A Dangerous Scuffle in the Ahtanum Orchard
A local man narrowly survives a hand-to-claw wrestling match with a bear in his orchard.
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.
On Sunday, a black bear made its appearance in the orchard of A. D. Eglin on the Ahtanum and made himself at home. Finally, John Dittendoller and some of the boys with their dogs rounded him up and chased him until Dittendoller, thinking he was tired out, attacked him with a club. Bruin was not as badly done for as supposed and gave his antagonist a wrestle, gaining the first fall. After the bear had Dittendoller down, he commenced making a lunch off of his shoulder joint, but the boys and dogs, who had been holding themselves in reserve, saw the unfortunate predicament of their companion and came to his aid so vigorously that the bear retreated and took to a tree, where a rifle ball soon sent him to the happy hunting grounds.
“the bear retreated and took to a tree and a rifle ball soon sent him to the happy hunting grounds where dew berries, buckle berries and other berries are suppose to be perrenial.”
Encounters with wildlife remain a fact of life in the rural reaches of Yakima County. While modern residents are less likely to wrestle bears with clubs, the balance between human agricultural activity and local fauna remains a constant, often dangerous, negotiation.
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