Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-12-29


cord never met any other man So i'll
different to fatigue and hardship lie
equaed Cooper's Deerslayer ii woodcraft
IN hardihood, III simplcity-and also il To-
quacity. The morning lie Joined lis ii canlp
he had come on foot through tile thick
woods, followed BY his two dogs and had
neither eaten nor drunk for twentv-four
hours for he did not like to drink the
swamp water.
It had raned hard throughout the night
and he had no shelter, no rubber coat. moth
ing but the clothes he was wearing, and
the ground was too wet for him to lie down
on, 50 he perched III a crooked tree i'll the
beating rain, much as il he had been a wild
turkey But he was not iii the least tired
when lie struck camp; and though lie slept
an hour after breakfast, it was chiefly BE-
cause he had nothing else to do, inasmuch
as It was Sunday, on which day lie never
hunted OF labored
A Veteran Ninrod
lie could run through the woods like a
buck, was far more enduring and quite as
Indifferent to weather. though he was over
fifty years old. He had trapped and hunted
throughout almost all the hall century 81
his life, and Oh trail Of game he was as sure
as his own hounds. Ills observations on
wild creatures were singularly close and ac-
eurate tie was particularly fond 81 the
chase of the bear which he followed by
himself, with one Or two dogs: often he
would be on the trail OF his quarry for DAYS
AZ time, lying down 70 sleep wherever
night overlook him, and he had killed over
l20 bears
Late IN the evening Of the same day We
We're joined BY two gentlemen to whom we
owed the success Of orr lunt Messrs Give
and Harley AIetealf. planters from Missis-
sipPi, men ii the prime OF lie thorough
Woodsmen and hunters. skilled marksfnefl,
and utterly fearless horsemen. For quar-
ter Of a century they had hunted bear and
deer with horse and hound, and we're mas
tiers Of the art They brought with them
their pack Of bear hounds, only one. how
eyer,#being thoroughly stauneh and sea
soned veteran.
The pack was under the immediate con
troll Of negro hunter, Holt Collier, IL his
own way as remarkable a character as Ben
#lllieY. lie was man OF sixty and could
neither read nor write, but he had all the
dignity Of All african chief and for hall a
century he had been a bearshunter having
killed Or assisted IN killing over 5000 bears.
lie had been born a slave OH the Kinds
plantation, his father an old man when he
was born, having been the body servant
and cook Of old General Hinds,s as he
called him, when the latter fought under
Jackson at New Orleans.
5I.,, ~ ii i.
on the horse behind lis young master, the
Kinds OF that day, on bear hunt when lie
killed his first bear Ii the Civil war lie
had not only followed his master to battle
as his body servant, but had acted under
him as sharpshooter against the Union sol
diers After the war he continued to STAY
with his master until the latter died, and
had then been adopted by the Metealfs; and
he felt that he had brought them up and
treated them with that mixture OF affection
and grun1bline respect Which al old nurse
shows toward the lad who ceased being a
child. The two AIetcalfs and Holt under.
stood one another thoroughly, and under
stood their hounds and the game their
hounds followed almost as thoroughly.
Habits of the Southern Bear.
They had killed MANY deer and wildcat,
and now and then panther; but their ia
vorite game was the black bear, which, until
within a very few years, was extraordinarily
plentiful in the sWamps and eanebrakes on
both sides OF the lower Mississippi, and
which is still found here and there, although
III greatly diminished numbers. La .ouisi-
ana and Mississippi the bears go into their
dens toward the end Of January, usually il
hollow trees often very high I'D in living