Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-03-21
A PRAIRIE ISHMAELlTE.
VERY MANS HAND IS AGAINST
THE FrlENOLESS COYOTE.

Herds and tlOcks From the Pralrie
VOLTS Depredation-Tricks of Hunt
ers to Make Money Out of His Scalp.
The one friendless, hunted Ishmae-
lite OF the plains against whom is every
mans hand, is the prairie wolf-the
coyote. If he is adapted to any sphere
of usefulness on earth nobody has yet
been shrewd enough to find it out; if
he has ever done u respectable deed
it has not yet come to light. The jack
rabbit will at least furnish the basis
for savory stew in case of need, the
buffalo was valued for its hide, the rat
ties of the rattlesnake are worth pre-
serving for curiosities, but there is yet
to be discovered method of utilizing
any portion of the coyote from his
snarling mouth to his ragged tail-ex-
cept as fertilizer. The short-grass
country is his home, the high prairies
where the gray, hair-like vegetation
that is called pasture blends with the
dirty coat of the vandal. Through it
he sneaks and runs, now q gaunt fig
ure on the horizon, now an ungainly
shape near at land. He is without
acquaintance with anything that is
alive, usually solitary, always with a
criminal aspect, as if he had just done
something to be ashamed of or was
contemplating deed of the sort at the
earliest opportunity.
Once the coyote, says writer in
the Chicago Times Herald, had the
whole Indian Territory to himself.
He could snarl and fight to his hearts
content, and there was none to say
him nay. But when the lands were
opened to settlement and family
took its place on every quarter Sec
ton there was less room for the wild
creatures of the plains who had before
been undisturbed. Then the coyote
had to go out among men, and he
found that he was very unpopular
immigrant into any of the communi
ties that he favored with his presence.
And he earned the right to so be con-
sidered honestly. He robbed the
sheepfolds, stole the chickens and
made the traveller afraid-all without
any equivalent in service.
Since the immigration of the wolves
from the territory into the farming
and stock-raising States to the north
there has been more than desultory
warfare. The farmers have banded
together to protect the focks and
herds aud have offered generous
bounties for the scalps of the crea-
lures, proceeding that has resulted
in the slaughter of thousands. Yet
the supply seems none the less, and
all the sharpshooting is but waste
of powder and balls. Year after year
there are reported from 1900 to 1900
sheep killed in Nebraska and Kansas
by wolves, and the hundreds of dol
lars spent for bounties have produced
little diminution of the plague. Some
times the bounties are not what they
are purported to be. The people of
Western county found once that they
were being taxed very heavily for the
payment Of this sort of expense and
that certain hunters were buying new
farms out of the proceeds OF their
prowess on the plains. An examina-
ton followed, and it was found that
there was in existence an end
less chain, in comparison with
which the greenbacks and gold
reserve make but feeble showing.
At the rear of the County Clerks
office, 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-
sented 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 the
treasury was explained. The saddest
part of the happening was that the
schemers saw the Investigators at the
hole, and became bounty jumpers at
once-jumping the County for safer
climes.
Another curious circumstance was
noticed by the officers al two Counties
adjoining in Central Kansas last
winter. The officers of one were pay
ing out money every day for wolf
scalps while the others seldom had
any demand for the reward. Each of
the hunters was compelled to swear
that he had killed the wolf inside the
boundaries of the County where the
scalp was presented, and there was no
reason for doubling the truth of the
testimony. But what could be the
reason of the disparity in the claims
One day settlers son was ques-
toned:
"Where did you kill this wolf?"
"Down near the edge of the Coun-
ty"
care coyotes very thick there?"
well, Eather, though not so thick
as they are further south"
"Over in the other County?"
eyes, there are more there"
"But they do not kill any there.
Why is it?"
"The other County only pays 81 for
scalps and this pays S. So we drive
them over the line before we shoot
them -