The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-07-13
WHOLE COUNTY
ON A WOLF
HUNT
Beast as Terrible as Hound
Of the BaskerviIIes Has
Terrified Peapack Station.

PEAPACK STATION. July 13.-Som-
erset County awoke this morning to
hear the rattle of musketry, the hoarse
shouts of men and the baying of
hounds. 1t was the start of a grand
hunt for a wolf which has been devas-
tating the country near Peapaek and
Gladstone. The terror of his wolf,
which is said to year a striking resern-
bIance to the hound of the Baslssrvilles,
has spread even unto Bernardsville.
Since it appeared there has been a
marked decline in the applejack mar
ket, but, Notwithstanding this, 1t still
appears.
The animal is believed to have es-
capped from a travelling circus about
two years g inc 1t has been growing
ever since, until its size passes all be-
lief.
Captain Vincent. of Union Grove,
organized the posse of citizens. which
started at break o. day this morning In
a relentless search for the lair of the
beast. Captain Vincent shot a mink in
the fall of 1889. He is prominently mem
toned as a candidate for a place on the
new fish and game commission which
Governor Stokes is to name.
Another expert who accompanied the
party is David Henderson, who de-
clares that the critters antics show
all the earmarks of a skunk" On the
other hand, Mr.. Apgar insists that it
must be a 'possum, because Z is SO
foxy. These views have been some-
what discounted by the reports of
sheep which have been killed and dogs
which have been mauled. When these
stories are told at night in the village
store at Gladstone the storekeeper al
ways lights an extra lamp.
The fact that some of the women Of
the place have seen the animal has
gone a long way toward convincing the
skeptica1.
Why, only last Friday Mrs. Elias Nc
Murtry, jr, of Union Grove. went out to
meet her husband about dusk. She was
accompanied by the faithful old family
dog. A short distance from the house the
protection ehind Mrs. McMurtry. Mrs.
McMurtry returned home.
That night Mr.. McMurtry was aroused
by a racket In his yard, and, looking out,
orbs, a blood-red mouth flecked with foam
and a sloping back, along which ran a line
of coarse bristleS. The lips of the creature
were curled in a hideous smile. Presently
tbiS NChd hOhoeCA az o1N &c 80
in it's eyes and sprang upon the faithful
watchdog. Mr.. McMurtry shouted. where
upon the animal vanished like a wrath:
These occurrences have fired all the
heroism latent in the breasts Of the peas
antry, and they have eaten lightly at
night, neglecting their meals that they
may attend the nightly councils Of war
at the general store.
Hugh Rolf. the only living bachelor
farmer in Union Grove, who it Is said can
outrun a dog and who wants to race the
wolf, was on hand this morning, as were
VIII Lisk. painter (house) and superin-
tendent of the Union Grove Sunday
School; John Conroy. a prominent and
leading carpenter; Thomas Conroy, his
brother, a farmer; Abner Goodwin, who
has charge of the estate of Charles Pf1zer,
and Thomas Keefe. Lemuel Stryker, OF
Union Grove, was unavoidably detained.
through a recent fall from a cherry tree,
which it is asserted makes 1t impossible
for him to go even in a carriage.