“Jason Ware had a small white dog, named Sambo, who entered into the spirit of his profession with even more zeal than his master, and who acquired great reputation among the people and hunters in this section of the county for his skill and success.  In one season, Sambo assisted in killing thirteen bears.  There was no dog in town quite equal to Sambo.  He would follow any person carrying a gun.  If he was wanted, it was only necessary for him to hear his name, and he would go, however, far it might be.  He has been known to obey a call, and run from his kennel to the Old Burying Ground hill, whether his master went or not.

His method of pursuit was to keep near the Bruin’s heels, and bit him.  The bear, not pleased with such strong attachments on the part of Sambo, would tumble over backwards, or turn about to attack him.  As he was large and clumsy, Sambo was always able to retreat a few steps, and then he would stand in security and watch the bear’s motions.  ‘As soon as the bear picked himself up, and began to go ahead again,’ Sambo renewed his attacks.  The bear would again turn, and Sambo again retreat.  Though Sambo seemed to take much satisfaction in this mode of travelling, his bearship was evidently was not well pleased.  He could not get along so fast as he desired.  And, more than this, he was frequently delayed by Sambo’s remarkable attention, till the gunners came near enough to shoot him; or he was overcome by it that he would be obliged to take leave of Sambo and climb a tree.

Elisha Partridge was paddling his boat up the river above River Pond one evening, and, by the bright moonlight, saw an old bear munching acorns of the point of land on the east side.  He whistles for Sambo, whose kennel was not far distant.  Sambo sprang out, ran furiously down to the river, and at the first bound went half-way across the channel.  He was immediately at the bear’s heels, drove him up the river, and treed him on a pine which stood on Robbins Neck, not far from the barn now owned by Hugh S. Gordon.  He was watched till morning, when he was found to be a very large, and to have climbed only about twenty feet from the ground.  He was fired at.  The ball struck him in the breast, but too low to wound the heart.  Bruin then went up the tree about sixty feet.  He was fired at and wounded several times.  Finally, a ball was shot through the heart.  He fell dead to the ground, breaking and clearing every limb in his way.

But, alas! poor Sambo!  His end was tragical.  In March, he went, with Joseph Meservey and others, into the Medomac country to hunt.  The men, having ousted a bear from his den, thought it best, availing themselves of Sambo’s assistance, to drive him toward home, instead of killing him at once and carrying or hauling him.  When he had gone some distance, and were crossing Appleton Ridge, the dog, in attempting to leap back after biting the bear’s leg, as the snow was deep and soft, came in contact with a tree.  Bruin struck him with his paw, knocking him up in the air; and, as he came down, hit him again.  Meservey wrapped him in is blanket, and brought him home; but he was about dead.  Thus fell poor Sambo, a martyr to the cause of bear-hunting.  No record remains of his various obsequies; no marble monument points  out his resting place; no epitaph records his various deeds.  He was probably buried like a dog.”

Reference Data:

A History of the Town of Union, in the County of Lincoln, Maine, by John Langdon Sibley, 1851, pages 403-4