The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-03-17
q. :. a WORRYING we BIZ NC: WOLF.
It Does the Churning for a Farm
s&} ers Family. 500
Tho Strange Manner In, Which tho AMI
NAL Was Reared and Taught to
Perform BIS Labors n
ON tho FRym.

%ortoTm Bus L9bprs n
on tho Fam.
Any one who may visit Richard Gun.
,ningham's farm, which lies pretty well
up In the Blue mountains in the north
eastern part of this county, says Pitts.
burgh paper, will see u sight the like OF
which was probably never seen any
where In this country before.
IL Is an immense black wo1f-one OF
the last of its race in this State-with
eyes that glare fiercely at I'LL who come
2ear him, with the exception Of
Farmer Cunningham himself, and &C.
companying his glare with savage
growls, and yet meelSly treading the
monotonous round of churning ma
chine, like some household dog OF old
eve sheep. This performance of a
mental service by the wolf, singular as
1t Is, Is by no means the strangest thing
about him. He has history.
Last spring, year ago. Farmer Cum
!ningham discovered that something
was carrying off his lambs almost as
last as they were born in his flock. He
suspected that this was being done by q
wildcat, and he set u trap to sec if he
could not catch the animal. When he
went to his trap next morning he was
amazed to find that, instead of u wild
cat, he had captured wolf.
1t had been years since any one Ind
seen or heard of wolves in that rerion.
although they were at one time numer-
ious in the Blue mountains. It was evil
dent to Cunningham, however, that If
theTvolf he had caught in the trap be-
longed in that neighborhood it had not
roamed the woods solitary representa-
tive OF its race. 1t was she wolf. and.
although the animal was held fast nv
both forefeet in the trap, she was lying
patiently on the ground and giving
Isuckle to baby wolf when Cunning
ham appeared on the scene.
When the wolf saw him she sprang to
her feet and savagely confronted him.
lie shot her through tho head and capt-
urcd the whelp alive. It was not moro
than three weeks old. Cunningham
TOOK it home with the carcass of the
old one The young wolf moaned
plteously for its mother, aud the farmer
proposed killing it.
! Lis wife would not hear of the T.
OF the whining cub, and took G.
1t herself. She could not .n,im~ae !, ",
take substance, and it $50 w. ~ ",
way to starve to death ,vt,s s NJ n g you
ninghnrn had brio IS ,s WIEN IN, MIS- Gun
before her husbr .a, set IN, +ra me my men NJ
TIC To- ,ve ow. 90 >'as robbed of her lamb.
- ~, <n9oubtedly stole it. Failing
~ az .'es Efforts to Introduce food into
~ stomach of the baby wolf, Mrs.
lCunUr.gham carried it to the bereaved
eys,.
! The eve was brought from the past
ure to the farm-ynr1, and for weeks
visitors saw the strange spectacle of a
sheep sucking wolf, the wolf, be-
You'd all doubt, being the offspring of
the one that robbed the sheep of her
own young.
The wolf throve amazingly on sleeps
milk, and the strange foster-parcnt and
child formed the strongest kind of an
attachment to each other, which re-
manned unbrol1en until the death of the
sheep IL few weeks ago.
AS the wolf grew tho unsociability IL
not the entire sayageness of its kind
manifested itself, and he was kept Sc
curely chained. Although it was Mrs.
Cunningham who saved his life, the
wolf did not like her to come near him,
but he early showed the greatest friend
ship to Farmer Cunningham, who han
died him as easily as he would n house
dog.
The old eve sheep was the churn
sheep of the farm, and it was no uncom-
mon sight to see her and the wolf asleep
side by side, but there was good reason
to believe that no other sheep on the
farm could have approached within
reach of him with safety. A short
time ago a barn door fell on the eve
and killed her. 1t was churning day,
and Cunningham was mt loss to know
what to do for power to run the tread
mill that operated the churn.
Finally he thought of the wolf which
is On unusually large and powerful one.
He resolved to try the animal as a
churner and put him on the mill The
wolf objected strongly at first, but
when the machine started he submitted
and ran off the churning in excellent
style. Since then he has been regularly
engaged in running the machine, and
he goes to his work as cheerfully as an
animal of his kind could be expected tn.
Complaint of Mormons.
Leading Mormons from Salt Lake CITY
are always to be found in New York CITY,
and they often tell of the hardships of
MOrmOndOm under the new Dolicv az thu