Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-01
HUNTING WILD HOGS.
A Dangerous Adventure in the san
Joaquin River Bottom.
From the San Francisco Call.


For years .,ast a select lot of knowing
hunters have been having exciting sport
hunting wild hogs in certain sections Of
the San joaquin river bottoms. 1t isn't
every day. though, that the venturesone
hunters are almost killed by the cornered
hogs. That fate. however, nearly befell
william Douglass recently. If Jim Pope,
with a trusty Winchester, hadn't been
standing near by, Douglass wouldn't be
telling the exciting story he does about
the old .'tusker' that had him down in d
rush.
The country they hunted in is wild
and denseiy covered with an almost I'M
renetrable tangle of vines, low brush and
occa sional trees. All old residents along
the lower San Joaquin valley know just
such territory along the bottom lands,
here water overfiowS in the spring Hun
dreds of Wild hogs inhabit some of them
1t was in just such a jungle, near Lathrop.
where Young Douglass went to bag some
wild hogs and 1t was in this same jungle
that "Old Man" Tyler hid after killing
Deputy Sheriff BuZzell on thanksgiving
eve 1885. To this wilderness of willows
and underbrush Williams and Schiagel fed
last September after attempting to wreck
and rob the south-bound New Orleans eX-
press.
knows of Lathrop, in the banner wheat
county of this state. but very few of the
passengers. who dine at the station daily,
know that less than five miles away there
is a wild SPOT where boar hunting can be
followed that is every bit as exciting as
the famous hunts in India There can be
no pig sticking" to be sure, for the hunt
er who wishes TO bag a wild porker in the
San Joaquin underDruSh must rely on his
rifle and enough nerve and strength to
carry him on his hands and knees beneath
the network Of vines and bushes.
The land thereabcuts abounds in coons,
hun ft1,r i- f1y- mo- i'm n
with the sportsmep of San Joaquin county.
Occasionally, when running down one of
these ringtailed despoilers of hen roOsts,
the hunters run across one OF the droveS
of wild hogs that sometimes venture out
into the thickets on the open places on the
river bottom. The hunters. however rare
ly venture into the thickets on the old
Trahern ranch and in the underbrush
where the wild hogs root out living.
1t is a dangerous venture unless one is
prepared to meet a rowing, vicious old
"tuSker." Williams. the train wrecker,
now serving life sentence in the Folsom
state prison, knew this wild section well,
and told the authorities that he crawled
! all night through this tract on the even
| ing of the Morano hoId-up. He was look
| ing for E:ding place where 1t would take
| the officers weeks to find him, and he was II
| just the right kind of country to find such
a place. He might still be at large had not
hunger and curiosity forced him to leave
| the haIntS of the wild hogs.
Those robbers will have plenty of hog
meat to keep them alive. was what a
number of old-timer5 said when they heard
| that the train wreckers had taken to the
| brush. This is what fired hunters with a
| desire to possess a pair of wild boar
| tuskS.
Pope and / had heard" said Douglass,
| in telling his adventure. that there were
| lots of wild hogs in the underbrush near
| the river. L heard this story when l first
| came to the country, but paid no attention
| to 1t. for whenever 1 had chance to go
| hunting 1 was after ducks or doves
| After the newspapers printed so much
/ about that Williams and Schlagel affair
| and told of the wild country they were
| supposed to be in, l suggested TO Jim
| that's POpe-that We go down into 1t some
| day ard see if We could get one of those
| wild boars. Jim is always ready for any
| thing of that kind and has a fine Winches
| ter to help him out. l had no gun, so Dor
| rowed a single-barreied magazine shotgun.
| We fitted out for a three days stay. an6
| hired skiff to go up as far San Joaquin
| city. l did not know much about the
| country, but Jim had lived in the country
| all his life and knew the lay of the land.
| when we reached San Joaquin city II
| vas carly in the afternoon, and Jim in
| Quired If there were any woodchoopers
| camps near by. Just as soon as we learn
| ed in what direction We could find one we
! started for it. Maybe yeu don't think II
| was work getting there. That's the tough
est country l ever expect to travel