WEBVTT - Ep. 4: Death of a Bear Hunter 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:05.720 M. What you're dealing with, especially with ger Sticker, is 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:11.240 a young man who is really really influenced by romanticism, 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:16.400 the sort of dark unknown out there. This week on 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.960 the Bear Grease Podcasts, we're going to explore the tragic 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:23.880 death of a bear hunter and hear the account firsthand 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.640 from the guide that was standing there when it happened. 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.680 Then we're going to search for his hundred and eighty 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:34.040 year old grave. In the process will look into the 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:39.400 adventurous life of the comrade of the deceased, Frederick Gerstalker. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.200 We're gonna talk with the national expert on the Ozark region, 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.320 and we'll hear from the man who held one of 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.680 the keys in trying to find the old grave, and 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.600 then we'll go on a search for the grave ourselves. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:01:07.320 You're not gonna want to miss this one. M. My 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.200 name is Clay Nukelem, and this is the Bear Grease 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:15.000 Podcast where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search for 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:19.000 insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the story 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.720 of Americans who lived their lives close to the land. 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.240 I want to tell you a story, or really I 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:40.679 want the story to tell itself. If we think about 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.080 the now of time as the front edge of a 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.200 wave that we're writing Like a surfer. We can't get 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.280 back anything that's behind us. The wave no longer exists. 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.240 All we have is the remembrance of the imagery sight, 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.880 sounds in the context of the moment on the waves 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.320 stored in our giant human brain. But humans don't just 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:06.480 have brains. I'm quite certain that we have spirits which 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.200 also collect data that informs us of a deeper and 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.800 more meaningful connection to the events of our lives and 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.960 the lives of others. But it's more than just stored 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.280 data like temperature or the color of the sky or 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.680 what was said. The spirit can see the thing behind 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.480 the thing. Spirits are made of flesh and bone, and 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.760 you can't find it like an organ in the body. 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:34.320 But the spirit is the conduit that connects our lives 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.799 to something much bigger. It's what makes our lives more 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:41.120 than just a biological record of a human eating and 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:45.359 drinking and producing offspring. The spirit is what makes us human. 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.079 There's some stories that just impact us in more significant 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.640 ways than others. The story you're about to hear for 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.520 me is one of those stories that has shaped my 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.640 life in a significant way, and it's hard for me 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:05.480 to even explain why. The question I'm trying to answer 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:10.480 is this, What is the mechanism that can make someone 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:17.400 else's story so meaningful in our lives. When I was 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:19.760 in college, I had a professor that knew I was 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.120 interested in Arkansas black bears in passing. One day, he 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:27.480 suggested I read a book called Wild Sports by Frederick Gerstacker. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.920 His sales pitch was weak. It's about an old German 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.440 guy that has some Arkansas bear hunting stories in it. 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:37.160 He said. The pitch was so weak that it would 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.800 be five years before I had ever read the book. 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.600 I mean, I guess I can't blame him for poor marketing, 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:45.880 but I thought, what's a German guy got to do 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:50.200 with Arkansas bear hunting? When I finally read the pages 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:53.560 of the book, I was mesmerized by the words of 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:57.520 the adventurous young German. I was mesmerized by his life. 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.720 He was witty, he was an incredible right, he was 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:05.640 tough as alligator leather, and fearless, and maybe most of all, 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.520 much of his adventure took place within twenty miles of 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:13.520 where I live. But even more, he was insightful into 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:17.680 human life. He valued people, and he even recognized the 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:22.279 wasteful and unsustainable ways of the market hunting culture of 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:30.000 his time, of which he even participated in. Frederick Gerstoker. 