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he gained some little advantage of the bear. The bear had to then come upstream in approaching him. Stout could stand on the bottom; the bear having to swim against the current. Having lost both his rifle and bowie knife, Stout had nothing with which to defend himself except a pocketknife with only one blade, and it was broken. By this time the dogs which were with the party on land heard the calls of Stout and Burkham and came to their rescue. As the bear would come in reach, Stout would strike the side of his throat with the broken knife and, at the same time, the dogs would grab him in the ribs. The bear would have to turn and fight the dogs. These operations were repeated for a few times when the men who had heard the noise had arrived and Hopkins shot the bear with his rifle.

Stout then set to work to find the pieces of his broken rifle, which he succeeded in doing, finding the stock had broken in such a way that it left the hammer and trigger intact. Stout, having a wonderful grip, could use the rifle as a man would use a pistol and with this broken gun, he afterwards killed two bears. As Stout often told Dr. Pat B. Clark, while this fight was in progress, the wind changed to the north and came with such force that he thought he would freeze in his wet clothes before he could start a fire.

In the early days, as hereinbefore related, the settlers depended largely upon the bear for fats to be used for cooking purposes. Stout told me, the


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The History of Clarksville and Old Red River County
Pat B. Clark   1937