The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1907-02-01
WHITE Deer Dis
covered IN TEXAS
Ran Produces Two Skins to
Suhstantiate His Story.
. Animals Have Range In T0rniil0
Valley. Where White Men
Seldom Go.

Democrat says: Sam Dossett, the
Superintendent of the Fossatt ranch
near here, is of the opinion that the
white deer which was killed recent
ly near Eagle Pass belonged to a
herd of white deer which he claims
are to be found along the valley of
the Rio Grande and its tributary
streams below Turlingua. Mr..
Dossett's statement is not based up
on speculation. He says that he
saw large number of these white
deer while hunting on Tornilla creek,
thirty miles east of Terlingua, only
a few days ago. He killed two of
of the animals and brought their
skins home.
1t is his belief that they are an en-
tirely different species from the
common black-tail deer which roam
over the ranches in other portions
of the State. The locality where
these white deer is found is far
from human habitation and has
been visited only on rare occasions
by Americans. Occasionally Mex
lean cowboy may go up or down
the little narrow valleys in search of
strayed cattle. The deer keep in
the. canyons mostly and seem to
thrive better upon the rough food
that grows along the steep walls of
the canyons and sides of the hills.
In this respect they seem to be re-
lated to the mountain goat.
There is no doubt about the ex-
istence of these white deer" Mr..
Dorsett said. Il sawlthe animals.
| was down on Tornillo creek hunt
ing black-tail deer, accompanied by
my Mexican cook, when l came
across the beautiful animals. The
first morning | was out saw four
or five of the white deer running
through the chaparral close to me.
l took shot at only one of them,
bringing it down. In appearance
it resemble1 the black-tail, except it
is smaller and is white. / did not
have the heart to ruthlessly slaugh-
ter the animals-they were so beau
tiful. Twas out after the black-tail,
but did not see a one. The white
deer have evidently run them off of
their range. These white deer evil
IDENTIFY keep pretty close to their ma
tive range or we would have seen
some of them in the Terlingua dis
trict before this. Occasionally one
or two of them may stray off, and
this accounts for the reports which
we hear from time to time of a
white deer being killed.
Those white deer are evidently a
distinct species, and are not FREAKS
of nature, as is generally supposed.
That they are of pul estrain of blood,
and have not been crossed with the
black-tail deer, is shown by the fact
that all that saw were pure white.
with not a semblance of natural dis
coloring of their hair. The animals
were comparatively tame. as they
had probably never seen a human
being until my Mexican and | APP
peared among them.
"My story of these white. deer
does not seem to be credited among
the people have told it to, even
some of my close friends think it is
merely a hunting story" but |
have the skins of two of the animals
to prove what l say. / am going
back to Tornillo creek one of these
days with party of those doubling
Thomases' and show them the ami
mails at close range. The canyon of
Tornillo creek is pricipitous, and
runs down close to where it empties
into the Rio Grande. The distance
between the walls is several hundred
yards wide, and in this little valley
is fine grass and shrubbery at all
seasons of the year. 1t is big
enough range to afford ample pas
ture for probably 300 or 400 deer.
1t would be difficult for one OF the
animals to get out of the canyon.
and this may account for the fact
that they have not spread over the
adjoining country. 1t is a natural
game preserve"
"a TO EEA.