(Copyright, 1916, by Frank 3. Carpen- I I ll - J"K 'Z f i '( J '-'"'-aic 1 1 I I I I - -aV , ' . . . )
FAIRBANKS. During the put few
weeks I have visited some of the
largest fox farms of Alaska. There
are altogether, perhaps, 10 or 12 In the
territory. There are several along the
Tukon River and some not far from
Prince William sound. There la one,
at Copper Center on the trail between
Fairbanks and Valdez. which la aald
to have - 200 foxes, and to have sold
three live ones not long ago for just
about $10,000. There is a farm at
Baker Hot Springs which haa paid as
high as $1500 apiece to the Indians for
black fox pups, and one near here
which has interested Eastern capital
to the amount of $300,000. Judge
Moran, a member of the Alaska Legis
lature, has established a fox farm at
Ehungnak on the Kobuk River In arctie
Alaska. He is raising white foxes
as well as blacks, reds and crosses,
and says that these animals can be
reared just as easily as cattle and hogs.
During my stay in the Klondike I
bad a talk with Albert E. Lamb about
the fox farms at White Horse and
Dawson. Mr. Lamb is the registrar of
Tukon territory and secretary of one
of the fox-farming companies. He says
there are four fox farms in that vicin
ity, and that the furs they produce are
far superior to those of Eastern Can
ada and Prince Edward island. Alaska
and Tukon furs of all kinds are quoted
by fur houses at 20 per cent' higher
than those of Eastern America, and fox
skins from this region are worth 40
per cent more than those caught around
Hudson Bayr Indeed, the best furs of
the world come from the very cold
climates, such as Siberia and Alaska,
and the day will come w.hen the fur
farming industry of these latitudes will
tfe one of the great clothing Industries
of the world.
The business of fur farming was be
gun by the Canadians about 25 years
ago. The flrst fox ranches were on
Prince Edward Island, and that little
Island today has the largest and most
profitable farms in the world.
There
are 210 different companies engaged ana about 10 reet high,
in the business, and their capitalization The wire is much like chicken wire,
Is about $30,000,000. The most of the but is made of tough steel, and it ex
companies are paying dividends, and tends as high above the ground as the
their net profits in 1913 were over $4,- wire about a tennis court. The wire
000,000. The island has about 600 fox Is sunk about four feet in the ground
ranches, and the business has spread and Is then bent over so that it runs
to other parts of Canada. Over 400 under the ground for about two feet,
companies are engaged In It in Nova This is to prevent the foxes from bur
Scotia, Newfoundland and New Bruns- rowing out from under the wire. At
wick, and farms have been started the top the wire has an overhang of
also In Quebec, Ontario and Western two feet, forming a little roof of that
Canada. There are several fox farms width all around the coop. This Is to
In New England, some In New Tork prevent the foxes climbing over the
state and a number in the far north- wire. Each pen has Its own kennel
western part of the continent. made of boards. This Is a house like
The chief originator of fox farming a dog kennel. It is entered by a board
was Charles Dalton, who is now a mil- chute up which the fox runs when it
lionalre member of Parliament. He goes In, and In some cases wooden
was born In Canada and started life
a fur trader and trapper. He real-
lzei the value of fox skins and con-
eluded to see If he could not raise
foxes In captivity. He started with
rea foxes, but about 20 years ago was
able to get two pairs of slivers, which
he bred on his farm on one of the
Islands. He succeeded and kept on
buying wild animals and breeding tame
ones. He was known to have many
fine skins, but no one knew of the
wealth he .was making until the small
banks of the neighborhood refused to
take any more of his cash for deposit,
It then leaked out that he was selling
skins produced on his ranch for prices
which averaged hundreds or dollars
.
rer skin, and that he was fast grow-
lng rich. I have before me a record
of 203 skins sold by him from his farm
on Prince Edward Island. The sales
cover a period of 15 years. In that
time he sold 20S foot skins, which
brought him in Just about $158,000,
. - Hi. AO .lr ln
or on me average tiio.a oiviii.
Dalton also sold foxes for breeding.
