The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
SHOOTING A DEAD BEAR
By S. C. Turnbo
We have given a few stories of Luke Marlor, the old time hunter of Crooked Creek, elsewhere in these sketches and we proceed now to give another account of him which Is a little amusing. This one was told me by Handy de Shields, who located on Crooked Creek in Marion County, Ark., in the year 1840 and who afterward settled In the valley of East Sugar Loaf Creek and died several years ago on the head of South Fork of the last named stream. Mr. de Shields told the tale in the following words which he said was true. "One day Marlor in company with his son in law Levi Henderson and another man whose name is forgotten started on horseback for a hunt after big game. During the day Marlor was separated once from the other two, a distance of over a quarter of a mile. The two men heard a gun shot and saw Marlor mount his pony and ride up the hill a short distance and dismount, load his gun, then mount his pony and ride to the foot of the hill, dismount and shoot, then he remounted and rode back up the hill, stopped and dismounted again and reloaded his rifle, then mounted his pony and rode back to the foot of the hill and delivered another shot. These strange actions of the man was singular and he kept it up until he had repeated it 4 or 5 times and Henderson and the other man reached the conclusion that Marlor had gone crazy all at once and rode to where their comrade was acting so peculiar. On their arrival they found that the man was repeatedly shooting a bear that was humped down under the roots of an uprooted tree. It was found that the bear was dead; probably killed instantly by Marlor’s first shot; but as he never had seen a struggle or movement he had concluded he was missing his mark each time. It was many days before Luke Marlor heard the last of "shooting a dead bear to give it a second death."
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
