History of Pierce County (Wisconsin) - XERSES JOCK Contributed for use in the USGenWeb April, 2002 by Cliff Watt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ pp 28 Jock, the Hunter A famous hunter was Xerses Jock, one of four French-Canadians who located in the town of Martell before any other settlers came there. He was short and thick, incredibly strong, and he knew all the secrets of woodcraft as well as any Indian. Unable to read or to write, speaking only the most simple English, Jock left no record of his early life. Some of the pioneers have recorded stories of his hunting exploits. Thos Hurley, of Cave Creek, writes: “In the winter of 1857 Jock had ‘dinnre’ with us one day, and that same afternoon he killed five elk; next day he killed two more. “ In 1858 he shot an old bear and three cubs, capturing the fourth cub alive; this was down Morton Corners way, four and one-half miles from his cabin. He carried all five bears home at once, the live cub inside the front of his jacket, and he told me the live cub made him more bother than the other four.” Once Jock almost met his finish from a bear. The story became a legend in the Martell country. A big bear was seen in Gilman and word was taken to Jock, who took his rifle ( a muzzle-loader, as all guns were then) and his tomahawk and started out. He caught up with the bear on Section 11, on what is now the Lewis Bredahl farm, and shot at it. He missed. The bear was after him in an instant and when it reached him it knocked Jock’s tomahawk into the brush. It was bear against Frenchman in a desperate struggle, each armed with only his natural weapons, as Jock had no time to even draw his knife. The fight must have been terrible, as even after several days those who came to the place found bushes tramped down for rods around and blood freely spattered on the leaves. Finally Jock got a wrestler’s hold on the bear and threw it far enough so he had time to reach his hunting knife. As the bear came back and seized Jock’s right arm in his jaws, Jock with his left hand plunged the knife into the animal. Then the bear knocked the knife out of Jock’s hand. Jock never could remember how he recovered that knife and stabbed the bear to the heart, but he did. However, Jock’s right arm was still held in the bear’s death-set teeth. Dragging the bear by the mangled arm, Jock reached a sapling, cut a branch and pried the jaws open. (Cont’d pp29) Stories of the Pioneers pp29 Even though free, Jock was in a terrible condition. His breast was slit to ribbons. His right arm was a mass of chewed flesh, he was exhausted by the furious struggle, he was faint from loss f blood. However, he managed to get through the brush two and one-half miles to the nearest settler. He fell as he reached the clearing, but the neighbor saw him. Jock had blazed the trail (with blood mostly) so the neighbor went back, got the bear, verified Jock’s story. They took Jock and the bear home to Martell on a stone-boat, where Jock lay several weeks between his life and death. And the first thing after getting up he went bear hunting. This Jock had been a mail carrier in the north before coming to Martell, his route about 200 miles from end to end; he made it on foot, averaging 30 miles a day while carrying a 60-pound pack, and killing and cooking his own meals on the way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the author/contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The contributor has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.