The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-07-16
he thoughts of What might have been

if that bad fox had never dug her hole among the circling hen yards on the the sides of Levenseller's mountain It was six weeks ago that Gus Ander- son caught $75 silver-gray fox in a trap back of his hen yards. After this he had no further trouble; but his neighbors uc in Clewleyville and out toward Whiting Hill at once began to miss hens, and at last so many of them that reward of $10 was offered to any body who would get the fox. They knew what kind Of a fox it was. be- cause children coming home from school had seen a silver gray fox with a white face lurking among the bushes, and had reported the fact to the pro- lprietors of the hen yards. They argued l that 1t was the mate of the one killed | by Anderson, and were sure of finding her den and capturing the whole fanl- | fly. With this in view they got a new map of Penobscot county, and, dividing Brewer, Holden and Eddington into | half-mile sections, a tract of land was given to every sufferer, so that the whole territory should be carefully searched. They hunted three weeks | digging out lot of woodchucks and | skunks-but did not find a single fox. All this time the hens and chickens were disappearing rapidly, and the white faced fox was seen in the edge of the bushes nearly every day. One morning Billy Lambert surprised the 1 fox and fired at it, shooting away the whole Of it's white face. He was mad enough when he saw an uncommonly large silver-gray fox get up and scam- per away to the woods, and his temper knew no bounds when he picked up the 1 famous white face and found it to be a fat Plymouth Rock cockerel which the fox had been carrying away. When he told his story to the poultrymen they remembered that the fox had always I selected white fowl, taking great risks to get them, when he could pick up hens oe other colors running at large in the fields. They had solved the mys- l tery O. the white face, and now they must capture the fox or suffer eternal disgrace,
 The first wild stra wberries were turn ing pink cheeks up to the sun when Fred Lawson, going to back field to repair a hay barn, dug five young foxes l from nile of chaff that had fallen through the seams In the barn floor. l Two O. these youngsters were of a common dirty red color, and looked the way all baby foxes do; but the other three had shining silver-gra coats that marked them as the aristocracy of the vulpine race. That day he built large box of boards and stout wire netting, and putting his five captives inside placed it out on the lawn near the or chard When he carried fresh milk to his pets the next morning he found that some animal had eaten hole in the wire netting and carried away the three slver-g -grays, leaving the two common foxes still in the cage. While he was mending the hole with new wire silver-gray fox came sneaking to- ward the pen, proving to his mind that it was the mother returning for her less favored offspring.
 As soon as these facts were related to x-pestered farmers they knew it was the white-saced fox that had caused the trouble, and that she and her three valuable children were in hiding close by Powder was bought by the keg, and shot came in on the stage by the bagful, while every boy for five miles around went hurrying across lots car rying new steel traps which they set and cunningly concealed in every hole and runway where foxes would be like ly to go. Day after day gunners went through the woods looking for one fox, but shooting at anything they saw moving. A flock of gray guinea fowls which Anderson had turned loose on Beech Knoll to keep the hawks away were all shot in week by gunners who thought they were foxes, and gray and lawn colored Jersey calf which Tom Gilbert had brought all the way from New York lost a hind leg owing to the same delusive zeal. During the two weeks between the middle of June and July it was unsafe for man in a gray coat to travel on any of the roads and persons who possessed gray heads either had their hair closely cropped or dyed in order to avoid serious acci- dents. Work of all kinds was neglected and the great shooting match was or every day.
 Some time late in June gunner who used paper wadding in his muzzle- loader shot a hedgehog up in the woods near the Bradley line, and the fire or the paper catching in the underbrusf set the forest ablaze, so that great deal of valuable pine timber was de stroyed. The fire spread to Eddingtor and Cliston, doing more damage thar all the eoxes that have been on earth since the days of Samson. On the morn ing of July f. when the clouds began tc pour in over the whales back ant churn together above the meadows
 houseowners were happy in the hopt
 that rain would soon come, and wher
 noon arrived, bringing sharp down
 pour. the white faced fox was forgot ten in the general thanksgiving whicl
 followed the extinguished confiaSra tion.
 Sunday afternoon two gunners whC
 had so far recovered from the effect: