100 Years Ago: Bear Cubs Die at Alton Tire Store

Last summer, I wrote an article about the July 1925 grand opening of Winkler Tire Service in Alton. You can read it here: https://www.riverbender.com/news/details/100-years-ago-tire-store-grand-opening-with-bears-in-alton-84200.cfm. At the time, I couldn’t figure out what happened to the bear cubs at the filling station. I had hoped that when they got too big for the parking lot bear cage, they would be moved to a zoo, wildlife sanctuary, or some other more appropriate place. Sadly, that is not how the story ends.

A March 4, 1926, Alton Evening Telegraph article confirmed my fears. “Min is dead, and Gump is sad up at the Gump homestead in the bear cage at the Red Winkler filling station at Seventh and Belle Streets, which is draped in mourning.” Apparently, Min was injured in shipment to Alton for the opening of Winkler Tire Service and never regained her strength. The “rush and whirr of autos” was too much for her, and she died less than a year after her arrival.

Min’s brother, Andy Gump, was the other cub brought to Alton to live in the tire store parking lot cage. He died just a few months after Min, in May 1926. Andy weighed about eighty-five pounds at the time, and an adult male American Black Bear weighs around 250 pounds. Dr. Ollie Meyers attempted to perform a minor operation on the bear, but he died of fright. “The bear had sharp teeth, and so Dr. Meyers first took the precaution of wrapping a rope around the bear’s snout, muzzling him.” Tire Service owner Red Winkler and two other men assisted. One man held the bear’s front paws, and the other men held the bear’s hind paws while Dr. Meyers prepared to start the surgery. A slight incision was made, and the bear collapsed. Winkler and Meyers assumed Andy Gump had fainted and attempted to revive him, but “it was no fainting spell, it was a real case of Andy being scared to death.”

“He was a great attraction for children, but Mr. Winkler says he hopes never to be tempted to buy any more bears…Mr. Winkler thinks he would be better off to drop the role of menagerie proprietor.”

I am relieved to say that I did not find any record of more bear cubs (or other animals) at Winkler Tire Service.

Sources

“Gump Is Sad, Min Is Dead, Bear Dan Mourns.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), March 4, 1926.

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "Ursus Americanus, American Black Bear. Male & female." New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed February 24, 2026.https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4dc06590-c6bd-012f-35b9-58d385a7bc34

“Scared to Death Black Bear Dies Under the Knife.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), May 22, 1926.

Weiss, J.A. “Hello You.” J.A. Weiss, 1945. Jasper National Park, Canada. University of Alberta Library Prairie Postcard Collection.https://archive.org/details/PC008197

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