Evening Star Newspaper, March 16, 1924, Page 77

I FICTION | e — Part 5—8 Pages ’ - Millions Government Leaders in Wash- ington Direct Strangest Army Ever Assembled— Expert's of the Wilds Number 250, Many States, Kill- ing Mountain Li- ons, Bears, Wolves, and Coyotes. BY GEORGE H. DACY. IFLES crack, death cries, thud to the ground. Prowl- ing wolves hobble across the prairfes, dragging great steel. traps and toggles. Coyotes consume poison balt and forget how to howl. More than 80,000 predatory pirates succumb annually, and the American live-stock industry credits $75,000,000 * to its banking account—all because | wise leaders at Washington efficiently { direct America’s strangest army, a| band of 250 professional hunters. The hunting preserve of this curi- ous army includes every state west of | the M sippi river and Michigan. Its purpese is to rid the American ! range und manch countries of preda- | tory prowlers that prey on live stock. weapons are firearms, trups and | poison its personnel, expert hunters and trappers, who know all the secrets of track and trail better than you and I know our national history The Gen. Pershing of the army of fnodern minute men—hunters ready &t a moment’s notice to take the trafl after dangerous stock killers—is Dr. ". Nelson, permanent resident of shington end chict of the bureau of biological survey., Serving under Dr. Nelsen are other popular Wash- ingtonians—Drs. A. K. Fisher, E. R. Bell und _their gssistants—who de- velop control measures and plan out systematic campaigns of predatory enimal extermination which are put ! into efMeient practice by the national marksmen, who work far afield from the Capital City headquarters. Commodore Stephen Decatur, years ago. acting under dircctions from Washington, took the toll out of trib- ute by presenting Uncle Sam's defl- ance to the pirates of Tripoli under the memorable slogan, “Millions for Gefense, but not one cent for tribute.” £ht years ago our national govern- ment issued another ultimatum, which, | although it did not gain the world- wide publicity accorded the Decatur episode, nevertheless was of monu-! Jnental importance to American live- Stock interests. In this latter case Uncle Sam rebelled against longer ing the annual tooth and fang tax ! Shich predatory animals extracted from western flocks, herds and droves. The four-legged Capt. Kidds of the gruzing states were then destroying grom $25,000,000 to $30,000,000 worth of | live stock each year. Stockmen's as- sociations and individual ranchers of- fered feeble resistance. Sporadic drives and hunts were staged. Exter- mipation campaigns were attempted. Despite all of these efforts, Messrs. Grizzly Bear, Mountain Lion, Timber Wolf, Coyote ct al. continued thelr depredatione. The highlands and prairies were otted with the skeletons of valuable sve stock, ravaged and destroyed by the freebooters. Finally matters be- came so critical that the “millions in defense money but no more trib- ute” motto was again mobilized for duty. Stockmen from Washington to Texas and from the Pacific ocean to the Mississippi river combined. Uncle , Sam gave his active assistance. An-| other untiring campaigs. to down a | new and novel form of piracy was| inaugurated. { * % ® ¥ t (QUR pational relative decided to or- ganize a nimrod army, the most expert gunmen that he could assem- ble, and distribute these curious sol- diers throughout the states where the rascals of the range were most de- structive. He formed an effective or- ganization in post-haste time. The burean of biological survey in ‘Washington was mabilized as a board of strategy to recruit sclence for the 2id of the hunters and to direct the greatest marathon round-up of four- lions roar their and Range Over | : hulking bears | awed | mn BenLilly fessional hunters when assigned fo different cases of wild-beast lawless- ness. northwést, Uncle Sam's armed repre- sentatives never return to headquar- ters until they can bring in the bacon T, rather, the bear meat. In each stete where the hunters are main- tained there is a leader who directs the local Altogether there are thirty of these inspectors now on the job. Stockmen and ranchers report the latest scenes of animal banditry. The leaders ign professional marks- men to the various cases. Like the guardians of our national forests, who during the fire season wait at central camps, just as city firemen remain at their central stations, ready at any minute to respond to a call of “fire, the federal riflemen are ready at any time of night or day to take up the chase of animal criminals. You read time and again about the epochal trips which wealthy sports- men make to. India, Africa, South America and wherenot in pursuit of big game. These amateur hunters travel hundreds and hundreds of miles and spend thousands of dollars in or- der to shoot wild elepbants, tigers, lions, bears and other dangerous pr Maybe you are wondering why Uncle and secure their services free of