The Billings gazette. [volume], March 31, 1899, Semi-weekly, Page 3, Image 3

About The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
THE WILY SEA OTTER
ITS PELT IS HIGHLY PRIZED AND HARD
TO OBTAIN.
The Animnl Is All Eyes. Ears and
None When Alive and All Fur When
Desad-It. (aplture IN Attended TVith
Great )anigers and Hardslhips.
Fifty pounds sterling, or $350, per
skin is not an unusnally high average
price to pay for the fur of the sea otter,
and at for sales in London a much
higher price has often been asked an(
received. Much. of course, in the mat
ter of price depends upon the conditior.
and size of the skin. The animal when
it is alive and wearing the fur itself in
from three to five feet in length frou
nose to tail tip, though the skin lying
upon it in loose folds, the actual "pelt.'
is of fair size.
Ever since Bering, sailing from Rus
sia. discovered Alaska and found its na.
tives clad in otter skin this fur has
been the prime object of the pelt hunt
ers' desire. Sable, marten, mink and
even ermine can be trapped or shot
without extraordinary trouble. Seals
are driven inland like fools to be slaugh
tered and skinned at their captors' lei
sure. But the sea otter must be sought
diligently as the diamond, for three
centuries of experience have made him
wise.
Upon the map of North America may
be seen jutting from the southern cor
ner of Alas:a. which is the northwest
corner of the continent, Aliaska, a pe
ninsula, which breaks off into a chain
of islands called the Aleutians. Just
where the peninsula ends and the is
lands begin a point may be noticed
marked Belkovsky.
This is the headquarters of the sea
otter hunters, and between here and
Chernaboor island to the south and Saa
nak island to the southwest the bulk of
the sea ottc"s are taken.
Thoroughly impressed with the val
ne of his or-n skin. the sea otter takes
care of it by living far away from the
mainland, sleeping with one eye open,
upon the floating weed beds or a sea
washed reef exposed to the full fury of
the north Pt.,ific.
At the slightest sign of the approach
of man he dives deep. and stays below
for 20 minutes at a time.
Sometimes a stray otter may be shot
from the land as he plays in the surf,
but the chief methods of his capture
are "'the surround" and clubbing. In
the former case a party of Aleutian is
landers are conveyed to Saanak, there
to encamp fpr two or three months.
Woe to the hunters if the wind be oi.
the shore, for then no fire may be lit to
make the beloved tea. uo pipe of tobac
co smoked, or the hope of a capture
would be vain. For the otter is all
eyes and ears and nose when alive: all
fur when dead.
upon a calm aay tne nunters paauie
gently over the sea in their skin canoes.
keeping an eager eye upon the rolling
surf for a sign of the prey. A hunter
sees an otter and makes a quiet signal
to his mates. Like a flash the quarry
has dived. Raising his oar aloft, the
man who found the otter remains as a
buoy above the place of the animal'
disappearance. while his mates form iri
a huge circle with him in the center.
In 20 minutes, at most, the otter
comes up again in sight of some of the
canoe men. A frightful yell drives the
poor brute below again before he has
had time to fill his lungs. Shortly he is
again seen, and the process repeated
till at length his body is so gas inflated
that he cannot sink and falls a prey tc
the lucky hunter whose spear first
pierces that too rich coat of his.
Luck varies, and the sea otter ie
yearly rarer and more shy, but, if for
tunate, each hunter may have from twc
to five skins for the traders as the re
sult of his three months' catch.
To be a successful hunter requires a
Spartan scorn of comfort, huge pa
tience, keenness of vision and readinese
of resource, as well as great dexterity
in the handling of a risky craft and
an intimate knowledge of your quarry's
habits which it requires a lifetime of
observation under trying conditions to
gain.
"The surround," then, is no joke.
but clubbing next door to suicide. The
hunters encamped upon Saanak have
been for a day or two prevented by a
howling gale from doing anything save
sleep or smoke. One or two of the men,
knowing, seemingly by instinct, that
the gale has almost blown itself out.
prepare for a clubbing expedition.
