Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-02-04
MASTER OUTLAW I.
Wolf Destroyed South Dakota Cattle
Valued at $4,000.
KILLED BY A GOVERNMENT HUNTER
Ferocious Beast Escaped from Many
Traps-FinaIly KilIsd After Months
of Pursuit.
le Custer wolf Is dead!

Of Pursuit.
The Custer wolf Is dead!
It was the master criminal Of the
animal world. For <nine years It had
lived as an outlaw-the cruelest, the
most segacious, the most successful
animal outlaw that the range country
had ever known. It's cruelty was sur
passed only by its cunning. It killed
with the refinement of animal fero-
city.
Took Heavy Toll. s.
The telephones throughout the re-
gion around Custer. S. D., hummed
when the word went out that hdnter
had killed the criminal wolf, relates
a Bulletin of the United States de-
partment of Agriculture. That word
ended nine years reign of dread
during which the stockmen around
Custer had paid tribute to the wolf to
the extent of s25,O0O worth of live
stock. And mere money loss was not
the whole of the horrible toll it took.
When it killed for food, it took only
the choicest animals, but sometimes it
killed in atrocious ways. for the mere
sake Of killing. Often 1t wounded cat
tie, breaking their legs, biting off their
tails, multilating them terribly.
Four years ago its mate was killed.
It never took another and many people
supposed that it devoted itself to re-!
vcnge for her death. Later on, IT at
tached to itself two coyotes, not as
equals, but servants. Never permitted
them to come near it, and they could
feed from its killed only after it had
finished. They travelled far. out on Its
fianks, giving it warning Of ambush or
approaching danger and adding to- the
atmosphere Of mystery that surround,
ed it.
Every Effort Failed a !,
kfter bounty, reaching $500, failed
to bring in the old criminals scalp.
after private trappers and sportsmen
hunters had given up the quest; after
poisons and dogs had failed----the
stoclmen tried to- round-up Having,
as they thought located the wolf q
.Elargc number OF riders started in a
great circle and closed up. This like
all other devices was unsuccessful.
Some of the stockmen decided toisend
for a government hunter. Therefore
the department Of. agriculture sent: to
Custer H. p: Williams. one Of It's best
hunters, with instructions to stay af-'
ter the wolf until 1t was taken..
Twice in May, 1920, the wolf step
ped on the jaws of traps and on the
night of July it rolled into one or lay
down on one and had a lot Of its hair
pulled out. This gave it such a scare,
that it left the country for a whtle.,
No sign could be found of it near Gus
ter until the night of August 1, when
it made it's presence known by killing,
several head Of cattle and wounding
. several more. Williamson found some
of these cattle, took the trail of the
wolf and followed it all day. This led
up to the mouth Of O. canyon, and,
knowing that the wolf would be taking
a sleep after it's big feed, Williams
tied his horse and started In. Just
then two horsemen came up, riding at
breakneck speed and calling to Will
liams that they hid found a yearling
steer killed by the wolf. Williams
motioned them to go back but they
did not understand what he meant
and he was forced to return to meet
them. Thus he lost the best chance
he ever had of getting the wolf with a
rifle. When he returned to the trail
he found the place where the WOLF had
bedGed down to sleep. The noise made
by the horsemen had given 1t the
alarm and it had gone hack down the
canyon very close to the hunter and
escaped.
Caught in Trap.
Early in September the wolf stepped
on q trap and was caught slightly by
one foot. Apparently the trap had
| tlppeQ so CnaL IL Caught ol'S oiio SANS
of the foot and the wolf was able to
pull loose He left some hair IN the
trap. This happened again in the early
days of October.
Williams finally got the wolt-Oc-
tober II. Here is his own account
of it:
"He stepped into a trap In the
morning and it sot a. good. grip on
him. He ran with it about $50 yards
when the hook caught on tree. but
that did not seem to stop him at all.
He broke the swivel of the trap and
ran on with it on his front foot l
trailed him three miles and got shot
at him and got him. He had been so
lucky that expected the gun would
fail to shoot, but it worked. He was
smaller than the average male wolf.
weighed ninety-eight pounds, and
measured just six feet from tip to tip.
His teeth would be good for fifteen
years longer. He broke some of them
off on the trap, but aside from that
they were in good condition. He is
an old wolf with fur that is almost
white"