When he sold his ranch it had 20 years
of silver foxes upon it. He got $500,-
nan fn f It nr a n avcran rff 125.000 ne'r
pair.
In the meantime the news of Dal-
ton's success had spread over the
world. Other fox-, farms were estab-
lished and were capitalized at large
sums, according 'to the number ot
breeding animals they had. Many of
them have paid large dividends, and it
ll as been shown that, rightly handled,
there Is no other livestock industry
that can produce anything like the
profits of the raising of foxes. ,
But suppose we visit some of the big
fox farms of Alaska. I say big. but
tSere are none 'of them which cover
liore than five or ten acres, and 1, you
want to start a new ranch Alaska e-lvea
you all out of doors to select from. The
first farm we shall see is situated In
the Tanana Valley, a mile and a half
from Fairbanks. It consists of 10 acres
of cleared land the greater part of
which is covered witn pens in which
these little pnimals live, move and have
their being. Looking at it from a dis-
3 ,
tance, the fox farm has the appearance
of a great chicken yard with walls
of woven wire and hen coops of vari
ous sizes inside them. Each of the
Pens Is 50 feet long, eight feet wide
pipes a foot square serve as an en-
trance. The foxes run in and out of
these pipes, and they usually carry
their food Inside to eat it.
There is but one pair of foxes in each
pen. The animals are very timid, and
1 i
THE SILENT THIRD DEGREE
. Continued From Ps 8
ld to Reilly: "I did it. Can they
hang me for thisT"
Now the words "I did it" were some-
thing in themselves, but the detectives
... - -
wamea a iuii conression while the ef-
feet they had created was still strong,
Geidel had come recently from Con-
necticut. where hanging was still legal,
and apparently he did not know that
the death penalty was exacted by elec-
triclty in New Tork.
"No. tfey can't hang you," said
.til .
i"ij.
Then Geidel told the whole sordid
story of how he had climbed to the
room of the aged broker, and when his
Victim discoVATAfl him inw V m. 1
upon the man who had once befriended
him. stuffing the chloroform-soaked
towel about his head and strangling
him at the same time.
Geidel was convicted.
"Abe" Rneffs Experience.
An early form of the silent third de-
gree. In that no questions were asked,
was practiced on "Abe" Rueff, the San
Francisco political boss, who was eon.
vlcted of graft. .
Rueff was in prison awaiting trial.
William J. Burns was handling the
case and was maklna- every effort to
wring a confession from the prisoner.
Thfr. was a keeper in Pth. prison
n.m.n w.r.nvv .-h n
Rueff- cell. Burn, discontinued bl
calls and instructed this man to waken
Rueff every night at 2 o'clock sharp.
This McCarthy did by banging on the
wall with a heavy stool. Rueff. th.
first few nights, did not pay much at-
tention to tne aisturDance, merely turn-
ing over ana going to sleep again. At
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX. PORTLAND, XOVE3IBER 5, 1916.
2N -Hw VF 11 ; - -
u -y ill
ivr V- s SoL '111
tney nave to De nanaiea careruuy. Most There are also small pens or cages after they left. It was currently re- utter of foxes that was being moth
of the fox farmers will net permit vis- roofed with chicken wire outside the ported that they had made $20,000 out . . , . . v.,.
itors to enter their property for fear
they will frighten the foxes. The ani
mals grow crazy when excited, and
they sometimes eat their young. On
the other hand, they get acquainted
with their keepers and there are some
which become so tame that strangers
can handle them. During my visit to
a fox farm on the Tanana River my
daughter, who is with me, picked up
two little silver gray fellows of the
size of kittens and hugged them to her
wniie i maae a snapsnoi. x no noi
know what those foxes are worth at
this writing, but three years ago they
would have brougnt iuuu apiece.
The farm where the foxes are so
tame is near Hot Springs, about three
or four miles from the river. It was
started by men who have been in the
business of foxraising on Prince Ed-
T.i.nA Thv him rAttnn their
breeding stock from the Indians, pay-
In. f r r m Hftrt tn 11500 &nlfiCA for the
animals. The latter price was for a Jet
black fox whose, skin would have
brought almost as much as the price
paid for it. That farm covers about six
last it got on his nerves. He would
Jump off his cot at the first sound and
demand. "What was that?
