davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

~ lNCLAlR MAPEs. who does outdoor
scenes in water color and inhabits
~ sort of studio in Charles Street, will not
be able to paint for the next week or
two. He was clawed by bobcat recently in
the Minnesota North Woods during one of his
occasional sojournings in search of subjects,
and since he returned has been an out patient
of st. Nincent's Hospital. Never, it may be
added. was war-torn veteran prouder Of his
sears.
The Mapes studio is fcarsome place at the
b * Of times. all cluttcred up with Clipped
C. )ckery, purple sunsets, pea green meadows
spotted with crazy daisies and scraggy dead
trees half buried in snowdrifts. He never
sweeps out, and l don't believe the place has
be N busted in years. l discovered the i'm
y essionist in his shirt and trousers, sitting
b fore a hearth fire built of cracker boxes,
rubhng an odorous lotion his darling
wounds, left handed. The other hand is out
O. commission. lie was grousing peeHishly at
a bic raw w-honed. tan-visagcd chap Of thirty
or so. who. ! learned had been critcizing
Mapcs landscapes from the point of view of
a rcalist The critic proved to be Ritchie
Holmes who writes animal stories-not fiction
lust narrative stuff about wild beasts and
.'cir habits Mapes says Holmes is half In
Holmes lives most of the year in onc-room
log cabin he built for himself on Big Tamarack
Lake. thirty miles from human habitation in
the Minnesota moose country. 1t is dcnscly
tiubered jungle Of hardwood ridges, bottom
less bogs and tamarack aud poplar swamps
Wild animals and birds abound there Mapcs
was visiting Holmes at his cabin when he met
the bobcat.
Let's hear the story demanded follow
ing introduction to the animal writer, whose
grip as VIC shook hands made me vince.
"Robcat be damned.' snortcd Mapes "This
wasn't any hobcat. 1t was a Bengal tiger
escaped from circus. I'm fed up on the brute
anyway Let Holmes tell it,
That was Just a pose, of course I knew
very we'll Mapcs wouldn't let anybody else tell
that story, even if he had to fight for the
spo'lg
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
A Bob Fitzsin,nons
of the Wilderness

Inc long. bony naturalist rolled and lit
cigarette. sprawlcd out in Mapess sway-hackcd
chlnt1 armchair and explained with panstak-
ing accuracy of detail how the name bobcat
happened to be tackled on tho Canadian lynx
IL aid Il was because the creature has bobbcd
and a bobbcd tail, is frecklcd all over as
was the late Bob Fitzsimmons, and fights like
Wise.
"Of course" pursued Holmes, with broad
grin at his friend, "I'm sorry Mapes got clawed
up. 1t wouldn't have happened had met him
at Pine Siding, but | hikcd into Aitken the day
before he landed and Indian passed me OH
the outbound trail with his wire That's how
it all came about, YOU sec. When I reached
home Mapes and the bobcat'~---
"Say,' intcrposed the artist eXctedy,
when they dropped from that jerkwater
lumber train | was glad to get off, because
ten Swede timberjacks were drying their
socks on the stove OF the car l was in. The
air became heavy But it was a case Of the
frying- pan and the fire. might as we'll have
been dropped in Central Africa so far as
knowing which way to go was concerned.
There wasn't sign of a road, not even cow
patti If it hadn't been for halfbreed Chip
pewa-St Cyr, he said was his name-I'd have
starved to death in that forsaken waste.
Trails as plain as Broadway" grinned
Holmes. It's a good thing St. Cyr happened
to be going through, though" he added.
"heally, all you had to do travel straight
north There's d range of ridges all the way
to Tamaracl and you keep to the ridges"
"lm no pathfinder grunted the landscape
painter. Then, turning to me: do you hap
pen to know anything about tamarack
s'samps? Did you ever, by any chance, try to
ollow blasted Chippewa through one? No?
Well, don't tell you / was up to my knees
I ost of the time up to my armpits once or
ice. | scrambled over or under dead and
d VII timber and through dense brush all day
10 =. The Indian had pack sung on his
ba that weighed sevcnty-five pounds, he said,
bu he travelled faster than the two-car train
tn; took us up from Brainerd. That fellow
We through underground with sinuous
wri sgle that let every thorny branch he dis
PIE ed snap back and hit me in the eye. l
KEEP. asking how much further we had to go,
anc all | could get out of him was Bout ten
mil 1t was bout ten mile from start to
fin h. St Cyr didn't want to talk He's the
mo ,aciturn man ever Travelled with.
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

