The Portland daily press., 1901-02-18
sETON.THOMPSON's STORIES
Portland Audiences Entertained ny a
Charming speaker.

Ernest Seton-Thompson, the naturalist,
artist and author, proved himself TO be
delightful entertainer Saturday alter
noon and evening at City hall. He did
not have as large audiences a. would
have been the case had more people reai-
lied what an interesting talk this man.
who is on intimate terms with nearly ali
kinds Of wild animals. can give. In the
afternoon Mr Seton Thompson had in
his audience may nttle FOLKS and they
found him to DO able to tell more enter
tanning and exciting stories Of animals
OF all Kinds than can be read In many
In his own books he has relstsd many of
them and they have been read and en-
joyed by hundreds.
In the afternoon the stories were most
ly about foxes. bears and wolves. The
tales of Old Grumpy, the sagacious fe-
male bsar OF YelloWstons Park, and OF
Little johnnie the cub, illustrated by
sketches ana photographs exhibited by
means of a stereoptIoan, probably amused
the little folks as much as anything, but
the best story Of the afternoon was that
of how ths lecturer caught King Lobo.
the grey wolf OF New Mexico, and OF the
tragic death of Lobo and Blanca Lobe
was grey wolf who had terrorlzed New
Mexico for four years and in that time
had slaughtered with his hand over 1900
head OF cattle. The cattle men tried in
sll manner OF ways to trap this wolf,
but the oil fellow was too wise to be
caught by any ordinary scheme. Final
~ the cattlsmen whose herds were
suffering from tho depredations of Lobo
and his gang, offered q reward OF $1,000
for the old fellow dead or alive. This
reward tempted many experienced wolf
hunters 70 attempt Lobo capture, but
though they tried all possible plans they
could not catch him. lie travelled with
his pack only at night and always In the
same manner. Looo trotted ahead and
compelled every other wolf In the pack
to keep right behind him and follow
directly In his trail. Ons man who at
tempted the capture Of Lobo, brought
into the country an expensive pack OF
hounds OF q tine breed, but when they
got after the wolves Lobo wouIn scatter
his command and the hounds, not know
ing OF course which one OF the Pack was
Lobo or which wolf was wanted partisu-
larly, would scatter too and when separat-
ed the hounds wers OF little use so that
thsir owner gave up the job In despair
and went his way while Lobo and his
pack continued 70 slaughter valuable
COWS nightly.
Finally a friend OF Mr.. Seton. Thomp-
son sent for him and he went down to !
New Mexico on purpose to try his hand
at catching Lobo Having famillarlzed
himself with the country and learned
that Lobo always took for his path from
the mountains to the cattle ranges the
well worn buffalo trail, the naturalist
trled his hand at tho game. His first at
tempt was an utter failure. With great
care he prepared substance from a
receipt given him by an old Canadian
wolf hunter. When mixed this prepara-
tion was cut into cubes with bone and
wooden Implements so that the keen scent |
OF the wolf would not have suspicion |
that 1t was prepared by human hands, |
and in the centre OF the tour small cubes /
thus made was placed some cyanide OF /
patassium and stryohnine. These cubes I
were then dropped in tho buffalo trail, /
a little apart and the naturalist then /
waited for the results. Lobo put In his
nightly appearance and the next morn I
ing visit was paid to the buffalo trail. 4
When the hunters came to the place I
where they had left the frat poisoned |
cube they found that 1t was missing
and supposed OF eourss that it had been (
eaten and that Lobo was theirs. They
raced on up the trail and came to the
dropped. This, too, was missing and so
was the third. They thought they had
old Lobo this time sure. But when they
reached the place where the fourth cube
had been dropped they saw how much
In contempt this human was held by the
animal, for there piled up In a little heap
were the four poisoned cubes which the
wIss old Lobo had disiained to eat and
scratched over them was little pile OF
dirt. a sign OF supreme contemnt.
Well, to make tine story short, Mr..
Seton tried all the trick he knew, but
Lobo continued to live and to kill cat
tie. He tried setting traps. but they
were pullsd up and cast disdninfully
aside Then he tried setting traps in
circle and one right In the middle OF G. g
buffalo trail, but old Lobo having G. ot
Inside the circle OF traps backed out
again and he pulled up every ore o.
hey or sprung them all by throwing
rocks In them. 1t seemed hopeless
task that MIR. Seton had undertaken, but
good fortune favored him at last. Some
Nexiosns had seen Lobo kill cow ana
It was known that the next night the
pack would be back TO get some of the
meat. Before this an attempt had been
made to poison the carcass of a COW the
wolves hal killed, but the old King
wolf was too sagacious to eat of poisoned
meat This cow, however. they used 20
good effect. The head was cut oil ana