The Springfield herald., 1898-01-14
ed his life. The feeling in San
Francisco is strong in the b, lief
that he committed the mud. .rs of
which he WAS accused.
On BUuntle3.


some information on kounties,
that will be published, makes the
following pertinent remarks in
terestlng to this section ofcountry:
One interesting effect of the
bounty system is to encourage the
breeding of ANIMALS outlawed. 1t
is SAID that in India many natives
are regularly engaged IN the bust
ness of propagating snakes to'
the sake OF premiums offered by
the government for venomous
serpents. There is no doubt that
the same thing has been done Ill
this country with various animals
for which bountles were granted.
tor example, the eggs of hawks
and owles have been taken from
the nests and Matched under hens.
In Iowa a few years ago it was
said to be more profitable to rear
coyotes tor the bounty than to
raise sheep, and Kentucky and
New Mexico recognized the posi-
bility of breeding wolves by re-
quiring afli;lavits showing that the
animals had not been raised tor
the sake of rewards. The pocket
gopher is one of the worst enemies
man has 10 encounter in the ami
NAL kingdom. 1t does all its work
under ground the lines of Its tun-
nels being marked by dead and
dying plants. Its burrow runs a
foot or less below the surface, and
is dug for the purpose OF getting
at the roots on which 1T leeds.
One may travel for weeks in a
region infested by gophers and
yet not see one of them, they
labor and destroy unobserved.
The buffalo IN their past abun-
dance were not one-tenth as num-
erous. Gophers do not disappear
before man but remain in the
cultivated fields making havoc
among the crops and killing the
orchards. The little beast is very
brave, not hesitat1ng to attack a
man on slight provocatlon. When
young 1t looks striking!y like a
baby, being hairless and pink,
with round head and flat hands.
1t runs backward as rapidly as
forward through its tunnels, and
its equipment OF teeth is SO ad-
mirable that it is able to make
13, 200 cuts in minute. One
difficulty IN the wolf problem lies
in the fact that 1t is impt ssible to
secure the CO operation OF all the
states. This lack engagement OIL
the subject of bountles in general
opens wide door to fraud. Scalps
taken in localities where rewards
are low are shipped to places
where premiums are high, and
thus it often happens that a county
Is compelled to pay for animals
that did not belong to it. At the
present time the bounty on wolves
and coyotes varies from 81 so to
IS, the latter price being paid IN
the Black Hills region of South
Dakota. In North Dakota it is
-; it Is So in Montana and Wy
oming, aud in Iowa 1t Is IS, eX-
cept for young animals. Thus re-
wards NAV be claimed profitably
in Iowa for coyotes killed in North
Dakota. The wolf bounty in
iii Nevada was so cents when
California was offering rs for
scalps. Consequently thousands
of scalps were shipped from
Nevada to California, and large
numbers of them were actually
imported from Mexico, SO that
California found herself getting
poorer at distressing rate, and
the bounty law was repealed.
The following special to the
Denver Republican, of Jan 10,
from Santa Fe N. NJ, is of inter-
est to our cattle men:
The ranch interests in Sierra and
Socorro counties owned by the
Detroit Land and Cattle Company,
OF which Secretary Alger Is the
chief owner, have been sold to
Levi Baldwin of Datil, N. NJ, the
consideration is sad to be over
Il halt a million dollars. The
| ropcf,ns ara cfOr1yod Will, On noN