knowed they couldn’t get to me…
source date: 1891
availability: public-domain

hour before I began to give under that my time had come at last. I couldn’t have held out near so long if it hadn’t been for a little hole in the rocks where I could stick my toes an’ rest my hands. I could hear the old bear and her subs sniffin’ round above me, but I ( 53 ) knowed they couldn’t get to me. I guess if Sam hadn’t strayed across the ridge an’ seed my horse and then begun a hunt for me, my bones would now be bleachin’ in the sun on the rocks below. Sam happened to find my pony, an’ suspicionin’ that somethin’ wuz wrong he com- menced to search for me. He soon run across the old bear, an’ shootin’ several shots into her shoulder, she keeled over dead. A few more shots from his Winchester and the cubs were done for. Of course I yelled for him to help me out. I couldn’t pull myself out and was too heavy for him to yank me out, so he dropped his lasso an’ I spliced it onto mine an’ let my- self down to the bottom. You bet we had plenty of bear meat for several days. From the July 10, 1891, Issue of The Enterprise Territorial Tidings New Mexico News of the Week A patent has been issued to Lucy Garris, of Gold Hill, New Mexico, for a car coupling.