The morning news., 1899-12-31

DuLGnETS
railroad men with meat, slaughterlng
magnificent animal for its tongue alone.
II has been estimated that previous 70
1870 nearly three-quarters of million DuI-
faloes could have been killed yearly ana
the herds kept intact; now many were
killed and wasted will never be known.
Each animal, however, had value at lnis
time estimated by Hornaday at 80; the
robe. $3.50: the tongue. 25 cents; hindquar-
ter meat 81: bones horn and hoofs, 20
cents and this was sufficient to attract
an army Of destroyers. The hides were
the greatest feature, and one firm in New
York between 1876 and 1884 paid the Kill
ers nearly $1,O00,000 or, to be exact, SsZS'9'o'
for the robes and hides, which represents
the final extinction of the animal. Inc
government never interfered, owing 20
protests of interested Legislators and the
neglect of higher officials. Another f1rfn
paid S2i6.OOO for robes and skins, and there
were scores of private traders In the heId
The word went out to kill everything III
sight. and from 1876 there was price on
the head of every buffalo.
1t was a dark and disagreeable supJect
to probe, but 1t is interesting to note some
of the methods of these national calamity
makers A band of half breeds in Two
hunts, according to Ross, killed H,U0 bu1-
faloes, go men being engaged in the sport
out of which about $4,000 animals were
wasted or partly eaten. Hornaday esu-
mates that from 1920 to 1925 buffalo ex-
petitions went out composed of 6lO carts
each killing 1880 buffaloes. From $50
to 1880 five expeditions, of $50 carts each,
killed LAG, ,250 buffaloes. From 1890 to 1873
six expeditions, of S95 carts, killed 17452S
animals. From 1885 to 1910 tifty-four eX-
peditions, of 1,09G carts each, killed H255O
buffaloes. Total number killed by the Red
River half-breeds alone in twenty years,
p-D l-- 90 % An, inn
table has been furnished the government
by the firm previously mentioned, j. & l.
Boskowitz, showing the decline of the DUFF
falo as an article of commerce. 1t shows
that in nine years this firm handled 246-
175 skins, costing 790. In 1878 they re
ceived Al ,25S robes; in 1888, 5000; in 1884
none. The end had come, and the buffalo
was a memory. Another dealer, Joseph
Ullman, states that in 1881 he handled Al
600 robes, valued at $50, and 1900 at
$3.50. In 1882 he purchased 10000 hides at
$3.50 and 10000 robes at $3.50. The prices
hunters received were: Cow hide, 50; bull
hide, $50 yearling, $1.50; calves, so cents.
The expense of transportation brought the
hide up to $3.50 in New York. This dealer
in four years paid out $4,000 to these men,
who killed buffaloes by the tens of thous-
ands for $3.50 head. Both of the above
mentioned dealers in eight years paid out
81, ,23S, ,070 to the eXtermina tors.
That The real determination of the buff
falo was caused by the demands of trade
there can be no doubt aided and abetted
by sportsmen, Indians and others; but the
blame really lies with the government
that in all these years permitted a few ig
norant congressman to block the Legisla-
ture in favor of the protection of the BIZ
| son, so that all the efforts of humanita-
! rlans were defeated and the bills when
| passed pigeon -holed.
| There are many methods of eXtermina-
ton that are graphically Illustrated by
paintings and models in the Smithsonian
| Institution. The still hunter was the most
| insidious enemy of The buffalo and a sin
| gle man by sneaking upon a herd has
| been known to kill 1000 in single season
| One Capt. Jack Bridges of Kansas has
| the honorable CD record of having killed
| LAP buffalos in six weeks. He took the
| contract to that effect and bagged his
! game. Up to 1870 there were undoubtedly
| several millions of buffaloes alive, but the
| lust for blood was on, and soon came the
| demand for robes and hides from the deal
| eTs, and men who could not make a liv-
| ing at anything else went out to kill buffa-
| loes. In the different states there were
| regular killing outfits that cost, IN rifles
| horses, carts, etc, from 5000 TO 5000.
Such methods developed some famous
| characters. Buffalo 2.n WAS one. He
contracted with the Kansas Pacific Rail-
road to furnish them with all the buffalo
| the men could eat as the road was built +;
and, according to Mr. Cody's statement,
they ate 4,2S0 buffaloes in eighteen
months, for which he received $500 per
month the price he paid for his title.
Many buffaloes We're killed by running
| them down; this was the popular method
among the Indians, who shot them with
| rifle or bow and arrow, or chased them
over precipces. The great herds north of
| the Missouri were mostly exterminated by
the Indians of the Manitoba Red river set
tement, who hunted them in a regular
army. One division of such an army of
exterminators consisted of 6OS carts. 700
| half-breeds, 200 Indians. 800 horses 200
oxen, and 400 dogs The movements
against the buffalo in Nebraska were Of
ten made by 5000 people, and as each man
| killed at least ten, 30 600 buffaloes bit the
dust. In this way Indians as above killed
it is estimated, $4,000 buffaoes.
The completion of the western railroads
| divided the buffaloes into two herds,
northern and southern. In 1871 the south
ern herd was composed of an estimated
| 100000, and from now on the animals
| dropped away so rapidly that it was esti-
| mated that 5000 or 1900 day were killed.
| 1t became evident that they were doomed.
and appeals were made to the govern
ment by hundreds. From 1872 to 1874 there
| were isfou,dOl DulldIOeS kllied ana wasted
| 3,l5S7S0 in all killed by white people and
the skins shipped East over the Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe road During the
same time the Indians killed $780, 900; be-
sides these settlers and mounted Indians
! killed 10000, so that the grand sum total
! of these years was $685. $50. In the follow
| ing year, 1875, the deed was done. The
southern herd had been swept from the
face of the earth; the northern herd went
| in the same way. In 1882 it was believed
| there were 100000 bunaloes alive in the
| herd, but there were at least 5000 white
hunters in the field shooting them down
! at every point. Such a merciless war of
| determination was never before witnessed
in civilized land. Then came 1883; thou
sands took the field this year, and Sitting
| Bull and some whites had the honor Of
| killing the last ten thousand.
There were living at the last government
census. made eight years ago, 256 pure
FLOODED buffaloes in captivity. the last of
| the untold millions ba