The Wichita Daily Eagle
Wichita, Kansas Feb 2 1895
KILLING THE BISON
HERDS OF BUFFALO
BUTCHERING AND WIPED OUT OF EXISTENCE IN A FEW MONTHS
Hundreds of Thousands Slaughtered In a Couple of Years After the Hunting Became General- Story of the Chase and Battle in the Gorge.
Before the Northern Pacific railroad had crossed the continent west of the Missouri river this section of the country bounded by that river on the east and the Rockies on the west and stretching from the Platte, in Nebraska, northward to the British line, was the greatest stamping ground for buffaloes in the whole northwest. The country was more or less hostile in those days, and the Indians, who had been the best guardians of the bison until the white pot hunters came among them, soon gained the civilized idea of slaughtering, and from that time the doom of the representative American game animal was positively assured, but the greatest blow dealt the bison herds of the northwest was the completion of the Northern Pacific track from Bismarck to the Rocky mountains. The road practically divided the herds (for the bison will never, unless forced cross the iron of the railroad track), and those to the South were soon swallowed up in the general slaughter waged by Indians, pot, hide and tongue hunters, foreign sportsmen and others who were out to kill anything they saw on sight.
This was during the winter 1882-3. The buffaloes to the north were in many scattered bands, but there was one great herd of not less than 75,000 head, which had found a temporary refuge in the triangle formed by the Muscleshell, Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Montana, and as yet they had not been ‘smelled out” by either the red or white hunters, but they were as surely doomed as though already killed, for the railroad iron cut them off from their southern range, and the Indians of the Canadian northwest as well as those of our own country barred their retreat into the far north, and so they were hemmed in between the two, with no possibility of escape in either direction.
To illustrate in a few words the remarkable destruction of that section alone it will only be necessary to say that this last great herd was completely wiped out of existence in less than four months, and before the close of the year there were but a few singles and pairs left as fugitives in that vast country, where, but a year or two before, they could have been counted almost by the hundreds of thousands. The shipping figures from two points on the Yellowstone at the end of the season, Glendive and Miles City, show 800,000 buffalo hides sent from the former and 185,250 skins of elk, antelope and deer from the latter place.
It chanced, at the time mentioned, that the writer, with a small detachment of soldiers, was passing from the Missouri river country to the Yellowstone, and we came across, almost daily, numerous bands of Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blackfeet and other Indians, all hurrying to the slaughter of the noble animals on the Musselshell. Our scout, or guide, was a Crow Indian named Two Moons, and one day while threading our way through the Bad Lands, painted buttes and broken coulies a small herd of about 600 bison came rushing into view around a bluff not more than 200 yards distant, and with heads down and paintbrush tales erect they came plunging on directly toward us in the wildest sort of confusion. A genuine stampede was probably in full operation, and the soldiers not waiting for orders, lost no time in placing a safe and reasonable distance between themselves and that threatened danger. They quickly shied off to the right, and I felt it my duty at this ‘impending crisis” to keep as close to the heels of my fleeing comrades as the speed of my horse would permit.
In a few minutes the last of the fleeing bison were well to the rear, and they soon disappeared beyond a neighboring knoll with the speed of an express train. While watching them and debating whether at Chase would be worth the trouble, from behind the bluff where the buffaloes had first appeared now came a second band of bison, about 60 in all, with a dozen well mounted Cheyenne bucks in hot pursuit. As before, the animals came direct toward us, but ours shouting’s and halloonings turned them aside, and they shied off to the left, entering the jaws of the rough broken ravine, which was precisely what their red pursuers wanted. The ravine was a sort of rift in the Bad Lands which practically led nowhere, but which we after word discovered narrowed and closed in until it ended in a steep, and impassable pocket, with no outlet except by the original way of entry.
The Indians shouted to us as they rushed by, and, rather interested in the outcome, as I suspected the nature of the ravine, I left the Sgt. with the detachment, and, taking the guide with me, followed swiftly on the heels of the flying Cheyennes.
