The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-01-13

| the Government ludl III etiA lhSoS ~s-
permitted a few ignorant Congress
men to block the legislation in favor
of the protection of the bison, SO that
all the efforts of humanitarians were
defeated and the bills when passed
pigeon-holed.
There were many methods OF ex-
termination that are graphically Illus
trated by paintings and models IN the
Smithsonian Institution. The still
hunter was the most insidious enemy
of the buffalo and a single man by
sneaking upon herd has been known
to kill I 900 in single season. One
Capt. Jack Bridges, of Kansas, has
the honorable (?) record of having
killed I,I42 buffaloes in six weeks.
He took the contract to that effect
and bagged his game. Up to I8A
there were undoubtedly several mi
lion of -btAa1oes alive bat the Inst
blood was on, and soon came the de-
mand for robes and hides from the
dealers, and men who could not make
a living at anything else went out to
kill buffaloes. In the different States
there were regular killing outfits that
cost, in rifles, horses, cars, ETC., from
So, 900 to S., 900. Such methods de-
veloped some famous characters, Buff
falo Bill was one. He contracted with
the Kansas Pacific railroad 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 ,28o buffaloes in eighteen
months, for which he received $500
per month, the price he paid for his
title.
Many buffaloes were killed by run
ming them down this was the popu-
lar method among the Indians, who
shot them with rifle or bow and ar
row, or chased them over precipices.
The great herds north of the Missouri
were mostly exterminated by the In
dams of the Manitoba Red River set
tlement, who hunted them in a regu-
lar army. One division of such an
army of exterminators consisted of
6o3 carts, 700 half-breeds, 200 In
dians, 600 horses, 200 oxen, and 400
dogs. The movements against the
buffaloes in Nebraska were often
made by 5000 people, and as each
man killed at least ten 80, 900 buffa-
loes bit the dust. In this way Indians
as above killed, it is estimated, 652,-
900 buffaloes.
The completion of the western rail
roads divided the bufaloes into two
herds, nothern and southern. In 1871
the southern herd was composed of an
estimated 5000, 900, aid from now on
the animals dropped away 50 rapidly
that it was estimated that 5000 or
a. 900 day were killed. It became
evident that they were doomed and
appeals were made to the Government
by hundreds. From 1872 to 1874 there
were I,z8o, ,46I buffaloes killed and
white people and the skins shipps4
east over the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe road. During the same
time the Indians killed 800, be-
sides these settlers and mounted In
dians killed $50, 900, so that the grand
sum total for these years was $685.
78o. In the following 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 be-
1ieved there were 1000, 900 buffaloes
alive in the herd, but there were at
least 5000 white hunters at every
point. Such merciless war of ex-
termination was never before witness
ed in civilized land. Then came
1888; thousands 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 Gov
ernment census, made eight years ago,
256 -blooded buffaloes i'll captiv-
ity, the last of the untold millions that
covered this continent during the past
century.-,Sclent5fc Amey1can.