Bear on the Loose

This is one of those stories that's just worth sharing.
On September 1, 1896, Henke Bros. City Meat Market opened at 816 Water Street. They had purchased the business from Karger Bros.  With the business came a pet black bear who was chained outside the back door.  He managed to get loose and went for a stroll, first checking out the rear door of a drug store next door.  The owner pulled out his shotgun and took potshots at the bear.  Enraged, the creature ran down Mountain Street (now Earl Garrett Street) chasing everyone off the street before turning into the Chas. Schreiner store.

Here is the story as told by the September 2, 1936, Kerrville Times on the 40th anniversary of the event: Bear Invades Store in City And Is Slain
Excitement Rampant in Kerrville--in Good Year 1896

On September 1, 1896, the staccato bark of carbines and the roar of shotguns disturbed the calm of Kerrville, then a ... town of some 1,200 souls.  The big excitement was created by a black bear that "went on the loose", and among other overt acts, disrupted a red-hot argument over the McKinley-Bryan presidential campaign, then in full swing.
The thrilling events of that day 40 years ago were particularly impressed upon the mind of A. W. Henke.  The young man on that very day has entered the business field in Kerrville, buying the City Meat Market from Karger Bros.  Among the appurtenances in the market transfer was one pet black bear.  The bear was kept chained n the rear of the shop.  Dissatisfaction over his new ownership, the crisp autumn air, or something else, brought an atavistic mood to bruin; in some manner he broke his leash and started out for a stroll.
The free bear nosed around the rear door of a drug store, operated by W. E. Stewart where the Rock Drug Store now is located.  Stewart took a pot shot with his shotgun, sending the animal into a rage.  The bear darted out into Mountain Street, now Earl Garrett Street, clearing that thoroughfare of all pedestrians and frightened horses tied to hitching racks.
Next the berserk bear dashed into the side door of Captain Chas. Schreiner's store and gave a ferocious growl ...
Employees of the store hastily armed themselves with guns and ammunition from the store's stock and the bombardment opened.  Up and down Water Street people thought the Schreiner Bank was being rustled by bandits.  The bank then was in a small rock building on the present site of Schreine'rs dry goods department. 
Volley after volley from rifles and shotguns riddled ... valises and derby hats on the counter, while dishpans were converted into sieves by buckshot before the bear slumped on the floor; dead.
Reminiscing Monday on the fortieth anniversary ... A. W. Henke recalled that his newly acquired pet bear was butchered and retailed for over the counter for 12 1/2 cents a pound--the best bear meat ever to be sold in West Texas.

Concerning the same event, L. A. Schreiner, who was a boy at the time, was watching the Italian stonemasons work on the exterior of the Chas. Schreiner mansion, his family home, when the bear got loose. Some sixty years later, remembering the event he recalled the bear "got loose, and came lumbering down the street and pandemonium ensued.  The terrified Italians climbed the trees like monkeys."