Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1914-02-13
SMnEIhG THE
POISONED SHEEP

-..-. xxx
herd of sheep in the vicinity Of
Millers last week has not been plac-
ed, and the matter is the subject of
a conference held this afternoon be-
tween officers of the Tonopah Min
ing company and Carl Wheeler, the
buyer of the band OF 1000 sheep
frpm Springdale.
Mr.. Whee,er ranks as one Of the
w%ealthiest sheepmen in Nevada, as
he owns something over $4,000
sheep in different parts of the
state, and is adding to his fiocks,
which are usually marketed for
mutton.
Down around Miller for the last
two days there has been a strange
excitement and a score of automo-
biles loaded with spectators from
Tonopah ran down there yesterday
to see the spectacle of the biggest
hide pulling contest ever witnessed
in this state.
The sight was the most amazing
ever seen, 1t is safe to venture.
Twenty-Five men stripped of all
sup arfiuous clothing welding
knives, and covered with blood were
working against time. Mt even
the large slaughter houses of Chi
cago stock yards, which attract
thousands of visitors daily, could
rival the sanRuinary scene witness
ed in the open air of the desert.
Altogether 1890 c~arcasses were
heaped in a small mountain at one
end of the railroad yards. This
stack was attacked by twenty-five
butchers who worked by the piece
and piled their knives with a dex-
terity that was marvellous to be-
hold. They were paid rs cents n
piece for the work and it is esti-
mated that the SINNERS earned a
dollar an hour.
AS fast as the'pelts were stripped
from the muttons they were tossed
aside and other mel seized the
poisoned remains and loaded them
on wagons which hauled them to a
distant hillside where an arroyo
had been cut by the storms of last
fall. Here they were laid in rows,
and when the trench was filed a
charge of powder was placed and
the upper bank tossed over the ar
cases covering them to a depth of
five to six feet.
The butchers took off between
600 aud 700 pelts. Wherever the
eye would rest nothing could be
seen but dead sheep. They Uttered
the desert. Below the pump sta
tion of the Desert mill by the hun
dred it looked worse than the earn
age on the battlefield of a Mexican
Instruction only the deadly cya-
hide in the innocent stream run
ming from the big mill was moro
sure than powder and ball.
Scores Of visitors came down
from Tonopah all day Sunday view
ing the scene Of death among the
innocent.
Cameras were everywhere in
evidence taking snapshots.
The big event of the day among
the clinic of Bullock surgeons who
went down was the contest of skill
between the handsome young
Adonis, AL Hooper who graces one
OF the meat blocks at the T. G.
Meat company shop, and Ed Bet
lock, the veteran butcher, MS to
who could take off the most skins.
When time was called Ed tri-
umhpantly waived his seventy-ffth
scalp, beating AL by one.
Hardy Myers had four men and
two large wagons busy all day
hauling the dead carcasses two
miles below the mill and burying
them in large sand pits.
The work was slow owing to the
bodies being frozen stiff, tut tho
job was completed by 1880 o'clock.
The pelts are in good condition,
notwithstanding the action Of the
cyanide. SO far the residents of
Mills say there have not been any
coyotes seer hankering after the
remains. but a troop Of the scay-
angers of the deserts are expected
when the weather grows warm and
the winds blow the sands off the