Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1904)
THE, SUNDAY OBEjaOJNIAff, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER, 11,. 1904. Photographing the Aerie of a Hed-Tai led Hawk By William L. Finley, With Pictures Taken in the Tree Top by Herman T. Bohlman. 32r IF THERE is another red-tail In the county that has found a nesting site higher than the one In the cottonwood over on the bank o the Columbia River, I have never seen iL A red-tall picks out a high, commanding site just as a mallard searches the sedged grass about the pond for a home. This pair of hawks surely found it- "We -would never have discovered the aerie had ire not searched the bottom when the trees were leafless. The finding of a hawk's nest in this land of tall .trees is often difficult, but nothing as compared to climbing and photographing it, Few nests are absolutely beyond human touch, although it may take a deal of scheming and a risk of life or limb to reach them. Three years passed after we found this aerie of the red-tail before we succeeded in leveling -our camera at the eggs. The nest tree measured over 14 feet around, at the bottom. There was not a limb for 40 feet. The nest Itself was lodged Just 120 feet up. It was out of the Question to clamber up such a tree with climbers, ropes or anything else, but we had at last studied out a plan. A young cottonwood stood 12 feet away. IThls might serve as a ladder, so we cut away till It began to totter. "With ropes we puljed it over. The crown lodged in the crotch of the jflrst large limb of the nest tree, full 40 feet up. This formed a igood aerial bridge, up which we clambered O. third of the distance to the nest. The anticipation led ua on. We lassoed upper branches, dug our climbing-irons Into th bark and worked slowly up. Strongly-Built Nest. "We found a stack of sticks the size of a small-sized hay-cock. They were not pitched together helter-skelter. A big nest like a hawk's or heron's always gives me the impression it is easily thrown to gether. I examined this one and found it as carefully woven as a wicker basket. It was strong at every point Sticks over a yard in length and some as big as your wrist were all worked Into a compact mass. In the hollowed top on some bark and leaves lay the two eggs. I never saw a more commanding strong hold. -It overlooked the country for miles in every direction. From where the hawk mother brooded her eggs I looked out far up the Columbia, where I could see the cavern-cut slopes of Mount Hood. Ex tending to the westward was the long line of ponds and lakes, the red-tails' favorite hunting ground, while to the north ex tended the broad expanse of water and in the distance loomed up the dome-like peak of St. Helens, covered with perpetual snow. Photographing Under Difficulties. How could we ever secure a good series of pictures at such a distance from the ground? It looked impossible at first, but a careful examination revealed a rare ar rangement of. nest and surroundings. If we could but hoist our equipment there was no question as to photographs. Eight feet below the nest the trunk of the tree branched and spread In such a way that we could climb to a point Just above the nest on the opposite limb. "We strapped the camera in a crotch that seemed built for the purpose, with the sun coming from the right direction. The rub came in focusing the instrument. One hundred and twenty-five feet is not such a dizzy height when you look up from, the ground, but strap yourself to the limb of a tree and dangle out backward over the brink. No matter how strong- the rope,, there's a feeling of death creeping up and down every nerve in your body the first time you try it Attached to Their Home. The wild life of the red tail fascinates me. He has an individuality that is as interesting as a person. He has a- char acter as clearly marked as In any feath ered creature I ever studied. The bleak "Winter winds that sweep the valley of the Columbia and drive the other blrd3 to the Southland never bothers him. This is his permanent home. He is not a vaga bond. Ho 13 local in attachments and habits. This Is his hunting ground. He won it by years of defense. He" beats over the field and along the edge of the woods as regularly as the fisherman casts his net. He has his favorite perch. He watches the pond for carp as closely as the farmer watches his orchard. 