The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-12-12
THE OLD TURKEY GOBBLER.
"reminiscences of a Historic Bird of
Lafayette County.
From the Kansas City Star.

~
fayette county was outwitted and killed
twentY-one years ago today, but it will
be many years before his fame will
fade from the annals of that county.
He lived when there were mighty
hunters in western Missouri, n as
old Uncle Nels Fox says: she fooled
the best on 'em. He was hunted and
trailed industriously for foul years by
such men as Peter M. Cav, a hunting
mate of Kit Carson, who is alive today
IN Higginsville at the ripe old age Of
ninety years, and with a memory sc
keen that on each recurring Thanks.
giving day it goes back to the days Of
"'tbe old turkey gobbler" and recalls
wildly the adventures and final mis-.
adventure of that remarkable bird.
Other hunters of those days were
Jas. Fletcher, Wesley Johnson, John
Matthews, DR.. Samuel F. Meng and
Nels Fox.
DIR. Meng kept a small drug store in
the town of Dover and was considered
the most expert turkey hunter in the
county. Usually he started on a hunt
at dusk, and the next morning he
would ride into town at daylight with
a string of turkeys hanging by the feet
to his saddle. DR.. Meng rode on these
turkey hunts an old fat horse named
B%onaparte, and he always took with
him an old liver-colored pointer dog
named Pat. When DIR. Meng returned
from an all-night hunt Pat rode on the
horse behind the doctor.
Nels Fox still lives in Lafayette
county, where he is known as ''Uncle
Nels." He vas n of the first white
children born in Lafayette.
twenty-five years ago, when it was
a great honor in Lafayette county tc
be a good turkey hunter, "The OLD
Turkey Gobbler" began to tantalize the
best of the hunters and he worried then
for four years. 1.-The Old Turkey
Gobbler's" favorite feeding ground was
along the banks of the Missouri river,
near Edwards mill, where the timber
grew thick and the underground was
wild and tangled. Dozens of hunter:
would get a glimpse each year of the
old gobbler, and sometimes they would
take a shot at him, but the old fellow
was too wary to let a hunter get neal
enough to reach him with 90 shot.
The old gobbler finally became so noted
that each time a man would return
from a hunt the first question asked
him would be: s'Did you see the old
turkey gobblerP"
A description of HIM had been told
SO often in DR.. Meng's drug store,
where the hunters gathered at night,
that everybody in the village knew the
bird as well as if he had seen him a
thousand times. All the old hunters,
who had trailed the gobbler for days
and nights, agree hat he was NOR
DIOuS III 6lI III ludO lie DICdSL lOChg
or beard, was so long that it dragged
on the ground, an indication of great
age. Each year the old gobbler raised
a brood of turkeys, and each year they
were shot off, but the old patriarch
escaped. Some of the old-time hun
ters declared that the old gobbler had
more sense than any hunter who eve
lived, and tina he would never be shot,
but would die a natural DEATH
Occasionally a tenderfoot, fred with
ambition to bag the old gobbler, would
practice for weeks on a particular kind
of t~urkey-call, and then 60 out to cap
ture him, but the old-timers always
laughed when the tenderfoot started,
and they laughed again when he re-
turned without the red gobbler. All
sorts of calls had been tried on the old
bird, but he was never known to pay
attention to any of them except once,
and that was when DR., Meng rehearsed
for weeks on a call which was a favor
ito in Kentucky. This call was made
by striking q glanoing blow upon a
piece of thin slate with a chip of flint.
This gave vi q sound peculiarly like
the cluck of a turkey. DR.. Meng con.
cealed himself behind a blind made of
brush, and worked his turkey call.
The old gobbler heard it and stretched
his neck and listened. The doctor, in
speaking of it afterward, said:
"The consumed old imp just heard
me make that call once, and then he
gave a squawk that sounded like a
laugh, and he turned and lodged into
the brush"
The old gobbler's fame spread, and
hunters from adjoining counties went
him, but he served them all alike.
Among the boys who used to gather
n the lit.ic drug store of DIR. Meng to
to the stories of the old gobbler,
Johnny Matthews, the 14-year-old
son of John Matthews. 1t was said
that there was Indian blood in the
Matthews family. and therefore experts
rs woodsmen and hunters. Johnny
up his mind one fall that he
would get the old gobbler for a Thanks
dinner. lie knew that if he
lid his reputation would be made.
lie told his chum of his plan; then he
made a turkey-call from a hollow
turkey bone and practiced on it till he
Gould initiate perfectly the call of a
Wild turkey. For several days before
Thanksgiving he tramped over to Ed
Yards mill with his gun. He learned
hat the old gobbler had been seen
everal times on q wooded ridge, and
t was said that be had four turkey
lens with him.
The night before Thanksgiving