b'A BEAR OF A PIONEERBy Bill Roberts Reprinted from The TravelerT he bears around Flagstaff and Oak Creek Canyon must have had quite a start when Jesse Jefferson Howard, alias Charles Smith Howard, arrived in their territory and the Arizona Territory in 1880. Howard had to be the biggest man the bears of the area had ever seen. He was so big, in fact, and so adept at killing bears, that he soon was known as Bear Howard. In the quarter-century he lived on Oak Creek he became a legend. Howard lived on killing bears. He sold the meat to Flagstaff butcher shops. It is said he killed Gregory Smithhundreds of bears during his career. An exact count has been lost to history.From Illinois to Texas Howard fired a shot at the Mexican intending to scareThe Hashknife brand cowboys were rowdy, devious, Bear Howard was born Jesse Jefferson Howard in 1817him. The slug hit the Mexican and he died on the spot.and often on the lamb from the law in other states or in Illinois. When he was 19, he enlisted to fight in theBear turned himself in to the sheriff. He spent severalterritories. Thats the kind the Aztec Land & Cattle war for Texas with Mexico, serving under Sam Houston.days in jail. The sheriff was sympathetic to HowardCompany hired for its spread based near Holbrook. The He was shot in the back during the conflict and theand forgot to lock the jail door one night.Mattietwo came together in a Flagstaff saloon one night.bullet lodged in his lung, where it remained for 54 yearswas waiting outside with a horse. The sheriff suggestedBear was having a drink. So were a bunch of Hashknife until a doctor in Flagstaff removed it. Bear once toldHoward leave California and not return, as the lawboys, headed up by one Corney Wallace. Wallace took of being hit by the bullet and falling into a little wash,would be looking for him. Bear to be an oversized and innocent clod. Wallace called pretending he was badly hurt. He waited in the wash,Bear to the center of the saloon floor and ordered him his bayonet ready, until the Mexican that had shot himHoward arrived in Arizona Territory in 1880, changedto dance to the tune of Wallaces six guns. An unsmiling peered over the edge of the wash to take any spoils thathis name to Charles Smith Howard and settled inBear did as he was told. As the bullets bounced off the might have been on Bears carcass. Bear plunged histhe wilderness of Oak Creek Canyon. The only roadsfloor, Bear did an Irish clog dance, moving closer to bayonet right between the Mexican soldiers eyes.were Indian trails and the inhabitants were mostlyWallace all the time. Suddenly Bear brought his right Bear left the army in the 1840s. In 1849, he headedbears. Mattie, who had married Stephen Purtymun insize 16 foot up in a graceful kick, landing his giant boot for the goldfields of California, settling near Ventura.California, and Jess, soon followed their father intounder Wallaces chin. The force of the blow lifted Wallace Howard met and married a Dutch girl named NancyArizona Territory. upward. His six guns crashed to the floor.Cline there. They had two children, Jess born in 1856 and Mattie born in 1858. In 1861, Nancy died leavingTrouble In Flagstaff When Wallace landed he found Bear atop of him, those Bear with two children to raise. Bear was a powerful man, six foot eight withsledgehammer fists coming down like piledrivers. sledgehammers for hands, and bulging with muscle.Wallaces fellow cowboys did not make a move to help Bear took the children to Santa Clara, enrolled themhim. Bear got up and kicked Wallaces numb form in a mission school and started a ranch nearby. Byover into a corner and asked if there was anyone else the time Jess was eight and Mattie was six, Bear waswho thought they might like to see him dance. There raising them the way he knew best teaching them towasnt. They were all easing out of the saloon door. ride bareback and shoot. He left them in the care ofBear finished his drinking and left for his cabin in Oak an old Chinese man one day when he went to town.Creek Canyon. After all, he had just turned 67 and it Indians rode up to the Howard place and kidnappedwas a long ride home. A few hours after Bear left, the the children. When Howard and several other men heHashkife cowboys returned to get Wallace. They took was with spotted the Indians on the trail with Jess andhim to the drug store doctor who spent awhile sewing Mattie in tow the Indians tossed the children by the side29 stitches into what was left of the cowboys face.of the road and fled. Bear and his friends took after the Indians while the old Chinese man gathered up Jess andBear Marries AgainMattie and hid them in an old mine. Howard and hisOld Bear Howard of Oak Creek Canyon, now 74 and friends caught up with the Indians and they definitelysingle some 30 years since his first wife died, decided never bothered the Howard children again. in 1891 to marry again. His bride was Elizabeth James, about 54 and the widow of Abraham James, Sedonas A Murder Charge first settler. Bear might have been too set in his ways The 1870s found Howard raising cattle near Sacramentoby then to marry. It seems that Elizabeth objected where a heated range war was going on betweento sleeping with Bear and his three big bear dogs. It cattlemen and sheepmen. Sheepmen were all aroundalso seems she didnt care for Bears noted generosity, Howard and he had warned them to keep their flocksespecially when he was being generous with her cattle. off his land. Riding the range one day, Bear came uponWithin three months, Bear and Elizabeth split the a flock of sheep on his land being tended by a Mexicansheets. Bear kept the dogs and Elizabeth kept her cattle.herder. Howard ordered the herder and his sheep off of his property. The herder only laughed and said his bossSix years later, Mattie divorced Stephen Purtymun told him it was okay to graze the sheep there.after 22 years of marriage. They had six boys and three continued on page 2018 October 2019'