Research Catalog

Title

The Ben Lilly legend.

Author

Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964.

Publication

Boston, Little, Brown, [©1950]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 237 pages illustrations, portraits; 21 cm

Summary

• "Tales (both fact and fable) told about a master hunter of the Rockies who in his prime was 'chief huntsman' to Theodore Roosevelt."
• Ben Lilly was the greatest bear hunter in history after Davy Crockett, by his own account and also by the record. Folklorist Dobie met Lilly some twenty years before writing this book, and was so struck by this extraordinary man that he began collecting everything he could find about him. Lilly was born in Alabama in 1856, followed the bear and the panther westward through Mississippi and Louisiana to Texas, leaving a trail of stories about his prowess as a hunter and his goodness as a man. He was at one time "chief huntsman" to Teddy Roosevelt, hunted in Texas and Mexico, and came to be known as the master sign reader of the Rockies. Here are all the stories Ben Lilly told and a great many more Dobie heard about him, put together in a fresh and fascinating contribution to American folklore.--Adapted from book jacket

Subject

• Lilly, Ben, 1856-1936
• Lilly, Ben, 1856-1936
• Bears
• Bear hunting > West (U.S.)
• Predator hunting > West (U.S.)
• Ursidae
• Ursidae (family)
• Bear hunting
• Predator hunting
• West United States

Genre/Form

• Biography
• Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

• Bibliography: p. 225-229.

Contents

Esau the hunter -- Mister Ben Lilly and his book -- The cowwhip -- That hawk kept flying -- Teddy Roosevelt's chief huntsman -- In Texas and Mexico -- Master sign-reader of the Rockies -- "That Taos bear" -- The Lilly dogs -- Ben Lilly on panthers -- The smell of mortality.

LCCN

50007737

OCLC

• ocm01321159
• 1321159
• SCSB-328322

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library