Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1891-08-06
A WOMAN TRAPPER



Daring the Trapping Season She secures
Nundreds Of skenk. ssnnk and zzsk
rat skins with Her Own
Hands-
1fra Charity Hathaway q the only
woman trapper and raw fur dealer In
Sullivan county. Pa She Is the widow
Of the late Charles J. Hathaway, and
sho lives on Beemer Hill, In Forks
township, where she was born IN the
woods forty odd years ago. Her only
son, Hiram, is fifteen years old, and abe
has two daughters younger than he.
Each fall and winter, says the New
York Sun. the Widow Hathaway Is the
busiest woman In the township. Last
season she cleared nearly four hundred
and fifty dollars from the sale Of furs
and ginseng root The animals from
which the greater portion Of the furs
was obtained were trapped and skinned
by Mrs. Hathaway. The rest were
bought and shipped to market with
those that she had gathered, and the
ginseng root was dug by the children.
As soon as the trapping season. opens
IN the fall Mrs. Hathaway begins to
set traps for skunlxs, minks and musk
rats. 1t costs her nothing for skunk
traps, because she uses fit stones for
that kind of fur. She Lifts one end Of
the stone upright where she finds II,
props It up with some slender sticks
that look like a figure 4, places a bit Of
any kind OF meat on the trigger, and the
trap is all ready for the stupid skunk to
walk under and get the life crushed out
of him. II q stranger asks a native Of
Beemer Hill, Of Elk Creek. of Wildcat
Bill, or Of Sparrowhawk Brook why SO
many fiat stones are tipped up here and
there, the native will look surprised for
q second and then tell him that the
stones q tho Widow Hathaway's
skunk traps.
Mrs- Hathaway says that nowadays
abe makes nor money out Of skunk
skins than from all the other kinds Of
fur put together. For catching minks
and muslrats she has to have steel
traps, and the traps cost money In the
FIRST place, require oiling and care later
on, and are heavy to lug around. Be-
sides, q skunk skin Is now worth more
in the market than amink or a muskrat
hide. And she would sooner skin q
skunk, she says, than a mushrat or q
mink, because she can do 1t a good deal
quicker and the odor is not at all often
sive when you know how to handle the
animal and get used to the smell.
After Mrs. Hathaway has set all her
traps she starts out the next morning
to sec II anything has been caught dur
ing the night. She goes over the route
In t.e same manner that she did when
sb1 set the traps, and she takes bait
along and two sharp knives. II she
hn6s o skunk under one Of the fat
stones, she pulls 1t out, resets the trap,
ties the skunk to q pole, throws the pole
over her shoulder and goes to the next
trap. Whenever she has unusual luck
the burden Of skunks soon becomes
heavy, and In that case she stops at
some brook, skins the animals and has
nothing but the hides to carry over the
rest Of her route. To mako a complete
circuit of her representatives, takes the
best part of day, she says. Up to the
middle OF December Mrs. Hathaway had
last season trapped two hundred and
ninety : four skunks, twenty seven
minks, forty-three muskrats and one
marten.
When the first sleighing comes the In
dnstrious widow let's Hiram look after
the traps, because he can wade through
the snow better than she can. Twice
each week she drives all around the
countryside and buys up fox skins and
Other furs that the woodsmen have
gathered, paying a fair cash price for
them. She Is an excellent Judge Of
furs, and no one can fool her on the
quality Of skins that she examines.
Mrs. Hathaway Is governed in the prices
she pays for furs by a printed list Of
quotations which q Philadelphia dealer
sends her once a month. All the furs
she traps herself or buys Of other trap
pers she ships to the Philadelphia dealer
every three or four weeks. The skins
are stretched, tackled up against the
barn, and dried thoroughly, and that Is
ell she does to them.
Gingseng ROOTS also quoted In the fur
dealers list. During the fall, before
the ground became frozen Mrs. Hath
away's children dug several sba ketfuls
of ginseng root in the woods on Wild
cat hill. The roots were dried In the
oven and around the stove until they
were as dry as they could be,
and then Mrs. Hathaway found that
she had thirty-two pounds. A few days
ago she sent the root to the city
with o batch OF furs and got one dollar
and eighty cents q pound for It. Last
year, Mrs. Hathaway said, she cleared
two hundred and twenty dollars over
and above all expenses of keeping her
self and little family and that she ex-
pected to do stil better next winter.
h Ghost Train.
'grhe ghost train" Is the unique name
Of the latest railroad novelty. 1t Is a
train, says the New York Sun, of snow
white cars running between New York
and Boston. The managers endeavored
to have it called the white line, but tho
quick public gave it the better name,
which will stick. White has often been
tried as n color for cars and, except in
the case of the railway mail service. hns