Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1889-07-02

noon, tOuf nllo9FItom niS fValuoico
he had q quarry. aad in tho quarry
worked q number OF mon who know
how 10 handle the dynamite. In n
barren ridge about three furlongs from
the quarry hundreds OF crows met aud
quarreled and fought every afternoon,
and their racket made some OF the
worlSmcn in the quarry mad.
My host had heard tho mon
find fault 30 many times with
the crows that he had set himself to
work to contriye plan for silencing
them, and he told me that he had per-.
fected his scheme on the previous day
and got every thing in readiness for
carrying it into execution. So that
afternoon he hitched up aud We drove
out to the quarry. Then he explained
1t all to me. -.--...--
.From the top OF the ridge where
the crows were in the habit Of as.
sembling he had ordered the men to
string n wire along the tops OF knee
high sticks stuck in the ground to n
spot opposite TO the opening of the
quarry. There were two branches to
the wire on the ridge, and at the end
OF each branch there WIS dynamite
cartridge larger than u candle. Near
the quarry there was little battery,
and my friend told me that his plan
was to have one OF the dynamiters
work the battery as soon as the crows
got thick on the ridge. He took two
good field glasses along, and through
them we were TO watch the explosion
and its effects on the crows.
1--WE took our position on a knoll at
least three-quarters OF a mile from the
ridge and in plain sight of thesdyna-
inter. that person being instructed to
touch the battery button when he saw
my friend wave white handkerchief
About three o'clock the crows began to
settle down on the ridge all around
where my friend said the cartridges
lay. They came from every point OF
the compass, and the din they made
was heard plainly enough where we
were. They cawed and auttered and
hoped over one another, and In .ff-
teen minutes the ridge was mass of
moving black wings and bodies l
was watching them through the pow
erful glass that my friend had lent me,
and he was making observations, too,
and we were talking TO ono another
about how the crows would be apt to
feel when the dynamite went off among
them.
"Aiter awhile he snid Keep good
watch now; I'm going to give the sig.
nal, and in less than half minute
there was quick, dull explosion that
Jared the ground little whore we
sat, and the air on the ridge for rods
around appeared to be filled with
small black particles that looked
more like swarm OF gnats and flies
than anything else. The cloud was
mixed with dust and other brown par
ticles, and when the mass settled we
couldn't see a single crow either on
the ridge or in the sky anywhere
around Il guess it was a success,
my host exclaimed gleefully. and now
wen go over TO the spot and see what
| effect the explosion had on the crows.
80 we hurried down the side OF the
knoll and ran across little fiat to the
foot OF tho ridge. whore we began to
find crows bills. logs. claws, whole
heads. tails and wing feathers, and
other evidences OF the remarkable
havoc made by the two cartridges.
There must have been all of two hun
dred crows on the ridge when the dy-
Mantle exploded, but we couldn't find
a whole crow anywhere. Ithad killed
every one of them and scattered their
remains over a large territory, and,
up to the time that my visit came to
an end. the workmen reported TO my
host that they hadn't seen or heard o
solitary crow within mile OF where
the dynamite had got in its deadly
work on the flock OF black lutterePs ="
Scranton (Pa) Cor N. Y. Sun.