Globe some remarks he had prepared regarding restricting the killing of buffalo, which was granted.[1]
On January 5, 1874, Mr. Fort, of Illinois, introduced a bill (H. R. 921) to prevent the useless slaughter of buffalo within the Territories of the United States; which was read and referred to the Committee on the Territories.[2]
On March 10, 1874, this bill was reported to the House from the Committee on the Territories, with a recommendation that it be passed.[3]
The first section of the bill provided that it shall be unlawful for any person, who is not an Indian, to kill, wound, or in any way destroy any female buffalo of any age, found at large within the boundaries of any of the Territories of the United States.
The second section provided that it shall be, in like manner, unlaw. ful for any such person to kill, wound, or destroy in said Territories any greater number of male buffaloes than are needed for food by such person, or than can be used, cured, or preserved for the food of other persous, or for the market. It shall in like manner be unlawful for any such person, or persons, to assist, or be in any manner engaged or concerned in or about such unlawful killing, wounding, or destroying of any such buffaloes; that any person who shall violate the provisions of the act shall, on conviction, forfeit and pay to the United States the sum of $100 for each offeuse (and each buffalo so uulawfully killed, wounded, or destroyed shall be and constitute a separate offense), and on a conviction of a second offense may be committed to prison for a period not exceeding thirty days; and that all United States judges, justices, courts, and legal tribunals in said Territories shall have jurisdiction in cases of the violation of the law.
Mr. Cox said he had been told by old hunters that it was impossible to tell the sex of a running buffalo; and he also stated that the bill gare preference to the Indians.
Mr. Fort said the object was to prevent early extermination; that thousands were annually slaughtered for skins alone, and thousands for tbeir tongues alone; that perhaps hundreds of thousands are killed every year in utter wantonness, with no object for such destruction, He had been told that the sexes could be distinguished while they were running.[4]
This bill does not prohibit any person joining in a reasonable chase and hunt of the buffalo.
Said Mr. Fort, “So far as I am advised, gentlemen upon this floor representing all the Territories are favorable to the passage of this bill.”
- ↑ Congressional Globe, April 6, 1872, Forty-second Congress, second session.
- ↑ Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 1, Forty-third Congress, p. 371.
- ↑ Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 3, Forty-third Congress, first session, pp. 2105, 2109.
- ↑ I know of no greater affront that could be offered to the intelligence of a genuine buffalo-hunter than to accuse him of not knowing enough to tell the sex of a buffalo "on the run" by its form alone. — W.T. H.