and l was at loss what to do next. Then /
noticed little gun just inside the door and
took it up. That's the only gun / ever that
appealed to me. It's light and handy, you
know"
"My 1920 Marlin-good squirrel gun,"
Holmes volunteered.
$50 I tossed my fish under the table,"
Mapes proceeded, slammed the door after me
and started up on the ridge. 1t struck me I'd
be in sight of the cabin there My idea
to fire the little gun few times as to let
Holmes know I had arrived but the con-
founded thing was stuck. 1t wouldn't shoot"
Had the safety set" commented Mapes's
friend, grinning sardonically.
"Anyhow, | didn't care much about shoot
ing" Mapes declared. "The view from that
ridge through sort Of timber swale, taking
in a bit of the lake, with the sun setting big
as a house, gave me something to study.
few minutes later the sun set and five minutes
later it was dark. Nothing but sheer luck
enabled me to reach the cabin because
hadn't the remotest idea of direction after
leaving the top of the hill. At that came out
on the wrong side and had to work my way
through brush to the door. Then | saw had
failed to spring the latch
"It's a fool of fastening, anyway-a long
wooden latch that fits into a wooden socket
There's peg through a slot in the door so
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

anyway. / was so dog tired I must have
dropped asleep for while
"St. Cyr told me you slept like log from
dark to dawn" interposed the animal writer.
He said you never turned over once"
"The fellows crazy" retorted Mapes. 81
awoke in the middle of the night The fire
had died down. Wolves woke me- There
must have been fifty or more. They were all
around in the brush, bowling Internally.
Wolves howl in chorus. Ow-oo-oo-oo.
Ow-oo-oo-o--oo Cheerful row, III say.
Made me shiver."
Timber grays," commented Holmes; "the
cutover's full of 'em. They won't 20 near a
fire, though"
"Well, we reached Holiness dinky log house
about 10 o'clock next morning." pursued the
painter. ut was deserted. The place is no
palace, any way you take it. Interiors about
12 by II. There's slab-built affair in the
middle of the dirt floor he calls his work
table. On side is four-hole cook stove
and there are three bult-in hunks like those
on steamship. In, telling you all this be-
cause it helps explain about the bobcat.'
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
PRECEDING THE SUBMARINE

difficult to comprehend without ocular demon
stration, we furnish a drawing. The Prince dc
Joinville stands on the paddle box Of the Belle
Poule-or the BellpulI, as it is sometimes
caed-giving orders for the instant annihi-
.laton of an English squadron. A pair of
bifurcated snuffers, on swivel joint may be
turned in any direction, and thus be ready at
: all points to grab the flying enemy. The ex-
atinguisher is capable of being lowered over
: the English admiral, in case of his faring up,
thus putting him at once hors de combat.
ss,Ihc numerous vessels that are running away
are supposed to be the British feet flying in
terror and confusion from before the French
funnel The snuffers arc 50 arranged that
they may be used for snufing off the flags of
neutrals as we'll as for putting out entirely
all hostile vessels"
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

