Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1875 — A Bear on a Spree. [ARTICLE]

A Bear on a Spree.

Wlien the editorial party were at the summit yesterday morning a number of them who had been informed as to the amusing performances of the large cinnamon bear kept at Cardwell’s Hotel expressed a desire to see him accomplish liis feat of drinking a glass of whisky, and Cardwell, to oblige them, ordered the keeper of the animal to take him into the saloon, where the bar-kesper promptly prepared a whisky-punch and placed it on the counter before him. The bear placed his fore-paws on the edge of the counter and drank the liquid with apparent relish, many of the excursionists meanwhile patting him or feeling of his coat The glass having been drained of its contents, the bar-keeper compounded a second punch and passed it to the bear with his left hand, but at that moment one of the bystanders playfully took the bear by tile ear. The beast, becoming enraged instantaneously, seized the bar-keeper’s hand, sinking his teeth deep in the fleshy portion of it and attempting meanwhile to pull the man over the counter. The keeper beat the bear over the head to make him let go, but without the desired effect. The bar-tender drew a revolver and pointed it at the animal’s head, but did not fire, fearing the shot might not be fatal, and that matters would be made worse, and some of the by-standers would also have used their revolvers but for the same reason. A scene of intense excitement prevailed. All efforts to make the bear loose his hold failed, and In the end the hand had to be pulled by main force out of his jaws, causing terrible laceration, strings of flesh hanging down as the hand was finally withdrawn. The bear now grew much more violent, and the crowd of ladies and gentlemen that had filled the saloon became panic-stricken and fled in all' directions, the men shouting and the women screaming. The keeper, however, having hold of the bear’s chain, took a turn around a post supporting the ceiling of the apartment, and kept him from doing further hurt, and finally, after receiving a considerable beating, he was removed to his cage. oTThe bar-keeper, whose wonderful nerve and courage were commented upon admiringly by all—he having scarcely changed color, notwithstanding the pain—expressed his determination to kill the bear, but the keeper and others opposed him, and he then gave up his situation at the house in disgust. —Sacramento Union. —There is a man in jail at Brooklyn, in default of the payment of a judgment for malicions prosecution, who declares he will rot in prison before he pays the jjudgment. - j;_ —Qneryfor Naturalists—ls a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, is a mole on the face worth two in the ground ?