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:34.159 Some people say gersh Sticker was a well educated, middle 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:36.719 class German that came to the United States in search 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.520 of white tailed deer and black bear. Doesn't sound like 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.000 that bad of a guy. He came over on a 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.640 ship called the Constitution and arrived in New York and 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.320 July eighteen thirty seven. He embarked on a six year 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:54.000 long adventure that would take him through seven states and 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:58.000 one Canadian province. He kept detailed journals of his writing, 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.240 and at times he would send him back to his 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:04.440 mom in Germany. Six years later in eighteen forty three, 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.960 when he arrived back in Germany, he found himself an 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:14.240 acclaimed writer and national hero. His mother had been submitting 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:18.000 his articles to a local German publication. In the word 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:22.400 of his adventures spread like wildfire. There are too many 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:26.080 of ger Stalker's incredible stories to tell on this podcast, 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.320 but I want to tell you one that cut me 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.760 to the quick when I first read it. It involved 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.200 a man being killed by a bear in a Creek 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.160 drainage less than twenty miles from where I live. I 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.919 was shocked and slightly offended that nobody ever told me 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.240 this story. I want you to hear the first hand 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:49.960 account from Gerstalker of the death of his friend Erskine. 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:55.240 This is an excerpt from the book Wild Sports, published 0:05:55.360 --> 0:06:03.000 in eighteen fifty four. This story is taken out of context, 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.560 so there are some characters you'll need to know. Conwell 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:11.280 as Gerstalker's older American hunting partner and friend with hair 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.200 as white as snow, he said. Conwell lived in Arkansas. 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.640 Wachiga is a Cherokee that became a trusted friend and 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:23.599 hunting partner of ger Stalker. And you'll be introduced to 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:28.400 young Erskine, who Gerstalker had met some years before in 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:35.279 the back country. So we were off again before noon 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.680 and gained the source of the hurricane. Rode across the 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.240 devil's stepping path, a narrow rock with a precipice on 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.680 each side, left the pilot rock on our left, and 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.600 came towards evening into the pine forest, where we were 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:53.600 sure of finding kindlers. Descending the steep side of a mountain, 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.760 we observed a thin column of blue smoke by the 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.600 side of the stream, showing that some hunters were in 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.560 camp there. We went straight towards it and found it 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:07.000 to be an Indian camp, and our former acquaintance, young Erskine, 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:11.400 among them there were Cherokees with three young choptaws, these 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.840 two tribes being on good terms like ourselves, they were 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.280 out bear hunting, but it had better luck. A quantity 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.400 of bear meat was hanging about the camp, and even 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.800 the dogs would eat no more. Casting ourselves down by 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.320 the fire, one of the squalls, for there were several 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:30.040 women in the camp, immediately cooked for us some bear, 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:35.760 which we duly regaled ourselves. M Night came on, and 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:42.280 soon we were all sunk in deep repose. Early in 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.200 the morning we began to move, dividing into two parties 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.680 for the better chance of finding game. Conwell went with 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.120 some of the Indians, amongst whom he had found an 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.120 old acquaintance, to make a circuit around the Pilot Rock, 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.760 while Erskine and I, with three Cherokees, proceeded to the 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:01.400 sources of the Frog Bayou. Night found us far from 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.680 our camp, so we made one for ourselves. Where we 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.040 were on the morning of February one. We had hardly 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.440 started ere we heard the dogs, which he could, declared 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.280 instantly that they were his brothers, and disappeared behind the 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.880 rocks without another word. As we stood listening, the sound 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.720 seemed to take a different direction. We ascended the mountain 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:21.680 as fast as we could to cut off the chase, 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.280 but found that we must have been mistaken, for in 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.360 a few minutes all was as silent as a grave. 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.320 Once we thought we heard a shot, but we couldn't 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.640 be certain. We ascended to the highest terrace and walked 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.960 slowly on, looking out for fresh signs, and listening to 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.440 catch the sound of the dog below. Amongst the broken 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.480 masses of rock, they might be near without being heard. 