Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1896 — TREE© BY A MOQBC [ARTICLE]

TREE© BY A MOQBC

A PVMptctnrS Narrow Eacapa la the I North of Minnesota. Two pine land prospectors, Ben Jackson and Gustave Herman, have Jnat re- , turned to Tower, Minn., from a trip into the northern part of that State, and j among other things they tell of a hairbreadth escape which Jackson had away up near the Rainy River. Coming j to an excellent tract of pine land, the two men entered from opposite sides to j thoroughly investigate it. Herman had 1 not gone far before he came upon the j feeding and breeding grounds of a herd jof at least 500 moose. His approach stampeded them and they all went off in the opposite direction. “After having examined the breeding grounds for some time and hearing nothing from Jackson,” says Herman, “I started off on the trail left by the moose, which was not a difficult thing to do, as the animals had made a good road through the snow, over which an army could have marched. Small trees were broken and old stumps overturned by the moose In their mad flight, and about a mile from the yard I came upon the mangled remains of a small cow* moose. She had, no doubt, fallen as she ran, and had been trampled to death by her companions. “Just at dusk I found Jackson. He was up a pine tree, at the foot of which, pawing, stamping and snorting in anger, was a gigantic bull moose. The animal had been tearing at the tree with his antlers until most off the bark was torn off, and the blows he inflicted upon the tali pine made the woods ring. I fired one shot at the animal, and he made off, as I had intentionally missed him when I fired. At the foot of the tree lay what was left of Jackson’s rifle. The stock was broken off and trampled info little bits, while the heavy barrel was bent and twisted in a dozen different ways, and showed plainly the marks of hoofs.”

“1 was making my way through the woods,” says Jackson, "when suddenly a noise like a hurricane coming fell upon my ear. There was no wind stirring, and therefore I was at a loss to acount for the sound. Just then the herd of moose, many hundred strong, came Into sight, and for a minute I felt sick, for I did not think there was any escape for me, and, knowing that a bullet or two would not change them from their course, I dropped my rifle and went up A tree like a squirrel. “The animals paid no atteution to me for a time, and as they dashed along under me the very ground trembled, and the tree in which I was shook as though it were a sapling. When the herd had got pretty well past an old bull, who seemed to be bigger than all out-doors, took his stand directly under the tree, and until Herman came along kept trying to knock down my refuge.”