The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 1, 1896, Page 17

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1896. a7 F THE WILD ANIMALS AT GOLDEN GATE PARK BROKE LOOSE Ting-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling. “Hello! “Who is -that?” “The Chief of Police.” “Very well. This is Captain Thomson of the park police. The wild animals out in Golden Gate Park have all broken loose.”” “Hold on. Is the Quercus suberosa on the rampage?’” I don’t understand.” “How about the fearful Leptospermum ericiiolia? Is that ravening animait loose ?"’ “Is that the Chief talking?”’ “Yes, and I want toknow ifin the horrid procession are the Actyranthus verschaf- fellatis, the Casuarina quadrivalvus, the Spergula pilifera, the Guaphalium lana- tum, the Lonmicera symphoricarpus, the Cra @eus oxyacantha and the Mesembry- anthemum cordifolium 2" *“Why, Chief, there are no such animals out here.” “Yes, there are. I am reading their pames out of a report of the Park Com- missioners.” ‘‘Oh, you make me tired. names of plants.” “Eh, what? So thev are. comes from studying Latin by the light of & campaign Roman candle. But what's ihe matter? The animals will not hurt any ons.” “That’s not it. The kids have broken into the memorial museum and have got out spears, battle-axes, crossbows, bows and arrows, and are just dragging out two popgun cannons, and are singing ‘We'll Hunt the Buffalo.”” “‘Great Scoti!” said the Chief, “‘suppose tne kids should really hurt those venera- ble animals, We'd have Holbrook and Tkose are the the whole Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after us, and there are not enough jails in San Francisco to hold all the kids.,” The perspiration rolled down his face in great drops. “Hurry up,” shouted Thomson, “the grizzly bear is on his way to the Cliff to make a call on Mayor Sutro, and fifty kids in armor are on the trail. They have pressed into service all of the park donkeys and have coaxed them intoa run.” “Coaxed the donkeys into a run,”’ groaned the Chief, “‘then, indeed, will Hol- brook be after us. But how did the ani- mals get out?”’ Five minutes later every policeman in San Francisco had received notice to go to Golden Gate Park. They filled all the That’s what | cremm— S cars of the Haight, McAllister, Hayes, | Geary, Sutter,Clay and Jackson street lines. They filled hacks and ambulances &nd ex- press-wagons. Lone before they reached the west end of the panhandle they heard the hurrahing and shouting of boys, and | tancied they heard the whistling of mu- seum arrows and the clash of museum spears on museum sbields. Hardly had they arrived on the scene, | when the First Regiment of the National Guard of California and the Nuval Reserve, who were having a joint parade, were on the scene. The miiitary men were sta- tionea at all the park exits, not 0 pre- vent the breaking out of the thoroughly intimidated and venerable wild beasts, but to prevent more boys from breaking in to jojn in the hunt. As it was some of | the boys crawled between tie soldiers and got into the park, and made a mad | rush for bows and arrows and armor and | metallic helmets. The police were so busy chasing “the kids” all over the park that they had left | the museum unguarded. Most of the his- toric balberds, pikes, South Sea’ Island war clubs, crossbows of the days of Wal- lace and Bruce, two-handed swords, real battle-axes, spears, darts, Zulu shields and assegais and war-feather headdresses had been seized with a joyous whoop early in the proceadings by the newsboys who were out in the park on a picnic. But the later comers found flintlock muskets of the days of 1776, guns and fowiing-pieces of the seventeenth century, aueer old flintlock pistols by the score; sashes and belts supposed to have been worn by Captain Kidd and his crew, or someother equally daring buccaneers: cut- lasses and rusty sabers, with nicks in them; Daniel Boone’s gun, with his record chipped into the stock of it; scalping- | knives and tomahawks; armor, such as | was worn by the crusaders. The babes who | were too young to wear armor found drums. Oneof these drums was as long | asa half barrel and cylindrical, with uni- | form diameter frem sheepskinned top to E CRY HAVOC AND LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR. Rodent Plagues Of Deep-Sea Ships Of the hundreds of ships that pass in and out of this port every year there is not one of them that is not, to a greater or Jess degree, overrun with rats. Especially is this the case with wheat-laden ships and vessels carrying food carzoes. The number of vermin which infest these vessels is simply