Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1921-03-03
Famous Custer Wolf Killed.

GH4lllAi
Throughout the region around Gus
ter. S. Oak, that day, the telephone
lines were buster than they were on the
day the armistice was signed.
For nine years this wolf lived as an
outlaw-thc crueles,, the most saga
cious. the most successful animal out
law that the range country had ever
known. His cruelty was surpassed
only by his cunning. He killed with
the refinement of animal ferocity.
Here o-night-tomorrow night he
devastated a range half a hundred
miles away.
He Hoped through every kind Of
danger and spurned them all. He
shifted at the subtlest poison and pass
ed it by. The most adroitly concealed
trap was as clear to him as mirror
in the sunshine Old hunters, I'M
errng shots, drew the bead on him and
saw him glide away unframed. The
price on his head was $500. Bounty
hunters sought him for profit Sports
men put forth every device TO Stay
him for regulations sake. And still
the old Wolf went unscathed about his
work of destruction.
Credulous people said he was a
charmed thing. Others attributed
his immunity to a wisdom greater
than beast ever before possessed.
Still others said he escaped by plain
luck-the mysterious thing that ad
heres to some animals as to some men.
In whatever way they explained his un-
canny elusiveness, everybody feared
him-pcrhaps not consciously, very
rarely openly, but there was no man
throughout that region who did not feel
a shiver run down between his Shout
der blades when, alone or in the dark
he thought Of this gray devil of the
desert.
All kinds Of stories got abroad. This
thing, they said, was not a wolf-not
merely a wolf. They believed that ma
ture had perpetrated a monostrosity
half wolf and half mountain lion.
possessing the craftiness of both and
the cruelty of hell. In public opinion
he had all the qualities of the Were
wolf Of Old World legends.
No wonder that the telephones hum
med when the word went out that a
hun'er, sent by the United States De-
partment of Agriculture to protect the
livestock industry, had killed the GRIM
inal wolf. That word ended a nine
years. reign of dread, during which the
s'ockmen around Custer had paid tri-
butte to this wolf to the extent Of $751;
600 worth of live stock. And mere
money loss was not the whole of the
horrible toll he took When he killed
for food he took only the choicest an
imals, but sometimes he killed in afro
cious ways for the mere sake Of kill
ing. Often he wounded cattle. break
ing their legs, biting off their tails
mutlating them in unspeakable ways.
Four years ago his mate was killed.
He never took another and many peo-
pie supposed that he devoted himself
to revenge for her death. Later on, he
attached to himself two coyotes, not as
equals, but as servants. He never
permitted them to come near him, and
they could feed from his kills only af-
ter he himself had finished They
Travelled far out on his tanks. giving
him warning of ambush or approach
ing danger and adding 70 atmosphere
of mystery that surrounded him.
After a bounty, reaching BY stages
from 500 to $500, failed TO bring trap
pers and sportSmen, hunters had Civ
en- up the Quest: after poisons and
dogs had failed-the stoc.1'.
a roundup. Having, as they thought,
located the wolf a large number Of
riders started in a great circle and
closed up. This, like all the other de-
vices, was unsuccessful. Some of the
stockmen, in resignation, announced
that they would have 10 board the wolf
for the rest of his life. Others de-
cided to send for a Government hun
ter Therefore, in March, 1920, the
Bureau of Biological Survey, United
States Department of Agriculture, sent
to Custer H. P. Williams, one of its
best hunters with instructions to STAY
after the wolf until he was taken, no
matter how much time was required.
Williams went. He took with him a
bunch of traps, but, as the old wolf
was known to be trap-wise, he expect
ed to depend mainly on his rifle. AS
things turned out, he required both the
trap and the rifle to get the wolf when