First thought Of taking gun and max
posing him somewhere in the vicinity, but on
second thought decided to fish. I'm not much
of hand with firearms anyhow. In one cor
ner of the cabin was bamboo rod with line
and spoonhook attached. l don't know thing
about fishing, either, but anyway, all l had
to do was toss the spoonhook in and pull it
out. Twice | cast it and noticed the spoon
whizzing round as l pulled it toward me- The
second time some kind Of fish as long as my
arm followed it nearly to the shore--sort of
smelling it. The next toss made that shark
gobbled the spoon and started across the lake
for home. just lay back and yanked him
clean out of the water by main strength l
should judge he must have weighed fifteen
pounds
'"That fish weighed about eight pounds"
broke in Holmes. 81 what the bobcat left
of him. An eight-pound muskie's what he was.
You almost tore his head Off
II defy anybody to tell the weight of a fish
by the shape of his tall roared Mapes. "The
tail was all that bobcat left" he explained to
me and went on:
Anyway, the fish was bigger than any six
men could eat at a sitting, and knew there
were laws governing the number Of pounds
one is allowed to catch, SO to be on the safe
side started back to the cabin carrying that
nluskfc by the glls. Holmes hadn't returned,
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

Inc cat perched that shelf. cascadinx
medicine bottles all over the place" went on
Mapcs. 81 could see its eyes shining in the
darkness. Then came = truce. ! decided not
TO make another move and ! hoped the cat
wouldn't My hands, arms and chest were
streaming blood where the creature had
c'a"ed nc | could feel the blood congcaling
My emotions I lay in that bunk we're
almost fearful. was filled with sclf-rc-
proach What the devil was | doing in that
savage country? When it comes to landscape
stuff fellow find nearly ANYTHING he
wants in Bronx Park and get home in time
for dinner.
And how did curse the owner Of that
wilderness calaboose, who hadn't the dcccncv
to stay home and receive his invited gacst.
lot alone to meet him. Then | began to
wonder If Holmes supposed | would leave the
train at some other point than Pine Siding.
Perhaps he bad gone to meet me and met
with an accident perhaps another bobcat-
on his way home
You understand that didn't then know
what this animal had vague idea il
might be a hcdivcr. Holmes once wrote that
1t was impossible to shoot "A hcdivcr He has
since informed me that hclldivcr is a species
of waterfowl
What sort Of fool must I have been. T
thought to have left this Mapcs waved a
pr'deful hand to embrace his chaotic studio -
and gone wandering in a pathlcss country t.
he chewcd by wild anmaso And What
wouldn't have given to bc outside that cabin
door, 50 as to have at least run for my money
against that carnivorous thing over the door,
My wounds seemed to have stoppcd bleed
ing, but they stiff and sore. iIadn', I
read somewhere that the scratch Of Il Wild
beast must be cautcrizcd at once or blood poi.
onlng was likely to cnsuc? On. we'll. what
hadn't read? And what the devil difference
did it make? couldn't cautcrizc anything.
IT could I'd begin the cat
BY degrees my eyes accustomed themselves
to the darkness. could now distinguish tho
cats outline plainly. i was lying with its
round bullet head as big as football pro-
truding over the edge Of the shelf. It's cvos
cleaned like stars. Was the brute ncditatinu
a now attack?
II reached out ono hand and encountered
something round. A gun barrel M the fish
ing rod. That gave me an ide. 9c~haps
could raise the latch with Tie cl, ar e.. Il H.
Oolc
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

YOU can lift the latch from the outside, but you
can't just slam the door and be on your way.
You've got to coax the latch into the slot. If
you don't it won't catch. Anyway, they never
lock doors in that country-just go off and
leave everything in the house with the door
open. Big game hunters and timber cruisers
90 in and use the place as if they owned it
regular Soviet stuff. Of course, with the idea
Of having to latch the door so fresh in my
mind it was the first thing did when l
stepped inside. The place was inky dark.
Did you ever go into dark room and have
the feeling that somebody was cunning for
YOU in an invisible corner? | can't tell just
what felt 7 know shuddered as the door
closed behind me, and reached for match to
light the oil lamp on the center table. had
heard sort of crunching noise, but it sudden
ly stopped. thought it was made by squirrels
up in the roof eating nuts Holmes once
wrote ME that he had squirrels in his roof.
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
The Silentest Place
in All the World