.McCarthy would make no reply, and
Rueff would run to the barred door of
- . ... .
nis ceil ana iook out w see wo
apparently asleep.
Sometimes he would waken the
keeper and say, "Didn't you hear any-
thing?"
"Not a sound." McCarthy would an-
ewer.
This formula was gone through night
-a 1 1 1 .11 . m nlnn Pitaff
aiier aisui uuin wu vuw u". 1 " -" --
leaped from bed. to find McCarthy wide
awake.
"Didn't you hear anything' at all?"
m ni A f Vi jk nHinnAr.
"Nothin" but you talkln in your
sleep." said McCarthy.
T ..a
i -1- "
Rueff, alarmed.
"The graft cases," said MoCarthy.
"My heavens!" cried Rueff. "Am I
Kolng crazy? My mind must be getting
unsettled. I want to see Burns to
morrow.
. . . , . . .
prisoner. Rueff tried to bring up
Kraft cases, but Burns turned to other
subjects, until at last itueit Droi
down and half shouted: "Look here.
Bums, you've got to listen to thlsl It s
y confession!"
Then he told the whole story, which
a stenographer took down. Afterward
ne repudiated this confession.
It
was silent witnes.es that wrung
a confession fromHani
ffia"?..? rec
from Hans Schmidt, the
Anna Aumlller.
tr M rent nt and kv
to tne apartment In which the girl was
killed and a photograph of the girl her-
self Inspector Faurot traced Schmidt
Mfi
Thousand-Dollaf Foxes
Being 'Oa feed LiKe
Ghiotois On
Of TfieYuKon.
acres, divided up into woven wire pens,
The ,wire is of steel and the mesh is
about an inch in diameter.
Another farm on the Tanana is that
belonging to two brothers named Va-
chon. It is situated at Tolovana, about
135 miles from Fairbanks, and Its high
wire fence can be plainly seen from
vuv Leuucr. xue t&rni proper raien isiouo. inesi men came Acre xo ouy
five acres, all fenced with steel wire Mve foxes from the Indians and trap
and divided ud into compartments, pers. Ther purchased a number and.
main lnclosure and near the bank of
the river. Amonir the older foxes there
are 17 fine silver grays and a number
of blacks. The cagas near the river
seem to be devoted mostly to the ba-
bles.-'The latter are the size of kittens
and are far more cunning and pretty.
" They have long, bushy tails, little
sharp noses, and their eyes sparkle like
Jet. In the same pens are bs?by mar-
tens, with heads not hiF than iho
fiat of a baby and eyes the size of a
a
a
of
"I
DiacK-neaaea pin. The marten has
gorgeous yellow throat. The rest of
its fur is a rich brown. It is really
same, ana is sometimes known as the
Alaska sable, the best of which are
equal to the sables of Russia.
To return to the big ten-acre fox
farm at Fairbanks it belongs to men
who live here in Alaska, and to other.
In tiw Tik t.a tc T.r... t.
started a year or so ago with a
tlllt7tlnn nf hnll t HAAAItn C n aM
about $60,000 has been invested, and
this includes the cost of the farm and
the equipment and the breeding anl
r ani-
.11 the
mala. The land, kennels and
to the rectory of the church where he
was acting as a priest.
The inspector and the men with him
waited in the reception-room while the
suspected man came downstairs.
"Is this Hans SchmidtT" asked Faurot
as he stepped to tho side of the bogus
prlest. ,
"I am he." said Schmidt.
-wfc . iiiivr uwwavu m-m A L
aurot reacnea into his pocket as If
searching for .nmothlne-. wiihdr..in.
It, he fumbled with the rent receipt for
the apartment where the girl had been
murdered and with the key to the door.
Schmidt saw them in his hand and must
have recognized them, for he glanced
nervously toward the door, and his
fingers began twisting and untwisting
convulsive!"
Hans Schmidt Con f esse.
As though this was not what ha was
looking for, Faurot thrust his hand
ma' Into his pocket.
