es were
introduced where the editorial judgment dictated, and mere facts, such
as the name of the county in which the bear was caught, fell under the
ban of a careless blue pencil and were distorted beyond recognition.

More than one-fourth of Joaquin Miller's "True Bear Stories"' consists
of that newspaper yarn, copied verbatim and without amendment, revision
or verification. The other three-fourths of the book, it is to be
hoped, is at least equally true.

Considering all the frills of fiction that were put into the story to
make it readable, the careless inaccuracies that were edited into it,
and the fact that many persons knew of the preliminary attempts to buy
any old bear and fake a capture, it is not strange that people who
always know the "inside history" of everything that happens, wag their
heads wisely and declare that Monarch was obtained from a bankrupt
circus, or is an ex-dancer of the streets sold to the newspaper by a
hard-up Italian.

But it is incredible that any one who knows a bear from a Berkshire hog
could for an instant mistake Monarch for any variety of tamable bear or
imagine that any man ever had the hardihood to give him dancing lessons.

When Monarch found himself caught in the syndicate trap on Gleason
Mountain, he made furious efforts to escape. He bit and tore at the
logs, hurled his great bulk against the sides and tried to enlarge
every chink that admitted light. He required unremitting attention
with a sharpened stake to prevent him from breaking out.

For a full week the Grizzly raged and refused to touch food that was
thrown to him. Then he became exhausted and the task of securing him
and removing him from the trap was begun. The first thing necessary
was to make a chain fast to one of his fore-legs. That job was begun
at eight o'clock in the morning and finished at six o'clock in the
afternoon. Much time was wasted in trying to work with the chain
between two of the side logs. Whenever the bear stepped into the loop
as it lay upon the floor and the chain was drawn tight around his
fore-leg just above the foot, he pulled it off easily with the other
paw, letting the men who held the chain fall over backward. The feat
was finally accomplished by letting the looped chain down between the
roof logs, so that when the bear stepped into it and it was drawn
sharply upward, it caught him well up toward the shoulder.

Having one leg well anchored, it was comparatively easy to i