charge in clearing the mountain and plains states of predatories. There are reasons—and good ones— why such a scheme would be imprac- tical. It takes an expert, experienced hunter to match wits and win against our western wild beasts. The hun- ters have to cook their own food, ride daily on horseback over rough trails, sleep for weeks at a time with the stars as their bedroom ceiling, and they have to stick ‘on the job in bad weather and good, in rain, or snow, or sunshine. Many of the amateur nimrods would balk at this. * X * X HERE are cxperienced hunters who can be hired at small sal- aries, which range from $75 to $150 a month, to do this work. These men have to furnish from two to four i horses, a camp wagon and food and equipment for their outfit. Some of the states and western stockmen's footed rogues ever staged in the new world. ! The late Theodore Roosevelt, the most famous big-game hunter who} ever was enrolled in Washington's city directory, was an advocate of such a system of mountain, prairie and forest policemen, even long be- fore the project was practically es- tablished. Suffice to mention that since its in- eeption eight years ago the national nimrods have shot, trapped and poi- soned approximately 425,000 preda- tory animals and have saved more than $75.000,000 worth of sheep, cat- tle, horses and swine from wanton slaughtér. The crack of their rifles, the clash and clatter of their traps, the creaks of their camp wagons and the hoofbeats of their bronchos have ‘Deen sweet music to the ears of farm- ers and ranchers. Never has an army in all creation hung up 2 better record of accurate marksmanship. Never has less am- munition been wasted. Never has any of the tax money which Ameri- ca's citizenry pays annually been har- nessed for a more commendable pur- pose. The ridding of the range coun- try of ravaging rogues is an epic in the history of sharpshooting over the length and breadth of America. “Don't return until you get what vou are after” This terse order is e gulding star of each of the pro- organizations hire additional hunters, Who assist the federal marksmen in their great work. . In addition to their major assign- ments of killing the killers, the hun- ters also patrol the passes that wolves and other marauding beasts would take in:entering the United States from Mexico. A notorious animal bandit is run to earth in the same manner that robbers and desperadoes are hunted by sheriffs in the adjoining counties. A pretty good indlcation of the stupendous bag of game which the federal hunters annually accumulate is had from the fact that they turn more than $300,000 annually into the United States Treasury here in Wash- ington from the sale of skins of the animals they kill. Last year the na- tional game bags were crammed to capacity with 114 stock-killing bears, 173 mountain lions, 687 timber wolves, 2,827 bobeats and Canadian lynxes and 27,185 coyotes which the national hunters shot. In addition, more than 50,000 coyotes were killed by poison- ing. This brings the total number of scalps up to more than 80,000. It is notable that more than 1,229,- 000 poisoned baits were carefully placed by the government hunters last year. Most of this material is distributed during the winter months, when food is scarce and the wild heasts are more llgble to turn to the l~ Like the mounted police of the | Sam does not organize these hunters | kiifed 400. Tae modern hunter brings i khis by automobile. Rene ga.de wo bogus dainties set out by the trap- pers. During the summer season the hunters place them around watering places in the desert regions. Thus thousands of the smaller predator) animals are killed. When daddy went a-hunting, ac- jcording to an old nursery story, the best he could do was to get a rabbit ! skin to wrap the Baby Bunting inm, but a government hunter out a-gun- ning the other day got a bear skin large enough to wrap over the top of a seven-passenger automobile. The scene was the Arizona reserva- tion of the Moqui Indlans. The hig | black bear was a deserter. He hae forsaken the wholesome habits of his species and turned stock killer. When he wanted a steer for dinner or a calf for breakfast he went. out and slew such. A couple of Uncle Sam’'s gun-toters were called to aid in the conquest of the good bear gone wrong., They came, accompanied by !a pack of wire-haired fox terriers. Fox terriers could not kill a bear, but—Wellington - could not defeat Napoleon. ' All he could do was to hold the French until reinforcements arrived. The pack of terriers copled the strategy of Wellington. They tracked the bear to his lair and held him there until the hunter appeared. The dogs blocked the 900:pound bear in his denlike hole, despite that he welghed as much as forty . dugs. killed & goverflment MAGAZINE SECTION B €, ig king of American lion huntetrs game 4 M.EMusgrave/ huunfer int Ariiona Finally Bruin made a dash for lib- erty just as the rifleman approached. The hunter unwisely