The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-12-14
The Wolf Bounty Question

Considerable interest has lately been
manifested by the citizens OF city and
country, over the report that attempts
had been made To victimiZe the county,
Ivy trapprr who claimed the bounty
allowed for wolf scalps The fact that
this man was reported Ia have had un.
prcccdcnted success in killing wolves
in .hrr counties in this State was suf
ficient Ia place some of our citizens mp
ON inquiry, 10 chcckmatc, if possible,
what they considered To he fraudulent
proceedings. THE FREE Press and
the Rrrier have before thus published
accounts oi The work of this man Davis,
exposing ms schemes, which were in
the main correct. This week, however,
the Recicr, with II desire To conciliatc
certain citizens whose toes had been
slightly pinchcd rather than Davis him
self, attempts To salvc the matt,r over
and eNoncratc Davis from all wrong in
tent; but in so doing it must attribute
bad faith to some Of our respected cit
liens upon whose examination and iudg-
ment the original report was based.
Among these are II. w. Becbc, +. ii.
Andrews, |. n. Dean and Z. Bates who
examined the wolf skins, which were
presented To the County Auditor, and
pronounced them to he old hides. The
opinions al these gentlemen are surely
entitled Ia consideration, especially as
some Of them are old hunters, AMI
should not he set aside by the last eva
sion Of the Rcrte'o. Mr. Bates, who WAS
especially commissioned by the County
Auditor Ia inquire into the matter,
made Il report adverse to Davis claims,
and the las. Rerif~ article now tends to
place him in II had light. To leave no
doubt of his findings in the case, and
the reasons which prompted them he
has made the following affidavit which
shows clearly that the statements. form
erly made are entitled to credeucc, and
that Davis was attempting Il clear fraud
upon the county. ......
State Of Minnesota, -.
County OF Blue Earth
l, E. Bates. do swear that | saw the two
wolf skins, which were presented to the cOun-
" Auditor 10y Davis, for bounty Oh the 22nd
of Nov. 1883 rnd pronounced them at the
time us skins three months old and possibly
more. On Monday, Nov. 18th four
more skins were presented by Davis at the
Auditors Office, and the also considered old
skins. l was appointed to go with him to tae
place where he alleged they had been killed
and invcstig gate the matter. ! did 80, and
when arriving there saw nothing to Indicate
that wolves had been killed there. | asked
Davis where the carcasses were, and he re-
piled that he threw them in the river. The
river was frozen over. there WIS no hole In
nor blood upon the ice. nor had there been
that day. Saw some blood upOna rock which
Davis stated was wolf blood. l examined il
and pronounced II hogs blood Later, with
Doc Beach we examined the blood again, and
agreed that il was not VOLTS blood. | did not
at that time, nor do now, believe that those
wolves were killed there, as the proofs were
insufficient to convince me that such was the
case, and so reported to the County Audi
tor. r.. BATES.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 18th
day of December, 1883.
}. l.. WASHBURN,
Notary ps,tii..