incrediblé. [n a four months’ voyage, which is the average be- tween this port and Liverpool, the in- crease is so great as to cause a sensible loss in every cargo of wheat shipped. The rodents seize upon and destroy everything upon which their sharp teeth can make the least impression. leather valves of the pumps are a favorite article of diet of the pests whenever extra precautions are not taken o guard against these depredations. How many wooden vessels have been lost througi rats boring holesin the huils will never be known. Itis a danger that is ever present and requires constant watchfulness on the part of the skipper to guard against. No vessel chartered with a wheat cargo fails to bestow a day or two before loading to clearing the hull of rats. A few days ago the four-masted British ship Strath- olme, lying off ' section 3, found such an operation necessary. Every hole that would admit a particle of fresh air was plugged up, the hatches battened down as tight as possivle, and then great iron piates containing suiphur in large quanti- ties were set on fire und allowed to burn for two days. Then the hull was opened . and the carcasses of the dead rats gath- ered in, Their number was immense. Full four barrels of . dead rats were thus secured, It was estimated that fully 3000 were caught, This was the crop of one round voyage. In less than a year another rat-killing will be ordered and just ss many will be taken then. Every vessel sailine out of this port un- Jdergoes this same experience. From this cun be imagined the extent of the pest and the immense annoyance and damage which rats cause to the marine interests alone. 2 Thus it may beseen that these vermin are enemies to be feared, and that they cause in the long run perhaps as much devasta- The | tion and destruction of life as the coun- try's battl-s. If the property loss through the ceaseless work of rodents conld be cal- culated it would mount up annually to a sum of astonishing magnitude. Mules for Bear Hunters. The proper beast for a grizzly bear | hunter to ride is a good mule. Dr. W. F. | Edgar, U. 8. A., tells in Recreation why a | mule is best. The doctor was wandering near a camp up in Washington State on a mule. He bad bis nfle with him and seeing a big | bear in the trail fired. The bear tumbled over and out of sight. It iooked like a clean kill, and the doctor started toward the place and was nearly in sight of the | hollow where the bear had disappeared, when the bear ciimbed up over the edge and went at him. It was then that the mule was of the ut- most service. The mule rose on its hind feet, turned sharp around and headed for camp. A horse or a. mustang wouldn’t | have been quick enough, the bear was so | close, but all the hunter hed to do was to hang on. The muleknew what to do with- out being told. ——— | Queer Substitutes for Bullets. | When a hunter in the old days lost all his bullets, or hadn’t any to shoot with, he usually devised substitutes that on oc- casion served the purpose well. All soris of things have been fired at game or In- Gians, the case might be The New York Sun says that old Hank Ellison, liy- ing up in Jefferson County, N. Y., told to his dying day how he was cooped up by Indians out West once with a little lead, lots of powder, a belt full of gold nuggets, a fine rifie and a bullet-mold. It was on the top of a knoil where his log cabin had been built, and he had a barref of 'water and a lov of wood for emergencies. The Indians kept just out of range, dashing in once in & while to draw his fire. He soon used his bullets up, and then used ‘the gold. He fired nearly half his fortune at the reaskins before they left him. Many a bunter hasused a pebbie in the hope of getting a close deadly shot. | one boy i sheepskinned bottom. Another was shaped much like a toadstool and was once used by Zuui Indians. “Hurrah! there he is,” burst forth a chorus of youthful voices in the brush. Y1, see the buffalo skip,” answered the other boys. Above the shouts of the eager young hunters was heard the beating of the Zuni war drum and of the drums which once stirred the martial heart of Miles Standish. Every hill, every copse and bit of tan- gled prushwood, every drive, pedestrian path and lovers' lane swarmed and ran over with boys. Wherever the police cap- tured one who might be a menace to the animals forty other boys seemed to spring up in his place, for the news spread among the boys from North Beach to Bay Vi and from the Barbary Coast to Richm with lightning speed, and there was not town who did not want to take part in a hunt royal i which the animals to he captured were: Ursus