Game and hunters soon disappeared in that twinings and intertwinings of the gorge, and as it was an exceedingly rocky and difficult trail we took our time and practically “made haste slowly.” How the red man ahead of us ever got over the ground so quickly was an unsolved mystery. Narrower and narrower became the gorge, and at last we paused to listen. There was scarcely a sound in the air, but this intense stillness became suddenly broken by a series of rapid shots and wild yells, accompanied by a thundering, rumbling noise which was almost deafening. The tumult rapidly grew louder, and then, just in front of us, from out of the depths of the canyon came the buffalo herd like the wind, directly toward us. Some were bleeding, many were wounded, and others were limping badly. It never seem possible that living brutes could travel over such rough ground with such speed, but the difficulties of the trail never seem to concern them in the least, for as a matter of fact, the rear ones crowded the forward ones with such persistence and so rapidly that they had to move quickly or else be trampled under foot.
After this thundercloud had passed, with feelings of great relief, we went on up the canyon to see how the Indians had fared. It proved to have been a disastrous encounter for the Cheyennes, as many of them were limping and bleeding as badly as the stampeded buffaloes. A survey of the free frontier circus ground discovered seven dead buffaloes, three wounded Indians- one of them quite seriously – and six ponies killed and maimed.
Chicago Herald/
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The Inter Ocean
Chicago, Illinois April 22 1895
KEEPER DE VRY AND HIS TROUBLES
Lincoln Park Pea Fowls Taken For Ransom
-“Jim,” the Bison, to be Exiled
Keeper Cypress DeVry has had his soul sorely tried of late, and it is due to his superb flock of pea fowls and a number of typical “bad boys,” (story edited out)
The workmen at the Park were treated to a lively scene Friday, when the two mammoth bison bulls were transferred to different pens. These fellows, prior to January, were quite companionable, but one day that month their pugnacity was suddenly aroused, and is stiff and counter was engaged in, resulting in “Buffalo Bill” seriously goring “Jim.” The latter was placed in a stable to allow his wounds to heal, while the other warrior was left with the herd. Being thus separated, the two only engaged complements at intervals in the way of bellowing, but a few days ago “Buffalo Bill” forest and entrance into the abode of his enemy, where an angry and counter was precipitated. It was a perilous task to attempt to make peace between the enraged animals. Finally “Buffalo Bill” was ejected, and “Jim’s” home was securely guarded.
Friday Keeper DeVry determined to give “Jim” the freedom of the yard, and put his antagonistic in durance vile. Accordingly “Buffalo Bill” was lassoed after considerable trouble, during which ropes were broken and one of his horns was badly fractured. He was fastened to a tree while “Jim” was led out to the herd. Then after another tussle the obstinate beast was led to confinement, where he will remain while his brother is taking an airing. However, negotiations were perfected Saturday for the purchase of three bisons for the zoological garden of Philadelphia. Keeper DeVry said that “Jim” would likely be one of the number.
It is interesting to know that this herd of 16 natives of the Western plains is the finest in captivity. The park has been successful in raising these animals. Some years ago there were but two bison; the rest are lineal descendants of this couple.
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Fate of the Bison
July 29, 1895
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The Times
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania June 10, 1895
BILL THE BISON KNOCKED OUT
A SENSATIONAL EARLY-MORNING BULL FIGHT AT THE ZOO.
NEW CHAMPION FOR BUFFALOES
The Bully That Has Long Held Full Sway in the Buffalo Enclosure Arouses His Companions to a State of Rebellion and After a Desperate Combat is Probably Fatally Injured and Dragged Off by the Keepers.
Visitors at the Zoological Garden early yesterday morning were treated to a sensation. This was a combat a la mort in the big buffalo enclosure that would have reflected credit upon the wildest regions of the Western plains in the good old traditional times.
The buffaloes at the Zoo are, for the most part bona fide importations from the West, but they usually exhibit the deteriorating effects of Eastern civilization by lolling about their mock sylvan retreat or reclining lazily in the sun.
There has been one exception to this passive appearance of indolence and degeneracy unworthy of the traditional energy of wild bison ancestry. The ugliest looking buffalo in the herd, a creature of gigantic size, has always been an un-easy, restless, quarrelsome fellow, a terror to his companions, whom he dominated and bossed at his own eccentric will. He was the bully of the walk, as it were. All others had to budge at his pleasure and surrender possession of the softest and choicest spots in the enclosure whenever he chose to demand it. To the keepers he was known as Bill and by them he was dreaded almost as much by his own associates. With some of the others the keepers have become tolerably familiar, but nobody has ever thought of making a pet of Bill.
BILL IN AN UGLY MOOD.