'His rou tine. of life is as marked as any Inhabitant along the river. Nor can I believe he is lacking in the sentiment of home. He adds sticks to his house and enlarges it year by year. Each season it is fraught JVE5T AMD .EGGS or- 7ZED-TAIL HAWK has been known to catch chickens, but this is rare. Those that have been killed at the chicken-yard are young and Inex perienced birds, unable, as a general rule, to cope with wilder game. But even granting that the redtall does take an occasional chicken, as a robin takes cherries, is It not a righteous exchange for 20 times as many squirrels, gophers and other harmful rodents? Out of all the hawks and owls that are found on the coast, only two hawks, the sharp-skinned and Cooper's, are directly Injurlous to the farmer. These two feed largely on poultry and game. After a critical examination of the stomachs of 2212 other hawks and owls, made by the Department Of Agriculture, It was found that 56 per cent contained mice and other small mammals, 27 per cent Insects and only .31 per cent poultry and game birds. "We made a close study of the redtall's home in the tall cottonwood. He was al ways a successful hunter. In all our vis its we never saw the time when his larder was empty. Nor did we ever find that he had to resort to the chicken-yard for food. The first visits we made to the aerie, while the young were in down, we found the remains of mice, rats and squirrels In the nest. One Tmornlng we saw the mangled body of a screech owl. Almost a case of hawk eat hawk. Later in the season, when, the banks, of the Co lumbia overflowed and covered moot of the surrounding country, the old hawk did not abandon his own preserve. Ho turned his attention entirely to fishing. "Where the carp and catfish fed about the edges of the ponds he had no trouble In gaining a livelihood. Twice we found carp over a foot In length In the aerie. On the last visit we picked up the head bone3 of seven catfish in the nest. "WILLIAM Li. FINLEY. The Pko rdG&APH&fz with new hawk memories. A family of two birds Is reared every Summer. The eggs of some hawks differ widely in marking. Those we found in the cotton wood year after year were always of a bluish white tint, with pale lavender shell markings. In the early Spring be fore the first buds begin to swell on the cottonwood the mother has cradled her two eggs. By the 20th of April they have hatched. It takes six week3 almost to a day for the nestlings to become full fledged. Defense for a Chicken-Thief. The redtall Is often called "chtaken hawk," but the name is Inappropriate. It has caused an incessant and unjust war lare from, the farmers. Abundant proof is at hand to show that this hawk great ly prefers smaller mammals, reptiles and fish, and It lives on little else when these are obtainable. "When hard pressed It Man and the Thing. "Westminster Gazette And Hudyard poemed a poem, and he sent It to the Tlmoa; and they printed It Just aa he wrote It. Ancient MS. (In respectful Imitation of Mr. Rudyard Kipling's versa in yesterday's Times. It i3 humbly suggested that the Imitation is at ell times not mora unlntelilgiblo than tho original.) Oh ye who hold your crlcXet blue Or on tho game have written things. Not this time do I you pursue. You flanneled fools, with flouts and flings Look! Hero in print the poet sings Tho oddest tale since Earth began With rhyme and rhythm worrylngs "Once on a time there was a man." Republican his darts ho threw Once on a time at Thrones and Kings. He later with his family crew From Birmingham to town took wings. He caucused them, he pulled the string Ho "worked the wires, he launched XU . van. And promised all No End of Things Once on a time there was a man. The peace of party walllngs flew Before his Irish, questionings. He smashed the party straight In two And snapped the party wires and springs He headed desert wanderings; Until at last he got his clan "Well settled in the Swim of Things. Once on a time there was a man. Tariff Commission blocks the view With paragraphs by underlings. No cute Historian deems them truo. Nor heeds the song that H.w.ns s!ngs- The, Just "so simple" song that brings The urbs to boo, the rus to ban: The more you tax you cheapen things Once on a time thero was a man. A. puzzled world demands a clue. The pendulum full circle swings. And Liberal dreamers dream anew Of Herts and Shropshire harvestings. To him at grips a people clings In grim embrace, to thwart his plan. The People Just won't have his Things! Once for our time he's not the man! American "Jim the Penman" in Real -Life Most Remarkable Criminal of the Age "Who Counterfeited $50 Bills With an Ordinary Pen. w r ASHINGTON, Sept. 6. (Special Correspondence of The Sunday OregonJan.)Chief "vVilklo looked "around the walls of his den in the Secret Service Bureau in the Treasury Depart ment and pointed to the photograph of 'Emanuel Ninger. "He was the most ex pert penman I ever knew, or that the secret service officials ever come In con tact with," said Chief "Wilkle, and then 'he declined to talk further for quotation, because it is the policy of the secret ser 'Ylce never to do anything to display to the world tho criminal record of a man who is apparently trying to live down the 'black pages of his life. Chief "W'llkle was right. Emanuel lin ger was the "Jim, the Penman" of real life, and in a way the most remarkable crimlnalof the age. He