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THE WILD DOGS OF
HICKS MOUNTAIN.
The wild beasts upon Hicks Moun
tain were limited almost entiredy to
the coyotes; these persisted, in spite
or advancing settlement, but in this
section of Colorado the gray wolf,
the lion and the bear had been prac
tically exterminated. For five years
the stock had run the hills quite un
molested. A coyote will kill sheep,
but its depredations are confined oth
erwise to the poultry—barring now
and then a sick and abandoned calf.
However, in the winter of 1905
rumors spread that the gray wolves
had returned. Calves were being
killed and eaten, cows mutilated, and
even large steers torn about the legs
and chest. One rancher discovered
in the timber across the pasture from
his house the remains of a yearling
heifer, killed only that night; what
ever had attacked it had devoured it,
hide and all, to the very largest
hones, leaving only the scattered re
mains of a skeleton.
Now a mountain lion would have
eaten part, and buried the rest; a
hear would also have eaten part, and
saved the rest for later; coyotes
•would only have gnawed and man
gled the carcass; the great gay wolf
alone would have worked a destruc
tion so complete.
The ground was bare of snow, and
covered with pine needles, thus being
unfavorable for tracks. Mr. Jeffries
had heard no howling. Nevertheless,
the gray wolf, the stockman’s
scourge, was blamed.
Traps were set, and poisoned meat
was discreetly put out; but only the
coyotes suffered, apparently. Then
Ned Coswell, early one morning,
while searching for a lost milk cow,
came over a little rise, and saw below
him in a hollow in a park a number
of wolfish animals collected about a
dead body, tearing ajt It. Ned was
unarmed, but spurring his horse, lie
rode down upon them recklessly,
whooping.
"There were about a dozen of
them, ’ related Ned, ‘and I knew they
weren't wolves, because they were
colored differently, more like dogs.
They looked at me coming —and
boys, 1 didn’t know for a minute
whether they were going to get out
of the way or not. Old Medicine
Eye”—his horse—"wasn’t a bit
afraid; Just pricked his ears and
came on, which made me think all
the more they weren’t wolves.
“They were dogs, boys—nothing
but dogs. There was a brindle one
that looked like a bulldog, and sev
eral wooly dogs, like sheep dogs, and
one big black and white shaggy fel
low—biggest of all. They all lifted
their heads, and stood staring at me
■—and I was beginning to think that
maybe I’d been in too much of a hur
ry. But first one sneaked off, show
ing his, teeth, into the brush, and an
other and another, and they all went,
and I was mighty glad to have them
go. They had been eating at a dead
eteer—mine, too—but I don’t know
whether they'd killed it or not. I
.wish I'd had a gun.”
After that the ranchers made it a
habit again to carry a gun of some
kind when out on the range. How
ever, for a long time nobody, when
armed, caught any glimpse of the
wild dogs. That is likely to be the
case; in hunting, the unprepared fre
quently have the opportunities. For
Instance, Frank Warring, while on
his way home from town in his wag
on, toward evening of a cloudy day,
beheld the pack cross the road right
In front of him, the animals in single
file, one following another, silent as
specters, noses outstretched, the big,
shaggy black and white fellow lead
ing. In the roar were two or three
puppies, perhaps nine months old.
Frank had no gun. Somebody else
also saw the pack.
The brutes’ depredations contin
ued, being limited, so far as we could
ascertain, to our vicinity, as if they
had selected Hicks Mountain for a
hunting ground. They hunted with
out howling. A spasmodic, rabid
hark was the only sound that we
could attribute to them; but it was
sufficient.
We were afraid of this wild pack;
more afraid than of wolves. There is
some thing uncanny about a dog
gone wild, for he combines the les
sons taught by domesticity with the
Instincts of savagery. Nobody from
our section had missed dogs; we con
cluded that this band had come down
upon us from Wyoming—a hundred
and fifty miles north. Up in Wyom
ing wild dogs had been bothering the
sheep range. Probably the energetic
measures adopted by the irate sheep
men had driven the maurauders to
•eok new fields.
