A lifetime with wild animals: a lecture by "Buffalo" Jones

              A Lifetime with Wild Animals
A LECTURE BY
BUFFALO JONES
(COL. CHARLES J. JONES, OF FREDONIA, ARIZONA)

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BUFFALO JONES

Personal
COLONEL CHARLES J. JONES, popularly known as Buffalo Jones, is the recognized preserver of the great American bison.  That is the reason he is called Buffalo Jones.  It is universally conceded that he is the greatest living authority on these animals.

He has been associated almost from infancy with the wild animals of the West.  For years he was Government Game Warden of Yellowstone Park.  He originated the famous catalo, and the Persiarino sheep, two distinct animals, destined to be universally adapted to meat and robes.  He has also demonstrated the practicability of raising Persian sheep in this country.  Recently he made a year's trip into the Barren Lands to bring out live musk oxen.  He has probably experienced more stirring adventures with wild animals on their native heath than any other American.

President Roosevelt says of him: Some of his ('Buffalo' Jones') exploits with wild animals are hazardous to the point of astonishment.  For instance, he has made numerous captures of full grown mountain lions.  His feat of manicuring the grizzly bears in the Yellowstone Park is noted the country over.  And he also instituted the proceeding of whipping bad bears in the Yellowstone Park, thus making man-fearing bears of them.  Colonel Jones says that a tame wild animal is the most dangerous thing in the world.  The bears in the park were becoming too tame.  They needed discipline.



The Lecture
The New York Sun said of Colonel Jones in 1905, that he was the greatest after-dinner speaker that had come to Broadway within that year.  He is a delightfully pleasing speaker and considering the subject matter of his lecture, a combination is effected that makes for rapt interest.  The lecture is educational, in spite of its unusual dramatic qualities, as evidenced by the fact that within the present season Colonel Jones has appeared at many prominent educational institutions, including Yale, West Point, Dartmouth and other colleges.






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The Pictures
There are twenty-five minutes of moving pictures exhibited during the lecture, also a number of stereopticon slides.  Without doubt they are the most wonderful pictures of their kind ever exhibited to any audience in any country.  None of them is posed, but they are all real, with the reality that breathes of the wild life of the great West.  In addition to those in which Colonel Jones is seen capturing a full grown mountain lion, and whipping a bear, there are others showing a buffalo fight, wild steers being roped, stampedes of buffalo, elk, deer, antelope and a flock of the wary mountain sheep.  There are all sorts of pictures of our Western animals.


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A rarity is Col. Charles Jones of Fredonia, Arizona.  Hunter, scout, politician, lecturer and breeder of hybrids is Buffalo Jones, as he is called from one end of the country to the other.  Maybe it will interest people generally to know that the Colonel is also a fast friend of President Roosevelt.  In 1901 he was that mighty sportsman's guide for several weeks in the Yellowstone.  The Colonel has just paid his first visit to Boston.  Here he told many audiences about his experiences with the buffalo and other wild animals.  He showed a large number of unusually splendid pictures of western life, especially of the bison and the elk of the West.  In his ripe middle age Col. Jones is not only a most interesting talker on animals, but on any topic of the West — that was.  The Colonel is a dignified looking man of about sixty, who shows no special unusual external idiosyncrasies, perhaps for the reason that he takes his work very seriously and does not care to pose.
BOSTON (MASS.) HERALD, Jan. 12, 1908.


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A few Comments on the Man, his Lecture and his Pictures
'Buffalo' Jones is one of the mighty products of our Western civilization: one that an American may well be proud of.  As a hunter and sportsman he has few equals, and none surpass him.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

The destruction of the bison was a national crime, committed not only by the United States, but by our beloved Canada also.…  I congratulate you, Mr. Jones, upon your noble efforts to preserve these wonderful animals.

KING EDWARD VII.

'Buffalo' Jones deserves a crown in that he has preserved to us a noble race of animals.

ELLA BARTON.


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Your lecture has given me more to think about than anything I have heard in many years.

PRESIDENT HADLEY, of Yale, to Mr. Jones.

He ('Buffalo' Jones) has endeavored heroically, and as no other living man has done, to preserve the bison from extinction.

WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, In report to the 51st Congress of the United States.

'Buffalo' Jones' pictures of wild animals are the most wonderful I have seen.

WILLIAM J. LONG.


'Buffalo' Jones lectured yesterday afternoon at the Columbia Theatre on 'A Lifetime with Wild Animals.'…  Some of the moving pictures shown appeared so real that women and children screamed.—
WASHINGTON POST.


'Buffalo' Jones' moving pictures shown at Wilson College last night beggar description.
CHAMBERSBURG (PA.) REPUBLIC.

New Haven, Conn., February 28th, 1907.

To Whom It May Concern:—I have had the great pleasure of hearing Col. C. J. Jones, better known as 'Buffalo' Jones, give his lecture on wild animals, illustrated by the stereopticon and moving pictures.  I can truthfully say that this is one of the most entertaining lectures I have ever heard in my life.  The pictures are so extraordinary that one must see them to enjoy them; it is impossible to describe them adequately.  The lecture itself was delightful, full of good sense, keen humor and personal charm.  Everyone who hears Col. Jones and sees his wonderful pictures is sure to receive, in a very high degree, a combination of instruction and entertainment.

Faithfully yours,
WM. LYON PHELPS, Professor of English Literature, Yale University.

Exeter, New Hampshire, February 7th, 1908.

All who attended the lecture by Col. Jones on 'A Lifetime with Wild Animals' were perfectly delighted with it.  It was considered to be the best of all the lectures we have had this winter on the Merrill Lecture Course.…  You may also say that the other managers of the lecture course (Prin. Amen and Prof. Tufts, of Phillips Exeter Academy) were as much pleased with the lecture as I was.

ARTHUR O. FULLER (Chairman.)

MANAGEMENT REDPATH LYCEUM BUREAU
BOSTON   PHILADELPHIA   CHICAGO

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