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"Coyote Bill" Harris captured his furs in a different manner. He had homesteaded a "jack-pine" ranch a mile or so from town, where he had a cabin, a barn and a few animals. One cold, late autumn night one of his cows lied and lay frozen in the clearing some 75 yards from his cabin. Getting rid of the critter's carcass presented a problem, but he had planned to hitch a team of horses to it and drag it out a half mile or so into the timber as soon as enough snow fell to make it slide more readily. But the next two nights were bitter cold, and the carcass was frozen solid, so nothing was done. Then came a heavy snow, with drifts too deep for horses to work in conveniently. A few mornings later, on arising, he looked out the window onto the clearing, observing the mound of snow covering the dead animal, and Bill noticed a coyote stealthily approaching the carcass for a meal. He slid the window open a couple of inches, rested his rifle on the window sill and got his coyote with a single shot. He then put on his webs, went out and picked up the coyote, being careful not to go too near the dead cow, brought his prize back to the barn, where he skinned it end prepared evidence to claim the bounty - - - - - - By the time the snow had settled in the spring sufficiently to get a team of horses into the clearing, there wasn't much carcass left to be dragged away; but in the interim "Coyote Bill" had repeated the foregoing performance fourteen times, and his hides and bounty were worth several times the value of the old cow which he had so regretfully lost.
There were many more 'notorious name' personalities in the Elk City of" the early 1900's, some forgotten some remembered only vaguely, but others recalled sufficiently for brief descriptions. Among the latter were "Ike the Bear Man" Maxwell , "Peg-Leg" Russell, "Flood-gate Jack" Keenan, "Lightfoot" Snyder, "Pack-saddle" Greene and "Sleepy" Lee Yee.
One spring morning a pair of mountain men were on their way into town from their camp in the hills, when they were suddenly confronted on the trail by a good sized mother bear with two small cubs. Whether in self defense, as they claimed or just for fun, they promptly shot the mother bear, and with little difficulty captured the two tiny cubs. The cubs were tied up in gunny sacks while the prospectors skinned the old bear, after which they made their way out to the Dixie road, and caught a stage to haul their loot into town. The town-folk were awed and delighted with these extremely cute little bears. Bottles were prepared with milk and sweetened water, and in no time the babies were taking on nourishment. After a few days, when everyone had seen them and the novelty had worn off, the question arose,- what to do with them? Their captors didn't want them; they had merely brought the cubs to town to show off. Ike Maxwell took a particular interest in them. Ike was a big bow-legged fellow with a handle-bar mustache; he was a sometimes teamster, sometimes miner or prospector, but at the particular time he apparently was not gainfully employed. So he volunteered to become animal trainer, and to provide a lively attraction for the citizens and such strangers as the stages might bring in. On the south side of the street, across from the Elk Hotel there was a large saloon building which extended back over the slope of the hill, the rear end of it being supported by six to eight foot posts. In this protected area under the building Ike constructed a bear tight cage. He procured collars and chains, and each day, particularly at stage arrival time, he would lead his charges out and up and down the street. He evidently had hit upon a good diet for the cubs, for they did not remain little and "cute" for many weeks. Actually the time soon came when the bears were leading Ike rather than vice versa. At this point they could not be taken out of the cage for exercise so often; They became a bit vicious, and it was more difficult to feed them and keep the cage clean. As the situation developed, the cage, the bears and Ike all began to smell something like a poorly kept hog pen. The bears' growing dexterity with their front paws was clearly evidenced by the scars, scratches and scabs on Ike's hands and forearms. The population became not only weary, but somewhat leery of having two bears growing to adulthood in the middle of town. So, finally Ike got them into crates and loaded onto a freight wagon, and started outside with them, ostensibly to join a circus, or to make a sale to some zoo. Neither the bears nor "Ike the "Bear Man" were ever heard from thereafter. |
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(Probably about 1911)