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:48.680 Along the mountaintops, they're audible at a great distance. It 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:50.760 may have been too in the afternoon, and we had 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:54.520 seen nothing when bears Grease raised his nose in the air, 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.839 remained for an instant or two in a fixed position, then, 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.400 given a short smothered how rashed down the mountain side. 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.560 Listening attentively, we heard the chase coming down the Hurricane river. 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:09.480 Erskine called out triumphantly, we shall have plenty of bear 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.720 this evening, and dashed after the dog. I was soon 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.840 by his side. I must observe by the way that 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.440 we were both very hungry. Presently, a bear broke through 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:22.520 the bushes of projecting rocks, stopped him for an instant. 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.920 When Erskine saluted him with a ball, he received mine. 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.520 As he rushed past and disappeared. The dogs, encouraged to 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.960 greater efforts by our shots and the stronger scent, followed 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.680 him out bears Greece, who was quite fresh leading the van. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.080 Soon they came upon him and stopped him. We rushed 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.720 to the spot, without waiting to reload, and arriving in 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.640 time to see the beast, excited to the greatest fury, 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.880 kill four of our best dogs with as many blows 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.880 of his paws. But the others threw themselves on him 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:55.320 with greater animosity, and if our rifles had been loaded, 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.120 we could not have used them. Just as a large, 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.599 powerful brown dog, which had curiously attacked the bear, was 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.640 knocked over, bleeding and howling. Erskine called out, oh, save 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.120 the dogs, threw down his rifle and rushed on with 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.720 his knife among the furious group. I followed on the 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.680 instant when the bear sauce coming, he exerted still more 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.560 force to beat off the dogs and meet us. Seizing 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.560 his opportunity, my comrade ran his steel into his side. 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.280 The bear turned on him like lightning and seized him, 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:33.600 and he uttered a shrill, piercing shriek. Driven to desperation 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.720 by the sight, I plunged my knife three times into 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:40.040 the monster's body with all my force, without thinking of 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.800 jumping back. At the third thrust, the bear turned upon me. 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.240 Seeing as Paul coming, I attempted to evade the blow, 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:51.280 felt a sharp pang and sunk senseless to the ground. 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.120 When I recovered my senses, bears grease was licking the 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:00.520 blood from my face. On attempting to rise, I felt 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.480 a severe pain in my left side and was unable 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.240 to move my left arm. On making a fresh effort 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.240 to rise, I succeeded in sitting up. The bear was 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.960 close to me, in less than three ft from him, 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:17.160 lay erskine, stiff, and cold. I sprang up with a 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.320 cry of horror and rushed towards him. It was too true. 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.160 He was bathed in blood, his face torn to pieces, 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.960 his right shoulder almost wrenched away from his body, and 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.880 five of the best dogs ripped up with broken limbs 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:35.600 lying beside him. The bear was so covered with blood 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:40.120 that his color was hardly discernible. My left arm appeared 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.160 to be out of socket, but I could feel that 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.560 no bones were broken. The sun had gone down, and 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.400 I had hoped that the other hunters might have heard 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.680 our shots and the barking and howling to the dogs. 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:55.440 It grew dark. No one came. I roared and shouted 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.959 like mad, but no one heard me. I tried to 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.160 light a fire, but my left arm was so well 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.800 that I gave up the attempt. But as it would 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.920 have been certain death to pass the night under these 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.280 circumstances without a fire, I tore away part of the 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.920 back of my hunting shirt, and the fore part, being 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.760 saturated with blood, sprinkled some powder on it, rubbed it well, 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.720 and with my right hand I shook a little powder 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:22.120 into my rifle. Placing the muzzle on the rag, I fired, 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:24.920 blowing it up to a flame. I piled on dry 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.720 leaves and twigs and succeeded in making a good fire, 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.520 though with great pain and trouble. Now it was dark, 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:34.400 I went to my dead comrade, who was lying about 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.120 five yards from the fire. He was already stiff, and 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.640 it was with great difficulty that I could pull down 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.920 his arms and lay him straight, Nor could I keep 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:48.520 his eyes closed, though I laid small stones on them. 