The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-17
WHY WOLF SKINS ARE CHEAP.
Cruel Device by Which the Hungry
Bruits Are Trapped.
New York Journal.

Bfu1ts Are Trapped.
New York Journal
Why are wolf rugs so cheap? You
can buy them for SIS apiece-each con-
sisting of four skins. Very handsome
they are, too.
The answer is a horrible story-a
story of mems fiendish ingenuity, TAX
ing advantage of the feroclous instinct
OF the beast.
1t is from Alaska that these wolf
skins come. They are shipped thence
by tens of thousands ana it may be
imagined that the Eskimos who kill the
animals get an extremely small price
for the pelts, which are sold at so low
a figure after being cured and made
up into rugs. The secret of it lies in a
scheme by which the wolves are in
duced to destroy each other wholesale.
The method is very simple. The Es-
kimo takes thin blade of flint, Clipped
so as to be sharp as razor along the
edges. This he faStens securely to the
end of a wooden stake, and drives the
latter deep into the ice, so that the
flint blade projects above. Then he
binds a chunk of seal blubber around
the flint blade with string of sinue,
thus concealing the sharpened instru-
ment within.
BY and by along comes big gray
wolf. He is hungry, as wolves always
are. His nose is systematically keen,
and he has scented the dainty morSel
of blubber from afar. Eagerly he be-
gins to lick the fat, which is frozen
hard. This process melts the blubber
a little, and it tastes delicious. After
a short time his tongue comes into con-
tact with the keen edge Of the flint
and is cut. The blood flows. All! The
flavor makes him wild-for he does not
know that it is his own blOodi
BY this time other wolves had ar
rived at the spot Those animals al
ways travel in packs, because only
thus can they assail the reindeer and
other large beasts with success. They
likewise lick the blubber, cut their
tongues on the flint and taste the flavor
of blood It maddens them and in a
few minutes the stake driven into the
ice is the center of a crazy mob of
raving wild dogs. They attack each
other and fight to the death It is a
fearful spectacle. They go on fighting
until all are dead or desperately
wounded.
Some hours later the Eskimo appears
On the scene again and surveys it with
satisfaction. The ice around the flint
headed stake is Redeemed with blood
All about are scattered the bodies of
dead wolves, with here and there one
hunter calmly proceeds to skin his
four-footed victims and carries the pelts
away on his sled.
This process of destruction is uni
versally practiced by the Alaskan ma
tives, and in many fold more eflicacious
than any ordinary method of hunting
could be. A party of hunters can set
out, in even a brief Northern day, an
infinite number of these awful battle
stakes, and the next day and the next
and the next will not suffice for them
to gather up the wolf skins which are
the harvest of that stupendous slaugh-
ter.
The Alaskan plan of wolf hunting
has charm peculiarly attractive to
the leisure-lOving Eskimo-it reduces
the work to minimum. His only OBJ
lection to it is that, after the wolf gets
himself thoroughly killed he can't skin
himself and convey his hide to the
market town. His system is a more
deadly and more wholesale one than
that used by the Indians still farther
south in driving the buffalo out of
existence.
But the wolves multiply fast enough
to meet any demand.
That is why wolf skin robes are
cheap.