FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



47 



OLD KATE BRUIN. 



Dayton, ©hio. 



Editor Recreation: Not many years 

 ago the National Soldiers' Home, at Day- 

 ton, Ohio, boasted one of the finest game 

 parks in the country. It was one of the 

 chief attractions of that handsome Home, 

 which to-day ranks as the best in the world. 



The park at one time included fine 

 specimen of elk, buffalo, deer, bear, mink, 

 otter, beaver, alligators, eagles, lions, and 

 many other American species. 



Of late years, however, the game has 

 been dying off, and no effort has been made 

 to replenish the supply. Nothing remains, 

 now, but a few Virginia deer, and it is only 

 a question of time when they will be dis- 

 pensed with. 



Old Kate who was recently killed was 

 one of the largest black bears in captivity. 

 She outlived many other animals who were 

 installed in the park long after her. At one 

 time her family consisted of 5 or 6 mem- 

 bers, but they have long since passed in 

 their checks; yet as years flew by, Old 

 Kate seemed to be enjoying splendid health 

 and to be good for a number of years yet. 

 At the time of her death, she was nearing 

 her 26th anniversary. 



Recently Governor Thomas decided to 

 dispense with the bear, on account of her 

 age and the trouble of maintaining her. 

 She was becoming vicious, toward 

 strangers, although the game keeper, -Jen- 

 nings, apparently had no fear of her. She 

 seemed on friendly terms with him at all 

 times. He has looked after her for the past 

 10 or 12 years and she came to know him 

 well. 



One day in April last'I was called on to 

 despatch old Kate. Although this was not 

 a pleasant duty I responded rather than 

 have Kate suffer from any possible awk- 

 wardness of inexperienced executioners. 



My friends, Mr. Albert Kerns, the well 

 known attorney, and a skillful amateur 

 photographer; Frank McMillan and Harry 

 Johnson, both young business men of Day- 

 ton, accompanied me to the Home, with 

 their cameras, in the hope of getting sev- 

 eral good views of the old bear. We tried 

 to get her into the open cage, so as to get 

 several pictures of her while alive; but she 

 preferred to stay in her den; so I was re- 

 quested to fire as soon as she stirred in the 

 den.^ With the assistance of several 

 soldiers we managed to get her out and 

 just as she showed her face in the door I 

 fired. She sprang forward, bleeding pro- 

 fusely, but turned and disappeared in her 

 den. Her gasps were plainly audible, but 

 none of us ventured in, for although we 

 knew she was hard hit, it was possible she 

 might still have life enough to do some 

 savage work. The cage door was finally 

 opened and I jumped in with my rifle 

 cocked. At this moment the bear raised 

 her head and with a quick aim another shot 



was fired, hitting her in the base of the 

 brain. She made one turn and dropped in 

 her tracks, forever quieted. Then the as- 

 sistants ventured in. 



How to get her out of the cage was the 

 next serious question. Rope and tackle 

 had been prepared, but unfortunately could 

 not be used. After several efforts, and with 

 5 good men at the ropes, she was finally 

 hauled out and drawn under a tree, where 

 several exposures were made by the gentle- 

 man mentioned, but it was too late in the 

 day to get good photographs. 



The first bullet penetrated her skull 

 fairly between the eyes, passing through 

 the head, breaking the back bone, severing 

 the jugular, glancing down through the 

 breast and the forearm and lodging about 

 3 inches back of the shoulder blade. The 

 second bullet penetrated the side of the 

 skull, right at the base of the ear, and 

 passed clear through. Such is the killing 

 force of a 38-55-255 Winchester rifle, using 

 metal jacketed bullet. I used in these cart- 

 ridges 19 grains of DuPont's smokeless 

 powder. Where the bullet had entered 

 the skull, the hole was barely larger than a 

 lead pencil, although after entering, the 

 path made by the bullet was terrible; cov- 

 ering a space of 3 inches of ground bone 

 and flesh. 



We put the old bear on the scales and she 

 weighed 592 pounds. Her length, from tip 

 to tip, was 6 feet 9 inches and her girth 5 

 feet ^Vz inches. She was said to be one of 

 the largest black bears in captivity. 



Walter Keenan. 



HUNTERS RETURN HOME. 



Jerome Marble and his hunting parcy, 

 who left Worcester, Mass., in September, 

 in the palace hotel car, " Yellowstone," for 

 a month's hunting trip in Minnesota and 

 North and South Dakota, reached home 

 early in November after a most delightful 

 and successful journey of 34 days. In ad- 

 dition to Mr. Marble, the party included 

 Mrs. Marble, A. W. Gifford, Arthur E. Gil- 

 ford, Mrs. A. B. F. Kinney, Mr. and Mrs. 

 V. D. Kennerson and Lester P. Kennerson 

 of Worcester; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. 

 Sturtevant and Laurens N. Sturtevant of 

 Quincy, Miss L. A. Putnam, of Quincy; 

 Lewis Eddy, of Dorchester; W. E. Har- 

 mon, of Lexington; Miss Helen S. Grif- 

 fiths, of Lexington; John M. Johnson and 

 G. Pearce, of Norwich. 



Good shooting was found at various 

 points beyond St. Paul, and, if the report 

 given by the Worcester " Spy " is correct, 

 the men killed a great deal more game than 

 they should have killed. 



Mr. Marble, whose address is Worcester, 

 Mass., is now contemplating a similar trip 

 through North Carolina, Georgia, and Al- 

 abama, and another, starting in March, t# 

 go to Mexico, California, Oregon and 



