 He finally lassoed the bear and tied it to a tree.When the President finally arrived, he famously refused to shoot the helpless bear, though another member of his party eventually killed it with a knife.The "Washington Post" and other newspapers publicized Roosevelt's compassion for the animal, and an editorial cartoon of the event by Clifford Berryman titled "Drawing the line in Mississippi" which erroneously depicted the bear as a cub, eventually gave rise to the "Teddy Bear" phenomenon and the president's nickname.