Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/450

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��HISTOKY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

��The pain the trap gave it caused it to make the pitiful cries.

John Robinson came to tlie township at an early day, and settled about a mile east of Bell- ville. Late one fall, when he and his sons were digging potatoes, about the dusk of evening, the boys heard a hog squealing in the high nettles below his house. No attention was given to this, but the hog squealed again. Mr. Robinson started for his gun ; it was empty, and he had one bullet, which had the neck on. This was soon put in the gun, and, as he started, a 3'oung boy at the house told his father that he saw a man with a black coat canying a hog away. Mr. Robinson was soon near the bear, and it scented him and raised upright, standing on its pre}', when it received the rifle ball. The knife was used to dispatch him. The hog the bear had belonged to George Yearian, of Bellville, and the bear had eaten the flesh from along one side of its backbone from its shoulder to the hips. Mr. Yearian dressed the wound with tar, and it lived and raised a litter of pigs. It died the next summer. The bear was seven feet long.

On the fourth of July, 1815, John Leed}^ went to Fredericktown to participate in a cele- bration. His family remained at home, and about noon the old pig announced the usual alarm. Mrs. Leedy seized the old rifle, and her eldest son Lewis, the ax, and at once marched to the field of battle, a few hundred yards from the cabin. The dog. Old Sign, accompanied them, and when within a few rods of the spot, her restraint gave way to her eagerness for fight and she bounded at the bear. Bruin left without ceremony, with Old Sign at his side. ^Irs. Leedy brought the old flint-lock in line and sent a bullet after him, but she was not familiar with sjiooting on the wing, and the race went on. A few days after, the pig gave the alarm again, and this time Mr. Leedy took down the gun, and when he arrived near the fight, the bear stood upright on the pig and e^-ed his ene-

��my some time, apparently in a study whether to contest the ownership of the property in his possession or not. He swung his big fists back and forth a few times, but uttered not a word. Mr. Leedy knew the enemy ; he had seen him before. He was the " old one," a chief among bears. The gun was fired : the bear leaped in the air, fell on his prey, howled, sprang forward toward his assailant, and, after hesitating a mo- ment, moved off". It was followed, but darkness ended the chase. The bear was wounded near the heart and bled freely, yet he lived. The next fall or winter he came in contact with William Simmons, who then lived where Inde- pendence now is, and, after receiving two balls from his rifle, he invited Mr. Simmons to a rough and tumble fight, which equaled some of Davy Crockett's best. Seven — some saj', eleven — balls were taken ft'om his carcass, a number of which were returned to their owners. Mr. Leedy received the ball he shot.

Rachel Gatton went to Mansfield one time with a web of linen, to trade it for kitchen iitensils. She went on horseback and alone, her steed being a rapid traveler. After doing her business, she started home and when about half-way she discovered that a pack of wolves were pursuing her. She made the best of the time, but the ravenous creatures came up with her finall3^ The brutes jumped at the horse and bit him in the side, which made him kick, plunge and stamp, but he kept faithfully on his course, and his rider clung to his back for life. They finally arrived at the cabin, where all were eagerly awaiting her return, and the beasts "were driven off.

L. K. Leedy and two of his brothers went on a coon hunt one night, and when a short distance from home, the dogs announced that game was brought to ba}'. The three hastened to where the dogs were, and, in coming near, they saw a white object, which, in the extreme darkness of the night, they were unable to name. The dogs ceased barkino; and snuffed

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