Evening journal., 1900-01-02
.SLAUGHTEI UF
AMERICAN BISON
Denounced Time and Again
as "the Crime Of the
Century"
THOUSANDS wANTON1Y KILLED

OUT OF THE MILLIONS THAT
THIRTY YEARS AGO RoAMED
TIE PRA1RIEs-'rHE HERD IN
YELLOWSTONE PARK.
The wanton slaughter which resulted
in the practical extinction Of the
American bison has been denounced
time and time again as 1.-The crime OIL
the century"
Attention is turned once again to the
sorowful subject by the reports OF rea'
sonable success in the efforts Of the
Government officials to preserve a herd
OF these splendid animals in Yellow
stone Park. IT seems almost pitiableI
TO think that Success" meaning the
prolongation of the existence of the
species, consists only in slight natu-
raj increase in the numbers OF the
small herd under government protec-
ton. Thirty years ago, In the place
Of this lonely handful, were countless
hordes Of the grandest OF ruminant
animals
A writer in the Scientific American
has ably described the destruction Of
the race. He quotes an army officer,
who said.
In 1870, and later, the plains were
alive with bison, and in crossing at
places ] had difficulty in avoiding
i them, so vast were the herds. II any
one had told me then that in twenty or
Z thirty years they would have become
almost entirely extinct, ] should have
Regarded the statement as that OF an
insane person" There are not now
more than 400 living bison. This in
cludes the several hundred in the gov
, eminent herd and those in captivity
= elsewhere.
AN INCREDIBLE CRIME.
That so many OF these animals could
r have been killed in mere wantonneeh
1 seems incredible when their vast num-
bers are realized. We first hear of the
, bison from Cortez and his followers in
e 1921 Montezuma had one In zoologi-
q cal garden, the specimen, in all prob
q ability, having been caught in Con-
= hula. In 1880 Cabeza saw them in
r Texas, and in 1912 Coronado found O
/ herd in what is now the Indian Terri.
4 tory, one OF his officers describing then
o as horrible beasts that demoralized tn,
- horses. In 1912 Sir Samuel Argoil OBJ
n served herds of bison near the natiOna
a capital, and in all probability 2S'
70 years ago herds of bison grazed on tn,
s. site OF the Capitol Building, at Wash
g ington. In 1878 Father Hennepen oh
n served them in what Is now Northern
n Illinois, and In October, 1929, COlone
h w. Bird saw herds in North Carolin;
d and Virginia.
ell There were living at tho last gov
q eminent census, made eight years age
! 256 pure-blooded buffalOes in captivity
L. the last of the untold millions tina
l. covered this continent during the pas
l. century, which tell s8pitiful story o
y the greed Of the white man and the ex
n tirpation of a mighty race within tire
& decades.
) One hundred and fifty years ago enor
Z nous herds of buffalo circled abou
l. Cincinnati, and the most interestin
% evidences of their existence are fOun
Be- IN and about Maysyille, Ky
a., THE GREAT HERDS.
n Professor Hornaday, who has hunt
~ ed in South and Central Africa, wher
game Is remarkably plentiful state
y, that the bison of this country previou
= TO 1870 exceeded, in all probability, a
~ the African game OF every kind. A
- army officer in service on the plains
~ 1867 stated to the writer that on on
~ occasion he was surrounded by bu
~ ffaloes and that from the top OF sma
=. hill he could see nothing but blac
~ mass Of their bodies. II was imposs
J, BILE TO estimate their numbers and u
=, party was in great fear lest
. should be caught In a stampede, II
- rush being irresistible. Colonel Dodg
in his memoirs, states that on one o.
'e casion he rode twenty-five miles In A
d. kansas, always being in herd Of bu
s.s faloes, or many email herds, with bl
81 small separating strip between theI
y The animals paid but little attentiC
y, to him merely moving slowly out
- the way or advancing, bringing q
u whole herd OF thousands down on hi
M with the roar OF an avalanche. IN
% he met by standing fast and fri
~. when they came within short rang
-. the shot causing them to divide.
~ one day Colonel Dodge killed 90 bis,
"A from his wagon, not In sport, but
W a protection. Otherwise they wou
~ have run him down and crushed ma
~ horses and wagon.
- This herd observed by Colonel bod
IA was later found to be so miles wi
IN and to aecupy Ave days in passing
"a given point on its way north. Fro