Finally, Sam Morris had a chance
to retaliate. He was hunting deer
afoot. The day was dark and snowy.
As he was sitting motionless beside
a boulder, watching the slope below
and the ascent across the draw, the
dog pack suddenly streamed out froiy
the l'.r.es down th-;e, and ail at a
lope threaded the bottom of the draw
onward bound. The shaggy black
and w hite was leading, as usual.
Sam s gun was loaded with buck*
shot, and he waited greedily, that he
might get more than one dog with
his charge. But the animals were
too shrew to travel bunched; they
left intervals, as do the wolves when
trailing; and when at last Sam would
desperately have "whanged away.”
his gun missed fire. Rather chag
rined was Sam, telling his tale after
ward. He confirmed the previous
statements that the pack was var
iously colored, made up of different
breeds; a strange invasion surely.
The trail through the draw re
mained unobliterated, for no snow
fell for two weeks thereafter. We
found that the dog pack was util
izing this draw for a pass. It ap
peared to lead from one favorite
point to another. The trail grew
more distinct—but it scarcely wid
ened; the dogs stepped always, so It
seemed, in the same spots. It was
vain to set traps; the disturbance of
the snow was noted at once. Poison
was disregarded. The pack kept on
ranging the country and attacking
stock.
Sam was anxious to retrieve him
self, and he and I agreed to put in
our time watching that trail until we
should “fix” some of those outlaws.
I remember that it was the tenth day
of January and toward 4 o’clock in
the afternoon when for perhaps the
sixth or seventh time we esconced
ourselves between two boulders on
the slope, overlooking the trail be
low.
The sky was cloudy; a snow storm
was evidently approaching. Cloudy
days seemed to be those upon which
the dog pack tvas most likely to be
sighted. Probably upon such days
it emerged earlier on account of the
waning light. This afternoon we had
been in ambush only a half hour
when the pack appeared.
In silent, single file the pack came
trotting out of the timber on our
right, and across, before us, follow
ing the trail in the draw. The big
black and white shaggy fellow was
the first; next to him was the brin
dle. I recognized them, for every
narrative had contained them.
I don’t know exactly why, but the
sight of them all, trotting so silent
ly, so swiftly, business bent, thrilled
me with a little chill. About their
steady gait was something ominous,
unreal. A pack of wolves I could
have surveyed without special emo
tion, for I should have known what
to expect—but a pack of dogs gone
wild—tigh! They are neither dogs
nor wolves, but, as had been said, an
uncanny blending.
We had agreed what to do. Sam
only nudged me and leveled his gun.
There was an instant of suspense,
and we fired practically together.
We had rifles, and were using black
powder, and the smoke was momen
tarily thick. When it cleared the
shaggy leader was kicking in the
snow, and the brindle was lying still.
My bullet had not sped quite so truly
as Sam’s. His aim had been the
brindle. The rest of the pack were
racing madly onward, and although
we fired twice more, we did not hit
any of them.
We went down to our victims. The
brindle had just life enough in him
to snarl at us ere he died. The big
black and white was gasping. A
strange thing occurred. As I stood
over him, he wagged his bushy tal;
his eyes were not wild, but soft, suf
fering, appealing. He was now all
dog, and would turn to his chosen
friend, man, for sympathy and aid.
“Poor old chap!” I said.
His eyes were glazing fast; he
he hauled himself on his side over
the snow toward me.
“Look out!” warned Sam.
But there was no need. With a
final effort the animal just managed
to lick my boot-toe; and with his
head upon it, he shivered and was
gone. I declare, a lump rose in my
throat.
As I bent to pat his coat—l love
dogs, and he had struck me right to
the heart, maurauder though he had
been, I felt a collar round his neck,
concealed by his long curly hair. Up
on the collar was a plate, engraved
“Prince.” Somebody's "Prince” had
he been, somebody's pet. But whose?