Should they in the dark and turmoil
miss the islands some score of miles
away they are carried out into the
ocean and certain death. If, on the oth
er hand, they make their haven, they
land and creep, club in hand, over the
rocky coast to the ocean' swelled reef
where the otters sleep.
The roar of the gale drowns the sound
of their approach, and the poor otter is
a mere "pelt" before he knows of his
danger. Scores of otters have been killed
in one night by a clubman or two. But
otter clubbing is not a means of liveli
hood likely to become generally popular
-Chambers' Journal
Chinese Boatwomen.
The boatwomen of China have no
need to agitate for women's righte
they possess them. The boatwoman.
whether she be a single woman or a
wife or a widow, is the head of the
house-that is to say. of the boat. If
she is married, the husband-takes the
useful but subordinate place of deck
band, or bow oarsman. She does the
steering. makes bargains with the pas
sengers, collects the money, buys sup
plies, and in general lords it over ev
erything. -Keystone
Ivory billiard balls, freshly turned,
have to be treated very carefully. as a
sudden change in temperature may
cause them to crack. To prevent this
they require to be placed for at least
three months in a warm room in ,rder
to shrink them gradually and dry true
before they are finished and polished.
A Btd treatk.
"Well, they all break," said the
bride of a few .';ekes. "and I don't
know what ycu aze going to do about
it. "
"But why don'! you get a bett:
brand?" said young husband, not aU
too sweetly. "It se;'ms strange, ',ari .,.
that every time I sit down to re::d t:.
lamp chimney breaks into a tloune-.nd
pieces!"
Next night he uame home with a
small package undh r his arm.
periority, "I have bought a cloe,,,"
that will last."
"How much (lid you pay for it, d.rrl'
"Fifteen cents. I don't want a.:n
more of your 5 cent things in the Ihou'e
Yeou see you women haven't a right un
derstanding of the word economy. Ycn
think just because you get things cheap
that you are saving mijoney-where"
And he continued the effusion all the
time he was putting the chimney in
place.
"There!" said be, turning up the
light. "There is a chinm-confound
the-!-! Well, I wish all the glass
blowers and grocers in seven counties
were tied up and hung over a clothes
line to fight it out. You can bet I'd be
there to coach the scrap "--Datrost
Free Press.
Seeing a Ballet In Pligllht.
"As every sportsman knows," said
an enthusiastic New Orleans hunter,
"it is easy to see a rifle bullet in the
air, and those fired from the new high
power guns are very curious to look at
Stand a dozen yards at one side of the
mark and let a friend blaze away at any
range with a small caliber weapon
using smokeless powder. and you'll see
a strange, bluish white streak the in
stant the bullet strikes home. The
streak is apparently a couple of inches
wide and several feet long and is more
like a flash of light than anything else
I can think of.
"With the old fashioned Remingtmn
or Springfield carbine the bullet has the
appearance of a long black rod, and I
don't know why there should be such a
difference in the optical illusion pro
duced by the smaller caliber I have
heard some people deny that the bullet
can be seen, but they are very much in
error. It all depends on getting the
right viewpoint A few feet either way
will render the missile invisible, but
the right spot is soon found by experi
ment, and after that the thing is as
plain as day."-New Orleans Times
Democrat.
Big Men and Big Nones.
Cyrano de Bergerac is remembered
because of his laree nose. Few know
that he was a poet. and fewer still
know his poetry The nosy is a conspic
.uous feature of history. The length of
Cleopatra's is said to have figured in
Roman politics, and a scandal grew out
of it which ended in the ruin and death
of Antony and the establishment of an
empire which lasted a thousand years.
Napoleon would not promote a man
who had not a large nose. He himself
was well favored in this respect. Caesar
was "the hook nosed Roman."
