him in a New York tenement, where he was allowed to play with the children, and it was there he had learned the trick of carrying the little ones. — New York Press.

The Magical Box — Great Trick of Magicians

1874

MAGICAL BOX

A magician has lately been giving a series of performances, some of which are as surprising as they are entertaining and amusing. One of them is as follows:

A common empty packing box, with a lid hung by iron, hinges, is placed upon the stage, and a committee from the audience asked to examine it. They report that it is a firmly made packing box. After a thorough examination, outside and inside, they take a rope and tie it up, passing twice around the ends and sides, passing it through the staples for the two padlocks, and then tie the ends firmly, and seal them with sealing wax. They then envelop the box in a canvas, which covers all six sides, when another rope is added, tied and sealed. Surely the box is safe from any attempt to get into or out of it without removing the ropes!

The assistant then comes forward with a canvas sack, open at one end. This is examined by the committee and by the audience. It is then placed over the head of the assistant, and tied below his feet and the knots sealed. He is then laid in the box, and the box surrounded by a screen. In two and a half minutes the sack is thrown over the screen, the knot and seals untouched. The screen is instantly removed, and the committee, after examining the seals and finding them unbroken, commence untying the ropes and removing the canvas. The box is opened and the man found inside!


1909

No More Teddy Bears?

The days of the Teddy bear are over, but while they lasted, the inventor of that popular plaything reaped a rich harvest. It is said his profits are up in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.


Genius Hair

"Why is it," asks a writer in Fliegende Blatter, "that when a man discovers that he is a 'genius' he allows his hair to grow long, and that when a woman becomes similarly conscious she has her hair cut short?"

—Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Nov. 30, 1909, p. 2.

Man Quits Tobacco on 91st Birthday

1920

Estimates He Has Taken 140,000 Chews of the Weed

ROME, N. Y. - "Uncle Ben" Hasser, who lives near here, has quit chewing tobacco - quit on his 91st birthday, which he celebrated last Saturday.

Uncle Ben says he commenced chewing the weed when he was 14 years old and has never missed a day without putting at least five chews in his mouth. He says he has been doing a little figuring and that during his life he must have taken 140,000 "chews."

He has now gone without his chew for five days and believes he is already weaned from the habit, "but a feller can't jest always tell," he says.


Lumbermen Nearly Saw a Bear In Two

HUBBARD LAKE, Mich. - Charles Noble and Sam Jackson of this village had a very unusual experience the other day when at work in a timber camp.

While sawing through the trunk of a large basswood tree they had just cut down, they came near sawing the body of a live, half-grown bear completely in twain.

As it was, they gave young bruin a slight cut with the saw and were amazed to see the shaggy black beast leap from a hollow in the log and scamper away, howling loud enough to stampede all other wild animals for miles around. Other witnesses vouch for this news story.

Bears, Geese, Flowers, Robins Back on Job

1920

Nature Prophets Come to the Front as Spring Arrives

HACKENSACK, N. J., March 25. -- A bear, full of pep after awakening from his winter sleep, treed Charles Ehrberg of Rochelle Park Sunday night, but Charley was rescued by his friend, William Seeman.

WINSTED, Conn., March 25. -- A robin hopped all over Dr. W. S. Hulbert's lawn, although the grass was covered with snow and the mercy was below 30. It was the first redbreast of that year, and everybody knows what that means.

CAPE MAY, N. J., March 25. -- Seven flocks of geese were seen flying over this city, each flock numbering fifty or more. They were on their way to northern feeding grounds. Farmers are plowing their fields.

MILFORD, Conn., March 25. -- Frank Wilson, residing at South Milford, brought to the Center the other day a large branch of apple blossoms, more than twenty separate twigs and branches. It made a bouquet more than twenty inches in diameter. He is sure it means an early spring.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 1.

Trappers Prophesy a Long, Hard Winter

Michigan, 1919--

TRAPPERS PROPHESY LONG, HARD WINTER

THEY SAY NATURE HAS GIVEN ANIMALS ESPECIAL PROTECTION AGAINST COLD

Old heads in the trapping game go, each year, to the woods during the fall, to return before Thanksgiving time to tell the populace the character of the approaching weather. Their prophecy is based upon observation of nature's devices to protect her four footed charges from weather. No one doubts these prophets whose testimony is given below:

For weeks the beaver dams have been winter proof with the food supplies in. The dams this year are larger than formerly.

Bruin's coat is as glossy now as in mid-January. This means a cold winter sure, trappers say.

Immense flocks of geese have gone south. The north was deserted by them weeks ago.

Tree "cooties" are scarce and are nearer the ground than usual. Moss is heavier, bark is thicker, buds of trees are warmly encased.

Deer are herding early and all fur-bearing animals are a month nearer "prime."

--Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, Michigan, November 20, 1919, page 13.