Whether or not fox hunting comes under the head of rest, the only approved way of spending the Sabbath, is still a question in the mind of the fox. However, on Sunday afternoon, June 4th, W.L. Curtis, Mayor of Ahoskie, in company with Mrs. Curtis, and Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, and children of both families, enroute to Murfreesboro, had just crossed Liverman’s Mill and was speeding along comfortable, considering whether or not he should run for mayorality for the next term. Suddenly from the bushes a challenge to “run” for the woods on the other side of the road flashed out in form of a young fox. Confidence in his ability as a runner, having been excited by his meditations, the mayor sprang from the car and the campaign was on. Mr. Hayes taking a stand on the former base of a pine in order to observe the fight to better advantage, began to cheer, and thus became “stump-speaker” for Mr. Curtis. The race was a close one, but the fox gained the desired position be a small majority (of inches). Mr. Curtis saw his own defeat, but the mayor was to learn a lesson from this campaign, that even from the teeth of defeat victory is possible to the chivalrous. As a drowning man grasps at a straw, the mayor in a grand attempt to bear his defeat graciously, gave the victor a low sweeping bow. During this operation the defeated one removed and brought very near the ground his Sunday hat, into which the little fox with a last effort to hide itself, jumped. The leap was made with such force that the creature was thrown backward into a little pool of water where he lay trembling until the mayor took him up.
Almost intoxicated with the glories of a hard earned and well deserved victory, Mr. Curtis presented the fox to his little son, who took it with him to Murfreesboro and on the same afternoon sold it to the President of Chowan College for fifty cents. Mr. Vann is now training the animal not to catch chickens by feeding it chicken bones, thus discouraging its natural tendencies toward fowl chasing by making this unnecessary. The friends of Mr. Curtis are of the opinion that with a little training he would become a first class fox-‘terror’.
From The Hertford County Herald, Ahoskie, N.C., Friday, June 10, 1921
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