be seen in the Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. As to his exact
weight, there is much conjecture. That has not been determined, as the
bear has never been placed on a scale. Good judges estimate it at not
far from twelve hundred pounds. The bear's appearance justifies that
conclusion. Monarch enjoys the enviable distinction of being the
largest captive bear in the world.--N. Y. Tribune, March 8, 1903.




CHAPTER III.

CHRONICLES OF CLUBFOOT.

The most famous bear in the world was, is and will continue to be the
gigantic Grizzly known variously on the Pacific Slope as "Old Brin,"
"Clubfoot," and "Reelfoot." He was first introduced to the public by a
mining-camp editor named Townsend, who was nicknamed "Truthful James"
in a spirit of playful irony. That was in the seventies. Old Erin was
described as a bear of monstrous size, brindled coat, ferocious
disposition and evil fame among the hunters of the Sierra. He had been
caught in a steel trap and partly crippled by the loss of a toe and
other mutilation of a front paw, and his clubfooted track was readily
recognizable and served to identify him. Old Brin stood at least five
feet high at the shoulder, weighed a ton or more and found no
difficulty in carrying away a cow. He seemed to be impervious to
bullets, and many hunters who took his trail never returned. A few who
met him and had the luck to escape furnished the formidable details of
his description and spread his fame, with the able assistance of
Truthful James and other veracious historians of the California and