The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-04
pENNsHLv4SIA,s LAST GRAZ WOLF
Joseph Poole. Her Oldest Trnpper. Caught It
In HIs Bear Trap.

CHANBERsBURG. Pa, Dec. 81 had tho best
bear trap in.southern Pennsylvania baited with
the sweetest old bacon a bear would want to
chew. but this Internal varmint stole the bacon
half a dozen times and frightened off tho
bears, 80 l want $40 for his scalp"
Thus spoke Josiah Poole. the veteran trapper,
in the County Commissioners office hero a few
days ago, throwing down upon the table before
the astonished Commissioners the polt OF a big
gray wolf. the biggest killed In southern Penn
sylvania for fifty years or more.
Last winter was one of the hardest ever
known in this and adjoining States, and all
wild animals had great difficulty in obtaining
food. In the mountains of West Virginia
there arc still some wolves. though they are
regarded as extinct in Pennsylvania. Driven
by hunger, a pack of wolves crossed over into
pennsylvania and were seen In the mountains
county set their packs of hounds after the
wolves with disastrous results to the dogs,
fol, some snnns ZANE a back x, MANNED dns and Others aid
man afterward recovered his hounds in
Dauphin county, along the Susquehanna River.
etc, Bedford. Blair. Huntingdon and Perry.
had come into the Cumberland Valley, and the
cid trappsr was on q lookout for them; Poole
yaiieT. also IN k,' this 20 SFSa and apH neaFer az ch nsnr
home in Path Valley and foot It seven miles
over the mountains, to look at his traps. In
Of which he was Very proud. and he Was after
some big black bears whose tracks he had seen
some fine old bacon, and another big piece Of
hog was hung up on a tree near the trap. it
once gets a taste of good side meat he won't
rest until he has another try at it.
Half a dozen times In February did Poole
tramp over the mountains to. look at his big
trap; Each time he was angered to find tho
outside bait stolen, the ground clawCl up around
the trap. It was not until the list of March
that the old trapper's patience was rewarded,
Tor IN l9oR HiIS through the bars OF his trap he
monster wolf. With his axe he stunned the
animal. which tried to get at him through the
County Commissioners, together with the neces.
which the State offers, but the Commissioner
refused to pay the money on sight OF the scalp
tinct here. so the old trapper kept the pe!t until
a; few days ago, when he tramped twenty:four
miles oyer the mountains with the pelt to the
woodsnlcn nG now = nearly iyp all pr passed s%f a Nsayy H Rfsf IS
sSI Sldss' M fha does oes' not eaaB RPSnt an iO %o ! not fe eMn
a gun, but carries only his short axe and bowie
case Of u tackle with some big animal at shor,
range. All of his a years OF life have beer
has undergone have failed to bend his wiry
~aix.foot frame or to dim or weaken his. un
crring senses. His strength is remarkable
and u fifty or hundred mile tramp with him IL q
small affair. He covers half n dozen small
valleys in his trapping, tours, and is away fol
vereet weather. and having. only the shelter
which his woodsInan's quick wit improvises
He traps, every kind OF four-footod, game from
mink to bear, and has lad many n lively tussl,
with wildcats, out of which he has come un
scathed. For the new.fangled notions OF town
and civ huntnrS hn haA the ntmnat pnnt.Inn
and cares little to reveal to them the haunt
OF his wild, friends. He boasts of his calling
says 1t makes q living good enough for him
and hopes to die with the name of "the oldes
and best trapper in southern Pennsylvania"