All American statesmen have been
noted for this feature. Old men tell of
our own Benton, who used to shake his
nose like an elephant's proboscis when
he got excited. It seems to be the law
that all great men have great, noses,
but let no one think that the converse
of this is true, that all men who have
great noses are great men. Such a con
clusion would lead to confusion and
needless pain and disappointment.-St
Louis Post-Dispatch
Evening Dress In Kansas City.
The dress suit is the most democratic
raiment in the world. It meets the re
quirements of good form, whether it
was made six years ago or last month.
Attired in evening costume, whether
the swallowtails are long or short, nar.
row or wide, all men look, practically
speaking, alike, whether they are wage
earners or ,millionaires. The dress suit
levels all distinctions and illustrates the
potentiality of a correct style. The
young man who has made a good selec
tion in his rented broadcloth serenely
greets his wealthy rival who has paid
for his London clothes a'price like $250.
How the fame of this world grows
small when wrapped in a swallowtail
coat among many others of the same
cut! When the dress suit becomes the
regular evening calling and theater
dress for Kansas City men, as it should
be, the poor chaps will profit by it a
full cubit of serenity and self respect
-Kansas City Star.
Chrlile's Authority.
"l've called you three times, Char
lie," said a mother to her little son,
"and I'm very much annoyed because
of your failure to answer me. "
"Well, mamma," replied Charlie,
who was very fond of reading Bible
stories, "you ain't any better than the
Lord, are you?"
"No, of course not," answered the
mother in surprise. "Why did you ask
that?"
"Because," replied the little fellow,
"the Lord called Samuel three times,
and he didn't get mad about it. "-Chi
cago News.
She Said No.
Mrs. Mannerly (to her daughter, whc
has just returned from tea with friends)
-I hope you said "No, thank you,"
oftener than you did "Yes, thank you."
Mabel-Yes, I did. I hadn't been
eating more'n half an hour before they
began saying, "Don't you think you've
eaten enough?" "Aren't you afraid
you'll make yourself ill?" And I said,
"No, thank you," every time.--Lon
don Fun.
Flattering.
Rcfkgie's Fiancee-You know, Reg
gie, that girls are being called by the
names of flowers now, and my sister
suggested that I should be called Thistle.
Reggie-Oh, yes, I see-because you
are so sharp.
She-Oh, no! She said it was because
a donkey loved me.-Pick Me Up.
AN ARTFUL GAME.
A Clever Swindle Whleh Was Sue.
cesnfully Worked In Parts.
Swindling is as monotoInonl as ethics
or mathematics. and the v:a'ions ways
and means resorted to in the last decade
of the nineteenth century for obtaining
posses'-ion of other people's money were
matters of c'(.mon :iiowiledge in the
Egypt of Rlomcses thei ºxre '.. Da r,:-e
Parisian police now afftirm that a new
departure hlar been made on the ba:l:a
of the Seine And this is how it was
worl.ed
An office was hired in a good busi
ness street by the inventor of the trick,
who assumed the title of somebody and
company. chemical agents. Being con
vinced advocates of women's rights.
they employed some members of the
fair sex. who dressed in the height of
fashion, used the most fashionable per
fumes and then visited singly the best
apothecaries' shop. One of these fair.
false emissaries would stop her cab at
the chemists, come in and. taking out
her purse. ask for another bottle of Dr
Beaumont's elixir. "Dr Beaumont's
what ?" said the young man behind the
counter. "The elixir. Don't you know ?'
"No; I am afraid I never heard of it.'
"Oh, how tiresome, and my poor rheu
matic husband will be so disappointed!
Are you sure it was not here that our
servant bought it before?" "No, ma
dame: it was not here. Where is it sold
wholesale?" "It is sold wholesale, I
think"-- And here the lady showed the
ticket on the bottle. "It costs 8 francs.'
