The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-09
THIS FOX WAS A CAUTION
1T RAISED THE VERY DICKENS
WITH DOG AND MEN.
Fought Like a wildcat, After n Chase
That Covered n Good Part of Rhode
IsIand-The Unfortunate Dog Adj
VertiEed For.
From the New York Sun.

IsIand-The Unfortunate Dog Adj
vertised For.
From the New York Sun.
Norwich, Feb. Now 1 have been in a
number of fox runs myself, off and on"
said the veteran fox hunter AL Miner of
Bozrah. a night or two ago, land some
of them were quite lively enough to suit
the upper crust of hunters, but,"-the
speaker drew a long breath and relit his
pipe-"but that little set-to down in West
ern Rhode Island, just across the border,
the other day, was a little the ruggedest,
grittiest, spunkiest, and wickedest fox
circus performance that ever / heard of
or read about. 1t rather lays over ali
other transactions of the kind in the whole
fox hunting record of Southern New Eng
land, past, present, and for all time to
come, in my opinion And the queerest
thing about it was, too, that there was
an almighty sight more fighting than hunt
ing, for 1t was the fox that was remark
able not the hounds, hunters, or the hunt
ing. Not only that Rhode Island fox was
the biggest and heaviest he diVvil that
ever tailed off pack of hounds in these
parts, but there was more bulldog scrap
ping to the square inch in him than in a
half dozen ordinary ones; and, accord
ing to my way of thinking, If he had only
had about half an even chance he would
have cleaned up all the dogs in the town
of Pawtucket. AS it was, he scared one
hound plum out of the state-he hasn't
been seen or heard of since-and so clawed
and razzle-dazzled a hunter that he's still
got the idea, though he won't own up to
it, that that fox was possessed of the
devil-about seven of EN-"
Mr.. Miner however, did not participate
in the extraordinary and Incompatible
fox hunt he referred to. He had returned
only day or two before with his pair of
hounds from a little hunting trip down
into the back woods of Western Rhode
Island a land of swelling hills and deep,
Swallowed valleys where there are still
vast parallelogTams of unbroken wilder
ness, bounded by lonely, unfenced high
ways that are densely matched with scrub
oaks and scrub pines, whose tops are not
much taller than the hood of mans top
buggy traVerSing them. In this singular
great strip of sandy border wilderness,
spared by civilization because naturally it
is too poverty stricken to be worth the
pains of redeeming it, abide and abound
three distinct and interesting kinds of
fauna-immense jack rabbits, as big as
foxes which can leap fifteen feet at
bound, and which turn snowy white in
winter; a race of stalwart, smutty-faced
charcoal burners, with uncombed, albino
locks, who are CARRIED in cowhide boots
and overalls, and, more important still,
in the view of Sportsmen, a race of foxes,
bigger, greedier, fiercer, and more tireless
than all their brethren in the east. 1t
was Venturesome fox from this ragged
district that strayed into Pawtucket, the
hero of Mr.. Miners recital The fact is.
the Bozrah veteran, somewhat cloyed with
the sport of shooting the little red foxes
of the Nutmeg state, had gone down there
in the hope to bag one or two of the brist-
ling big fellows, intending to fetch him
home on the quiet and aStonish his friends
of the Norwich Fox Club; but fortune
favored him not, although he was in time
to take a peep at the great Pawtucket fox
as its captors were dragging its body off
the field
His mind was brimful of the story of
adventure, and all the Norwich sports
men, veteran fox hunters, aligned about
the shining base burner in a Norwich
Falls grocery, who had heard vaguely
about monster fox knocked over in the
Rhode Island wildwood, were as eager
to. hear as Al Miner was to relate his
tale.
ashes out of his pipe, II left town with
my dogs, early in the week. by late af-
ternoon train, over the New England road,
and little after dark reached the ham
and, which is on the northern edge of the
big border wilderness. 1 put up at a
hotel there, and before light next morning
was in the woods, stepping briskly along
over the frosted yellow pine needless
making toward the north coast. Foxes
were there? Yes, any Lords number of
a mile of ground, and the woods were
still dim and shadowy, before both old
dogs were in full cry and carrying on
eastward at a most tremendous rate. No
use trying; do the best ] could, / wasn't
abba to keep within range or even reckon
ing of them, and finally they passed out
of hearing and was left alone. But after
an hour or so they came sinking back
to me breathless and tired out, ana
pumped down on the brown leaves by my
sides; the fox had fairly outwinded them.
''Well, we all rested there a spell; then
resumed business, and presently the dogs
struck another trial and were off again
like the wind. They ran well, too. l
heard them going over the hills in full
cry, then the sound of their baying dying
away in the valley beyond-they never
ran better since l owned them-but it
was the same old story over again; the
fox or boyle, or whatever ii was was
altogether too fleet for them; and, again,
/ was left alone. It was not until three
hours later this time that they showed
up at all, and they were pretty nearly
used up, and streaked with mud ana
scratched and torn with bull brier prongs.
saAnd so 1t went all day. The dogs would
strike a trail from time to time so fresh
it seemed that Reynard had only that
moment got up in his day house not a
dozen rods distant, and away they would
speed swift as the wind. over the hills.
through the valleys and swamps, sped
the chase. Until finally the baying of old
Tops esen died away in lingering MUIR
murs among the scrub oak knobs, and