Like all bullies, Bill included among his execrable qualities the twin vices of selfishness and greed. He was always filling himself with the choicest of the food, the tenderest grasses, and his conduct at all times, particularly, it seemed, when crowds of visitors were gazing through fences, was such as would discust any gentlemanly buffalo.
The keepers noticed early in the morning that Bill was in a more than usually disagreeable mood. He swaggered around the place, pushing the others about, disturbing various social little groups of the more companionable fellows, and taking particular delight in forcing anyone who had settled himself in an especially agreeable place for peaceful repose, to get up and hustle for others quarters. It was about the time when everybody except guards, keepers and the lower animals are supposed to be engaged in religious worship that the garden was startled by a Wagnerian chorus of bellows and snorts from the buffalo yard. All the keepers and the few visitors who had entered the grounds rushed to the scene.
There, in the middle of the enclosure, stood Bill, his huge head close to the ground, which he was pawing in an ugly manner, while his tail swished in the air like a whip. In a semi-circle, but at a respectful distance, were half a dozen of the largest members of the herd, also digging into the earth and snorting belligerently, while the others of the colony were gathered in one quarter, with their shaggy whiskers almost touching the ground, but distinctly contenting themselves with bellowing at the top of their capacious lungs.
THE BULLY ATTACKED
it was evident that the bully had provoked his usually meek comrades to open rebellion. Active hostilities were not long delayed. Wild Bill stood half contemptuously returning the angry snorts of his enemies a large buffalo detached himself from the semi-circle and approached the big fellow slowly and apparently desirous of digging his way toward him through the earth with his nose. When about six feet distant, with the big glaring eyeballs of both animals fastened upon each other, the new champion sprang forward and their thick heads met with a crash like simultaneous bangs on the base drums of a score of military bands . The new champion recoiled before the superior strength of Bill, but he was game and he returned to the attack.
For more than five minutes the combatants hurled against each other, their horns frequently locked, and each striving with all his sinewy strength to force up the others head and get in a decisive blow with the keen horns in the softer flesh of the neck. Bill was steadily forcing his antagonistic back toward the fence when another large buffalo detached himself from the semi-circle and with head down and tail up charge directly upon the object of general hatred. The blow took effect in Bills tremendous neck, laying open the heavy flesh and coloring the thick mane red in an instant.
It was then that Bill showed what almost all bullies show when hard beset, the white feather. Disconcerted and perplexed, he turned from wind to the other of his assailants, striving to avoid the blows of each. He bellowed with rage and evident fear when still another buffalo joined the attacking party and thrust his sharp porn into his flank.
DISCOMFITURE OF BILL.
The issue of the battle was not long doubtful. With all his enormous strength Bill was forced about the pen, receiving numerous wounds in front and flank from the infuriated animals that were now crowding upon him. He made a last desperate stand near the fence and succeeded in hurling one of his foes to the earth and ripping open the side of another, that he himself was soon to week to maintain himself on his legs, and all seemed over for him, when head Keeper Mauley and a half dozen keepers, armed with pitchforks and clubs, and rushed to his rescue. It was a difficult, not to say dangerous, thing to repel the enraged bisons, who had made up their bovine determination to destroy their oppressor in one good job, but they were finally beaten back long enough to enable the keepers to drag bill out of the gate.
While this was going on every animal in the Zoo possessing a strong voice was keeping up a musical accompaniment, in which the trumpeting’s of the elephant Bolivar and his unusually quiet companions and the roars and snarls of the big cats in the lion house were particularly prominent.
Bill’s injuries were found to be serious and it is possible that his unhappy fate will be to furnish buffalo cutlets to the carnivora. At any rate, he is not likely to be restored to the buffalo yard.
After Bills subjugation the buffalo’s that had made the attack were noticed to bear themselves with a new air of self-importance. This was especially evident in the case of the one who had the courage to strike the first blow. He, of course, succeeds Bill as boss of the ranch, and in pointing him out the head keeper, who is of a classical turn, bestows upon him the title of “Campeador.”
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The Daily Times
Davenport, Iowa, Aug 23, 1895
COWBOYS BECOMING EXTINCT.
Rapid Decadence of the Genus That Made the Wild West Famous
The cowboy, like the buffalo, is fast becoming extinct. In the dawn of the new century now approaching he will be regarded as a curiosity. Ten years hence, says Lippincott’s Magazine, he will almost have attained the dignity of tradition. History, which embalms the men in armor and exalts the pioneer, holds a place for him. The niche may be a modest one, that he has his part in conquering a new country, and no impartial record of Western evolution can omit his picturesque figure. Before civilization devours his identity let us try to detain it a monument in its real likeness and garb.