That same day the chemist bought
the elixir wholesale. laying in a fair
stock of it, and meanwhile many of the
confreres were doing likewise. But, as
nobody called any more on the obliging
chemists to buy the elixir, one of the
curious confraternity analyzed this
specific which was supposed to relieve
rheumatics He found that it was at
3 least perfectly harmless, consisting of
water colored by coffee grounds. The
police were then let loose upon the la
dies and the chemical agents. but they
had all moved on, leaving no address.
They are said to have netted about 10,
000 francs by the trick.--London Tele
graph.
"THE BEDOUIN.
How This True Child of the Desert
Goes Through Life.
How dreamily that Bedouin life.
with its uneventfulness and its fatal
ism, fitted the time and the place!
Here was a poor Arab who did not
know how old he was. but he could
look farther into heaven than I could.
His mother had borne him while the
caravan was on its way to Mecca. He
had worked as a laborer on the Suez
canal. and he had been a dog knacker
in Constantinople before that. He had
gone hungry in the wadies of Idumiea,
and had run as a cameleer barefoot in
the burning sands of Arabia Petrtea.
He had vegetated into manhood on the
lower stratum of this strange oriental
existence, content to believe that life
was an unavoidable curse, with a drow
sy intimation of eternity in it, alwaye
associated with the tinkling of bells,
the rattle of castanets and the sweet
smell of Beirut tobacco.
But he could see some things tha,
were I·,yond my vision, and I wondered
if this true child of the desert, born un
der indigo skies, of a race that had been
guided since the days of Moses and
Menephtah by the pillars of fire by
night, had not preserved some powers
of vision that were common to the
primeval man. 'He never lost the true
oriental disdain for enterprise and con
temporaneous disturbance, and he made
an engineer feel that his work, seen in
the light of the unperturbed stars, was.
after all, an impertinence to a true
pariah. -"Ghosts In Jerusalem," by A.
C. Wheeler, in Harper's Magazine.
Fooled by a Gas Machine.
A Brooklyn woman, whose gas bills
were almost beyond computation and
certainly beyond her purse, had one of
the quarter in the slot machines put in
her flat and anticipated great pleasure
in keeping tab on her gas expenditure.
These machines, by the way, are fed a
quarter, and when the quarter's worth
o0 gas is burned they shut off automat
ically.
Toward evening of the day in which
the machine was installed she wended
her way to the slot and deposited her
money. but when an attempt was made
to light the gas the machine would not
register, and the evening light was shed
out of lamps and candles. A wrathy
note brought the company inspector to
the scere the next morning, and he
thoroughly vindicated the reputation of
the contrivance when he unlocked it
and drew from the inside three nickels
and a dime.--New York Mail and Ex
press.
The Wrong House.
A weather beaten member of the
tired fraternity. who had lost a leg and
had it replaced by a wooden substitute,
stumped his way up the main street of
a Lanarkshire village the other d y
and paused at the door of the first lite
ly looking dwelling. Knocking at the
door, which was opened by a brisk,
businesslike housewife, the man began
his stereotyped whine
"If ye please. mum, I lost my leg"
And before he could unfold another
word of his tale the sharp retort came
"Aweel, ye didna lose it here!"
And bang went the door in his face
--Liverpool Mercury.
Satisfied.
Opulent Father-in-law-What ails
you. George ? Since you have married
you seem to have lost all your ambition.
George-Well, you see, sir, I reached
the height of my ambition when I be
came your son-in-law.--Harlem Life.
Poetics Squelched.
Weary Watkins-Oh. that I had the
u wings of a bird!
Hungry Higgins-They's less meat
on the wings than they is on any other
piece.--Indianapolis Journal
Advertised Letters.
List of letters remaining uncalled for
in the postoffice at Billings, Yellow
stone county, Montana, for the week
ending March 27, 1899.
