![“Grizzly” Adams’ Death (1812-1860)
In an 1855 grizzly attack, John suffered head and neck injuries. His scalp was dislodged and he had a depression about the size of a silver dollar above his forehead. The wounds healed but the skull indentation remained. He made pets of several grizzlies and often wrestled with them while training them and in exhibitions. His most delinquent grizzly, named General Fremont (for John C. Fremont), during a playful wrestling match, struck Adams in the head, cracking open the previous injury like an eggshell. The wound healed somewhat, only to be reopened by the “General,” several times, eventually leaving his brain tissue exposed.
The injury was evidently further aggravated, when a monkey that Adams was attempting to train, bit into the open wound, while Adams was on tour with the circus in New England, in 1860.[14] After more than four-months performing with his California Menagerie in New York City, Connecticut and Massachusetts, complications from the wound eventually led to Adams’ inability to continue on with the show. After completing his contract with P.T. Barnum, he retired to his wife and daughter’s home in Neponset, Massachusetts, where he died of his illness (possibly meningitis) five days after arriving. Upon hearing of Adams’ death, Barnum was deeply grieved.
Pictured: Dan Haggerty as Grizzly Adams](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly0js0WIeS1qzuzbpo1_500.jpg)
“Grizzly” Adams’ Death (1812-1860)
In an 1855 grizzly attack, John suffered head and neck injuries. His scalp was dislodged and he had a depression about the size of a silver dollar above his forehead. The wounds healed but the skull indentation remained. He made pets of several grizzlies and often wrestled with them while training them and in exhibitions. His most delinquent grizzly, named General Fremont (for John C. Fremont), during a playful wrestling match, struck Adams in the head, cracking open the previous injury like an eggshell. The wound healed somewhat, only to be reopened by the “General,” several times, eventually leaving his brain tissue exposed.
The injury was evidently further aggravated, when a monkey that Adams was attempting to train, bit into the open wound, while Adams was on tour with the circus in New England, in 1860.[14] After more than four-months performing with his California Menagerie in New York City, Connecticut and Massachusetts, complications from the wound eventually led to Adams’ inability to continue on with the show. After completing his contract with P.T. Barnum, he retired to his wife and daughter’s home in Neponset, Massachusetts, where he died of his illness (possibly meningitis) five days after arriving. Upon hearing of Adams’ death, Barnum was deeply grieved.
Pictured: Dan Haggerty as Grizzly Adams
Pentti Sammallahti, Solovki, White Sea, Russia, 1992.
(via LBM)