"l traed that human moose until every
bone in me ached. Just as | reached the
limit Of endurance he slipped the packstTap
off his forehead noticed he had big welt
caused by the strap pressure. The Indian SAID
he was going to make camp. was too weary
to care.
at was cold enough for snow but none had
yet fallen Determined to be civil, though,
remarked on the deadly silence of the forest
The Indian didn't agree with me- He thought
the woods were noisy. More quiet when
snow come, he grunted. I'll stick to 1t that
a pine forest is the silentest place In the
world. Even the birds are dumb. The only
olros I heard were owls that moot and
crazy night hawk that means. ] asked st.
Cyr what this bird was called and he said
iumberman's ghost
That Indian had nearly everything in his
pack-a short handled AK, blankets, bread,
lerked beef. and the Lord knows what else.
Most important Of all ne had blankets. First
tplAg knew there was big fire going,
was full of grub and curled up a spring
mattress OF spruce houghs with my feet to
'ne TIRE. bank TO the nort: kept the wind of
vs. ~ut there isn't much wind in the woods
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
A Solo That Became
a Duet, Then a Trio

"'There's land that is fairer than this,'
but had to fake through the main part not
remembering the words. Then ! came to the
chorus:
Over there. over there
In that beautiful home over there
Over there, there.
We shall meet that beautiful shore.
well, / had the cat going. 1t came in on
the chorus with grand yowl-not displeased
but sort Of mournful. ! must have been at
that game an hour, and was yelling at the top
of my voice:
What shall the harvest be c-cc-cc-ee,
Oh-h-, what shall the harvest be?
"Just as I reached the last line voice OUT
side the cabin chimed in with the cat and me.
1t was bass voice. That Holmes
Look out' I yelled and that's as far as
l got, because
Because that's where came in," interrupt.
ed Holmes. "The minute opened that doot
the cat jumped, landing on the stove. 1t slid
off, finding no claw hold, and ran once around
the cabin, then bolted through the door and
was gone. l cauterzed the deepest of Mapcs's
scratches and dolled him up with bandages /
think he came off very WE'LL don't you?"
"Well," concluded Mapes, raising his band,
aged hand. 'Ive made up my mind to on1
thing. Nobody will ever catch me in wild
country again without hymnbook."
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
"a Sort of Soft, Quick
Shuttle Over the Floor"

"Then there came a sort of soft, quick
shuttle over the floor. 1t sounded like snake
crawling l believe every hair in my head
was standing straight up. Then l struck
match, and at that instant came the most ap-
raling scream l ever heard. Some creature
went hurting round and round the cabin,
knocking everything in it's path and snarllng
at every jump.
"With plunge | reached the table and
sat on it with my feet doubled under me like
a tailor on his bench while that crazed animal
continued its wild quest of an exit Every
other jump tho thing squaed.
"Tkev say cats can see in the dark Tins
enc couldn't, CT else it was Indifferent to OBJ
stacIes. The brute hit everything that was
loose as he ran. Then suddenly there was
pause ! thought this was my chance to make
q dash for the door, lift the latch and let
that crazy devil out taking a chance on cross
ing its orbit Somehow lost my sense OF
direction, colliding with the stove.
simultaneously the cat broke loose again.
1t caromed Unto me and ] kicked at 1t IN
FRENZY. The rest is .fchaos. seem to re-
member hearing Holiness typewriter crash to
Tie floor. The cat sprang at me and held
the clawing brute at arms length. 1t fought
and tore to get at my face. Then silpped
nm the fish tail and we both fell
81 was wearing very heavy horse
hide coat lined with mackinaw. The
sleeves of that coat torn into strips.
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15


the splitting brute ! don't
know, but the next thing
I realized l was crouched
in the bottom bunk on
that side of the cabin
furthest from the door.
Above the door was a
shelf, on which ! had no.
ticed a collection of bottles.
"My medicine store" re-
marked Holmes, senten-
tiously.
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

