The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-19
WHEN PIGEONS
MADE SKY DARK
Mayor Bridges Smith. of Ma
con. Former Tar Heel.
Spins a Yarn

A local man has received clipping
from Decatur, Ga, taken from the De
kalb New Era OF that place II tells
Of the time when wild pigeons filed
the sky TO such an extent that the
people of the Tar Heel State could not
tell night from day" and the person
sending the clipping writes en- the
margin OF the same: Il have heard
Torth Carolina is a valley of humility
81, veen two mountains of concejt.
10 does not look So The clipping.
4ch is signed !. \. H. follows:
Mayor Bridges Smith Of Macon -
good story teller. He writes enter
tainingiy on any subject but when il
comes TO hunting and fishing stories
of his boyhood days in North Caro-
ina he IS an easy winner over all the
yarn spinners in the State Recently
his mind wandered back to the time
the wild pigeons filled the sky TO such
an extent that the people OF the Tar
Heel State could not tell night from
day. Here is his yarn. 1t makes
good reading even though you must
allow for the yigor of Mayor Smiths
youthful Imagination.
Probably there are some who can
remember the time when it seemed
as though all the pigeons in the
whole world, including the immense
| fockS that infeSt ConstantinOple, took
| it into their heads to come South
| but got no further this way than
North Carolina. | was q small boy
| at the time, and it was fifty years be
| fore the air-gun had it's inning The
| people of North Carolina woke up at
| the usual time one morning to find
| the darkness thick enough to slice
| Investigation revealed the fact that
| the entire heavens were shut off from
| sight by amalga mated locks of pig
| cons, and they were swinging low to
| the earth. Now and then the great
| hordes serried and the occasional
| glimpse of the sun told the frightened
| people that it was daytime and that
| they should have been at work.
every man and boy who could
| scare up a gun, nONnatter what kind
Of a gun-and a number Of them were
| Of the old flint and steel variety,
brought home by grandfather from
the revolutionary war-started out
with powder horn and shot pouch and
fired upward. There was no need to
take aim, but to ram the charge down.
slap on a cap, and point upward, pull
| trigger. Down came shower OF pig
| cons. This fusilade did not cause A
stampede, but only seemed to arouse
| the curiosity of the birds, for they
| sWooped downward in their flight low
enough to be knocked down with
| poles and sticks. All that daE the
slaughter of the innocent was kept
up until the whole face of the State
| of North Carolina was foot deep in
, dead pigeons. There wasn't a man
| in the State who could not boast OF
having killed his thousand
Then ca me the work of the women.
! They picked pigeons until there were
| feathers enough il the streets and
roads to have made feather Dexs for
IAN army. Then came the pichiing
/ Barrels and tubs and boxes and dish
pal.s and all kinds Of vessels were
packed with pigeons saIted down for
future consumption. The people fed
on pigeons for a month afterwards
| 1t was such an awful 5ia lighter t.at
/ of the many millions that turned day
into night for North Carolina that da v
there were only q few to reach this
part of the. county,. il any. | wish
tEe| some Do0y who could verify this
StoTs for me- Somehow it sounds too
big, but / know il 5 ahsG!ut"l. true
The only thing about il IS that I night
lot y" bel:--y ed ana at it is So de- p'v
implanted III TnE rnenory thai tna
thought Of pigeon fie i obIoxt" $.
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