Dwellers in the long settled communities scarcely realize how great a change has come over the far west during the last decade. Ranches there will always be – ranches for grain, hay, fruit and blooded live stock — but not for the rearing of range cattle. Yet the time is an easy memory when there was a craze over the cattle business, when the cowboy was king at Dodge City, when hundreds of educated young men went west to share the hardship of herders. To-day the cattle ranches are deserted or mortgaged or turned into farms. A more advanced intelligence has penetrated the possibilities of irrigation and water is reclaiming the wilderness once given over to the long-horn steer.
The decline of the cattle industry has been as amazing and rapid as was its rise. The business is not simply suffering from stagnation; it has almost ceased to exist. Early in the eighties a beef steer running on the range represented forty dollars; one-fourth that some would pay for him now. Thirty dollars was the average price for a cow with a calf at her side; now whole herds are disposed of for six dollars a head.
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Fergus County Argus
Lewistown, Montana Sep 5, 1895
The Game Law
There seems to be still some doubt in the minds of our sportsmen regarding the law relating to the killing of game, and by request of some of our readers we again publish a synopsis of the law as in existence at present time.
By a recent decision of Attorney General Haskell the game law which governed in 1894 is still in effect and operation as against the provisions of the new codes and amendments thereto. Under the old law, which is therefore now in force it is lawful to kill the following game at the times hereinafter specified.
White-tailed deer, black-tailed deer, mule deer, Rocky Mountain goat, mountain sheep and antelope, August 15 to December 15. Unlawful to hunt or chase with dogs.
Grouse, prairie chicken, pheasant, fool hens, sage hens, partridges and snipe, August 15 to November 15.
Geese, ducks, brant and swan, September 1 to January 1.
Fish can only be taken with hook and line at any time except the months of May and June. Owners of private ponds can fish at any time.
Unlawful to catch at any time, for speculative purposes or for market or for sale, any speckled or mountain trout.
Martin or fisher, October 1 to April 1.
Unlawful to kill buffalo, bison, quail or Chinese peasants for 10 years from March 1, 1893.
Unlawful to kill moose, elk, otter or beaver for six years from March 1, 1893.
Bears, mountain lions and panthers can be hunted at any time.
Unlawful to kill in any manner any robin, meadow lark, thrush, flecker or yellow hammer, oriole, mocking-bird, goldfinch, snowbird, cedar bird or any other of the small birds known as singing birds.
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The Record-Argus
Greenville, Pennsylvania Sep 5, 1895
THE AMERICAN BISON
Only Two Hundred Wild Buffaloes Still Alive in the United States.
In a wild state, the American bison, or buffalo, is practically, though not quite wholly, extinct. At the present moment there are about 200 wild buffaloes alive and on foot in the United States. To obtain these high figures we include the 150 individuals that the white head hunters and red meat hunters have thus far left alive in the Yellowstone park, where the buffaloes are fondly supposed to be protected from slaughter. Besides these, there are only two other bunches; one of about 20 head in Lost park, Col., protected by state laws, and another, containing between 30 and 40 head, in Val Verde county, Tex., Between Devils river and the Rio Grande.
Four years ago there were over 300 head in the Yellowstone park, thriving and increasing quite satisfactorily. Through them we fondly hoped the species would yet be saved from absolute extinction. But, alas! we were reckoning without the poachers. Congress provides pay for just one solitary scout to guard in winter 3,575 square miles of rugged mountain country against the horde of lawless white men and Indians who surround the park on all sides, eager to kill the last buffalo! The poachers have been hard at work, as a result our park herd has recently decreased more than one half in number. It is a brutal, burning shame that formerly, through lack of congressional law adequately to punish such poachers as the wretch who was actually caught red-handed in January 1804, while skinning seven dead buffaloes! and now, through lack of paltry $1800 a year to pay four more scouts, the park buffaloes are all doomed to certain and speedy destruction.