This time he
withdrew it like a flash and before
Schmidt's terrified eyes had ceased to
- . . . . . . . . . ..
aeruur tne receipt ana siey ine aeiecuve
thrust in front of him a picture of
Anna Aumlller.
"You killed that girl, didn't your'
Faurot almost shouted. "You not only
killed her but you cut up her body,
didn't your .
tne J -
th tbiVof trbogut.,pr.:.T HeVtar0
ner the brow of the bogus priest. He stag-
0Ka gered and clutched th. arm of hi. ac-
Bracu.er for support.
lor upport.
. .
f , "i,
' : .. . " .
There Faurotm.de his prisoner sit on
the edge of the very bed on which he
hd Pt Anna Aumlller to death. Rapld-
ly the detective sxetcnea le outline
of a human figure, and banding the
dr.nlnr tn Rrhmldt aald:
"Now. show me how you cut up the
body of the girl you killed."
The prisoner took a pencil and lndl-
TTie DanKs
machinery cost $18,000, and the breed-
lng animals $17,000. There are alto-
gether about 200 animals, including
foxes and others, and all that Is needed
to care for them is two men.
The Alaskan owners became inter-
ested In fox farming by a visit from
some of the farmers of Prince Edward
of their sales.
the owners of the farm, then went East
to look Into fox farming. He arrived
there In 114 and learned of the profits
of the Industry and its possibilities,
He thought It ridiculous that the farm-
era of Alaska should not be able to
do w those of Canada, ea-
Peclally ' a this country has better
foxes and makes better fur. When he
came back he aided in organising the
company.
The Fairbanks fox farm is making a
scientific study of the rearing of fur-
bearing animals. It keep, records ot
company.
"' " Di-ocuina. im
wm b Pedigreed and registered and
ine animals
all crosses will be carefully reported.
Tho effect of different kinds of food on
ln Iur w,u D notea- na lno 1,r"
lory of Mch Pa,r of carefully
kept. The company keeps a cost-ao-
srVthlnieoM
artificial furs as far as
Is concerned.
lfc " - V- rciyii.iug
lt
,tth.6 "L" . P""fli!,r " fr
concerned.
I have asked a number of tha man-
agers as -to the food used for their far-
cated how the body had been dlsmem-
bered. The lines corresponded exactly
with the parts which had been discor-
ered. Bit by bit Schmidt detailed the
crime for which he was later con-
demned to die.
, A variation of the silent third degree
was practiced with results by William
Allender. chief of detectives of St. Louis,
in the case of Barbara Arnold, accused
1 11 111 n III 4 ai U fcl Bk, -Ti. 1 11U1U, u C- u
r , Tt.-it.. .n wmrt.
emere hotels in that city, resulting
the loss of several lives.
For two hours AUender. alone with
the girl in his office, had questioned
her. with no result. He himself was
worn out with fatigue and exaspera
tion, yet he knew If he lost his temper
the girl would have the advantage of
him.
Suddenly he wheeled and held out
toward Barbara a handful of matches.
Xow, Barbara." he said, in matter of
fact tones, "show us how you set fire
to the Wlndemere."
lr..L.r..H. . V. 1.1 . v
n-npivu iu an vut tiwuau
motions with her hands as though
scraping together a little pile of paper
and waste, struck a match. and for an
instant held It to the Imaginary tinder,
With a cry she dropped tha match
on the heavy rug of the office ana
. - " . .
EbTT
table. ,
When . ha was calm again .he con-
fes.ed that ahe had set fire to the hotel
"V." , Y " . . " ' III . " . " 1
ZZZmtmi. -rested the ITrl V'r.A
'IV.'M'n fritfA
strain the suggestion, so subtly made.
forced her to act as she did.
Roumanian Titles.
Indianapolis News.
Roumanian - tradition, are demo
cratic Jn that the language Ignores
title, of nobility. In Roumanla the
77ir-jy Pofr WsYaf 5is?r 77zjr ?Ars?s- AorZft
bearing animals. On the fox farm
here It costs til a year to feed a fox, fa
to feed a mink and $4.80 to feed a marten-
or sable. The animals are given
salmon, moose meat, horse meat and
rabbits, and also carrots and turnips.