A more perfect example of atavism,
reversion to type, call it what you
will, it would be hard to present.
The dog pack never again, as far
as there was evidence, traversed that
trail; nor was it seen again upon
Hicks Mountain. It seemed almost
as if It had been composed of weird
phantoms, like the spectral packs of
German and Provencal legend, and
dissolved at our guushots.—Youth's
Companion.
The New Style.
In order that the young man may
know' what is coming to him when
he asks a girl to marry him, we
quote the following acceptance from
a popular novel:
"She put her ftower-like face to
mine.
“ My first thought of you and my
last are the same, beloved,’ she an
swered. ‘and the thought is this—
that you have a heart for whose be
lated waking queens might keep
vigil.’ ”
Does a man. in addition to the
contract to buy a woman’s clothes
and groceries for the rest of her
life, have to stand for something
like this?—Atchison Globe.
Georgia Callings
Curtailed Items of Interest
Gathered at Random.
The matter is now in the hands of
Solicitor Jester of the Fayetteville
city court and accusations have been
sworn out by Mr. Haskell against those
working the mules at Shepard’s camp,
the camp of Perkins & Powell against
W. F. Neal, G. A. Barbee and Val Dris
coll.
* * *
New Railroad Chartered.
The Gulf Line Railway company has
been granted a charter by Secretary
of State Philip Cook. "This is
really a renewal and extension or tne
charter of the Flint River and Gulf
railroad, now in operation from Haw
kinsville through several of the coun
ties named in the petition.
It is proposed to operate t he Gulf
Line railway through the counties of
Pulaski, Wilcox, Turner, Worth, Mitch
Grady and Decatur to a point c
the Florida line in Decatur, thence
through Florida to the Gulf coast. The
length of the line in Georgia will be
about 130 miles, and the capital stock
of the company will be -$4u0,000.
After Railroad Contractors,
Vigorous prosecution in the courts of
Fayette county against five contractors
doing grading owrk on the new line oi
the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic
railroad will be the result of a trip
just made to several of these construc
tion camps by Local Agent E. V. D.
Haskell of the Atlanta Humane Soci
ety.
In some of these camps Agent Has
kell found mules being worked that
were better fitted, he pays, to receive -
bullets in their brains to end their suf
fering. *
The matter is now in tlie hands of
Solicitor Lester of the Fayetteville
city court and accusations have been
sworn out by Mr. Haskell against those
working the mules at Shepard's camp,
the camp of Perkins & Powell, and
against W. F. Neal, G. A. Barbee and
Val Driscoll.
* * *
Math3Son Approves Refinery.
Dr. K. G. Matheson, president of
the Georgia School of Technology, has
been in conference with Mr. Boyd of
Spalding in regard to the latter's bill
now pending before the house appro
priation commit-ee seeking to secure
from the state SIO,OOO, to be added to
a similar sum to be raised through
private subscription with which to in=
stal.la cotton seed oil refinery at the
Tech. He has assured Mr. Boyd of his
cordial support in the measure and
declared that he would do all in his
power to aid him In the matter.
• ‘‘We have a place for the refinery
at the Tech already,” stated Dr. Math
eson In discussing the measure. “It is
the basement of our new chemical
laboratory just recently erected. This
place could be fitted up very easily,
and xvould be most accessible to our
very elaborate and complete chemical
laboratory.
“This is one branch of the cotton
business which the Tech has not touch
ed upon. The matter of refining cot
ton seed oil and for that matter ex
tracting the oil is just in its infancy
and we expect great results to fol
low.”
Prisoner Took Care of Deputy.
One of Ben Hill’s deputy sheriffs
went to Macon a few days ago to
bring back a negro held in the Macon
Jail. The prisoner reached Fitzgerald
safely on the train, bringing the depu
ty so drunk he did not know where
to get off the train.
