The Killer Wolf
A story of Lewis Levi Painter, Harding County, South Dakota
Author: Robert Lewis Painter, grandson of Lewis Levi Painter
Story told by Joe Painter, son of Lewis Levi Painter (the author’s uncle)
Subject: Lewis Levi Painter
Setting: Harding County, South Dakota
Submitted by: Melinda Painter
NOTE ON METHOD
Transcribed verbatim from the scanned page. Original spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraph breaks are preserved, including apparent typographical irregularities. Nothing has been silently corrected. Editorial observations are confined to the flags following the text.
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My Uncle Joe Painter used to tell a story about an encounter his father, Lewis Levi Painter had with a killer wolf.
A killer wolf is one that kills just for the joy of killing. They kill an animal and gorge themselves on the carcass. They don’t return to eat on it again. Instead, they kill something else and do the same thing over again. Grandpa had sustained a considerable loss of livestock one winter when there were still wolves in Harding County, South Dakota.
One early morning, he was out riding on his cattle, and came on a fresh wolf kill. Just as he rode up to it, a lone wolf took off running from him. He was riding Old Chaska, which he considered to be his best horse. He took down his rope and began to chase the wolf. having gorged on the dead beef, the wolf was pretty sluggish, but he could still run faster than the horse.
He evidently chased the wolf quite a ways before he caught it. No record was kept on how many loops it took, but he roped the wolf. Chaska must have been pretty tired by then, because Uncle Joe always said he was “wind broke” after this was over. Grandpa was one of the ropers for CY, so he probably caught him pretty quick.
He no doubt had to drag the wolf pretty fast to keep it from biting the rope in two. He must have dragged it pretty far, because the wolf was acting rather quiet when he came up to George Elger chopping wood. Grandpa asked George to finish the wolf off with his ax. George was so scared of the rather limp wolf that he made Grandpa drag it around in another big circle before he would get close enough to put the wolf out of his misery.
George Elger never was a family hero for his part in killing the wolf. The Elger homestead was near the butte on the Elger Ranch by that name. It is a very prominent landmark in that area.
Robert Lewis Painter, grandson of Lewis Levi Painter
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TRANSCRIBER’S FLAGS
1. Typographical irregularity preserved. Second paragraph: “began to chase the wolf. having gorged on the dead beef” — the lowercase h after the period appears as shown in the source. Almost certainly a comma or semicolon was intended, or the sentence was recast during typing and not cleaned up. Note it if this is ever set in type for publication.
2. Internal tension in the same sentence. The wolf “could still run faster than the horse,” and the next paragraph opens with Grandpa chasing it “quite a ways before he caught it.” Both can be true — a faster animal that is gorged and tiring loses a long chase to a horse that can be paced — and the detail that Chaska came out “wind broke” supports a long pursuit rather than a sprint. Worth leaving alone. It reads as a man telling it honestly rather than tidily.
3. Grandpa was one of the ropers for CY. This is the single most researchable fact in the document. The CY brand belonged to the CY Ranch, the Wyoming outfit associated with Joseph M. Carey, which ran cattle over a wide northern range in the open-range era. Confirm the outfit and, if possible, the years.
4. Old Chaska. Chaska is a Dakota name given to a firstborn son. The naming of the horse is itself a small piece of cultural evidence about Harding County in that era and may be worth a sentence if this is ever annotated.
5. Undated. The story carries no year. Bounds can be set from two directions: Lewis Levi Painter’s own dates, and the extirpation of wolves from Harding County. The phrase “when there were still wolves” tells you the author knew he was describing a vanished condition. South Dakota bounty records should narrow it.
6. Connection to the Painter email thread. The author is very likely the “Bob” of “Bob & Jan Painter” in the July 2014 “For Your Painter Stories” correspondence — the Bob whom Cindy Painter asked to read her ranch history for corrections. Note also that those emails argue the South Dakota Magazine story should have read “Lewis” and not “Louis.” This document, signed by a Robert Lewis Painter naming his grandfather Lewis Levi Painter, is direct evidence on that point. Melinda Painter, who submitted this page, is also a recipient on that thread.
7. Index entries. Persons: Lewis Levi Painter; Joe Painter; Robert Lewis Painter; George Elger; Melinda Painter. Animals: Old Chaska (horse). Places: Harding County, South Dakota; the Elger homestead; Elger Ranch and the butte of that name. Brands: CY.