The following accounts of a late December bear hunt in the wilds of Sullivan County, New York appeared in two newspapers. The earlier - by mere days - of the two articles, "The Boy Hunter of Sullivan" was published by The Sun, and recounts a highly dramatic semi-fictionalized version of the hunt. The second article, "Bear Hunting In Southern Sullivan" published by Monticello NY's Republican Watchman, is a straightforward correction of the first, written by that paper's special correspondent, G.G.J.
THE BOY HUNTER OF SULLIVAN.
Clarence Shattuck, Aged 12, Kills Two Bears and Shames the Veteran Nimrods
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| The Boy Hunter of Sullivan, The Sun, Dec. 26, 1886 |
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| Bear Hunting In Southern Sullivan, Republican Watchman, Dec. 31, 1886 |
The Hunters: Jack Boyd, Lewis Boyd, William H. Crane, W.L. Cole, Frank Dewitt, Charles Gordon, Elmer Gordon, Stoddard Gordon, Charles Gumaer, Reeves Harkins [Hankins], Clarence Shattuck, F.L. Shattuck, Charles Stearns.
I suspect the author of "The Boy Hunter of Sullivan" is Edward H. Mott (1845-1920) who wrote for The Sun during this period. His popular syndicated "Pike County Folks" columns, and various sketches of the Pike County, Pennsylvania hunter Jerry Greening, would later be collected into a book of the same title. The special correspondent to the Republican Watchman, G.G.J., has not yet been identified.
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| Hunter Carrying a Large Bear, 1909, Library of Congress |
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| Excerpt, Sullivan County Bears, Stephen Crane, New York Tribune, 1892 |
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Special thanks to Tom Tryniski of fultonhistory.com for hours of fascinating research on his site and the news clip of "Bear Hunting in Southern Sullivan." Donations to his efforts, through Paypal or in the form of good used hard drives, will no doubt be welcome.