major, to wit, one grizzly bear. Baffaloes, eight of them, old and young. Black-tailed deer to the number of thirty. Elks, just sixteen of them. Jumping kangaroo, only one, but he “was a dandy.” Moose, one big fellow. Mountain sheep, one. “Bahl! he was no good for a fight.” Mule deer, two. Spotted deer, two. White-tailed dgeer, four. Was there a boy in San Francisco who had not his fondest wish gratified? Not one who managed to squeeze into the park and who thought that he had a chance to capture, single handed, the bear, and go thundering down through the corridors of time as “‘Grizzly Bear Bob, the boy hero of the Pacific.” For every boy was bound to hunt the grizzly first, the buffalo second and the kangaroo third and the deer when he got time for it. There was not a boy of them who did not turn pale every time that he thought ne heard a growl, and there was not a boy of them who thought of running away. Btrange apraritions there were among the bushes. Here was “Slinky_ Bob,” the newsboy, with a pewter helmet on his head and a full suit of armor, which he thought would prevent the grizzly from scratching him with its awful claws if it should come to a hand-to-hand, man-to- bear stand-up fight. In his grasp he had a two-handed sword with a blade three and a half feet long. He had on Captain Kidd’s belt, and in it were pistols and dirks enough to furnish a small arsenal. Not far away, with his ear applied to the ground, after the fashion of the *‘Deer- Slayer” of whom Fenimore Cooper tells, “Get-there Harry,” another newsboy, listened, resplendent in headdress of Sioux war feathers, his face smeared with park mud, and hoarsely said: *‘Ah, ha; "tis he! I hear de twig crack. 'Tis de cop and 1'd better scoont.” Forth he fared, decorated with a Prince Edward cross- bow, which ded with sfugs, @ with & qui of barbed and bone- headed arrows from Esquimaux land. Some one's curly headed darling, whose long wavy hair of silken texture had won him the name of ‘Buffalo Bill,” two minutes after he entered this wild beast arena, stalked abroad horrid with a battle- ax over his shoulder and with a Zulu shield over his brave bosom. The battle- ax had a heive four feet long and what with the weignt of the ponderous blade he could bardly stagger along. S.oux, Apuches, Zunis, Cheyennes, Modocs, Arapaho s, Zulus, Esquimau, South Sea Isianders, cannibals, pirates, mighty hunters of old, “minute men” of 76, who fought at Lexington, Pequots, Niantics, Crows, Blackfeet, Mandans, Cortez, Pizzaro, Cru-aders, Saladin, Moors, Mohegans, Arabs, Turks, Saracens--all seemed to have lived to furnish glory for the boys on this occasion. There was one lad who strutied about in a Continental uniform with old-time sword, which was drawn and ready “‘to stab de bear wid.” Where did the animals all go? The grizzly ambled leisurely out toward Mavor Sutro’s. The buffaloes started to browse in a herd on a green and inviting bed of ornamental foliage until the newsboy “wild West party” on the park’s donkeys rasied at them as fast as they could make the donkeys trot. Then they were off like wind. “*Gee,” yelled the boys, “'jest see 'em go. Bring outde cannon and we'll mow down de drove.”” THE PARK OFFICER RUSHED TO ALARM HIS CHIEF. Then it was that the two historic can- non came from the museum and were placed in charge of an ‘“artillery com- pany,’’ who found powder somewhere and loaded up their guns with paper wads and round stones from the museum, stones which came from a sacrificial pyre erected by the ancient Aztecs. These boys “stood to their guns” until Captain Thomson swooped down upon them with a mounted uad. Meanwhile the hunt went merrily on over hill and dale. The boys hunted the wild animals and the police hunted the boys to protect the wild animals from harm. The news becoming generally dis- persed the people of the City left their bomes and shops and stores and offices -and poured nickels into the streetcar freas ury of Mr. Huntington’s Market-street railway system at an alarming rate. People rode on the roofs of the cars and “hung on by the eyelids” to get there. The news spread across the bav and all the peoplé camein from Alameda, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo counties. The big hotels were cleared of guests., The cooks and waiters threw down their aprons and culinary imple- ments and left the viands to burn on the ranges. Finally even the ferry-boats and Streetcar lines were abandoned by their | crews, who could no longer stand the strain. In horrid fancy the perturbed people heard the fierce growls of the grizzly and the skrieks of small children who were being