On the fox farm near Dawson a com
mon feed is rice and rabbits cooked to
gether into a stew. One farm there
feeds 16 rabbits and 15 pounds of rice
a day to 42 foxes. The stew is fed
cold morning and evening. The foxes
will come out of their dens and grab
It and carry It inside with them. After
a while they come back and get more.
McCreary, who owns a fox farm at Cop
per Center, varies his fox food between
rabbits and meat and fish. He gives
them two cooked meals a day and a
third meal of raw rabbits, throwing
In as many as 50 rabbits for a single
feed. The farmers of Prince Edward
Island have found tha foxes must have
plant food or vegetables. In their wild
state they eat not only flesh, but grain
and berries, and If the lattetr Is with
held they become wormy. Other good
foods outside of flesh are biscuits,
yeast bread, porridge, apples, milk and
eggs. Tha animals will eat dog bis
cuit, but they prefer plain hardtack.
Bread Is liked better If grease drip
pings are poured upon it- Some farm
ers use tallow as butter, around bone
is sometimes given, and a little lime
water Is fed to growing foxes with
their milk. Toung foxes are fed all
they will eat. When they get older It
u not w-u fop th9,r fur to them
too fat.
On the farm at Fairbanks I saw one
wmcn. wnen s'".
worth $500 to siooo apiece, ana possi- $20,000 fled off into the woods. The
bly more. Themother of these foxes Indians could not help themselves for
was a very nervous animal and the fear of the law.
farmers feared she tnlghfc kill her In tne Yukon, when an Indian finds a
yOUag. So they were taken away and fox ncst C8 watches It until the closed
mlra to the cat in place of her kit- ,ea,on OTer n then tries to trap
temt Ttl9 cat adopted them and ehe.the with traps, so protected by
. them as thoueh they were wrappings that they will hold the ani-
, w-v 1.1.. t-v.. .,. a.
flolUp foxeB eem ltk. thcr new
mothmr qult, as well as their old one.
h tell lt ,. neCessary
tcaround 1 "ox fl for
dollar foxes seem to like their new
-uch complications. They say that one
mJin in.EaBtern Canada lost a litter of
B,lT f-xe8 bTOanll(S wou, not pay
a high price for a cat. The mother of
the foxes had died, and in looking
around to find a cat in the proper con-
U B aBn?fUnS? " L,ell,hl" cat for
le" thn 500- Th" fo farm" wa
Indignant and refused. The result was
his need and refused to sell his cat for
that he lost five little foxes that might
have been worth $25.000. and all for a
title of his or her "highness" or "his
excellency," is given only to the
foreigner. The national idiom knows
only one appellation of this kind, "thy
grandeur." "Matrla ta." and this is re-
served for the sovereign. The men
call each other -brother" even In mo-
ments of anger. "Marquis" and
"countess" are two expressions which
nave in nonmuu a mgnunsuc.
tended to wound. A
"little prince" Is
In a ciown. im most asionisning ining
is that the word "king" In ordinary
is far from conpllmentary. In
Roumanian a scoundrel will be "a king
of the old court": and miserable
wretch may be "a king and a half";
"the last of the bandits"; "a king to be
hanged." This aversion is for the
word, sot for the thing, for Rou-
TO.anl Tom a principality became a
In the Roumanian translation of the
Bible the -Book of Kings" has become
tb,e "Book of the Emperors.
Baths to Ease Palaw
At the large open-air hospital con
nected with the University of Cam
bridge, England, it ' was found that
many of the patients arriving there
had such terrible wounds that the pain
maae necessary sucn large ana ire-
f P,at" ""
ress was seriously retarded. In an at-
u t to remedy thla, Colonel Griffiths
MW kMDa -omfortablv
made necessary such large and fre
now keeps these cases comfortably
"Pnaa lQ tub lch wa-
M 100 dTe" f-r..h.lt is con-
tlnnaliy running, unt case wnicn is
raferred to had iain on a rubber mat-
tress In a bath of this character for
six weeks, and while for a period be
fore entering tne bath the uncontrol
able pain from a laceration of the thigh
was so great that the officer feared he
would go Insane, in the bath he had not
felt anything worse than the usual dls-
comfort from long confinement in bed
7
)
f lve-hundred-dollar cat. One fox raised
by a cat here at Fairbanks had a pelt
which was valued at $800.
