Category: A Victory!
Bella Twin, the .22 Used to Take the 1953 World Record Grizzly, and More
By Dean Weingarten
“Come face to face with a brownie at close range, near enough to hear the low rumbling in his chest, and no other wild animal noise will ever scare you again.” – Ben East, Outdoor Life Magazine, 1945
They saw a large grizzly bear coming toward them. Wishing to avoid an encounter, they hid off the side of the cut.
But the bear kept coming closer and closer. The bear got so close that Bella Twin thought it less risky to shoot the bear than to not shoot it. It was probably only a few yards away. Some accounts say 30 feet. Perhaps she saw it stop and start to sniff, as if it had caught their scent. We may never know.
She shot at the side of the bears head. Knowing animal anatomy very well (she was an experienced trapper, and had skinned hundreds, perhaps thousands of animals) she knew exactly where to aim to penetrate the skull at its weakest point.
She shot, the bear dropped. It was huge.She went to the bear and fired the rest of the .22 long cartridges that she had, loading the single shot rifle repeatedly, to “pay the insurance” as Peter Hathaway Capstick said. She made sure the bear was dead, and not just stunned. My father taught me the same lesson when I was 13.
Here is a picture of the bear’s skull and the .22 caliber holes in the left side.
For those curious about how to place that shot on a live bear, the place to aim is half way on a line from the center of the eye to the ear hole.
From the front, you would aim directly up the nose. If the bear’s mouth is open, aim for the back of the roof of the mouth. Aiming above the nose will likely miss the brain.
What rifle did Bella use to shoot the world record grizzly in 1953?
I wrote an article asking for help in 2014. Several alert readers replied over the intervening period. Because of their efforts, and the Internets, I have been able to find more detail about Bella Twin, her rifle, and the event. One reader was able to track down the current location of the rifle and send me pictures taken by the curator of the museum. The rifle is a Cooey Ace 1 single shot .22 rimfire.
Bella Twin used the rifle for many years on her trapline. The rifle was produced between 1929 and 1934. From a person who commented at Ammoland:
Here is a quote from the curator of the museum about the gun when i talked to him via email:
” I can tell you that the rifle is a .22 caliber single shot Cooey Ace 1. I can also tell you that the rifle’s condition, which has remained as it was when Bella Twin shot the bear, leaves a lot to be desired. There is corrosion on the receiver and barrel, the front screw that holds the stock to the barrel is missing and has been replaced with hockey tape. There is a piece of rubber under the barrel – probably as a method of “free floating” the barrel. There is no finish left on the wood. The stock is missing a part by the receiver and there is a wood screw reinforcing a crack in the stock.”
Bella Twin was a Cree woman. She had a reputation for being a deadly shot. Her grandson, Larry Loyie became an award winning writer. He wrote a fictionalized account of the bear shooting to include his grandmother in his prize winning children’s book, As Long as the Rivers Flow. From smokyriverexspress.com:
Kokom Bella Twin is a highlight of the adventures in As Long as the Rivers Flow. The tiny 63-year-old Cree wo- man, who lived on Rabbit Hill overlooking Slave Lake, shot the biggest grizzly bear in North America.
“I had to put Bella into the book. She was being forgotten. The only people who remembered her were readers of hunting magazines,” said Larry.
In As Long as the Rivers Flow, Larry wrote that he was with his grandmother when she shot the bear. It made sense to put the story into the book, but Larry was not with his grandmother when she shot the bear. In 1953, Larry had been gone from Slave Lake for five years. I suspect his grandfather, Edward Twin, had died. Bella was 63 and was spending time with another man. Larry refers to Dave Auger as Bella’s partner in a family picture. Dave Auger was with Bella when she shot the bear.
Bella Twin and her partner Dave Auger, family photo by Larry Loyie. The photo was likely taken in the 1960’s or later, because it is in color.
In Bruno Engler: Photography, the famous photographer has pictures of Bella in front of the bear skin. When Bruno told her that he wanted to take the picture, she insisted on going home and sprucing up, and changing into nicer clothes. Engler writes:
She was dressed very simply. When she thought I was going to take a picture of her she said “No, I have to go home first.” And she came back with a dress and put some cornstarch on her face for makeup. I said “Bella Twin, you looked much better before.”
