The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-05-22
The Passing of Ben Corbin.

In tho death of Fen Corhin, which occurred at the
jamestown asylum Il few days ago. there is removed
from tho peculiar characters of this state. .nne which
WAS of NOR" than passing interest.
ECn Corhin was an old timer in Iowa when he
moved to North Dakota. and at tho same time he ar
rived here early enough 4" become a pioneer in this
state. He lived down in TIL" wild and unsettled part
of f:mm"ns county and gained considerable notoriety
as " wolf hunter. He always liked hunting. ana wnen
he came o this now country he got into the hunting
of wolves for two reasons: first, they were committing
dcprcdations among the sheep and cattle. and second.
ii paid pretty We'll. Ecn was not a largo man: he
wore Russian cactus-iike whiSkcrs and loved to talk.
one thing which did a great deal I" make nm promo
nent in this state, was his deep interest in the wolf
bounty law, which said law was undoubtedly amended.
punrturcd. repaired. denled and ballsd up and bat
tered as thoroughly as any on our statutes in the early
history Of This state. In fact it was somewhat in the
am. blight "a the game law. in that it was changed
so Frequently and so radically, and had so mnny con-
nictins arrendases that it was impossible for the law
N"rs 10 keep track of its requirements. to say nothing
Of the laymen. Rcins thus Interested. Ben at
tended every legislative session, ana ad wha' ne roulo
10 lobby some good bill through in he interests of the
wolf bounty business. for he was long on that subject.
One sleepy afternoon when the members OF the
legislature were looking around for something to do.
and 'hrir minds ran moro to fun than business IT was
decided to extend the rourtesles OF the moor 10 MI
Corhin in order that he might enlightcn them on the
question of wolf bounty. Ben took the floor and pro-
cecded to tell all he knew. with foot notes. About the
time he began TO warm up. the teasing members began
firing hot and pointed questions into him, but your
Uncle BENJAMIN was there on every point. Finally
someone fired this question into him:
"Mr. Corbin. isn't it a fact that You are interested
in this bounty law purely for pecuniary gain?"
lou nv II INC ihSl lol' sos avn Nt" 500
not half as wise as you think YOU are. I wish you
would come down to my wolf farm and sec how work
il. farm wolves and farm them right. breed them
as fast as possible. and sec that they are taken care OF.
When a cub gets large enough I scalp him. Then l
have a very powerful salvc which I rub on his head
and grow n new scalp in six weeks. Every cub Is good
for six scalps. hence you can see that keep business
good all the year round. BY the time the cub has be-
come full grown it has reached the limit of its scalp
bearing qualities and then use the animal for breed
ing purposes. Now don't think. gentlemen. that don't
know what ! am talking about, for I think you will
GRO that 7 know enough about this game for YOU to
listen to me and act on my Judgment"
All acouiesced in Ben's statement and he closed
his remarks without further interruption.
Each evening during the session Ben was the CEN
tor of attraction about the hotel Hobbies and always
had some subject of interest upon which he would dis
course. He was congenial and a long way from being
in the RUDE class.
The old characters Of this state are passing one by
one and as best serves our memory. there are only
about three left. They are Denny Hannafin. Budd
Reeve and Bill Gokey. and it seems that it is up to Ben
Whitehead. state historian. to gather what data he can
of the old-timers and place it in the archives of the
State Historical society.
No. ,o~c ~ torn rcJ, oroe ,~o .Lo c"L