The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-02-04
ALIVE 81 alAssxnFlzls.
The Horrible Death Of Dan kayanaush-rhs
jerky Birds Attracted BY Ms Green Shirt,
Swarm Upon and Eat Him, and Cause
the Death Of His Horse
Marrow Escape Of a
Companion.


While man is the lord Of creation, he
is sometimes sorely distressed by the
most Insignificant objects, just as one of
our townsmen, last summer, was nearly
driven out Of house and home, and his
wits into the bargain, by swallows,
which came In swarms and built mud
nests ON his house. A few years ago
small, red ants appeared in London in
such swarms Is to threaten to depopu-
late the. city. When the grasshoppers
appeared In Missouri, the governor
called upon the people to pray, and the
bold Pixies, who had faced the Federal
cannon, went down on their
TREMBLING MARROW BONES
as straight as a stone sinks in the water.
So much by way of preparing our read
ers for a story which w have heard.
and which is not improbable, but for
the truth Of which we do not vouch.
1t seems that two men were travelling
in Kansas, last summer, and when
dDOuL ulbccu 4llC llOLh 4<lAlaoCy III
the Solomon river, the gra shoppers
appeared over them in such swarms as
to make it as dark as twilight. Sud
denly they began settling down in
warns right where the two men were
riding along on horseback. The jerky
birds came down by
COUNTLESS
and all traces of vegetation disappeared
as if by magic. They covered the
ground several inches deep, and sud-
denly seemed determined to settle on
the men and horses. One of them, a
man named Dan Kavanagh, was thrown
to the ground by the frantic plunging of
his horse, and the grasshoppers, ap-
parently attracted by q green calico
shirt which he wore,
rswARMED UPON HIM,
and in less time than it takes to tell it,
had eaten every shred of clothing from
him, and, horrible to relate, began
devouring him alivel His companion,
a young German named Fred Keiser,
had a blacksnake whip, with which he
managed to fight them off and tried to
ave poor Dan. The horse reared, fell
and rolled over with him, but he man.
aged to regain his seat, and it was not
until Kavanagh had been
SKINNED ALIVE,
and all the muscles and flesh eaten from
his breast and ribs, that Keiser gave up
and galloped away. About sever miles
from the scene he found a ranch, and
was cared for. He was so bitten that
his hands, arms and head swelled to
twice their natural size, and he lay in
the greatest
AGONY AND DELIRIUM
for a week. When he recovered his
horse was dead, and the ranchmen went
with him to the scene of the disaster.
They found nothing but the skeleton of
his companion,
THE BONES PICKED CLEAN
and almost buried in the mass of
grasshoppers, which still covered the
ground to the depth of a foot. His
horses skeleton lay near him, the
voracious insects having eaten flesh,
hide and hair.
AS the ranchmen own nearly a whole
township in that vicinity, which they
are about to sell to IN English colony,
they swore Keiser to secrecy in regard
to the affair, gave him a horse and
" EH "
entire new outfit, and let him go on his
way rejoicing. He says nothing would
e tempt him to go to Kansas again,
as the very memory of the affair is
worse than death itself. j5