, 1880-12-26


five women meeting III tho street a!l talk to each
other the top OF their voices ut the same tilo;
many they are ali .aik together. ana it is impos-
slolc to silence them Hut perhaps the worst
plague Is quiet street with two or three parties
one Yell continuously Mt the full: pitch Of their
lungs until the brain wanders and deafness would
be welcome relief. :,
OLD-TIME SPORTING.
Hunting aud FIxhIn: mt Chicago Forty
Odd Years A@o-Wolf, Bcnr, aud
muska1lon=e Stories.
To the Editor Of Ias Chicago Irlbuns.
CHICAGO, Dec. al see In an article in
your paper Of Saturday, the 11th of Decem-
ber. that ]. II. Wilson brought my nan1o be-
fore the public as one Of the sportsmen OF
early days. 1t would be hardly just to my
self to let this pass over without little
qualification; for, though / must acknowI-
edge that, like most Englishlnen, in my
youthful days l was fond Of all kinds Of field
sporting, yet never let pleasure interfere
with business, as many young men do;now-
adays, but all my hunting and fishing was
done when had nothing else to do. Both
fishing and shooting, however, were very diff
ferent things In those early days from what
they are now, as the game was close at hanpI.
Having my attention called to It by the arti-
Gle III question. / will jot down q few memo
ries Of the past. When we came over from
London. in 1883, we not only brought guns
and rifles, but some good bred dogs. We'had
q afoxhound, greyhound. setter, pointer. and
spaniel. Such dogs were then very scarce
in America; and they, of course, on our ar
rival here, ut the very outskirts OF civiliza-
tion, soon brought us more or less in connec-
hon with others who were fond Of such
sports. On our arrival in New York, March
Is, 1888, it being too early for the canalopcn-
ing, we had to wait until the ed of APRIL
during which time we made several
excursions to Brooklyn and Hoboken
with dogs and guns in search Of game,-but
without success, except the shooting OF
few woodcock in New Jersey. Game of
any kind seemed to be very scarce, although
the country was then occupied by farmers
and market-garde ners. When we arrived in
Buffalo, where we staid some three or four
months, from May to August, we had more
sport Pigeons were plenty III the woods,
and fishing was really splendid. Many q
time did myself and friend walk three miles
to the rapids at Black Rock, and return be-
fore breakfast with thirty or forty pounds of
fish hanging on pole between us.-some Of
them weighing five or six pounds each; and,
as we pulled them out Of water, their scales
shining and shImmering in tho summer-sun,
the very sight Of them would have made an
epicure's mouth water.
When we arrived in Chicago, In October,
we soon began to take part In the sport then
in vogue in the village. The 1oxlound soon
proved one Of the best wolf-dogs in Chicago,
Capt. B., of the garrison, whom we met at
White Pigeon Prairie, while acknowledging
the merits Of our noble hound, yet declared
he had dog in Chicago that would dive
deeper, come up drier, and catch more wolves
than any dog In America; and he would like
to see the man that disputed it. rather
think he had been little too near the corner
Of the bar-room where the bottles we're kept,
for his own good, when he made that asser-
ton. But On our arrival in Chicago, we
found him tirst-rate fellow, and his dog all
he had claimed for him. He was mixture
Of lurcher and greyhound, Of very powerful
build, and, they said, had killed l50 wolves In
his day.
The way We broke our foxhound was
rather unique. We lived, that first winter,
on the North Side, about the corner OF Kinzie
and Rush streets. Itwas all heavily timbered
down to the river-bank. between the North
Branch and the lake, for some miles out. A
neighbor having lost q calf, the wolves came
prowling round, making night hldeous with
their Quarreling and bowling over its carcass;
SO we took possession OF it, dragged it farther
into the woods, and set two or three spring.
traps around it. covering them from sight
with the scattered leaves. The first night
one trap was sprung, but with no wolf in it.
The second we were more successful, being
rewarded In the morning by seeing 1arge
wolf caught by his hind leg, which he had
nearly cut to the bone in his efforts to escape;
but we were too elated at our success to
trouble ourselves about that. We started
back to the house, got large bag, and a
rope, in the middle of which we put slip
moose; and, one getting at each end OF the
rope, soon succeeded In getting it over his
head and around his neck, which we began
to squeeze rather too tight for comfort, in
spite OF his swapping jaws, which might
have been heard block of. by each on3
getting close to him, we easily lifted him into
the sack, and carried him home. After
breakfast we crossed the river In canoe, for
the prairie about the corner of Wabash ave-
nue. and Randolph street, accompanied by
two dogs, the foxnound and greyhound. We
then turned the wolf out giving him q
hundred yards start before we let the dogs
after him. He made fast time for the
hound, with his superior speed, soon caught
him, and, biting his haunch, brought him. to
bay. when the f0xhound, coming up, tdok
hold Of him by the neck, and never gavn up
the fight until she laid him dead at ouE 1eet.
the VOLTS, wanted 1lo more OF it, and stood
calmly by while the other killed him.