Show LAS ot 0 5 a V 1 k A 0 f X Y colonel codi buffalo ir j 5 Z hianz hia tl le Southwester rL prairie S pa in 1045 art CHI C aarie Xa rie by ELMO SCOTT WATSON tho the following news dds patch from denver colo was widely IM printed in newspapers throughout tho the country cooko cooke risen illion ono of 0 the last of the buffalo hunters who sup supplied piled meat to construction crews in pioneer days of 0 the west la Is dead hero here at the age of eighty eight rhea who was professional hunter for th the union pacific Is reputed to have killed 07 buffaloes in ono one daix day although there are still livin living g plenty of old oid timers who nt at one time or another killed buffalo the majority of the professional hunters have already followed their quarry over the great divide hut but the passing of this one of their number serves to recall ahat has been characterized as an epic aeple clin chapter pter of american history but one in n which americans can take little pride because it furnishes n record of wasteful ruthless slaughter by a nation of people unparalleled in n history As for tho the record of individuals in that whole isale bale killing hilling mention of klibas mark of 1107 07 buffaloes in one day inevitably brings to mind the file feat which won for william frederick cody the sobriquet by which he became world famous 1 buffalo tiffalo 11 in the kansas pacific railroad was beling being built west through kansas and tho the firm of goil god dard brothers who had the tha contract for feeding tho the army of 1200 laborers were looking about for a hunter to provide tho tha in the laborers fare buffalo meat at first brat they offered the job ob to the celebrated wild bill hickok chok but he be declined and suggested that they employ y young bill cody who had already won some r re as nn an indian fighter and guide th the e result sult was wag an agreement whereby cody for a ani sal ary of a month agreed to provide the hindquarters and humps of 12 buffaloes per day cody worked for goddard brothers a little less than 18 months ond in fit that time according to his bis own count lie he killed a total of buffaloes ile iia became very popular among tho the workmen one of whom la Is said to have made up tip the tha following jingle which fixed his hl famous nickname upon him film buffalo bill bufflo buffalo vill bill never aimed mimed anat nd never wills will alms and nd shoots to kill and the tb company cor pays pay his buffalo bill bil but having had the title of Buff bufanio nio mil bill thus thai conferred upon him cody was soon called upon to defend that title army officers stationed ut at fort wallace having seen the buffalo killing feats of billy comstock a noted guide and interpreter inter ter preter who was chief of scouts nt at that post nT angel a watch match between comstock and cody for a wager of BOO 1500 a bide the two tuen men were to hunt one day of eight hours beginning at eight in the morning and alost closing n g at four to in the afternoon and the man who should kill the greater number of buffaloes from on horseback in that time was to be declared the winner the ma match took place in 1808 and was waa staged en enst eat st of the lie new town of sheridan ran kan cody in ills autobiography has given the following account of tho the match the irbe buffaloes were quite plenty and it was agreed vint flint we ne should go into the some herd at the same time and make a run as we vie called it each one killing na as many irony as aa possible A refer referee m was to follow each of us on horseback when wo we entered the herd and count too the buffaloes killed by ench each man we were fortunate in the first run in getting good ground comstock was vas mounted anone on one of his favorite horses while I 1 rode old brigham I 1 felt confident that I 1 had the advantage of corn com stock in two things first I 1 had the best buffalo horse that ever eer made a track and second I 1 was using what was known nt at that time an aa the needle gun goa ft a breech loading springfield ride calibre calabre tio BO it was my favorite old Lucret ln coreta Corg ta 1 while comstock was armed with a glenry rifle and although lie he could fire a few shots quicker than I 1 could yet I 1 was pretty certain that it old did not carry powder and lead enough to tit do execution equal to my caliber 60 at last the time came caine to begin the match comstock Comsto cli and I 1 dashed into a herd followed by the referees the buffaloes separated comstock took the left bunch and I 1 the tha right my great forte in n killing billing buffaloes from horseback ana to get them circling by riding my horse at the head af pf p the herd shooting the leaders shux crowding their followers to the left till they would finally circle round and round on this athla morning the buffaloes were accod mo dating and I 1 soon had haa them running in et a beautiful circle when I 1 dropped them thick and fast until I 1 had killed 88 38 which finished ray my run comstock began shooting at the rear of the herd which he was chasing and they kept straight on ile he succeeded however in killing 23 but they were scattered over a distance of three miles while mine lay close together I 1 had nursed my buffaloes as a billiard player does the balls when he makes a big run 1 while taking a short ir rest st wa we sudden suddenly y spied another herd of buffaloes coming toward us ns it was only a small drove and we at once prepared to give the animals a lively reception lon they proved to bo be a herd of cows and calves alves which by the way ore are quicker in their movements than the bulls we charged anamong in among them and I 1 concluded my run with a score of 18 while comstock killed 14 the score now stood 60 50 to ST 37 in my favor after we had bad eaten a lunch which was spread for us we came up close to another herd As I 1 was so far ahead of my competitor in the num lier hor killed I 1 thought I 1 could afford to give an extra exhibition of my skill so leaving my saddle and bridle with the wagons we rode to the windward of the buffaloes as usual and when w within a few hundred yards of them we dashed into the herd I 1 soon had 13 laid out on the ground the last one of which I 1 had driven down close to the wagons where the ladles were it frightened some ot of the tender creatures to see the buffalo coming at full speed directly toward them hut but when he had got within 50 yards of one of the wagon s I 1 shot aim dead in his tracks tills this made my coth buffalo bul Talo and finished my third and lust run comstock having killed 40 As it wits was now late in the afternoon corn com stock and hla his hackers backers gave up the idea that he could bent beat me and thereupon the referees declared me the winner of the match as well as the champion buffalo dunier hunter of the plains although cudy cody won the title of champion buffalo hunter with hla his record of killing CO 60 of the animals in one day he was waa far from