Women want to look their best in a photograph that will be shown to the world. This explains the somewhat awkward grip on the Cooey Ace 1 in the Engler photograph. Her left hand covers up the repair to the rifle.
What ammunition did Bella Twin use? The written accounts say .22 Long.
This style of box was produced by CIL in Canada from 1950 to 1956. It is probably the type of ammunition Bella Twin used to shoot the world record grizzly. Bella Twin is specifically recorded as reporting that she shot it with .22 Longs, not Shorts, not Long Rifles. I recall that into the 1960’s Longs were more expensive than shorts, but cheaper than Long Rifle ammunition.
The High Velocity .22 Long dates back to the 1930’s and uses a 29 grain bullet at 1240 fps. The High Velocity .22 Short dates to about the same period, with the same bullet as the Long, but a velocity of 1125. The difference in velocity is 1240 – 1125 or 115 fps. That amounts to a 21% increase in energy for the Long, but far short of the Long Rifle, which is almost double that of the .22 Short.
The energy figures are listed as Short 81 foot pounds, Long 99 foot pounds, and Long Rifle 158 foot pounds, all for High Velocity loads of the period. A standard velocity .22 Long Rifle is listed at 1140 fps, with 120 foot pounds of energy, or 21% more than the High Velocity Long. The modern CCI standard velocity .22 Long Rifle travels at 1070 fps, with 102 foot pounds of energy, still 3% more than the High Velocity Long.
What was the location where the bear was shot? During my research, I came across a photo of the right side of the bear’s skull. The right side has the location where the bear was shot written on it. The bear was shot in Section 24, Township 71, Range 6, W 5th Meridian. That is a section of land about 7 1/2 miles south of Slave Lake. The bear was likely shot just west of Florida Lake. A section is one mile square.
In Larry Loyie’s obituary in the Smoky River Express, Bella Twin is described as a tiny woman. This photograph suggest that she was under five feet tall.
We know the date the bear was shot, because it is recorded on the top of the skull. Most written accounts only say it was the spring of 1953. It was on May 10th of that year.
Bella Twin was only a name for most of the time I knew of her. I wondered about this famous huntress for many years. Now we know that she was an expert trapper, hunter, and a crack shot. She was a beloved grandmother who taught her grandchildren well and knew the Cree traditional folkways. She lost one man and found another. She was shrewd enough to parlay the world record grizzly into cash. She sold the skin and skull separately, and sold the old, beat up rifle as well.
Bella Twin, I salute you. I would have liked to know you. Born in the Canadian wilderness in 1890, your life stretched between worlds.
May your memory and deeds live long, told around many campfires. I will tell my grandchildren about you.
Readers who know more about Bella Twin, please share your stories
Sorry to my Lady Readers out there! But out in the field is one hard MF on its BEST Days. Even in peacetime training, I have lost count of how many guys who had smashed toes, messed up backs, hearing loss, mental problems, knees that are FUBAR etc. etc.
Now are there women who can cut it? I am sure there are but its a very small number. But what do I know right? Grumpy
A gritty, first person friendly walk through Operation Just Cause in December 1989, from the Rangers’ airfield seizures to the infamous latrine fight and the fall of Manuel Noriega.
Setting the Stage for Operation Just Cause
All proper soldiers want to come home with a good story. You’d like to be able to sit down someday with your grandkids and tell them how you rescued the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders from the clutches of some evil despot. Tragically, the real world seldom works out quite like that. More often than not, you find yourself fighting across a chicken coop or securing some poor schmuck’s pig farm. And then there were these guys…
Table of contents
- Setting the Stage for Operation Just Cause
- Trouble in Paradise: Noriega and Panama 1989
- The Invasion: Rangers, Airfields, and Stealth Debut
- Things Get Real: The Omar Torrijos Latrine Fight
- Aftermath: D Day Success and Noriega on the Run
- From President to Prisoner
- Pineapple Face Finds Jesus
- Related Reads from GunsAmerica Digest
Trouble in Paradise: Noriega and Panama 1989
It was December of 1989, and Manuel Noriega had just gotten on George Herbert Walker Bush’s last nerve. Noriega’s people called him Pineapple Face behind his back. He was forever smitten with severe facial scars from some sort of childhood pox. Perhaps that’s what made him grow up to be such a turd.
