Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1898-02-05
The Kansas Coyote.
The Pest of the Prairies and What He
is Doing in the Short-GraSs
Country

the coyote Ii lie IS dudpUeu 10 any
sphere of usefulness on earth nobody
has yet been shrewd enough to find it
out; if he has ever done respectful BILE
deed it has not yet come to light.
The jack rabbit will at least furnish
the basis of savory in case of need,
the buffalo was valued for it's hide,
the rattleS of the rattlesnake are
worth preserving for curiosities, but
there is yet to be discovered a method
of utilizing any portion of the coyote
from his snarling mouth to his ragged
tail-eXcept as fertilizer.
The short grass country is his home,
the high prairie where the gray, hair
like vegetation that is called pasture
blends with the dirty coat of The van
dial. Through it he sneaks and runs,
now gaunt figure on the horizon,
now an ungainly shape near at hand.
He is without acquaintance with any
thing alive, usually solitary, always
with a criminal aspect, as if he had
just done something to be ashamed of
or was contemplating Il deed of the
sort at the earliest opportunity.
Once the coyote had the whole In
dian territory to himself He could
snarl and fight at his hearts content,
and there was none to say him nay.
But when the lands were opened to
settlement and a family took it's place
in every. quarter section there was less
room for the wild creatures of the
plains who had to go out among men,
and he found that he was a very I'M
popular Immigrant into any of the
communities that he favored with his
presence. And he earned the right so
to be considered honestly. He robbed
the sheep folds, stole the chickens and
made the traveller afraid-;Ill without
any equivalent in service.
Furthermore, he is essentially
coward. The men of the frontier
have a sort of resp ct for the brave
creature that defieS them or for the
cunning one that outwits them--but
they can never forgive the trembling
one that is alarmed at their very APP
pearance. So from the farmers son
who blaZeS away with his old shot gun
at the prowling coyote behind the
barn to the city sportsman who wastes
a cartridge intending for prairie
chicken or duck in ending the life of
a wolf trottIng along the hedge row,
there is ceaseleSs, unrelenting war
waged against the luckless wanderer
Since the immigration of the wolves
from the territory into the farming
and stock raising states of the north
there has been more than a desultory
warfare. The farmers have banded
together to protect the fiocks and
herds and have offered generous boun-
ties for the Scalps of the creatures, a
proceeding that has resulted in the
slaughter of thousands. Yet the sup
ply seems none the less, and all the
sharpshoOting is but waste of pow
der and balls. Year after year there
are reported from /. 200 to 900 sheep
killed in Nebraska and Kansas by
wolves, and the hundreds of dollars
spent in bounties have produced little
diminution of the plague. Sometimes
the bountieS are not what they are
purported to be.
The people of a western county
found once that they were being taxed
very heavily for the payment of this
SOTO VI eApouSe, anu OlldU CeTUdlH uuL-
tiers were buying new farms out of
the proceeds of their proves on the
plains. An examination followed,
and it was found that there was in
existence an endless chain, in compar-
parison with which the greenbacks
and gold reserve make but a feeble
showing.
At the rear of the county clerks Of
| fee, where the redeemed scalpS were
thrown, was convenient opening in
the wall, and through this the scalps
were pulled in the night, to be pre-
scnted at the counter in the morning
for another bounty of So each. 1t was
estimated that the county had paid
for one set of scalps not less than
twelve times, and the emptiness of
treasury was explained. The saddeSt
part of the happening was that the
schemers saw the Investigators at the
hole. and became bounty jumpers at
oDce-jumping the county for safer
Chimes
Another curious circumstance was
/ noticed by the officers of two counties