The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 29, 1901, Page 1

7 HEWE is ene giri m Ameries who bas taken 50 many bear scalps that the has lost count of them. That giri is the res! Diana. There sre plenty of her rex who have shot & besr er twe while somebody else held thems #tlli to be shot. By their loving friends they bave thersupon been played W a» Dianas and thelr advertising has been spread for and wide. But the real Disns bas sbot so many bears and lesks ®pon & bear afalr as too commonplase te mention Bho lives quietly enovgh, hidden away from the werld by the grim mountaine of Arisons, ané her circle of admirers, al- theugh deovote extends mo further than the neighbering ranches She s ns won, & girl who lives far back in the foothills ef the Mogollons, mear the head of Canyon Creek. She is the “taby” of the El- known to the s a3 the “Cattle Quesn is in reality not so the champlon huntress States, The Blilson home he 1s ¢ Mog s,” and s from the rallroand om tho nearest neligh and a rock initions, is feared meeuse of the killing of thelr chief four lesrs zgo by the deputy Sheriff of Glia Sount; L in the midst of dangers fron = and wild beasts, you might -sized men to be frightened to be tak the Libray ErrisonN AND HER, T'\Wwo MONTHS oL Pe— BEAm cue This Pape, not en from once in a while, to say nothing of a little girl. But Dena has always looked upon Indians as rather spicy—she has so few amusements, living’ down there, that she locks to them for sport. And as for fears —wait until you get to the real story. Colonel Ellison came to Arizona from Texas some sixteen s ago, settling on the head of Tonto Creek, near Promon- tory Butte, almost wi of the “Rim)’ that v thin a stone’s throw ipheaval 6f rock stretching balf way across Arizona from east to west, and known as the Mogollon range of mountains. Here he brought his family and herds of cattle, together with & pack of hunting dogs, and settled down ‘n & narrow canyon under the rim; where the range was good and hunting the best in the world. Fruit tre ed, houses of various kinds were plant- and corrals were built of shakes and rails, split from trees-in:the largest unbroken pine forest In the worid, 2 ditch was dug to irrigate a small tract of land or vegetables, for & family living in this district must raise nearly. every- thing needed. . Here the Ellisons lived for several years, riding the range in the summer season, roping, branding and ear-marking the calves and gathering steers for market. In the fall and winter Colonel Eilison spent much of the time with his hounds #nd one or more of the girls hunting the countless bears and mountain lions, not only for the bounty of $20 each, but be- cause of their destructiveness to stock. The girls soon learned to be as' handy as their father with a gun or rope, so that they could rope, tic and brand the wildest steer as well and as quicky as any man, and when it somes to handling a rifle or six-shooter most men would have to retire. ©Of the whole family, however, there was no one who handled a rope, a rifle or a six-shooter with the same neatness that Dena showed. “That child is a born rancher,” her father said with pride, Her prowess contipaed. From bringing down birds ‘and sfiall game she went on until she came to killing bears. Eight years ago the colonel found that it was becoming tgo thickly settled in his location. So he moved still farther away from civilization and took up his home on the present ranch, where 20,000 head of cattle could® roam over 100 miles square. Here he and his family found plenty of excitement, | Bears and Indians—they became the topics of daily conversation in the house- hold. Dena was wide awake and interested. She sniffed adventure in the air. She went about preparing for it. She picked. the horse she wanted and, accord- ing to family precedent, got it. She madé herself a loose divided skirt, a heavy, blouse," bought a broad felt hat and sal- lied forth like a knight of old. $ She didn’t have far to look for her ad- venture. It came in-the shape of three bears. She was returning from a neighboring ranch fifteen miles distant, where she had been visiting, ‘when she came suddenly upon an old she bear and two cubs in a deep rocky canyon. Before she could de- clde what to do the old bear rushed upen her, the cups taking to the trees. Dena had no weapon hut the ever present six- shooter, yet she did not flinch or run from the infuriated animal, as she might easily have done at first. Waiting until the bear was within a few yards, she quickly fired four shots, all of them entering the animal's body, but none reaching a vital spot. Her horse reared and plunged so that the fifth shot missed entirely, and before she cowld make any effort to turn or escape tho flerce onslaught the wounded and doubly viclous bear was too close for her to make any attempt at escaping. One shot had entered the bear's lungs and as she rose to seize the girl frothy .blood from the bear’s nostrils was blown into Dena’s eyes and face, making it