had no extensive plants for engraving and printing counter felt notes, and his only stock consisted of paper, ordinary writing pens, pencils, red, green and black inks. With these he baffled the secret service officers of the Government for 15 years, and was finally detected by mere accident. The wet fingers of a New York saloonkeeper came In contact with the Ink upon one of the freshly made bins of "Jim,"" the Pen man," and the Ink blurred. The fact, added to suspicions of the saloonkeeper, led to the immediate arrest of Ninger, who nas served his sentence and is a free man somewhere, no longer engaged in counterfeiting the currency of Uncle Sam, ,hut always under suspicion by the or ganization over which Chief "Wllkie pre sides. Detection Accidental. It was in New York City, in March, 1S96, that "Jim, the Penman," of the counterfeiting profession, came to grief. He started from his little home in Flag town, N. J., Saturday morning, ilarch 28, . ISM., and had in his possession six 520 notes and one $50 note, which, together were the product of 15 weeks' work. His wife and four children did not ask him any questions when he left home that morn ing. He had been a mystery to them for many years. He forbade them entrance to the room in his home in which "he worked, and he said nothing to anybody about his business. He had no Confeder ates, and even his wife did not have any idea about what he was doing. Ninger experienced no difficulty in passing five of the $20 notes. The sixth one came near to getting him into trouble. He went to John "Weyman's grocery store, 162 Third avenue, New York City, called for a bot tle of whisky and gave the $20 note re maining in payment. Shortly after his departure the cashier. In counting up her cash, noticed the blurred condition of the number upon the note when it passed un der her moistened thumb, and, quickly realizing that something was wrong, had an investigation made. By that .time Ninger had gotten out of 'YOU A 6 BD-7JIL5 tN ZOWA . sight. He walked rapidly down town to a saloon at S7 Courtland streot. There he got a glass of Rhenish wine and a dgar, and asked the bartender to change the $50 note for him, stating by way of expla nation that he wanted to pay off his farm hands. Ho was accommodated, hastily gathered up his change and hurried out He seemed to bo somewhat excited, and the bartender became suspicious and took the bill from tho money-drawer for closer examination. In doing so his wet finger passed over the serial number and the result was the blur. Putting on his hat he started in pursuit of Ninger and found him in the New Jersey Central Railroad ferry-house counting over the change ha had Just received. The Truth Sweated Out. Ninger displayed no surprise when ap proached by the bartender and Informed by that Individual that he was going to havo him arrested. Ninger told the man he would return the 50, and offered at the same time to make the bartender a present of $5 more. The offer was refused and Ninger was turned over to a police man and escorted to the Church-street Police Station, where he gave his name as Joseph Gilbert, and stated that he lived in "Wllkesbarre, Pa., and that he was not married. He claimed that he had received the counterfeit bill from a man In the corridor of the Union Trust Bank building, to whom he had sold two United States $100 bonds. Secret service officers in New York wero notified, and when they saw Ninger arid the notes which he had been passing they were con vinced that he was the man who had caused them so many sleepless nights. The fact of his arrest, however, did not solve the whole question by any means. That he would be convicted of passing the counterfeit notes thero was no doubt, but who "was the maker of the notes? Proof of the fact must be secured at all haz ards. These notes had deceived bankers and business men all over the country for many years, and to be unable to discover the real counterfeiter was losing mora than half the game. Ninger was put through a sweating process, which was so successful that he admitted his truo name and said that he alone was respon sible for the existence of the pen and ink notes. This was proven when the de tectives went to Nlnger's homo in Flag town and secured his outfit, which, be sides pens and pencils and three kinds of inks, included some blocks of water colors. Nlnger's arrest and the unique features of the case attracted wide attention through out the country and especially among tho handwriting experts. Nearly all of them were incredulous, and refused to accept the explanations of the secret service men as to how they were made. One of hem even went so far as to offer a $100 bill for a $20 note that would deceive a newsboy. One of tho prominent New York newspa pers accepted the bet, and the result was that tho expert "crawfished," and he went into a long explanation of how he had been