"You forgot to mention my typewriter cost
price S85, which you and the bobcat between
you reduced to scrap iron,' cut in Holiness
"Also remember your promise to get me a
new one"
"My dear man. retorted Mapes, impatently,
"why the haste? AS soon as get about bit
I'll sell picture and buy your confounded
typewriter. Remember, it was your bobcat
that clawed ME 50 I can't work"
'You said was to tell this story" bantercd
the long-legged naturalist. "Just what part of
it do tell?"
$50 long as was alone with the bobcat I'm
the only one who really knows what took
place." asserted Mapes. "You know what hap
pened after you entered, so you can tell that
part when get to it. You see' he resumed
"Holmes's place is bit sketchy inside, as
was saying He's got sort of armchair made
of a flour barrel sawed half through and COW
cred with burlap-the most uncomfortable
chair 1 ever sat in, and-oh, yes, guns-all
sort of guns and fish poles.
II hung about for an hour or two, expecting
the owner of the dump to appear. Then
went outside to look for road. There wasn't
one. Ten feet away from the cabin in three di-
rections the forest began. just mess Of brush
and tangled underground, down timber
piled high since the time Of the food
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

and overgrown with vines.
That country's just a jun
gle. On the west, twenty
feet or so from Holiness
door, is Tamarack Lake. |
guess it's about a mile
across. Round the shore is
floating bog, growing al
kinds Of reeds and rushes
ten feet high. If you tread
on that bog. so the Indian
told me, you go through
and never come back.
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

~ INCLAlR MAPES, who does outdoor
scenes in water color and inhabits
~ sort Of studio in Charles Street, will not
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15

I(T ONDON PUNCH' some seventy
years ago seems to have had
AZ strong ideas on the subject of the
scrapping of ships. At any rate,
if printed the picture below, descriptive of
French proposition (alleged) to snuff OUT
English tonnage in the Channel. The picture.
was accompanied by the following articles
which may have been written by Thackeray
himself for at that time he was "Punchsw
star "contrib'':
"A new apparatus has, it seems, been in
vented by lrenchman for the use got the
Gallic navy, enabling it to snuff outsBrItlsh
vessels and cxtineush British valor upon the
old simple snuffers and extinguisher principle
which has long been applied to our bedroom
candlesticks AS the contrivance is rather
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
Casting for a Door
With a Bamboo Rod

Il moved the rod slightly IL stuck against
the cabin roof The cat whncd, bat did no.
move. Again tried TO dsengage the rod la
my cramped position it was difficult Thi.
time the bobcat uttered loud squall terminal
ing in cultural growl. Stil it remained on
its perch. For the third time | graspod the
pole and pulled. 1t came away. The cat
scrambled about, pushing off another bottle in
the process, but that was ALL
"Then began futile tiddling with the
fmsy end of that bamboo in my efforts to
lift that wooden bolt. Every time the rod
touched the latch down went the cats paw to
fight it. This became a regular game For
more than half an hour kept that thing up
without raising the latch an inch Then | out
because the cat became nervous and knocked off
more bottles. which crashed nosily. The AMI
table. 1t kept squirming about on the shelf
and mutterng
Stimulated. | suppose. by the fear Of an
other encounter with that lighting fellow. my
tortured brain evolved a brilliant scheme Only
week before had read an article in a weekly
publication by an animal trainer He calmed
wild animals when they became excited or ir-
ritable, he wrote by singing hymns to them.
If | could just get my fellow prisoner inter-
csted in religious music I'd sing all night Any
way, thought it wouldn't do any harm to
try. The first thing | sang was that old favor
itc every one knows except me. knew the
air, OF course, but the only words l could recall
New-York tribune., 1922-01-15
Pull for the shore, sailor,
Pull for the shore;
Rum tum tie tum te tum
And bend to the oar.

