The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-06
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1905.
pAss1NG.oF THE BUFFALO.

We doubt if any specimen of the an- atnal Kingdom has been the subject of more ruthless slaughter or has disap- peared more rapidly and almost com pletely than the American buffalo. In fact, it is not too much to say that the wild buffalo has entirely disappeared an this country, yet we have only to look back a generation or so to the time when they were numbered by mill Hons on the great plains of the West. Just how far and in what numbers they existed east of the Mississippi is a matter of doubt, but west of that stream the number was beyond compu atation, even within the memory of men now living.
 To the Indians of the West the buff faIo was almost the source of life. In their savage state they killed the ani- maIs with arrows and spears, drove 9hem over precipices or corralled them In rude enclosures. The meat was to them the main source of subsistence, the hides formed tents, clothing and shoes, and the horns and bones were found useful. In short, the buffalo was to the Indians of our plains what the reindeer is to the Laplander.
 And yet, notwithstanding their great numbers they have almost completely disappeared. They were killed for hides, for their meat and for their heads and horns, and millions of them were killed for the mere pleasure of Killing. White men and red men seem d overcome by the lust of slaughter, and the result Is that the buffalo as a wild animal Is no more. The few of them yet living are such as have been carefully protected on reserves or have been raised as domestic animals IA few days ago The Kansas City Jour nal spoke of the arrival in that city of thirty-two head, said to be one-tenth of all the buffaloes left in the world" This statement is probably correct, or practically SD, and shows how com pietely they have vanished from among us as a native animal Those spoken of by The Journal were being conveyed to what is called the '101 ranch" of the Miller Brothers near Bliss, in Okla homa, who already own a number, and
 
 them the largest herd now in existence. IAs an evidence of the value of such an- finals 1t is stated that this addition of thirty-two head cost the Mtllers s16,00O, besides the expense of securing them and conveying them to their ranch. The entire cost to them will probably not be less than $500 each The Journal adds:
 The Miller Brothers are preparing give a buffalo hunt at "10l" ranch, June ii. that will cost them $20 900. At the last annual convention of the National Editorial Association Joseph Miller in- vited the association to hold this years meeting in. Oklahoma, and he promised to feed every man on buffalo. The Millersf National Federation, which meets in Kansas City June '. has also been invited in a body to attend the buffalo hunt, and will go by special train. About 5000 guests are expected at the ranch.
 As an enjoyable and picturesque sam ple of royal Western hospitality this buffalo hunt and feast will make the $i0O,0 1000 dinners of the effete East look ike pick-me-ups on free lunch route.
 ---S-&S
 We presume the Northern papers will never abandon their romance about General Grants magnanimity in refus- ing to accept General Lees sword at Appomattox. or the variation of the story that Grant handed Lees sword back to him. It makes no difference with these fable writers that Lee never offered his sword to Grant, that Grant didn't ask for it, and that he never touched 1t, nor does 1t matter that nothing was said on that occasion, one way or another on the subject. These are the facts but it would strain the average Northern editor to admit it, or to refrain from repeating the fable. Grants terms were liberal and he is