chased up a tree. Perhaps, ah! perhaps even now native sons and native dauchters were being torn by cruel claws and their tender limbs were being crunched by the terrible teeth of the bear. Faces blanched and hands trembied at the thought of the buffaloes. Those ponderous hirsute masses, the once undisputed and lordly monarchs of the vast and occan-wide prairies, what might not the fierce buffaloes do? Under tieir spurning feet the green sward might be torn as with lowered heads they rushed madly onward to annihilate whole battal- ions of small boys at once, who thought it the best of fun, in their loolhardiness, to “hunt the buffalo” in the armor of the dark ages. ¢ Then the malicious, hopping kangaroo, HORATIUS NO. 2 AT GOLDEN GATE PARK - BRIDGE. S ! ‘ S TR T AL i i mmumlnml\ L) \ What Would Happén if They Were Hunted by Boys Armed With Antique Weapons From the Musgum the menacing stranger from the land of the bushmen and the black ‘‘bush track- ers,” the intimate of the cannibals of New Guinea, that travesty and sport of Mother Nature, combining the agility of the grasshopper and some of its playful habits of locomotion with the temp r of Satan and the speed and strength of the wild horse of Arabia. Isnotthe kanga- T00 & boxer and a gouger and a horrible fellow generaily ? ternal pulses to quicken. Babies by the scores and hundreds and thousands were left squalling and wailing, while the fathers and mothers, finding that the nursegirls and servant-giris had already fled, hurried valorously to the park to gallantly take part in any wild-beast melee necessary to rescue their threatened offspring. In brief, the City was de- serted, for it had moved en masse tfo the park. The serriea mothers and fathers swept down upon the thin line of the military cordon and swept them away as chaff flies before the wind. ‘ Then there ensued such scenes as would chuckle. Siraight to their prey, led by unerring maternal instinct; looking not for trails or paths, reeking not of big griz- zlies, hopping hangaroos, charging buffa- loes or deers with branching and sharp- pdinted antlers, onward rushed regiments and army corps of eager women. Quicker than it could be told small boys, wearing casques and visors drawn and generally appareled in a fantastic way, were thrown over maternal knees and spanked, while armor rattled and small boys wailed lus- tily. From the quiver of famous old Tecumseh Mrs. Smith shook out blood-stained ar- rows as she whirled her 12-year-old son aboutin a dizzy and compulsory dance on air, the wampum charms of Sangam- mon and the snake-skin pouch of bloody THE POTENT HAND These thoughts caused paternal and ma- | make a Comanche smile and a crusader | THAT QUELLED King Philip of the Narragansetts and the war plumes of Shacknasty Jack dusting the main drive, while Smith junior, un- afraid of the monarch of the fastnesses of the -Sierra, opene¢ his mouth wide and yelled like somebody being tortured by redskins at the stake. What the police could not do the mothers accomplished with neatness and dispatech. They broughtdown small boys from trees and captured them as they were chasing the deer around the islands in 8'ow Lake, the fierce young hunters, pausing with arrow on bowstring and spear drawn back to throw. The maternal command did this. So finally int> the concourse fronting the music-stand was rounded up a rare collection of knignts, Fiji and other warriors, deerslayers and ¢1izzly bear hunters, amateur bhunters of the Australian bush country, Wampanoags and so on, all in miniature. The bad boys did notseem to be as easily caught as the good boys. They had to be corralled between lines of policemen and mothers and fathers. Then they dropped lariats, doub.e-ended war clubs, poisoned darts and all the tozgery which makes the Mijdwinter Memorial Fair Museum noteworthy. All atonce the fond mothers got a scare. They skedaddled with their charges in all directions. Just at dusk the buffaloes, deer and kangaroo, having kept out of the way all day, stole shamefacedly back -to their comfortable pen, where there was enough to eat and drink and no bad boys to hunt them and make them afraid. The grizzly was lassoed by the park police and placed once more in his aen. He had lunched at Mayor Sutro’s grounds on two or three dogs, but he did not care much for dog. Now the horrid bear is protected by a sign bearing this inscription: DO NOT TEASE THE BEAR OR THROW ANYTHING WITHIN THE INCLOSURE. 