Humans and bears - Wild encounters

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly Bear... Ben Franklin was caught, as a small cub, in the spring of 1854; Lady Washington, as a larger cub in 1853, and Samson, as a large bear, in the winter of 1854-5; that is, if Adams was truthful in his statements to me, as I thought  and still think he was. As to Samson's weight, my recollection is that Adams said he had had him weighed on a hay scales. His show bills in San Francisco gave fifteen hundred pounds as his weight and I never heard it disputed, but as he was doubtless the big bear exhibited in New York, it is possible that the exact weight could be ascertained there.  Reply