The Breakfast Guest That Wouldn't Leave
A morning meal in rural Washington is interrupted by a massive bear, leading to a desperate struggle at the farmhouse window.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Last Sunday morning, while the family of James Mouneer were eating breakfast, they were greatly surprised to see a huge black bear looking in at the back window. There was a scrambling for guns, and Mr. Mouneer and two of his boys gave chase. By a few well-directed shots, they soon overtook him. Charlie shot the beast, but it required a few blows on the head by the old gentleman before he gave up the ghost. Mr. Mouneer says it was the largest and fattest bear ever seen in the neighborhood.
“There was a scrambling for guns, and Mr. Mouneer and two of his boys gave chase.”
While wildlife encounters remain a reality in the rural reaches of Washington state, the intensity of this 1892 breakfast-table confrontation highlights the proximity between domestic life and the frontier wilderness that characterized the region at the end of the 19th century.
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