The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1899-09-16
I'VE ketched 'em in the shack"
What shack? Where?n

'Grandpa's old shack. where he used
to live, on t'Gther side CO the crick."
"Ies. but how did you catch wolves
in this shack?' questioned the treas.
urer. How came the wolves in the
shack??"
They went in to get the boss head
and the steer bones"
Bones that you put there for bait ?
But what kept the wolves from coming
out??"
The boy explained that "her"-mean-
ing Rose, whose black eyes blinked
rapidly when the treasurer looked at
her-had made 4 kind of spring catch
from dry ash wood and a leather string,
attached to which was n stone for a
weight. The door of the shack. or small
log shanty, was left ajar about ten
inches, so that a wolf, 'lion,' or any
other creature. approaching the empty
structure, could put its head in and look
about the interior.
To all appearance the door was I'M
fastened, swinging free, and the wolf
or other wild beast was not alarmed
by anything that ii saw either within or
without. To get the bones it had but
to walk in; yet when it did so, the larg-
er part of its body pushed the door back
n little farther. and the ashen spring
at the top, bending slightly, released
the weight attached to the spring.
Then-as the creatures body passed in
the door was pulled to with just suffi-
cient force TO latch it. The animal was
thus %entrapped, and all so quietly hat
it scarcely felt any alarm at first.
How the girl had learned so cunning
a stratagem was not explained; perhaps
from her Indian mother. There was
very little to it of gear or mechanism,
and nothing whatever in the way of
metal; otherwise it would have failed,
since it is 10Y almost impossible to taxi
these wolves in steel traps. or in log
traps such as white hunters sometimes
construct.
Yet to this primitive device, contrived
by the hand of an ~1l-year-old child, five
large gray wolves had, one after an
other. fallen victims. Two, indeed. had
pNSh ApD't az oIiNN IL SNNOIIu nav
ing apparently pushed into the shack
with the first.
The shack itself was simply a little
low log house without windows, and
having a sod roof. When once the door
he'd swung TO and latched behind the
wolf, it was a prisoner.
BY the time the boy had explained it,
and told how the spring and weight
were adjusted, the treasurer became
convinced of his t~ruthfulness. lie
brought out his punch and hammer,
and proceeded to make holes in the ears
of the skins, as by law directed, wild lit
tie Rose eying his every movement with
attention to details.
How did 0 know when you had
caught Il WOLFF" the TREASURER asked.
Her went up to look every morning."
said the boy.
What did you do when you found
you had a wolfe" the treasurer asked
the girl; but she only blinked half a
dozen times in a second. and ii was still
the boy who replied for her that she
ran home to get Grandpa Hogan to
make a pill" for it.
The old man had been a w~olf-hunter
in his day. and knew that to shoot a
wolf inside the shack would spoil all
of trapping another there. He
incloscd enough s~trychninc to Kill Il
wolf in a Bit of tallow. the size of a
hens egg. This the children carried to
-bn shack and r1LpG in fnrDIph a rliuE
between the legs, and after they had
gone the VOLTS hunger soon did the
rest.
Toward evening the two small hunt
ers were wont TO return. and in no case
had failed to find the wolf dead. They
then opened the door. and attaching a
of rope to the animals hind legs,
hauled it home in triumph.
Although too infirm to 90 abroad in
the snow. the old man was able to skin
the wolves when brought to him.
The treasurer paid the children the
bounty moncy-$19 in all-and with an
amused smile watched them drive to
the store to buy grub stuff" of which
the forlorn family was no doubt in need.
1t was likely that they would be able to
sell the skins for as much more. how
ever. and the treasurer concluded that
there was no immediate cause for alarm
concerning the Foulkrods as long as
had little Rose to trap for them
md Custer to do the tallling.-Iouth's