As is so often the case, Manuel Noriega started out as one of the Good Guys. He always was a scumbag, but at least he was our scumbag. Over time, old Pineapple Face began dabbling in drug trafficking. With the resources of a nation state at his disposal, Noriega began to more resemble a warlord than a respectable chief executive.
After he was indicted by an American court on drug charges, Noriega nullified the results of the election that he lost to the opposition leader, Guillermo Endara, so he could remain in power indefinitely. There was and is a substantial American military presence in Panama. Over time, Noriega’s thugs grew more and more bold in their harassment of US troops. Noriega began getting chummy with the Soviets. Relations between Noriega and the Americans grew quite chilly.
Then one evening, four American officers were stopped by PDF (Panamanian Defense Force) troops whilst heading into Panama City to eat dinner. The PDF thugs fired on the unarmed Americans, killing Marine First Lieutenant Robert Paz. They also arrested a Navy SEAL officer and his wife, beating them both badly. Bush the First had had enough. At 0100 on 20 December 1989, Uncle Sam broke out his big stick. They christened the mission to depose Noriega and restore freedom to Panama Operation Just Cause.
The Invasion: Rangers, Airfields, and Stealth Debut
We hit the nation of Panama with more than 27,000 troops. The XVIII Airborne Corps led the way with the 82d Airborne. Lots of other units got in on the party as well, including the 7th Special Forces Group, the 7th Infantry Division (Light), and scads of support and specialized outfits, as well as a few Marines. The 75th Ranger Regiment was tasked to seize the Rio Hato and Omar Torrijos Airfields. Airfield seizure is one of the Rangers’ particular specialities. Nobody on the planet does that better.
The Rio Hato attack was initiated by a pair of F-117A stealth fighters dropping 2,000-pound precision-guided bombs as a diversion. This was the first combat use of a stealth fighter in military history. Soon thereafter, the Rangers jumped at the insanely low altitude of 490 feet. Despite the low level of the drop, 11 of the 13 transport aircraft were still damaged by 23mm antiaircraft fire.
As the Rangers were fanning out to take the Rio Hato airfield, two Panamanian military trucks loaded with PDF troops came screaming down the runway. The Panamanians raked the assembled Rangers with .50 caliber machine gun fire. In response, one Ranger platoon sergeant pithed one of the trucks with an M72 LAW rocket. Amazingly, another NCO engaged the second truck with his M1911A1 .45ACP pistol, serendipitously struck the fuel tank, and caused the vehicle to explode. Feel free to insert your favorite anecdote about the near supernatural stopping power of the 1911 pistol here.
Meanwhile, at nearby Omar Torrijos Airport, the Rangers kicked off the party with fire support from an AC-130U Spectre gunship as well as AH-6 Little Bird attack helicopters. These aerial assets neutralized three .50 caliber machine gun positions as well as a quad barreled 14.5mm ZPU-4 antiaircraft gun. That’s when the Rangers got down to business.
Things Get Real: The Omar Torrijos Latrine Fight
CQB (Close Quarters Battle) in a confined space looks cool in the movies. In real life, however, it is mostly just pain, blood, chaos, and terror. The defenders have a natural advantage, and the only way to seize an objective is to put friendly meat on the ground and take it. Captain Al Dochnal, commander of C Company, 3 Bn, 75th Ranger Regiment, led his young studs into the main terminal building at Omar Torrijos International Airport, scrapping for a fight.
Dochnal’s Rangers advanced into the terminal building by platoons. Once they forced an entry, the dozen PDF troops tasked with defending the facility inexplicably retreated into the men’s room. This turned out to be a pretty sound idea, at least in the near term. The thick granite stall walls offered decent cover.
SGT David Reeves deployed an M67 frag grenade into the john and rushed in as soon as the little bomb went off. One of the PDF shooters, protected from the blast by the aforementioned granite dividers, shot Reeves three times in the chest and once in the head. Two more Rangers then charged into the latrine. PFC William Kelly caught a round to his Kevlar helmet but was unhurt. By now, these young Rangers were pretty energized.