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.680 The dogs were very hungry, but it was impossible for 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.360 me to break up the bear only ripped him up 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:58.640 and fed them with his entrals. Bearscreached, laid himself down 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:02.040 by the corpse, looking steadfastly in his face, and went 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.600 no more near the bear, and hoping of obtaining help, 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:11.079 I loaded and fired twice, but nothing moved. The forest 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:19.679 appeared one enormous grave. I felt very ill, vomited several 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.360 times as well as I could. I laid myself down 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.679 beside the fire, and lost all consciousness of my wretched situation. 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:29.920 Whether I slept or fainted is more than I can tell, 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.199 But I know that I dreamed that I was at 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.160 home in my bed, and my mother brought me some 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:42.520 tea and laid her hand on my breast. Such an 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:44.920 awakening as I had, was worse than I could wish 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.680 to my bitterest enemy. Bears greased had pressed close to 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.439 my side, lying his head on my breast. The fire 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.080 was almost out, and I was shivering with cold, and 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:58.000 the wolves were hollowing fearfully around the dead, keeping at 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.720 a distance for fear of the living, but by no 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:04.960 means disposed to lose their prey. I rose with difficulty 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.680 and laid more wood on the fire. As it burned up, 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.920 the face of the corpse seemed to brighten. I started, 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:14.480 but found it was only an optical delusion. Louder and 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:18.080 fiercer howled the wolves and the dogs, of whom five 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:22.000 were alive besides Bear. Grease answered them, but the answer 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.360 was by no means one of defiance, rather a lament 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.680 for the dead, partly to scare away the wolves, and 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:30.920 partly in the hope of finding help. I loaded and 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:35.040 fired three times. My delight was inexpressible. As I heard 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:39.960 three shots in return. I loaded and fired until all 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.600 my powder was expended. As morning broke, I heard two 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.760 shots not far off, and soon after a third. A 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.000 shipwrecked mariner hanging to the side of a plank could 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.640 not raise his voice more lustily to hail a passing 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.720 ship than I did, And joy upon joy, I heard 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.560 a human voice, and answer the bark of the dogs. 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.760 And now to stranger and what Chiga advanced out of 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:07.760 the bush while he exclaimed. Staring at the shocking spectacle, 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:11.760 he felt poor erskine and shook his head mournfully. He 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.320 turned to me. I showed him my swollen arm, which 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.080 he examined attentively, without speaking, Forming a hollow with his 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.960 two hands and placing them to his lips, he gave 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:25.320 a loud, piercing shout. The answer came from no great distance, 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.080 and in a few minutes my old dear friend Conwell 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.200 and most of the Indians were at my side. I 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:35.800 grasped Conwell's hands sorrowfully and told him in few words 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.360 how it all had happened. The old man scolded and 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.120 said it served us right. There's no greater danger and 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.800 sticking a knife into a bear's paunch when he's fallen 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.200 with the dogs upon him. But if he has been 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.680 thrown and then catches the sight of his greatest enemy man, 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.520 he exerts all his force to attack him, and woe 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.560 to him who comes within reach of his paws. It 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.920 was all very well talking. He had not been present 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.760 and seen one dog after another knocked over, never to 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:08.600 rise again five minutes more, and not one would have 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:12.040 been saved. And who knows whether the enraged beasts would 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.640 not have attacked us. Then. Meanwhile, the Indians had been 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.160 digging a grave with their tomahawks, wrapping the body in 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.240 a blanket. They laid him in it and covered him 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:26.200 with earth and heavy stones. Conwell cut down some young 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:30.080 stems and made a fence around the solitary grave. I 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.320 could not avoid a shudder at the quiet coolness of 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.280 the whole proceeding, as the thought struck me that the 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:40.680 same persons, under the same circumstances would have treated me 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.880 in the same cool way had I fallen instead of Erskine. 