The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-09-07
A MEXICAN WOLF HUNT.
Ferocity OF Mans Long Time
Dreaded Enemy.
The Three Varieties of the Wolf Species
Found in the United states and Mex.
ico-A ''IIue and Cry In
chihuahua.

Sixty miles south Of Fl Paso the
main line of the Mexican Central rail-
road reaches a mountain gap where
our trains stopped to replenish their
tenders. While poems carried up
fagots Of knarled mesquit sticks, one
of my travelling companions strolled
out on the platform of the freight
shed, and presently stopped in front of
I'm uncouth-loobing bundle-a heavy
pack of grizzly skins, blood-stained
and haunted by myriads of buzzing
flies.
What in the world would you call
thatP" he asked the cofTee-colored sta
ton master.
"ThatP Pelo geHzi0-gray peltry,"
said the Mexican, knocking the ashes
off his cigarette.
"Gray -whatP"
"Gray peltry-wolf skins, you know.
They are getting too foul to let them
get mixed up with the other freight"
wolf skins!' detaching one of the
shriveled hides. II thought they
would be larger. Wolves must be
puny brutes, after all"
The Mexican shrugged his shoulders.
"They are large enough to give us
good deal Of trouble, Senior"
Few primitive nations would ques-
ton that fact The gray wolf does
not reach the size of a mastitf, and his
weight rarely exceeds ninety pounds.
but for long ages that ''puny brute"
has disputed the prestige of Gods vice
regent on earth, and in many pas
toral regions of Europe and North
America is still greater plague than
all other beasts of prey and trouble
some birds and reptiles taken together.
The wilderness of the Northern hemi-
sphere has been conquered only by an
alliance of men and wolf dogs, and
the unaided powers of our primi-
tive ancestors might have failed to
prevail against the versatile talents of
n creature that combines the fangs of
a panther with the fleetness of a deer
and the keen scent of fox, and which
only incessant persecution can prevent
from multiplying ut the rate Of sixty
per cent a year.
The last wild wolf OF the British
Islands is said to have been shot in
1852, in the highlands of the western
Grampians, but wolves still abound in
the Apennines, in the Cmpathian
Mountains, in the southern Alps, in
Russia, Turkey, Norway, Pennsylvania,
Southern Switzerland in all the Span
ish Sierras, and even in the highlands
of the French Cevennes, hardly two
hundred miles from the capital of
civilization"
Mexico and our Southern border
States still harbor three species of
the genus lupUS-the black wolf, the
coyote, or prairie wolf, and the gray
wolf (CdniS OccideHtdliS), the last the
most mischievous, and, with the ex
ception of the grizzly bear, the boldest
predatory quadruped of the North
American continent. Wolves, sur
prised in the act OF disemboweling a
dead horse, have been known to attack
meddlesome dog and tear him limb
from limb, and then, as IL encouraged
by their success, make "a headlong
charge upon a mounted hunter, and, in
spite of repeated pistol shot, pursue
"a "a
full-grown wolf is more than a match
for man armed with the primitive
weapons of our forefathers. I'm
like the black bear, who hugs before
he bites, the gray wolf is apt to decide
his duellO by single spring at the
throat of his adversary, and neither
the dewlap OF a steer nor the garments
of a fur-clad hunter can resist the eff
ficiency Of his terrible fangs-fangs
differing from the teeth of a New York
butcher dog as a Spanish stuetto diff
fers from a common iack-knife.
A "hue and cry is phrase often
applied TO the petty stop-thief sensa-
sations OF our modern cities, but he
that would know the original signif-
canoe of the term should see the eff
fects Of wolf alarm in the uplands OF
chihuahua The restless vigilance OF
the mounted herders has gradually
driven the wolf population to the fast
nesses Of the alturas, or rugged high.
lands, where caverns and thickets OF
myrtle and cedar shrubs offer them
vantage ground. In stress Of famine,
however, the fierce highlanders nov
and then sally in force, and by avoid.
ing all beaten roads, occasionally sue.
coed in raiding the pastures Of "a lone
ly rancho and effecting their retreat e
the summit regions. of the Sierras.
The experienced leaders of such OK,
petitions are not apt to tarry on q
scene Of carnage, well knowing thai
the shelter. 81 night alone can aver
retribution il their retreat should be-
interrupted. At the first sound of thC
tr0mpdda, or alarming trumpet, the
farmer leaves his pillow and the miner
his pan, dogs are unclaimed. horses
saddled in wild haste. and, five min.
utes after, dust-clouds sweeping acros.
the vega, AS II on the wings Of the
storm. announce the arrival of rescu-
ing parties from far and near. There
is no time 10 be lost The baflied
marauders arc flying for the Sierra
and by an unsparing use Of spur and
whip may be Overtaken' headed