Say! The cat liked that stuff. 1t positively
purred-not ordinary house cat sort Of
purr, you understand, but rumbing gr-r-r.'
Somehow / felt sure the sound indicated con-
tentment on the cats part. determined to
stick to that line, and sang what know Of
another one.
Amarillo daily news. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 19??-current, 1922-07-15

Tho Commissioners Court of Dllllm
county Texas, viii receive scaled bids
100 July o.. 1922. az 30 o'clock q. m,
10 thu court house n pllhart Texas
fur uu i-su, of S1ao0uuou of court
house aud fail huuds. payable scrially
Is follows.
Two Thousand Dollars per ouuum for
i've years Three Thousand Dollars per
lnuum for The succeeding ten wears
Fuu Thousand Dullr~ per aulum for
Ih. succeeding fifteen years and Five
Thousand Dollars p,r luuun for the
sucoccding ten years. s1id bonds bear.
ing g per cent interest p,r aurum. pay.
able srmiannunly
Each bid must hr accompanied bv Ger
tilted check Of $1,000 oO 1s 900 evidence
Do, good faith
/ tn. right is reserved rv lE" Com.
uiss.ou,~ Count fu reject 600, .r all
~ said bids
y " REESE. county lrdac Dalhart
TVS
Amarillo daily news. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 19??-current, 1922-07-15
SIII,RIEIS SNIH.
.THE STATE OF TENAS.
4. urfv of Potter

IfNE STATE OF TENNS,
County OF Potter
/ rs virtue ~ certain order II SIDE
Issued ont u thu Hono'lllc Ji-t Dis.
Itrtt Count of Easthnd County ON the
3rd dlv of july 1922 by Roy Nunnally.
District Clerk Of said Court agains, Jas.
a. Graham Tor tho sum 81 Seven Thuus.
and Five Hundred finyFour and 50
roc tS1iiiNN Dollars and costs 0f suit
Iin cause 40 S9N7 iu said Court. styled
/ Ia Han Cummissiuucr Of Insurance end
/ Banking ~ the state of Texas versus
lanes \ G&rhm and uIlo-d boz my
/ hands iur service. I Burton Roach ~
Sheriff of Potter County Texas. dit. on
/ the ,th dJy Of July. 1922, low on Ger
tain Real Estate. situated in Potter
County described as follows. towit:
First Tract Lots numbers ]. .. 2
%. o. e. @. and 10 in block 1873. an in
! Gliddcu 4 SIuhorn Addition To the CITY
|ut Amarillo. Potter County, Texas.
Second ruc Twenty CW acres of
| land out l survey number l0j. block
l.. - a. a VI fully described in deed
from }. " ruuinr, and wife Rctur X
rotunrer 'o James 4 Graham. dated
November 2>th. 1870 and recorded IN
Vol a. Page 4al 81 the deed records
/ 90 Potter County Texas. tu which ref.
creme, I~ hereby made and levied upon
las the property OF said Jas \. Graham
And ON Tuesday. the J 81 day OF August
| 1922. az The Court House door of Poi
/ ter County, in the CITY of Amarillo
Texas. between The hours of ten \. NJ.
IUd iom a. NJ. / wal sell said real estate
- publ, y'ndu' for cash. to the high.
est bidder, as the property of said Jas.
\. Graham by virtue OF said levy and
said order of S1lr
And n cDwN.Hnr. with law ] give
This notice by publication In the Eng.
li-h Language Du.. ID week. Zoo thr,,
CONSECUTIVE, weeks immediately proceed.
inr SAID dly of sale. 300 n, Amarillo
Daily N"ws newspaper published in
Potter County.
WITNESS my hand. this ih dlv al
Ilu|. 1922
BU ETON ROACH,
sheriff Potter County. T,xa,