The negro states that the Macon
official turned him over to the deputy,
who proceeded to take in the town,
and narrowly escaped being arrested
for disorderly conduct. They succeed
ed in making the train for Fitzgerald,
and when they reached the city the
negro had the deputy, his grip, revolv
er, handcuffs and a quart of whiskey
all iu his charge. The deputy was so
drunk he refused to get off the train,
and had to be taken off by force by
the police and was taken to jail.
No one know that the negro w’as a
prisoner until the police were putting
the deputy in jail, when he touched
one of the officers on the arm and
said: “Hold on, boss, I goes in there,
too,” and they let him go in.
• • •
May Raise State Tax Rate.
The increasing expenses of the state
and the small receipts with which to
meet necessary expenditures are view
ed with grave consideration by the
STOP AT THE
ZETTLER HOUSE.
The best SI.OO a day house in the
city.
253 FOURTH ST., MACON, G A .,
Mrs. A. L. Zettler, Proprietress.
committee on appropriation* in the
legislature.
While the appropriations for last
year amounted to approximately $4,-
700,000, it s expected that these fig
ures will probably reach $6,00®,000 for
this year—and maybe more. The state
will not have any additional revenues,
unless the tax rate can be raised from
4.S mills, the present rate, to 5 mills.
It is understood that this increase
will be recommended by appro
priations committee. This rate is the
maximum as prescribed by law, and
on account of the growing expendi
tures the committee will, so it is said,
base their aprpopriationa upon this in
crease. It is understood that this in
crease was recommended last year,
but former Governor Terrell did not
deem it expedient to advance the rate.
The appropriations for pensions this
year will carry with it one of the
largest increases in the apportionment
list, amounting to $950,000, against
$90,000 last year. There was a deficit
of $43,000 last year in the appropri
ation.
Under the statute appropriations
will have to he made to cover every
pension that is recognized.
* * *
Discrepancies in Valuations.
Here are two pertinent facts hear
ing upon Governor Hoke Smith’s mes
sage to the general assembly concern
ing the taxation of railroads;
Major A. C. Adams of the Southern
swears that the tangible value of the
property of his company in Georgia,
for the purpose of taxation, is $12,052,-
926.
Freight Traffic Manager and Vice
President J. M. Culp of the Southern
swears in the United. States court
that the tangible value of the South
ern in Georgia is $48,150,000.
First Vice President A. R. Lawton
of the Central swears that the tangi
ble value of the Central’s property In
Georgia for the purpose of taxation is
$13,522,677.
Second Vice President W. A. Win
burn swore iu the United States court
that the tangible vaiue of the Central’s
property in Georgia is $33,666,989. In
the case of the Southern, there is a
discrepancy of $36,087,074 between the
oaths of Major Andrews and Mr.
Culp.
In the case of the Central, there Is
a discrepancy of $20,144,322 between
the oaths of First President Lawton
and Second Vice President Winburn.
Governor Smith has called upon the
legislature to help him adjust these
glaring differences.
BLOODY DAY IN TENNESSEE.
Six People Killed in Three Separate Dis
turbances in One County.
Six men were killed in Lake county,
Tennessee, Sunday, and Blue Landing,
on the Mississippi river, was the
storm center cf the trouble. Pat
Words was shot and killed at Blue
Landing in a fight with Lutlier Ran
kin.
Later, at the same place, two ne
groes, names unknown, engaged in a
pistol duel, and both were killed.
At Blue Landing late in the after
noon a man napied Red Dublin shot
and killed a negro in a quarrel over
a debt. At Ridgeley in Lake county,
a man named Smith became engaged in
a quarrel with a negro and knocked
him down. The negro arose and
knocked Smith down, when several
white nten came to Smith’s assistance
and Smith cut the negro.
The negro had his wounds dressed,
and left with his brother. Their dead
bodies were found on the railroad track
Monday morning. It is supposed they
had been lynched.