deceived. Worked Fifteen Years for a Clew. Nlnger's first work turned up at the Treasury Department in the redemption division in 1S79, in a batch of notes from one of the subtrecsuries, and was a $20 counterfeit. The expert counter detected the spuriousness of the note, and at once began an investigation. A careful scru tiny under a magnifying glass revealed 1 the fact that the note was a free-hand Era '.4 :f felja i&yhrMwiwi'iaa,vl,., 3 drawing with pen and ink, and tho per fect likeness of the note was so wonderful as practically to defy detection at the hands of any but an expert. Secret serv ice officers were at once notified, but they were unable to do anything -because tho tellers of the subtreasury from which the note was received wero unable to tell how the note came Into their possession. For more than 15 years afterward these mar velous works of art turned up at more or less frequent Intervale, usually arriving at the Treasury in remittances from banks, where they had escaped detection. They came from all over the country, every section contributing Its share to these now famous notes. Secret service detectives worked night and day, but they could obtain no clew. The goncral ap pearance of the notes were so good that no shopkeeper hesitated about accepting them, and when they reached the bankG the chances were even that they would again escape detection, so the officers were blocked at every stage- in endavor Ing to trace them from hand to hand. The chief of the, Secret Service Bureau arid his assistants advanced every theory. One of them was that the maker of the notes was a person of leisure, gifted with the facultj of Imitation, who developed this strange fad as an amusement, and that it pleased him to lead the secret service sleuths a merry chase in pursuit. Until November, 1833, all the notes re ceived at the Treasury Department were $20 and $G0. Then a new specimen of "Jim the Penman's" handiwork turned up. It was a $100 legal tender issuo of 1880 bear ing the portrait of Lincoln, and, like the first, received In a remittance from a sub treasury. "Warnings of this counterfeit, as of tho others, was given the widest publicity. Numerous points were given wherein they differed from the genuine, and how to detect them. One of the sug gestions was that by passing a moistened finger over the serial number the Ink would blur, while in the genuine notes this was not so. It was in the accidental application of this test that finally caused Nlnger's downfall. The secret service officers attributed Nlnger's long immunity from arrest to the fact that he worked alone, having no confederates, and that he did not attempt to put many bills on the market at the same time. The first thing Ninger did was to procure bond paper of about the same quality as that upon which genuine notes arc printed, with the exception, of course, that this paper was without tho silk threads to be found In the genuine. Cutting the paper the exact size of the regular notes, Ninger immersed It in a weak solution of coffee. This Imparted to the paper the appearance of age, and as having passed through several hands. While the paper wa3 still wet it was placed over the face of a genuine note, the edges being exactly together. The two were then placed flat upon a glass, and every figure and letter, portrait and vig nette, together with the signatures and seals, were brought out In bold relief, and could be plainly seen through the trans parent bond paper. The pane of glass was then placed against the window, frame at an angle of about 43 degrees. The light shining through rendered the tracing of the genuine engraving quite distinct. In this position the counterfeiter commenced work, first with an extremely sharp and hard-DoInted pencil. "With It he carefully traced all outlines on the original note. After the note was thoroughly dry the same ground was gone over with pen and ink. It was here that the marvelous touch and skill of the penman was displayed, testing the accuracy of his eye and the steadiness of his nerve. The colors on the note were applied with a camelshalr brush, and these colors so closely resem bled the colors on the genuine note as to contribute materially to the appearance of the counterfeit. Red and blue ink marks were made to take the place of the silk threads which are worked into the pulp of the Government paper. The Treasury seal, which Is placed on all paper cur rency, la almost Invariably placed over a portion of the main design of the note, thus adding difficulty to the tracing of these difficult lines, but Ninger kept at It with wonderful skill and fidelity. Tho same care and attention were not devoted to the back of tho note. It -was usually executed with a brush. In doing this the artist relied mainly upon the coloring to add to the deception. (Copyright, 1S04, by the "Washington Press Association.) J. 3IARTIN MILLER.