stood near the mouth of the den-as the whirlwind of bear and dogs emerged. Bruin was almost a-top the national nimrod be- fore he could move. His companion came up and shot the bear just at that critical moment. This was the first black bear killed in a long time, as usually this spe- cies is inoffensive. This derelict of the tribe, however, developed evil ways and death fell to his lot. * k k¥ A THOUSAND-POUND grizzly was latterly killed by Hunter-P. C. peterson after two days' pursuit through the Okanogan national for- est, in the state of Washington. This pear had destroyed thirty-five head of cattle and 150 valuable sheep dur- ing the previous months, and was noted for his propensities to kill live stock for pleasure as well as for food. Peterson is one of the first profes- sionel hunters who ever hired out to| Uncle Sam. He has hunted big game in Africa, northern China, Canada and northern Alaska, and is an expert in predatory animal lore. ‘The dogs finally trailed the grizzly to a clump of bushes. When Peterson came up Mr. Bruin charged, but the dogs drew him off so that the hunter could drop the grizzly. The first shot broke his % & SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 16, d Beebe shot these five mountain @1 au back, and it took two more through the neck to finish him. Hunter Peterson carries a camera as part of his nimrod paraphernalia. He. has taken hundreds of pictures of wild bears in all kinds of postures for the assistance of miodern taxi- dermists who mount bear specimens and wish to learn all about the nat- ural curvatures, proportions and pos- tures of Bruin and his brothers.. “Ben” Lilly is American king of lion hunters, as during his half-century of active nimroding he has bagged more than 400 of these dangerous “highland cats.” Lilly was reared on a 'Louisiana piantation, but.at the age when most youngsters are delv- ing into the intricacies of multiple fractions he shouldered his rifle and pack early one morning and ran away from home. Subsequently he mas- tered every trick of trap and trail. He has tramped the equivalent of eight trips around the world in his pursuit of wild beasts. f Lilly, despite ghat he is sixty-three years of age, stijl works for Uncle Sam, handling difficult lion-killing as- signments which the qther hunters are not able to cope with satisfac- torily. Even today Lilly can walk far and rapidly over rough trails’ that .would soon fag the ambition and en- durance of the ordinary tenderfoot. On_one occasion “Ben” Lilly pur- sued a grizzly bear over a 500-mile The Suntlay Stae WASHINGTON, 1924, in four hours. route through four different states before he finally got within range of the marauder and dropped him in his tracks. One other time Lilly nearly lost his life as a result of carelessness. Leav- ing his firearms. at camp, he went out for a short walk with his pack of dogs. Soon the dogs scared up a mountain lioness, and so infuriated the ‘beast that finally she charged at the hunter. His only weapon was a small four-inch pocket knife. Wit this fragile wedpon Lilly fought tHe huge lioness. The struggle that en- sued was one of the fiercest hand-to- claw combats ever fought in the western wilds. His knowledge of miountain lions was all that saved Lilly. He was able to anticipate each attack and onslaught of the beast. Finally he buried his knife in her neck and severed the jugular vein. Tottering from fatigue and loss of blood—for he was scratched and scarred in ‘half a'hundred places, while his clothes were torn to shreds —Lilly staggered back to his camp, where it took a week of rest and doc- toring to restore him to service con- dition. Thereafter Lilly never left the latitude of his camp site with- out carrying fifie or pistol with him. OU‘T in the skyland state of Mon- tans & national hunter named Claude Beebe has established a re- FEATURES i | | I | | stock apiece guished themselv Live Stock Saved by U. S. Hunters of Predatory Animals Dan gerous Prowlers De- stroyed })y Shot. Trap and Poison. Ridding of Range Country by This Means an Epic in the History of Sharpshooting More Than $75.- 000,000 Value Al- ready Saved. during thelr .o stained car Cunning particular himselZ, thesc Discovering that 1t was impussiblc to defeat these wily wolves by ordi- nary methods, the hunters adopted extraordinary systems. They dis- to look like Jack Frost by donning white mackinaw: caps and breeches. They selected days when the ground was covered with snow for their hunting trips. The wolves could not see the hun- ters approaching, as the white cos- tumes were invisible against the background of snow. To speed up ) the pursuit the hunters shod them- ‘a!"