8o he is safe from the boys, and the po- lice achieved, with the help of the popu- lace, and especially through the aid of the mothers of San Francisco, a glorious victory. The armor and arms have been restored to their places in the park mu- seum. THE TUMULT. The thirtieth anniversary of the absorp- ion of the Territory of Alaska by the United States will occur next year, and it is certain that advantage will be taken of the fact to draw renewed attention to the wonderful resources of that remarkable region. The present year makes an era in the career of the Territory. For the first time. the Government has made the attempt to give some sort of mail service to the in- terior points and has been fairly success- ful in so doing. The mail is new carried by paid officers. of the Government, and not depending upon the’ chance traveler for its delivery. The great religious de- nominations, recognizing the future possi- bilities of Alaska as the home of a large population, have turned their attention to the north and established schools, hospi- tals and cburches for civilizing the na- tives and giving them instruction in moral principles. The $7,500,000 paid for the territory was really. and diplomatically the reward given Russia for the moral support she accorded this country at a critical period of the War of the Rebellion. If the diplomats who thus disposed of a territory embrac- ing upward of 800,000 square miles ata cost of about 114 cents an acre had known wiat the resources of Alaska in the year of grace 1897 would be 1t is more than proba- ble that less unwillingness on the part of Russia in disposing and the United States in receiving this vast territory would have been exhibited. The season has closed in Alaska for 1896, and the reports of commerce enable an estimate to be made of the year's productiveness. From the fisheries a total of $3,500,000 has been realized; from the mines an estimate of $4,000,000 is con- sidered about the actual result, and from furs another miilion isadded, so that from three industries alone the aggregate amounts to $9,500,000. This leaves out of consideration tnhe whale fishery, which is valued at hall a million dollars a year, and lumber, which is the ultimate source from which the supplies of the coast must be obtained. ¥ In consequence of the influx of miners .into the Yukon ana Tooks Inlet, Alaska has received a greater influx of citizans than ever before. Probably an addiiion of one-third has been made to the popula- tion of the Territory in the last year. The A Boom in Uncle Sam’s Arctic Estate difficulty of procuring exact estimates of the value of Alaska productions in the earlier years of the occupation by the United States makes it difficult to get at the true value, but authorities are unani- mous in the conviction that Alaska has vaid for itself ten times over in her pro- ductions of the past tlirty years. This estimate is regarded as extremely conser- vative. The year 1897 will see a continuance of the immigration of miners to the Yukon. The sources of the placer gold taken from the head waters of that mighty stream have not yet been discovered. The search for the quariz deposits of the Yukon will be prosecuted more eagerly than ever next year. These undoubtedly exist, and there is no climatic' difficulty why, when once discovered, these mines cannot be overated during the entire year. A rail- road to the headwaters of the Yukon is one of the possibilities of the next few years, and its construction presents no es- pecial difficulties. There, the quartz de- posits, which extend to the remotest limit of the chain of mountains, south, begin, and their discovery will make a new epoch in the history of that Territo1y. The people of Alaska, under the leader- ship of the Governor, propose an exposi- tion at Sitka next year, and are preparing for the event through agents to all accessi- ble points. The aborigines have been in- vited to contribuie their choicest speci- mens of art, and all dwellers ot the Terri- tory will be a-ked their assistance in mak- ing a full exhibit of the wonderful re. sources of the dependency. Such an ex- hibition would be unique, novel and at- tractive, and draw to it the attention of the whole United States. Thousands of travelers in search of a new sensation would embrace the opportunity of visit- ing the land that inevitably, at no distant date, is to be the scene of great develop- ment. Amsterdam has been negotiating for the acquisition of the gas, water, telephone and tramway companies. ' The sharehold- ers of the water company have been ptac- tically forced 1o sell their property to the municipaiity at a sacrifice of more than two-thirds of the share capital. The ex- periment of municipalizing all such pub- lic undertakings seems likaly to be carried out thoroughly.