BRYAN CLEARS THE ATMOSPHERE.
Relegates Question of Government Owner
ship of Roads to the Rear.
William Jennings Bryan does not
favor government ownership as a par
amount issue in the next campaign. He
believes first in rigid regulation and
urges the states to stand fast for their
rights in curbing of the corporations
and to leave regulation solely in the
hands of the federal government. This,
he says, is the current issue of his
paper, The Commoner.
HOST OF HEAT VICTIMs|
Over Two Thousand People Prostrate Sat
Philadelphia During Great \
Parade of Elks.
The parade of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks in Philadel
phia Thursday was marked during it E
progress by the prostration from
of an army of persons estimated by th?
police and hospital authorities at 2,500.
Never has there been such a whole
sale prostration reported in the Quav"
ker City. For six hours the police
ambulance surgeons and the Red Croj •
nurses were kept on the run lookir
after persons who collapsed under t I
scorching rays of the sun, and large j
because of their excellent service but
one case resulted fatally.
James Rowley, aged 44 years, a citi
zen, died in a hospital after being
stricken in the street. The other strick
en persons are said to be in good con
dition with no prospect of fatal re
sults.
The parade ground was on Broad
street for a distance of three miles
north, and the same distance south of
the city hall. The paraders counter
marched the last three miles back to
the city hall, so that they traversed
upwards of nine miles.
Those 'who succumbed were among
the spectators, jammed all along the
street in a solid mass from one end
of the line to the other, it being esti
mated that five hundred thousand peo
ple witnessed the march. The temper
ature hovered around ninety degrees,
and the humidity was excessive, and
as a consequence people sweltered.
WAR STARTS ON COLORED ELKS.
Grand Lodge Objects to Negroes Using
Emblems of the Order.
During the sessions in Philadelphia
of the grand lodge of Elks, it was
decided to establish a flag day for
Elks on June 14th. A resolu:ion was
adopted calling for the appointment of
a commission to devise ways aDd
means to'prosecute outsiders who use
the Elks emblems. A subsequent res
olution calls for the appointment of a
commission to confer with congress to
find means to prevent the use of the
emblfpn.
The Memphis ledge was authorized
to prosecute the negro Elks in that
city. In this connection a resolution
was passed reprianding the Newark,
N. J., for electing a man said to he
a negro. A further measure instructs
passed reprimanding the Newark, N.J.,
lodge for electing a man said to be
cedents and if it is found that he is
of negro extraction to expunge his
name from the rolls.
GOVERNOR COMER RESENTS INSULT.
Refused to Address Fress Association Be
cause of Certain Resolutions.
After being invited to address the
Alabama Press Association at Mont
gomery, Thursday night, Governor Co
mer became offended at resolutions of
fered of a nature not complimentary
to him, find after expressing his regret
at the treatment accorded him, left the
hall.
The resolution recited that while
the governor had done much for the
state, he had also done a great deal
he should not have attempted. The
association refused to adopt the reso
lutions, and there was a lively session.
ALL DEPOSITORS WILL BE PAID
Is Confident Assertion of Receivers of
Macon Exchange Bank.
The temporary receivers of the Ex
change Bank at Macon, Ga.. which was
put in their hands July 7, made a pre
liminary report Thursday to Judge
Whipple, presiding in Bibb superior
court. The receivers say that they are
encouraged to believe that by prudent
management the assets should realize a
sufficient sum to pay depositors and
credittrs in full, and leave a dividend
for .stockholders.
LABOR DAY PARADE CUT OUT.
No More Will Take Place in City of Chica
go in the Near Future.
Chicago has had the last of its labor
day parades, at least for several years
to come.
The annual long march through the
streets by thousands of unionists wear
iug the picturesque uniforms of their
trades, was abandoned by the Federa
tion of Labor and the Associated Build
ing Trades at a meeting Sunday as be
ing an “antiquated and luxurious’'
method of displying labor’s strength
before the public.