The breeding of foxes is very care
fully handled. At mating time the ani
mals are sensitive to strange sights,
noises and smells, and the ranches are
closed to everyone but the keepers
Dogs and other animals are kept out
of the neighborhood, and the keepers
sometimes watch the pens from a dark
chamber, out of which they look
through a small window. It takes 50
days or more after mating before the
animals bear. They have only one lit
ter a year, and a litter may consist of
from one to nine pups. A fox will con
tinue to bear up to 10 or 11 years of
age and will mate at eight months of
age. The young look like dog pups and
play and bark Just like dogs. I am told
that silver gray foxes usually breed
true to their color and that cross foxes
will sometimes throw black foxes. A
cross fox is the marriage of the black
and the red.
- There is a great demand among the
fox farmers for wild foxes for breeding.
When the Fairbanks farm was started
they paid as high as $1000 apiece for
black foxes, and $100 and upward for
red ones. The Indians brought them In
for sale and they are doing so now.
There Is a closed season for killing
foxes, but some of the farmers have
been paying the Indians for the live
young they catch, and shipping them
to the east as ranch-bred. The other
day the Government fur warden here
found 42 live young In the hands of
Indians, and turned them all loose.
This number Included 1C blacks, worth
at least $1000 or more apiece. When
they let the foxes go. from $1,000 to
n without injuring them.
Thr has been a great change In the
xnere nas been a great change In the
J"" of "" n? f "" " the
brkln out of the great war in Eu-
-ediateiy following that time
the great firm of Lampsoni in London,
which bandied practically all of the
furs of the world, closed its doors and
declared it would hold no sales during
the war. This knocked the life out of
the fur trade and prices fell. This was
so during 1914 and 1915. ordinary fog
th were
Beavers brought less thai
and marten and lynx skin.
th. rT1.rk..f - . .
their value
B y,,.,,.. , . . , ..
1915 ur8 Degan to go up and they are
now rast COming back to' their old fig-
UreS. Thev will mnllnna n
ana suver fox skins will probably be
worth more than ever before.
A, lt now a good black or a silver
fox 8kin DrinKS an enormous price. The
firm at Fairbanks has averaged $75t
for BKinB of that kind sold In London,
x haTe ,h0wn how Dait0n got an aver-
aga of 77g for 20S 8Klna. xt OM Uma
KOt $-3,000 for 24 silver fox pelts.
and of those three brought over $1500.
a pieoa. one sold for more than $2500
ana the average for the whole 25 was
mora than 11400 a nHw Tn Xf.r-, Kin
47C silver fox sic Ins ver aold at nrt
tlon ,n London, bringing from $500 to
$2700 per skin, of which more than half
of the skins, selling for $500 or more,
came from fox farms. At the last sale
at Lampaon's the average price of the
wild silver fox skins was $200, and that
for the skins from the best ranches
$1200.
These figures show that the best
Bkn. of the world now come from the
fox farms. The grade will probably
improve with careful feeding and breed
ing and a better, knowledge of foxes.
More skins will be produced, and while
prices will fall probably, the best skins
will always command a very high sum.
Not only the silver fox. but the red fox.
the cross fox. the blue fox and the
White fox are now belns- rn1it.il in
" "h- farms' also mtr-
t.n ,nk and other fUr-harin m-
msL The habUs of 111 tre being
?. .J V "!..."n'
studied and it is only a question of
time when the fur'farmlng Industry
will have its place among the textile
and great clothing Industries of the
world. This industry will be carried on
largely in Alaska and every cold
weather farmer will have his five or
more acres of pens devoted to animal
farming. His money crop will be furs.
Ju,t wheat and cotton are the money
crops of most of the farmers of the
United States.