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.360 Like me, he was a lonely stranger in a foreign land, 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.920 having left England some years before, and his friends and 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:56.680 relations will probably never know what became of him. Thousands 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.880 perish in this way in America, of whom nothing more 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.120 is heard, and perhaps in a few months the remembrance 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:06.960 of them was entirely passed away. After the dead was 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:10.520 quietly laid in the grave, Chiga came with an elderly 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.720 Indian to look at my arm. Chiga moved it while 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:17.080 the other looked steadfastly in my face. The pain was 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.560 enough to drive me mad, but I would not utter 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.480 a sound. Next, the Indian took hold of my arm, 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.480 laying his left hand on my shoulder, and while Chia 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.560 suddenly seized me around the body from behind, the other 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:32.159 pulled with all his force. The pain at first was 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.520 so great that I almost feigned, but it gradually diminished. 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.520 In spite of my resolve to show no signs of it, 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:43.160 I could not suppress a shriek. Conwell soon after asked 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.480 if I could ride on my answering yes, he helped 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.159 me on a horse. Then, throwing the bear's skin and 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.520 some of the meat on his own, we moved slowly homewards. 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.159 My sufferings on the way were very great, but I 0:17:56.240 --> 0:18:06.480 uttered no murmur. I only longed for pose. This was 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.080 just a couple of pages out of a four hundred 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.560 page book, but I want to take some inventory of 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:16.840 the components of this story. A German, a British guy 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.200 and an American hunting with a mixed tribe of Native Americans, 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:25.480 Cherokees and Choctaws in the eighteen forties. They were bear 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.440 hunting with dogs, the Native Americans dogs to be exact 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.560 for black bear. In the month of February in the 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:37.520 Ozarks of Arkansas, an incredible bear chase ensues and a 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.040 man who we only know his first name, Erskine, dies 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.760 at the hand of a bear after stabbing it with 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.040 his bowie knife. They didn't have time to reload. His 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:50.880 comrade charges in and kills the bear with a knife 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.240 and in the process gets smacked so hard it dislocates 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.800 his shoulder and knocks him out. Girl Stalker spends the 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:01.439 night with an arm's reach of a day bear, five 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:06.639 dead dogs, and Erskine's corpse. Gray wolves which used to 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.240 be in Arkansas, kept him awake, howling through the night. 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.840 He laid stones on the eyelids of the corpse to 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.560 keep his eyes shut. The next morning, he's found by 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:20.560 the hunting party and the natives set his shoulder into 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.200 place and buried the dead in the shallow grave dug 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.840 with tomahawks. They throw the bear meat and the hide 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.800 over the back of a good horse and head home. 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:42.480 End of story. Now you know the story of Erskine's death, 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.359 and you've seen a bit into the life of Gerstalker. 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.080 But we need to know more information to understand the 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:53.119 significance of this wild story. And I'm still wondering why 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.480 and how this short snippet of time just a little 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.280 part of somebody else's wave has impacted me the way 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:11.240 it has. As I sit down with Dr Brooks Blevins, 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:14.680 He's wearing a black suit and a pink tie. He's 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.200 all dressed up because he was just on the documentary 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.160 for TV talking about the backwoods of the Ozarks. He's 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.600 an in demand guy, you see. Dr Blevins is a 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:28.920 professor at Missouri State University, and he is the Jedi 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.360 Master of Ozark history and probably one of the coolest 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:34.800 guys I've met in a long time. He drives a 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:38.199 mid nineteen nineties Sedan with duct tape on one of 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:42.200 the side mirrors, and he's written over fifteen incredible books 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.919 about the Ozark region. I wanted to get some context 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:50.080 from Dr Blevins about the time period that Gerstalker was here. 