Baldwin, Chas.; Barrett, Edward;
Christensen, Nels; Clifford, Miss Lou;
Dinsdale, Mr.; Drake, E. P.; Elea,
Dnaue; Fletcher, R. N. ; Griffith,
John; Heudricksonm. Joseph; James,
C.; Johnson, August; Johnson, Carl;
Johnson, Mrs. P. (2); Kanedy, Bob;
Kingsimll, Harold; Kline, Chas.;
Lowndes, Mrs. H. L. ; Mack, Mis.
Ella; Miller. Adolph; Nolan, John;
Pickett, Dick; Quigley, John; Renner,
J. A. ; Sisloff, Chas. T. ; Smith, Henry;
Spade, Van E.; Waite, Jack; Waugh,
Clarence; Wilson, J. A.
Persons calling for the same will
please say "advertised."
L. F. Babcock. Postmaster.
Acker's English Remedy will stop a
cough at any time, and will cure the
worst cold in twelve hours, or money re
funded; 25 cents and 50 cents. Sold by
Chapple Drug Co.
South or East, Which?
When a trip is contemplated it is al
ways well to prepare in advance in order
to avoid little inconveniences which are
often annoying. The two fast trains
leaving Minneapolis and St. Paul daily
via Wisconsin Central lines for Milwau
kee and Chicago make close connections
with trains east and south. Being ele
gantly equipped with sleeping cars, par
lor cars and day coaches,they are fully ap
preciated by the traveling public. Your
nearest ticket agent will give you com
plete information and furnish you folder
of the Wisconsin Central lines.
Jas. C. Pond, General Passenger
Agent, Milwaukee, Wis
Your Face
Shows the state of your feelings and the
state of your health as well. Impure
blood makes itself apparent in a pale and
sallow complexion, pimples and skin
eruptions. If you are feeling weak and
worn out and do not have a healty ap
pearance you should try Acker's Blood
Elixir. It cures all blood diseases where
cheap sarsaparillas and so-called puri
fiers fail; knowing this we sell every
bottle on a positive guarantee. Sold by
Chapple Drug Co.
THE SIDEBOARD
ROBERT I. NIX, Prop.
3 Mixed Drinks,
B Fine Liquors
.and Cigars.
A Quiet Place for Business Men
and Courteous Treatment.
o1 ontana Avenue, Center of Main Block
tVAi. & POTTER,
...THE DAISY...
Saloon and Sample Rooms
The Best Goods in
LIQUORS #° CIGARS
Billiard and Club Rooms
Old Stand, Opposite Depot
THE EXCHANGE
...SALOON...
SCAIIY & CO., Proprietors
Liquors and Cigars,
Billiards and Pool,
Fine Club Rooms.
Next to Yellowstone National Bank.
Mott's Nerverine Pills
The peat
remedy for
nervous proe
tration and
all nervous
diseases of the
generative or
ron AAm of either
sex, such as Nervous Prostration, Failing or
lost Manhood, Inpotncy, Nighly Emi
sions, Youthful Errors, Mental Worry, ex
cessive use of Tobacco or Opium, which
lead to Consumption and Insanity. $1.00
er box by mails 6 boxes for $5.00.
MOTTS CHEMICAL CO., Prop's, Cleveland, Ohio
For Sale by Chapple Drug Co.
mý ýý on invent orim e roave·a1o0t
PROTECtION. Send model, sketch,orphoto.
for free emmlalon emi advice.
NOK SE PATENTSfoo b p$
w O.A.U#OW & CO,
Patst.taw~ar , WASHIlGTON.b.C.
Wholesale Dealer in . .. . . Agency for
W1NES Val. Blatz's
LIQUORS ILAGER BEE
Keg and Bottled
-AND-- -ALSO
CIGARS IIE Ai~e tBock
8II..IZJTS, - - °
DO YOU
KNOW
THAT...
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Job Department
Turns out a better class of
work than any other printing
establishment in the Yellow
stone valley................
We are prepared to do any
class of printing on short
notice ....................
We employ only first-class
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can guarantee ..............
SFIRST-CLASS
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