Besides the places mentioned, there is only one other spot in all North America that contains wild buffaloes. Immediately southwestward of Great Slave lake there lies a vast wilderness of swamps and stunted pines, into which no white man has ever penetrated far, and where the red man still reigns supreme. It is bounded on the north by the Liard in Mackenzie rivers, and on the east by the Slave river, on the south by the Peace river, and on the west by the Rocky mountains. Mr. Warburton Pike says it is now the greatest beaver country in the world, and that it also contains a few bands of the so-called wood buffalo. “Sometimes they are heard at Forts Smith and Vermillion, sometimes at Fort St. John, on the Peace river, and occasionally at Fort Nelson, on the Liard: but it is impossible to say anything about their numbers.”
At all events, in February, 1800, Mr. Pike found eight buffaloes only four days travel from Fort Resolution on Great Slave lake, and succeeded in killing one. The Canadian authorities estimate the total number in that region at three hundred. –W. T. Hornaday, in St Nicholas
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The Hickman Currier
Hickman, Kentucky Sep 13, 1895
Gigantic remains of elephants have been found in a new railroad cutting in the Department of the Charente, France. Besides two tusks, one of the extraordinary length of 9 1/2 feet, there are elephants molars and bones, remains of mammoth, teeth of rhinoceros, bison and hippopotamus, and a large number of flint instruments. The discovery of human relics with remains of such antiquity is very unusual.
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Marion Record
Marion Kansas Sep 20, 1895
Hunting the Moose
Thanks to the fact that the Moose is rather solitary in his habits, quick-witted, and keen of eye, ear and nostril in detecting danger, he is not destined to be exterminated so easily as the more stupid bison, caribou, and elk. Rarely, indeed, does a hunter find more than a family of moose together, even in the dead of winter, when they “yard up” in a given locality for days or weeks at a time.
By reason of his great size, his savory flesh, his much prized head, and the difficulty of killing him, this animal has always been very attractive to sportsmen and naturalist and pot hunters also. As a result, our leading scientific museums now possess more and finer mounted specimens of this species than any other large game animal of America except the bison. The museums of Washington, New York, and the University of Kansas possess magnificent groups that are lasting monuments to the greatness of Alces Americanus, and a credit to our country besides.—W. T. Hornaday, in St Nicolas.
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San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, California Oct 13, 1895
NOVELTY IN A FALL GOWN
An Entire Suit of Bison Fur the Latest Radical Departure.
To produce strikingly novel effects seems to be the aim of the couriers of fashion this autumn. The advanced styles show a disposition on the part of the modiste to introduced gowns of particular and unusual material. 
An illustration of this, says the New York World, is seen at a costume and mantle specialty house on twenty-third street, where an entire suit of bison fur is exhibited. It is a most unusual departure from prescribed rules heretofore existing, to make a skirt of fur, but, since Dame Fashion has placed her stamp of approval upon the liberal use of fur on all winter garments, this unique importation calls only for praise.
This very remarkable gown cost $400 and will attract the attention of women who desire to be noted for originality in dress. The fur is a dark rich tobacco brown, with an undulating surface. This skirt flares decidedly and is cut a la Paguair.
The front breadth is gored and on either side flaps are placed, simulating pockets. A heavy guipure silk passement Erie in tan outlines the gore and is carried about the bottom of the skirt bordering it effectively.
The waste model is excellent and has full sleeves of iridescent velvet in shades of brown and green in a corduroy weave. Black satin is conspicuously combined with the fur and is a decidedly pretty accessory.
A soave jacket, which fits snugly to the form, discloses a folded girdle of black satin, which is arranged with an inverted point at the back and meets in front a full jabot of ecru lace, extending from the throat to the waist line. A gold and pearl filigree girdle of oval disks, connected by links of metal, encircles the waist.
A ripple skirt up black satin six inches deep falls in full folds about the hips, and is attached to the bodice under the girdle. Bretelles of black satin surmounting the sleeves are a desirable feature of the dress, and impart great breadth to the shoulders. A stock collar of satin, with loops in its ends, has fur and lace associated in its formation.
The cost you is a curious spectacle of monistic scale, and is thus surprising novelty of the season.
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The Monroeville Breeze
Monroeville, Indiana Oct 24 1895
Civilized Man?
