The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-12-12

He Says that During the Winter of 1927:
Wichita Lost Enough Money by Sellin;
Buffalo Hides Too Soon to have Pur
chased a Home for Every Man, Woman
and Child in Kansas-How He Eescue'
Nephew of Governor Yates and Also
Sen of Governor Phillips from a Buffalo
Grave.
Yesterday the first real work wa.
done at the new ltannery located in tbs
southeast part Of the city, in the build
ing which was occupied by the Spray
Yeast company.
The work Is in charge Of N. L. Court
wright. who has had many years exper-
ience in the business, and is commenc-
ing the business as no experime emf. He
has q. full line Of watts and machinery
and says ne will be ready to supply the
market with the hest line of feathers
in short time. He is prepared 10 do
all kinds of tanning and yesterday
placed his hides for the first time in
the watts.
There were several visitors at the tan
old buffalo lh1lnter, who was interested
in asking questions about tanning buff
faio. wolf. coyote and robes for the
market, which was explained by Mr..
Courtwright. Speaking of buffalo hides
put thu old soldier in a reminescence
turn OF mind.
"I we'll remember" said Barney
O'Connor. who was the old hunter.
''when the buying of buffalo hides was
one of the chief industries Of Wichita.
Only think that there were thousands
of hides sold In Wichita for from 20
cents TO 1875 per hide, and today these
same hides would be worth from S25 to
$40
During the winter Of 1923 There
were enough buffalo killed in Barber
county alone to have furnished meat
for every poor person in the state of
Kansas And II was no uncommon
thing Ito see 100 loads Of hides brought
10 Wichita in a single day.
"At.- the lowest estimate these hides
would be worth today. counting twenty
five hides Ito tine load which would a
small average. these 100 loads would be
worth at s25 per hide. which ] think
Mr.. Court wright would willingly pay
So. 500.
''Now suppose that this was multiple
ed by the number of days during the
season, and you VIII see that during that
season alone there was enough proper
ty lost or squan1ered by the greed OF
man. and brought to Wichita, to buy
and furnish a home for every man. wo-
man and child in the state Of Kansas.
and have enough left to feed every in
hab:'tant of Oklahoma for ten years.
1T was simply horrible the waste
rhat was made with the buTaloes Of
this country. md if mems foresight was
eQual TO their hind sight there are hun
dreds Of poor men today who would be
in comfortable circumstance.
II will never FORGET some Of the pre-
dfcaments gotten into by tenderfeet up
on the hunting grounds that winter.
ard I can yet SEQ some OF the results
IN Wichita caused by hunters being
caught by the hliZzards. ! was intro
duced today 10 Justice Jones who lost
his feet by being frozen.
q remember one morning while riding
on the. divide between the Minnesota
@Td the C7l.ca ski. that I was picking
my way between the buffalo carca sses.
that I heard n voice calling from some
where. ! could not tell where. calling
for help. The sun was shining bright
but the day previous there had been one
o. THE worst Billiards had ever seen
AT first | thought tho voice was a
FpirI; II did nos sound human. 7
POPPED ard listened. but | viii confess
Tl3t I ulaced n cartridge in nv car
bine. and prepared 10 fight spooks or
anything that might come along. l was
at least five milss from camp. and
could not imagine from whence came |
s'aa voice
Still I could hear the voice calling for
help. There was nothing in sight but !
buffalo carcassas ana I began nv ex- |
animation Finally I located the yoio., |
RS coming from a mammoth bull and 4
approached and asked the carcass what /
Il wanted
= want out of this place came the /
voice from the carcass.
How did you get in there?' I asked. !
realizing that a human being was fro /
zen in the old carcass.
II had just killed the buffalo when
the blizzard came M and~ny pony ran
away. / W73s almost froZe and I tried 1
10 get the hide to wrap around me
While cutting the hide l discovered that
the anmlal was warm and / removed
the eHtralls and crawled in. / was con-
graduating myself upon my fore
Thought and went to sleep. When 7
awol1e | tried to turn over but was held
firm. | tried to get out hut the car
caS's had frozen about me and I WAS
prisoner
He rolS me after had released MIN
that ne had never spent a day and .
night IN such misery in his life The
man proved - be Nicholas Yates a
nephew of Governor Yates Of Illinois
me man Is now one of the wealtlliest
men or Chicago. and when was at the
worlds fair / stepped with HIM.
We travelled together and later IN
ne DAY found a son of Governor
Phelps az Missouri almOs. dead by be-
n-S frozen in a buffalo hide while <bs
lide was green So you sae that while
odd not have sense enough 90 make
money whtle killing buffalo. I was for
.unate 'enought 70 relieve a leading Chi
'Ngo man. and also one of the leading
DolstfciaRS Of 81. Louis. from an llntirue-