East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1865-05-17
An Exploit on the Plains.

A commission is now in session in
St. Louis for the examination oi
quartermasters in the army, touching
their qualifications, &c. Among the
officers summoned before this examin-
ing board, is Capt. j. L. .McCusick
A. @. M. at Fort Wadsworth, Dakota
Territory, a resident of Saltwater
MINI. Fort Wadsworth is on the
Coteau river, near latitude 46, and is
beautiful place in the summer time
1t is q nest of beautiful lakes, and its
site was chosen by Capt. McCusicls
who is familiar with that region Of
country, having hunted Indians and
buffaloes over hundreds of miles Of it
Some three or four months ago
Capt McCusick went out with a
scouting party to look for Indians,
but failing to discover any signs Of
the red skins, he turned his attention
to herd of about two hundred buffa-
loes that were grazing, rolling, paving
and believing on the prairie in fair
view. Mounted on his favorite charg-
or, and armed with Smiths carbine,
he made dash at the herd, and sue
ceeded in overhauling lazy old bull
weighing about 1000 pounds, who
was too dignified to run as fast as the
vulgar herd Of cows, yearlings and
younger bulls of the drove. Leveling
his carbine he was preparing to lodge
bullet in the shoulder blade of the
monarch of the plains, when his horse
stepped into gopher hole, throwing
the rider almost under the heels OF
the buffalo. Luckily the captain fell
on the feshy part of his back and
sustained no injury. AS the bull
passed over him, he caught the ami
NAL by the fore hoof, and springing
to his feet, drew his knife and threw
himself on the bulls neck, holding
on to the long shaggy hair which
adorns the head and shoulders of the
masculine members of the bison fam
lily. His situation was not one of the
most agreeable; for the bull, not liking
the familiarity of his acquaintance,
endeavored to imnale him nnon one
The captain avoided both horns of
the dilemma, and, being man of
immense physical power, held fast,
and did not relinquish his grip. For
the space Of ten minutes he held fast
the bull meantime turning round to
tickle the ribs of his tormentor. After
waltzing with his hirsute partner until
the animal showed signs of fatigue
and thrust out about two yards of his
tongue, the captain seized the bull by
the nose with one hand, and catching
one of his horns with the other, gave
sudden twist and flipped the buffalo
over on his side. BY this time, some
of the men, seeing the predicament
their leader was in, came up and
offered assistance, but the captain told
them to keep back, as he thought he
could hold his own. The bull strug-
gled violently, but the giant Mime
sotian held his head down, and in a
short time sent his knife into the
monsters jugular, and the bull gave
up the ghost. The contest lasted
about 20 minutes, and was the most
scientific set-to that has taken place
in Dakota for many day. The victor
cut off the bulls head, had it dried,
and sent it to Saltwater as trophy.
The fame of this exploit reached
the ears of the Indians, who were
told that there was a chief among the
pale faces who would whip a buffalo
in fair fist fight. On learning these
facts, Red Feather, famous chief in
Dakota, marched his tribe TO Fort
Wadsworth and surrendered his whole
band to Capt. McCusick. He said he
did not believe the story of the white
man knocking bull down with his
fist, but when he saw the brawny
captain, he said it might be so.-&
Louis Democrat. t