The commander of the United States Fish Commission steamer Albatross, returning from the sealing grounds at Behring’s Sea, reports the slaughter of the seals so wanton this year, despite international congresses, agreements and regulation, that the early annihilation of the entire species is to be expected. Because of the lust of men for gain, the seal is to follow the buffalo and the sperm whale into practical extinction. Man is, after all, the most destructive of animals, and the more highly civilized he is the more lust for the taking of life seems to possess him. Neither their brute nor the savage hunts for “sport.” That is reserved for the highest type of civilized man, and for him, too, was reserved the crowning absurdity of looking with contempt on the man who hunts for food. The Indian roamed the American continent for centuries without accomplishing such slaughter as white men, on the plea of sport, made among the bison in ten years on the plains. The pleasing pasttime of shooting into a herd of buffalo from a moving train or slaughtering alligators from the deck of a steamboat is of purely “civilized” origin. Some effort is being made by States and nations to save the remnant of the wild animals which have thus far escaped the sportsman. Great Britain has prohibited the shooting of elephants in British India barely in time to save that animal from extinction. Florida is wisely taking steps to protect the few remaining alligators within her boundaries. In Oregon there is agitation in progress to check the use of mechanical devices for wholesale capture of salmon as they ascend the rivers to spawn. In every State feathered game is protected by law. But the case of the seal is complicated by the fact that no single Government has jurisdiction over the fishing grounds, and hitherto, despite strenuous efforts, no concerted action by the Governments most interested has been practicable. Since 1886 the United States and Great Britain have been wrangling over the situation. The international court of arbitration, to which the whole question was referred in 1893, went at great length into the claims of both nations to regulate the seal fisheries, finally deciding in the main unfavorably to the United States. A circumstantial plan for joint regulation of the fisheries was prepared by the arbitrators, but has not been put into effect. While the diplomats debate the hapless seals die. And when the seals are gone the Indians of Pribvloff Islands , who have for countless generations subsisted upon them, will die as the Indians of the plains followed the vanishing bison into extinction.
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The Goodland Republic
Goodland, Kansas Nov 15 1895
BUFFALO WALLOWS
The ‘buffalo wallows” in the early times nearly always contained water unless after a long and protracted drouth. The bottom of these wallows were impervious to water percolation, and held water long after the rains had ceased. The trampoline of the soil by the feet of the buffalo hardened the basin and readily held the rainfall. It is said the male buffaloes pawed out these wallows during their watch over the calves, to protect the newly-born against hungry coyotes. But it is pertinent to suggest that the buffalo had other than a paternal regard for the offspring. It seems that the buffaloes had an instinct or a conscious determination in providing a water supply by making these basins or “wallows,” that, when full of water, dotted the plains like specs on the sky. The so-called “wallows” were not wallows in a literal sense. Like a dutiful parent, the mail bison stood watch over the young while the mother went down to the Arkansas river to slack her thirst. While pawing the earth during his paternal guard, and throwing the dust over his shaggy coat, and chasing the flies and gnats, the proud denizen of the plains consciously made a reservoir, so that when the birth of young bison occurred prematurely at a distance from the river, Mistress Bison could slake her thirst, and not interrupt her accouchement, by finding water in the ‘wallows.” Old Bison, himself, was just like some of the old buffaloes we all know of, who leave the nurse and care of mother and child, and go off and set up the cigars among the boys. They soon got tired ‘pawing” at the sick bed and tired of handing over the paregoric. So it was with Bison.
But the buffalo had the reservoir and storage plan in view, probably in anticipation of this sure agricultural development of the country. He left something for men to intimate.
Why not? Nature provided the camel with the hump on his back containing fat, that was consumed on his march across a desert that afforded no subsistence. It also provided camels with three stomachs for a water reserve where the oasis were far apart and to relieve his famishing on his journeys across the Sahara.
Nature probably gave the buffalo a degree of intelligence, though there was an abundant herbage, and he had no use to store up fat; but he took his instinct and added to his water supply.
The buffalo also looked at his reservoir system from both and agricultural and commercial view; for the wallows are on the best lands.
Men can find useful occupation in the pursuit of designs for the betterment of his condition by studying the habits of animals. He can lay in fat and a water supply.
The scientists goes to nature for his plans; the inventor patterns after nature; and the human body is a piece of mechanism, governed by the principal that controls the wind, the storm and the sea. ___Dodge City Globe-Republican
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The Record- Union
Sacramento, California Nov. 26 1895
ENGLANDS INIQUITOUS GAME LAWS
They Wont be Tolerated by Freeman of America.
Uncle Sam’s Attempt at Game Protection in Not a Howling Success.
