DO GRIZZLIES EAT GUNS? 



Frank King and Nelson Peterson, who 

 keep a road house in the Saw Tooth moun- 

 tains 60 miles North of Nome, had sev- 

 eral times seen large tracks that appeared 

 to have been made by a bear, but as no 

 bears had been seen in that section the 

 friends of these men laughed when they 

 heard about the tracks. However, one 

 morning in May last, King took his 12 

 gauge Remington shot gun and Peterson 

 his rifle and the men started out deter- 



old Eph might rise at any moment and 

 come at them with the breech end of the 

 shot gun barrels ; but Bruin was done up 

 and his pard* was making her escape 

 through the mountains. The men brought 

 the carcass to I^^te, where it was photo- 

 graphed and plai|||; on exhibition. 



It measured j#=- feet and weighed 600 

 pounds. They cferged 50 cents admission 

 and took in mJTny good dollars. Then 

 they sold the meaf . at $1 a pound. It was 



KILLED BY FRANK KING IN THE SAWTOOTH RANGE 60 MILES FROM NOME. 



mined to do up the maker of those tracks, 

 whatever he might be. They found the 

 trail and followed it nearly all day. 

 Finally on climbing a steep bank King 

 came face to face with the big bear. He 

 raised his gun but before he could pull the 

 trigger the bear grabbed the muzzle and 

 wrenched the barrels from the stock. How- 

 ever, the gun did its work, for one barrel 

 was discharged in the bear's mouth and 

 he rolled down the cliff, still holding the 

 barrels in his teeth. 



Whether King or the bear fired the shot 

 will always remain an unanswered ques- 

 tion. The battle was over before Peterson 

 could be of any assistance, as he was be- 

 hind King. They both stood silently 

 watching the bear for some time, while 

 Peterson covered him with his rifle, fearing 



the only fresh meat in town that week. 

 The skin was bought by a friend of mine 

 for $125 and I have it in my office. It is 

 one of the most beautiful bear skins I ever 

 saw. 



The gun that did the killing was loaded 

 with ]S[o. 6 shot. 



A. H. Dunham, Nome, Alaska. 



This story sounds decidedly fakish. I 

 have heard at least 100 stories of men kill- 

 ing bears by ramming the guns down their 

 throats and pulling the trigger. In some 

 cases the bear has grabbed the gun by the 

 muzzle, as this one is said to have done. 

 In others he came at the man "with his 

 mouth open"- and the man did the rest. It 

 is not likely that any one of these stories 

 is true, though the feat is not impossible. 



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