BULL AND BEAR: Forget rooster fights. How about a face-off
between a bull and a bear? The Bradford Historical Society featured
this long-ago match in its July newsletter:

“For years we have heard rumors of a bull and bear fight in
Custer City. Newspaper articles would hint at its existence, and
people would tell us that their great-grandfather had been there …
or so they thought. Until recently, the exact date had eluded us,
but research has turned up this remarkable event in our city’s
history. We won’t reveal all the details of that terrible match,
but it was brutal, cruel and heartless.

“The Bradford of 1879 was a very different place than it is
today. Bradford was rough, wild and untamed. Known throughout the
state as ‘Bad Bradford,’ this bloodthirsty event did little to
change our reputation. Newspapers as far away as Philadelphia and
Buffalo expressed outrage when learning of the event. But Bradford,
as you will see, had a very different view of the affair.

“The story opens on a very hot summer of 1879. So hot, that many
of the delivery horses had wet sponges slipped under the bridle
straps between their ears to keep cool. So hot that fights broke
out on Pig Island, an notorious area of saloons, brothels and bars
(located roughly between present-day Charlotte Avenue and Mechanic
Street) and many men and women that summer were stabbed, shot or
thrown in jail. So hot that one enterprising Custer City man named
W. V. Marsh, decided to stage a fight between a massive bull and a
large bear.

“The Infamous Bull and Bear Fight in Custer City, July 1879 –
The Bradford Era of July 2, 1879, had this to say: ‘This afternoon,
Taurus and bruin will meet in the ring at Custer, there to grapple
in deadly combat until one or both of them are stretched out in the
arena.’

“July 2, 1979. The day before the fight. We meet the bull. In
order to ascertain whether this proposed affair was to be a hoax or
a sell, an Era reporter was dispatched to Custer to interrogate the
proprietor of the menagerie. He found Mr. Marsh, the originator of
the show, busily engaged about the barn … In the stall nearest the
door was a magnificent bull, of colossal size, named Duke, weighing
1,775 pounds and casting sharp restless glances at the
visitor.”

Monday’s column: The fight.