‘l"" One of o ‘Pmie'Sam's | sharp shooters - jand his"bag” lions W markable lion-killing record, whichi grooms him for the championship which Lilly now holds when that vet- eran campaigner finally lays aside trap and rifle. Beebe bagged five of the largest lions ever shot in Mon- tana in the course of four hours one afternoon last fall. During the same month he disposed of twenty-three members of the mountain lion clan, which, as all lion hunters will.admit, 1s something of an accomplishment. It happened that Beebe caught up with the quintet of lions in a deer yard in Montana one autumnal after- noon.. When his trusty rifle had com- pleted its conversation for the day Beebe's bag of game was so large that he had to charter an automo- bile to haul it back to camp. In this day and age, when psychol- ogy is being used as an efficient im- plement in the equipment of various and sundry crafts, it is not novel that several of the national nimrods have signed up the secrets of modern psychology as their talented assist- ants to aid them in wolf hunting. That is what they have done. The results are that notorious and wary) wolves, which previously have re- sisted all artifices geared -for their destructicn, have recently paid pen- alty for their muitiple crimes. Some of these timber pirates have despic- able records. They have killed more than $10,000 td $12,000 worth of live | zle of wolf shooting. selves with skiis, as from the hills and peaks they could travel with great speed on the wooden runners to the homing haunts of the timber wolves. The wind, blowing toward the onrushing marksmen, carried no scent of their coming to the sly, sleek wolves. Thus it is that the government hun- ters have solved the perplexing puz- Where the winter conditions arc favorable the { disguised and skii-footed profession- als are now ablc to glide into tie secret rendezvous of the wolves be- fore the wise old generals of many mortal conflicts arc able to prepare or flee. It takes a little practice to shoot skillfully from speeding skiis, but the national nimrods have mastered this trick. Each winter sees 2 marked diminution in the ranks of the stock-killing wolves as a direct result of the partnership which has been established between the sclence of psychology and Uncle Sam's range sold’ery. Whea = bear loses one of hi le, he does mot have to appeal to the “z00" for quarters and rations for the remainder of his life. A three- legged bear may continue operations at his old stand for many vears, de- spite his crippled condition. Hunter W. H. Caywood says so, and can back his statement up with conclusive proof. Such a bear ran amuck for many months in the mountains of western Colorado before Caywood finally trapped him. In rosming the range this bear would make three well- defined normal tracks, but the fourth was outlined in the dust merely as 2 round depression in which halry fm- prints were visible when the ground was wet. This unueual variation in bear tracks puzzled Caywood for sev- eral months, and it was not until he finally trapped Bruin that the mys- tery was cleared up. After being caught in the trap the tough old raider, running, as it were, on three cylinders, dragged - the twenty-five-pound trap and toggle three-quarters of a mile. On the ap- proach of Hunter Caywood the bear took refuge in a thicket of quaking aspens. Here he put up what Cay- wood called an honest-to-goodness fight, which almost ended in a hand- to-claw encounter. The old ma- rauder, minus one leg and with an- other handicapped by trap and tog- gle, kept on coming, even after the hunter had emptied his rifle. Cay- wood finally had to grab his .38- caliber automatic pistol and kill the bear at close range. Here is one bear at least that surely can be sald'to have died with his boots on. N Substitute for Coal. JFOR centuries it has been remark- ed, and returning travelers relate today, that a strange growth of thick weeds and sedge near the surface of the waters of the Nile,-above Khar- tum, are responsible for the impassa- bility of the river at that point. French scientists, after a painstak- - ing Investigation of this twiggy, weedy, grassy, soggy, fiberlike mass, called suddite, constructed first a theory that this was the sort of stuff that, under proper geological condi- tions, became what we recognize as coal, and they set about to prove their hypothesis. Because coal is almost completely absent and practically prohibited for fuel uses at the necessarily high price, need of fuel in the Sudan has kept the industrial development of the country at a standstill. Theea are 35,000 square miles of this Nile suddite. It roots about three feet beneath the surface of the river and grows to about twenty feet in height from the bed of the Nile. Composed of roots, stems, flowers, grasses, papyrus and the like, it reappears at any spot in less than three weeks. Now, the first step taken by these scientists was to arrange for the transportation of the suddite to Khartum. The natives, every thres weeks, cut the mass down, tie it In fagots, make rafts of the matérial and float it to Khartum. This ix taken to an ‘industrial plant and transformed inte dry, compact pack- ages. . > 1In tests made on Nile steamers sude Idne proved itself equal to coal