The following appeared yesterday in a dispatch from Chicago:
“A dispatch from Butte, Mont., says it is stated, in connection with the arrest of L.S. Courtney for killing buffalo in the National Park, that there are only ten head of these animals left in the park, and that the soldiers and park officers are unable to protect them from the poachers, and that the true condition of affairs kept from the Department at Washington. There are warrants out for the arrest of six others who were with Courtney in a recent raid, but so far they have eluded arrest. It is claimed other wild animals in the park are slaughtered as rapidly and remorselessly as the buffalo.”
What right has the government to set apart a big preserve and assume to prohibit the utter extinction of bison? It is no excuse for Uncle Sam to say that unless he maintains a preserve or buffalo, elk and other wild animals that have elsewhere been exterminated, their destruction will soon be complete, for are we not told that it is un-American to do this thing — that to preserve game from poachers of the Courtney stripe is but to put in practice here that obnoxious game law system of England?
Are we not told that Courtney and his kind of mercenary destroyers have a God-given right to shoot for the hide and meat market wherever and whenever they can, find anything left to slaughter?
Go it, Courtney! wipe from the face of God’s green earth the last hoof and hide of the once lordly bison! Follow wherever he may go, until you get him!
And when you have taken the skin from the last buffalo and can jingle the ill-gotten price thereof in your pocket, then gird on your cartridge belt, shoulder your rifle and sneak into the vale where the last little herd of elk have made their final stand. Be sure and kill the cows first, for their hides are worth more than those of the bulls, and then, too, you will have little trouble in bringing down the calves with your magazine-repeating guns. Don’t worry if a few get away—you will get them the next day, perhaps.
Keep up your lick, Courtney! No matter what a few so-called sportsmen’s may say of you or your business, you have the backing and “moral” support of all men who are opposed to the iniquitous game laws of England (whatever that may be).
And when you shall have completed your destructive work, friend Courtney, go climb some hilltop, from the summit of which you may look about over the beautiful Yellowstone Park that you laid waste—Uncle Sam’s game preserve– gaze upon the destruction you had wrought, and then, like Lucifer of old, go and kick yourself.
Don’t be afraid of the law, brother Courtney. If arrested over there, all you will have to do is get to a change of venue to California, and then you’ll be safe. Juries here don’t convict men for doing what you have done on Uncle Sam’s big game preserve. They tell them to go and send some more, and the members of the so-called State Sportsmen’s Protective (and Game Destroying) Association of San Francisco will take you by the hand and make you feel at home.
And more than that, Courtney. You should bring your guns along with you, for they will be of no further use to you in Yellowstone Park, and you can put in your time here slaughtering ducks for the market out of season.
We’ll give you the freedom of the State, Courtney, if you’ll come out here, but the sure and bring your guns with you.
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Lebanon Currier and Semi-Weekly Report
Lebanon, Pennsylvania Dec 11 1895
A noteworthy feature of the MAGAZINE during 1896 will be a series of articles by Caspar W. Whitney, describing his trip of 2600 miles on snow-shoes and with dog sledge trains into the unexplored Barren Grounds of British North America in pursuit of wood-bison and musk- oxen. Mr. Whitney’s series will have the added interest of being illustrated from photographs taken by himself.
The Volumes of the MAGAZINE begin with the Numbers for June and December of each year. When no time is mentioned, subscriptions will begin with the Number of current at the time of receipt of order. Remittances should be made by Post-Office Money Order or Draft, to avoid chance or loss.
Newspapers are not to copy this advertisement without the express order of Harper & Brothers.
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The Times
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Dec 14 1895
In order to give an idea of the value and rarity of this group of animals it is necessary to tell the story of the difficulties undergone in obtaining it, and this will also reveal the almost incredible scarcity of the great American bison, the typical four-footed animal of the American Republic. Some years ago the idea occurred to the authorities of the American Museum of Natural History to secure a lifeless group of buffaloes, and they were amazed even at that time to find that they had undertaken a more difficult task than they imagined. To be sure the various zoological garden have more or less mangy looking herds, and “Buffalo” Jones, the great rancher of Garfield City, Utah, had two hundred corralled and which he valued as the hairs of his head; but these highly prized captives were not accessible for purposes of taxidermy. As to the animals in the wild state, Professor Hornaday, of the National Museum in Washington, informed his New York brethren that apart from the closely protected two hundred buffaloes under the care of the United States government in the Yellowstone National Park he thought there were very few of the species left within the limits of the United States, and expressed it as his opinion that within ten years there would not be a solitary bison on the American plains.