, 1890-09-06
ARKANSAW IN WYOMING
A Novel and Splendid Sport Brought
to the New State.
An Arkansaw Traveller Gives an
Entertainment at the Lake.
A Grand Run of Hounds on the
Trail of a Coon Skin.

Everyone who saw the statehood pro.
cession last month will recall a freakY feat
ure at once recognized as Arkansaw's con-
tribution. Five or six men occupied a
platform wagon. They wore coonskIn
hats, o~yeralls, hickory shirts and brogans,
and several had long rifles. One twisted
his state air from a sick fiddle, and an
other danced somewhat less gracefully
than a ballet queen, but with a distinc-
tive method that told of his birthplace
and early training. Half a dozen big
cared, square muzzled, sharp eyed but
gentle dogs, built on the general plan of
a house one story high and five stories
long, completed the outfit. They were
genuine Arkansaw hunting hounds,
brown and black, quite a rarity in this
section. Several traits make them re
markable. They are speedy, have won
derful endurance, are docile and affection
ate, but can and will fight like demons,
But chasing is their best hold. They will
follow a trail a week old and will run all
day and all night, covering eight to
twenty miles an hour.
Medrow, who came West to get work
for himself and teams, he owns the dogs
aud loves the noble pack. Once know
ing Medrow and his kennel, no one will
envy him possession of his pets, much as
they might admire the beasts, for without
the hounds Medrow, who is husky and
happy, would pine away and die.
One pleasant night last week a LEADER
attache was one of a party driving to
Medrow's camp at Lake Mahpahlutah to
witness a run OF the hounds. The night
was calm and clear and the moon had
bathed the whole world in its borrowed
br~illiance.
TIE run was to be around the lake, a
distance OF perhaps four miles. Medrow
held the hounds while one Of his men
made the drag, trailing a coonskiu over
the proposed route. Those six long
geared brutes were wonderfully keen to
get away. They chafed under the leach till
it seemed they would pounce on Medrow
and devour hi1 and be off. Never was
cup horse or crack athlete SO anxious tor
the word.
Finally the man with the drag rode up
and dismounted. Medrow did. mot let the
dogs go until they were well nigh mad
with excitement.
With a united yelp, deep and not un-
muoicaI tba Six "a l., n b,noh Ika
SO many wild animals turned from a cage.
They kent pretty well together and yelp-
ing at every jump. The baying as it
came across the water after they rounded
the upper end OF the lake was a sweet
chorus, full and On and on
they bounded like a rushing cyclone, the
cry undiminished. Faster and faster they
flew on their foolish errand. The finish
was almost equal to the homestretch
struggle of a great horse race. They
scurried along with increased speed and
louder yelping, a couple Of pups rather
back, but the four old ones IN q cluster.
And so they finished, piling pelLmell into
the camp. aud shifting everywhere for
the coonskin, promptly bringing it from
beneath a pile of blankets in a tent All
who attended were simply delighted with
the novel entertainment.
Col. Medrow is now in Colorado and as
a matter of curse the hounds are there
also. Whsn he returns another run will
be arranged and the event announced in
advance.