almost impossible for her to see. Roaring furiously, the bear secized the horse by the neck. This angered Dena so much, it béing her favorite pony, that she leaned forward and shoving her 45 Colt's into the bear’s ear fired, tearing the bear’s head almost off and ending what had been one of the most exciting moments of her life. ' Having finished the old bear, she next turned her attention to the cubs, which were whining and moaning In the top.of a small pine. Uncoiling her riata, she was able after several throws to place a Hoose over the head of one of them.and she quickly jerked him.to the ground, where it was the work of but a moment to throw her blouse around him and .tle his four legs together, not, however, with- out receiving several ugly scratches and bites. Being unable to rope the other one, on account of the dense follage interven- ing, she ended his existence with a well directed shot from her six-shooter. Scalp- ing the two dead bears and tying the live cub behind her_saddle, she proceeded on her way, better off by two scalps, worth $20 each, and a cub for a pet. Another time, when out with her father, they had started a large .cinnamon bear and were following the dogs as closely as the roughness of the country would permit. The dogs, numbering nearly twenty, finally bayed the bear in the bend of a deep, parrow canyon. Here Colonel Ellison and Dena followed. Coming up within a few rods of the pack the Colonel watched for an oppor- tunity to end the compat, but one of the dogs, emboldened by their presence, rushed in to seize the bear from behind. The bear was too quick, however, and. WILDCAT MISS E-LLISOM, HOT &Y COMPARED “wiTH A, turning, grabbed the ow by one leg, crushing the bones and almost tearing the .leg from ‘the body. Without a thought as to the consequences, Dena rushed forward and shot the bear through the neck. Dropping the dog, the bear turned upon her and with one sweep of his powerful paw knocked the Winchester several rods, just as she was upon the point of shooting again. Fortunately for her, her father rushed between them with his horse, at the same time shooting the bear through the body and giving Déna chance to gain her horse. Meantime the dogs again heeled the bear, and a lucky shot from Dena’s six-shooter ended the fight. The barrel of her Winchester was so bent from the force of the bear’s blow as to be useless afterwards. Last fall she roped a black bear weigh- “ing over 200 pounds and dragged him so nearly to death that &he was able to dis- mount and cut his throat without danger. These are but a few of the instances ‘wherein the girl has faced death without a tremor. There is a look of grim de- termination in her eyes. They suggest a sense of fearfessmess seldom seen .in woman. How many bears this brave girl has slaln no man knows, for the scalps to her credit are so numerous that herself and her farnily have long since ceased to keep any record of the number. Dena is a goad many things besides a Diana. She is a good musician ahd a clever amateur photographer, to say notking of being the belle of her part of Arizona. The Ellisons. are an extremely hos- pitable family, strangers aiways being welcome and .made to feel at home. Situated as the ranch is, so far from the rallroad and in an almost Inaccessible country, a plano is one of the most noticeable objects seen upon entering the house, but more striking are the late KITTEM waltzes and two-steps which Dena plays, especially if one has seen her a half hous before taming some wild bronco or threws ing an outlaw steer. They are royal entertainers, of the Southern type, and the “Elfson dances’ are famous over central Arizona. Every unmarried cowboy within a radius of fifty mitles of t llison ranch has at some time within the past three years been a suitor of Miss Dena, and several times serious trouble and shooting affrays have been narrowly 1 because of her favoring particular one. Dena doesn’t care. Men may fight over her, “for all of me,” she says. She lives in” anticipation of the fall of the year. Then the bears descend from the top of the mountains to the foothills, where juniper berries and oak mast furnish an abundance of food of the kind relished by bruin. Here it is that the Ellison family do their hunting, and it is nothing unusual for them to start ten or more bears in one dav. Last fall four full grown and three yearling bears were killed in one day by the Ellisons. Black and cinnamon bears are the most numerous, but occasionally a silver tip or a hulpback grizzly wan- ders down from the northern hills, furn- ght for any one who crosses his path At any time duri the fall months one may see frc twentv bear hides and occ pegged up against ch buildings, drying, Wi will be cov- ered with b r grease I8 not used is tried out by the barr in cooking, lard being very expensive on account of the distance from the railroad. Mrs. Ellison iIs interested in the bear grease. But Dena says that is a phase of the bear that does not concern her, What she likes is the fight .