Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-01-02

published WORKS, ana Ill ldtc years ny
Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont in the COL
umns of the New York Sportsman. The
tastes of the new commandment and my
self were so similar that it is not strange
we became intimate or that the intimacy
ripened into warm friendship, which
lasted uninterruptedly until his death.
He fell, as we all know, at the head OF
his regiment, while gallantly Eper
forming his duty on the bloody field OF
Moline del Rey, in Mexico, in the year
1S47.
The captain and l frequently hunted
grouse on the prairies, and in the winter
season we made fierce war upon the
wolves and foxes which were attracted
by the offal from the post. When we
took the field with more than two score
dogs there waSmusic in the air and small
chance indeed for any OF the scavenger
beasts in the neighborhood. There was
large timber wolf, distinguished by his
size and by his peculiar dark color, which
had batfled every attempt of Capt. Scott
and the other sportsmen at the tort TO
capture, although they had feet grey
hounds in their pack. told these gentle
men that my dogs could catch and kill
that brute, but they were utterly incredu-
lous. 1t was arranged that L was to be
advised when next the wolf put in an ap
pearance and not many days passed be-
fore the notice was served upon me. My
fastest horse was forthwith saddled and
| crossed the Minnesota river with my
dogs, and was soon in full chase OF the
animal, which was so confident in its own
powers that he disdained the shelter of
the woods and took his course, much to
my delight, across the prairie Suffice 1t
to say that Lion and his brother Boston
overhauled the wolf after short race of
three miles and pinned him to the ground.
When reached the spot the wolf was in
the agonies of death, and in a few
moments ceased to breathe. | attached
one end of my long silk sash to the hasp
in my saddle and tied the other round
the VOLTS neck, and thus accoutred
dragged the heavy carcass over the
smooth prairie to the fort and exhibited
it, to the discontinue of the disbelieving
and the triumph of my noble dogs.
On another day received an urgent
message from the captain, by his orderly,
requesting me to cross over with my dogs,
as he had two wolves coralled upon the
large island below the fort. | forthwith
complied, and on my arrival L found the
captain had placed an entire company of
soldiers along the bank of the stream to
prevent the escape of the wolves. The
island was surrounded by open water ex-
cept on that side. We went over on the
ice, found and killed one wolf, and the
other only evaded the onset of the dogs
by plunging into the water, when he was
carried by the swift current, despite all
his struggles, under the ice.
NV armory contains one rife and three
double guns, each of which recalls to my
mind incidents Of much interest in which
it has played prominent part. There
are missing from the collection two double
barrels, one plain neat gun which pur-
chased from Capt. Scott on the eve of his
departure for Mexico. 1t was his favorite
arm, and | used it with great care for sew
eral years and finally presented it to a
warm friend, since deceased 1t is now
in the possession OF his son, by whom it
is valued as family relic. The other was,
next to my Wilmot, the weapon | most
relied on for ordinary shooting. 1t is re-
sponsible for the death of innumerable
victims, from the lordly bison, through
the gamut, down to the tiny jacksnipe.
The excellence of its shooting will be
vouched for by our able and worthy COM
missioner of agriculture, my old friend
General W. G. LIE Due, who witnessed
divers feats performed with it in the field.
| lent it to fellow sportsman several
years since and have never been able to
recover it, which very much regret, for
that arm was my reliance in manya strait
and never failed me.
There was enough of danger attendant
upon the sports of my earlier years in
this country to add zest and excitement
to their pursuit Albeit the great bands
of Dakotas or Sioux were for the most
part friendly and hospitable, their boast
being that they had no blood of white
men upon their hands, they were the
Ishmaelites of the plains, regarding every
red man who was not Dakota as prima
facie an enemy, and entitled to no
mercy. The other tribes of course
retaliated, and the white hunter
was exposed to the peril of meeting their
war parties, and of being robbed of all
his property, if indeed he was fortunate
enough to escape without the loss Of his
scalp To say nothing of his liability to
break his neck or his limbs by being
thrown from his horse while chasing the
larger game over broken and unfavorable
ground, he was often in peril from the
headlong charge of wounded bull (the
writer himself having barely escaped
with his life in an encounter of this sort,
related in Porter's edition of ''Hawker'').
1t must be borne in mind that the buffalo
of the olden times was by no means the
poor creature he now is, rendered spirit
less and timid by the incessant reports of
the repeating rifle in the hands of his
prosecutor. The savages seldom used
firearms in the chase, depending upon
the equally deadly but silent work of the
bow and iron-pointed arrow, which
caused little alarm among the great
herds 1t needed little provocation
to ensure an attack from the males even
when unwounded, but the sting of a ball
or an arrow, when not instantly fatal,
was sure to be followed by furious
charge upon the assailant, and several
Indians within my own knowledge fell
victims to such onset. The stately bull
regarded himself as the master Of the
plains, and was ready to do battle for the
supremacy with any intruder. Prairie
fires, when the grass became dry, were
the dread of the hunter, for when driven
before the gale it required the utmost ex-
ertions and skill of the most experienced
to save person and property from the