Porcupines and Policemen

At Revelstoke Museum and Archives we have Revelstoke newspapers on microfilm from 1890 to 1965. It is always a lot of fun reading the early newspapers. The writing styles were quite florid, and there didn't seem to be any publication bans. There are plenty of amusing stories to be found, such as this one from the August 7, 1912 issue of the Revelstoke Mail-Herald. One can't help wondering why the man thought it was a good idea to kick the animal when he thought it was a bear!

The article is entitled: “A Peculiar Adventure"
"A police officer and a well-known government employee of Revelstoke, met with a peculiar adventure on Tuesday evening last, within the city limits.
"Walking home about 11 pm, one of the friends wheeling a bicycle, and both engaged in an animated conversation, the attention of the alert-eyed officer was attracted to the movement of some wild, brown creature rustling its way through the grass along the roadside. The silent night resounded with the quick call: “A bear, a bear” and whilst the constable pulled his gun, the other fellow stepped over and gave bruin a playful little kick. It was a bear, but of the electric variety, and there was a scene of great excitement as the venturesome kicker danced round the road with no less than eighty-four porcupine quills sticking into his foot and leg. The startled constable got in a pot shot at the fleeting animal, but the bullet went right through the steel quilled one without apparently damaging it, and found a safe billet in the tyre of the bicycle which exploded with a noise like thunder, the double report bringing the night patrol hastily to the scene.
"The quills were removed at the Revelstoke hospital, and the two nimrods continued the movement homewards, arriving safely without any further adventures.
"The wounded hero of this incident was very reticent when our reporter tried to interview him the following morning, but the quills were there to speak for themselves, and all we succeeded in learning was that next time he ran across a porcupine there would be no kick coming so far as he personally was concerned.”