being the champion buffalo killer that dubious honor if indeed it could b be awarded to any individual was to be reserved for one of the army of tilde hide hunters who in a little more than a d de cade were to drive the buffalo to the verge of extinction armed with the afie heavy ab sharps a aps buffalo rifle which fired a slug of lead two inches in length half an inch in diameter and weighing eight to a pound and the complement to the rifle rahe a shooting rest made of two tivo sticks tied together X fashion which were set in the ground to support the barrel of the sharps sharpe the hide hunter would creep up on a herd of buffalo and methodically set act to work shooting down the ard mills mals until he had killed billed everyone in range or until the smell of blood after a few had been killed stampeded the remainder of the herd the late into wyatt harp earp famous gun fighter and pence allicer of dodge city kan hars and tombstone artz ariz who was a buffalo hunter at one time in his career in nn an interview a few years before hla his death had the following to eny any about the work of the bilde hunter with the best of luck a single hunter might kill buffaloes in a day from several stands that would be all that four skinners could handle I 1 found that the average bunch would stampede by the time 30 or 40 of their number had been IcIl killed led in my years on the plains the known record kill from a single stand was held by tom nixon a famous shot who made headquarters nt at dodge tie ile nian managed aged to knock over animals without moving his rest sticks but he ruined lil his s sharps rifle in doing so I 1 have known other hunters who bonsted boasted of records of more than from a stand the best authenticated total for a seasons kill was set by billy tilghman who afterward served with me as a pence peace of officer fleer ile he took hides between september first of one year and april birst of the next nest no buffalo hunter that 1 I knew on the plains ever topped that score an adequate idea of the wholesale destruction of the animals may be obtained from the data collected by the well weil known frontier historian B U A brininstool and pres presented anted in one chapter of his big invaluable chronicle ot of border history fighting red clouds Warr warriors lom in it lie he says saya in part of the vast numbers of these great animals on the western plains between 1850 and when the last ble big herd was practically exterminated mina ted statisticians differ but in the year IBM 1850 it Is safe to state that there wore were in the neighborhood of buffalo ranging between manitoba and the staked plains ot of texas their numbers were literally innumerable so vast were they that the first trains on the union pacific railroad were often obliged to stop until the immense herds had crossed their tracks 1 in 1871 it was not uncommon to see herds of oc buffalo from 20 to 60 miles in width that same year col richard irving dodge nn an army officer of over 80 30 years experience in indian warfare drove in a light wagon along the arkansas river from walnut creek to pawnee fork through one herd of buffalo not less than 25 2 miles wide anti and extending north and south as far as the eye could reach it was when the union pacific railroad was being built in 70 that the real slaughter of the buffalo began thousands of men flocked to the plains to enter this new and novel industry and so countless were the hides which were thrown upon the market that the price dwindled from 4 and 5 each to as low as 1 at one time buffalo hides was stacked in a corral at dodge city kan awaiting shipment the hide hunters took only the skin leaving the carcass to rot while thousands of men r be it said to their disgrace slaughtered buffalo for the mere wanton pleasure of killing one night early in the COs gen phil sheridan sherdan and major inman were occupying the office of robert 31 wright a prominent business man of dodge city kan they had just made a trip from clamp camp supply and mr wright was called into the office to consult with the officers as to the probable number of buffalo between dodge e city and camp supply taking a strip 60 50 miles cilles east and GO 50 miles west they had first made an estimate e of general sheridan said that wont do they figured a while e longer and finally made it finally they reached the conclusion that there must be but said they were afraid to give out those figures lest they be accused of pre vari cating but they stated that they believed it nevertheless the completion of the western railroad elv ide edid idid d the buffalo buff a lo 10 into two immense Imin ense herds the northern and the southern the southern herd in 1871 was estimated at and was being diminished at the rate of to a day robert wright and charles rath of dodge city shipped over auf buffalo r alo hi hides des the first winter the A T S F railroad reached dodge anti and they estimated that other parties shipped as many more the santa fe Rat railroad troad company compiled the following table showing the shipments made over their lanena line as well as the union pacific and kansas hansas pacific roads bufflo sla statistic for or ur th years year 74 U P K X P I 1 A T and aad all other S F ra rail road year hides hide hide total 1872 1873 1874 7 total meat lbs west meat ib lbs total 1872 none none 1878 1873 oO 1874 total bones bon lbs iba bones iba total 1872 ls 1873 1874 total from to 1874 it la Is estimated that there were buffalo killed and wasted the meat being left to rot upon the plains the bedes only being utilized it to Is reckoned that in all were killed by white hunters and the hides shipped over the santa fe during the same period the indians killed but besides these settlers and mountain indian tribes are estimated to have killed so that the grand total for these years was waa during the following year 1875 the end came to tho the great southern herd and at the close of the year it had been nearly swept from the earth one hunter in ford county ran kan ls credited with having killed buffalo at one stand in 40 minutes and in 35 days to have slain 2173 another dodge city man says he killed 1500 in 7 days and that his greatest slaughter was in a single day lie employed 18 15 skinners whose sole duty was to follow him up with wagons and remove the hides as fast as ho he killed the animals the great northern herd went the same way in 1682 it was estimated that there were 1000 alive in this h herd erd but there were ere tit at least white hunters in the field shooting and n d slaughtering the beasts at every point ta then b en came IM 1883 thousands more grabbed rifles and took to the field such a merciless war of extermination was never known in a civilized land the final chapter in the orgy of killing may b be summarized in one fact in 1834 the northern pacific railroad carried one scanty carload of buffalo hides east the last it ever carried the day of the buffalo was over 0 by newspaper union |