Morning journal and courier., 1891-08-31
EXTINCTION OF THE BUFFALO.
A Retired Army Officer Sees No Rea-
 son To Lament Their Going.

A Retired Army Officer Sees No Rea-
 son To Lament Their Going.
 A retired officer of the United States army, in a talk published in the Kansas City Times, takes issue with the great ma iority of persons who lament the disap- pesrance of the bCffalo from the plains of the west. He said:
 'I am tolerably familiar with the buffs- To aud feel justified in saying that one might with equal sense lament the disap- pearanee of the bob-tail car. When first struck the plains those animals bounded and abounded in countless num- bers. I remember that once when march ing down the Republican Valley for miles We passed herd of the enormous bovines moving up the same valley. They trav- eled about three miles an hour and we about four, and yet, though going in op- posite directions, we were over six hours in passing the herd, which almost filled the valley. The herd averaged, I should think, about three hundred yards in width.
 Hunting the buffalo was never sport: a plsinsman never did it except for food and hides. Occasionally some English tourist or all-around Nimrod would come out west, armed with a complete arsenal of rifles and shotguns of the most cumber- some make and elaborate finish. He would proceed to butcher few stupid bulls, have the hides carefully dressed, | and, presume, exhibit them with appro- | priate blood-curdling yarns in the halls of | his ancestors. One party I remember | particularly well. They came from Chica- I @1. 1.kE El.,, = | headquarters, and were turned over to me for big buffalo hunt. I had the pleas ure, or I suppose I should say, in the | light of recent events, the honor of hay | ing Buffalo Bill, who was then in Uncle Sam's service as a scout, assigned to the expedition. The two leading members of | the party were Baron de Rothschild, a | sickly young man, travelling for his health, and Count Turenne, ceptain of Chasseurs, on duty as bear-leader. The baron was s decent enough little chap, but not much of hustler. Turenne, who was de. scendant of the celebrated marshal of that name, was fine, active man and enthu. siastic sportsman. He sooE sized buffalo killing up, and took very little interest in the hunt. We struck big herd about three days out from the post, and pro ceeded to kill, kill, kill. Turenne secured a very fine head and some robes, but the little baron was too i'll and weak to leave camp and endure the rough, though short ride At last Buffalo Bill took pity on tht invalid, and rounded up an aged bull neal the camp. The doughty baron sallied forth on foot, with a big express rife and plenty of backing-in fact, the entire me nial force of the outfit. After about 6 dozen shots, from a rest, the old bull was killed. His skull and hide were carefully saved, and I have no doubt they now adorn fine Parisian salon.
 ''I think that, with the exception of {
 few sentimentalists and naturalists, few
 see any reason to regret that the buffalo
 no longer cumbers the earth. He re
 quired about three times the acreage tha an American steer does for subsistence, hi , meat was tough and flavorless, his rob
 not half as good ss a Minnesota blanket
 and five times as heavy, and his habit were inconsistent with settled country ; No, we might as sensibly lament the los of the trees that once stood where nov are fields of corn and wheat. The buffal served his purpose, fulfilled his destiny and has simply, like all other things O earth, passed away in the Lords goo'
 time"