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:56.560 Context is king. So, Dr Blevins, Gerstalker was in the 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.000 Ozarks and Washingtas from eighteen thirty seven to eighteen four 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.720 prety three. What can you tell us just about that 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:06.480 general era, who was here and kind of what life 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:09.439 was like. Well, first of all, in Arkansas, this is 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:13.080 right after Arkansas becomes a state in eighteen thirty six. 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.719 One of the things that that we would immediately notice 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.480 is how few people there were. You know, there were 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:21.960 You're talking about fewer than a hundred thousand people in 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:26.120 the entire state. The Washingtalls and the Ozarks especially would 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:29.840 have been very very thinly populated. And of course that's 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:33.720 why he's there. He's he's there to find animals, not 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.240 not people. You're talking about sparse population. You're talking about 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:42.000 a population of people who have mainly come from the 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.720 upper south east of the Mississippi. So you've got lots 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:48.920 of tennessee Ins who are here. You got Carolinians, people 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:51.879 from Virginia, Kentucky. Those are the people who are for 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.440 the most part coming to the Ozarks and Washingtalls. And 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.760 a lot of these people are gonna have backgrounds in 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.119 in hunting of various kinds, and in a lot of 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:05.280 cases that's why they're out here in the first place. 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:09.359 You know, they've kind of exhausted their hunting grounds back 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:12.240 east and they're just kept moving west. A lot of 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.520 people come because they want to hunt, especially if they 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:18.240 want to hunt commercially. You know, the commercial hunting was 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:21.800 pretty much a dead letter by the eighteen thirties and 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:25.680 forties back east of the Mississippi. And if you were 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:30.960 interested in making a living selling skins and and bear 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:34.720 grease and and meat and stuff like that, you had 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:37.640 to go to the to the edge. This would have been, 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:41.159 during that time considered part of the western edge of 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:44.160 the frontier. Really, oh yeah, I mean, so we don't 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:48.960 think of Arkansas being the frontier or the west, but 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:52.719 this was like far west. So yeah, the uh, the 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:57.080 Washingtons and the Ozarks, Arkansas, they're all the edge of 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:05.480 the edge of American civilization. Gerstalker seemed to have the 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:10.240 intent of coming from Germany to hunt in America. Was 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:13.240 that common? I mean? And I guess my question is 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:17.760 what was the reputation of the American frontier on the 0:23:17.800 --> 0:23:21.399 global stage. I think, well, I guess it depends on 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:25.240 how you defined common, But I would say it certainly 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:30.840 wasn't uncommon for Europeans who had the means and the 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.399 interest to come to the United States, and especially the 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.600 western part of the United States and hunt. I mean, 0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:39.840 we see that happening even after the Civil War, where 0:23:39.880 --> 0:23:43.840 you have European buffalo hunters come over. For instance, would 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:45.639 they have heard of Daniel Boone? By that, I mean 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:48.520 Daniel Boone would have already been dead for twenty years 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:50.960 or so. I mean, would they have heard of Daniel 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:54.360 Boone globally by that? Yeah? I think. I think Well, 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.879 if you were well read, like GERSH. Dicker obviously was, 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:01.000 if you were an educated person and you were interested 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:05.520 in the exotic, you know, American frontier, as these guys 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:08.920 obviously were, you would have been well versed in Daniel 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:12.119 Boone stuff. But as we know that as late as 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:15.640 eighteen eleven, so we're talking about roughly a quarter century 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.439 before ger Sticker shows up, Daniel Boone had done a 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:25.000 long hunt in the Ozarks. A long hunt is a 0:24:25.000 --> 0:24:28.440 description of the style of hunting. It may be intuitive, 0:24:28.480 --> 0:24:31.119 but it wasn't to me. It was a term used 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:34.800 from the mid seventeen hundreds through the mid eighteen hundreds. 0:24:34.840 --> 0:24:38.600 That simply means dudes went hunting for long periods of time, 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:43.600 like six months up to a couple of years. But 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:46.760 what you're dealing with, especially with ger Sticker, is a 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:52.200 young man who is really really influenced by Romanticism and 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:54.480 everything that mean. And I'm not talking about you know, 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:59.040 Valentine's Day and kissy stuff. We're talking about the sort 0:24:59.080 --> 0:25:04.680