The Jacksonian. (Jackson, Ga.) 1907-1907, July 26, 1907, Image 10

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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.