SPC Michael Eubanks and PFC Kelly successfully extricated SGT Reeves and dragged him to safety. Realizing that the confines of the terminal bathroom did not much lend themselves to small arms, Kelly and Eubanks filled their BDU pockets with frag grenades and headed into the latrine yet again.
This was one seriously big restroom. There were ten urinals and ten individual stalls. Kelly and Eubanks began rolling grenades underneath the walls of the stalls, blowing the defenders literally to pieces. Think Saving Private Ryan meets Superbad.
Panamanian body parts flew wildly about the latrine. All of the mirrors were shattered. Some of the PDF troops inexplicably still had some fight left in them, so Eubanks and Kelly went to town with their handguns.
At this point, the two opposing sides were close enough to yell at each other. The Panamanians suggested that the Rangers engage in some inappropriate sexual behaviors with their mothers, while the Rangers made a credible argument that Manuel Noriega was a pedophile. By now, SPC Eubanks had retrieved his M203 grenade launcher. When one of the PDF soldiers leaned out of a stall to curse at him, Eubanks shot him in the mouth with a 40mm grenade. That left only three combat effective Panamanians.
As SPC Eubanks carefully advanced through all the dust and smoke, a PDF soldier dove out of a stall and threw him into the urinals. His buddy, PFC Kelly, then ran up and shot the PDF pugilist three times in the head. By now, the Ranger reinforcements had arrived in strength. Rangers poured into what was left of the airport washroom and dispatched the last two remaining PDF defenders without difficulty. From start to finish, it had taken five minutes to clear the twelve Panamanian soldiers out of the latrine.
By now, the objective was secure, but PFC Kelly and SPC Eubanks were in a bit of a state. These two young Rangers had been liberally covered in blood, brains, and gore during their close quarters fight to secure the Omar Torrijos Airfield men’s room. It was another three days before they got the opportunity to change clothes. I suspect they got to eat by themselves quite a bit during that time.
Aftermath: D Day Success and Noriega on the Run
45 minutes after the Rangers hit Omar Torrijos Airfield, the 82D Airborne began their drop. With the runway, terminal, and tower firmly in American hands, USAF C-141 cargo planes began cycling through with troops, ammunition, and supplies. Things unfolded quickly from there.
Operation Just Cause was defined by 27 separate initial tactical objectives. US forces accomplished all 27 on D Day, 20 December. Manuel Noriega subsequently went into hiding, eventually taking refuge in the Papal Nunciatura four days later. Think of this as akin to a diplomatic embassy for the Roman Catholic church. American combat troops, as well as Delta Force operators, surrounded the facility to prevent Noriega’s escape. They flew helicopters over the compound at low level at all hours and blasted Van Halen through hastily erected loudspeakers. Ten days later, Noriega surrendered to US forces.
From President to Prisoner
At the time of his capture, Noriega was said to be wearing some garish red silk underwear. These were supposedly his lucky underpants, intended to protect him from all harm. It seems they were defective. In short order, Noriega found himself in a Miami courtroom answering drug trafficking charges.
The American wheels of justice turn slowly, and the ambiguity of his status as a war criminal, a POW, an acknowledged head of state, or a garden variety drug running thug muddied the waters considerably. Eventually, the lawyers got all that sorted, and Noriega was remanded to federal prison. His status as a POW got him his own cell, his own television, and a decent set of exercise equipment.
Pineapple Face Finds Jesus
Noriega was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Once the dust settled, that 40 years condensed down to about 17. During that time, the deposed despot developed a friendship with a pair of evangelical pastors Clift Brannon and Rudy Hernandez. Noriega subsequently converted to Christianity and was baptized. I sincerely hope it took. He completed his American sentence in 2007 and was sent to France to start the process all over again.
France got a shot at him because of some money laundering thing, and Noriega was sentenced to a further seven years in jail. In 2011, the French authorities put Noriega on a plane for his home country of Panama. While in power, Manuel Noriega had done quite a lot of very bad stuff. He was subsequently sentenced to three concurrent 20 year prison sentences by the Panamanian courts.
In 2017, while still incarcerated, Noriega underwent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. The former despot suffered a brain bleed during the procedure and died on May 29, 2017. He was 83. His body was released to his family for burial. Manuel Noriega’s dictatorship died along with him. Let’s hope he’s with Jesus today.
