Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-12-22
A BOttomless Bog.

Some few evenings ago st. Louis
the Lindell hotel, of James Lafon, who
related to him curious incident. He
says that few days since, having occa-
sion to make visit to Cairo upon bust
ness he mounted good, strong horse, and
started upon a journey through the bottom
lands Of Illinois. N5thing of consequence
happened until within about forty-two
miles of Caro-; there, in a swamp over
grown with jungles of blackberries and
shrubbery common to such spots, he
espied flock of birds, few Of Which he
determined to carry into Cairo as speci-
mems OF his skill in shooting The birds,
however, were shy, and, the anxious
sportsman persevering in the ardor of the
pursuit, he penetrated further into the
swamp. Presently he came upon spot
very much moe open than the rest, no
shrubbery OF any size grew upon it, but
kind Of a coarse grass, interspersed with
clumps Of bulrushes, covered the entire
surface. No sooner had the horses feet
touched the sod than he sank Immediate
ly above his tetlocks. Floundering out of
what the rider supposed to be only mud
hole, the animal leaped forward with con-
to his knees. His rider touched the beast
with the whip to hurry him out of the
bad place. The horse raised himself by
main force from the mire and leaped for
| ward again, apparently as anxious as his
rider to get out Of the bog. This
time, however, he sank almost to his
girth, and the most pc erful efforts on
his part could not result in extracting his
feet from the mud. The more he strug-
gled the further he sank, and in few
minutes ceased altogether to make any
effort to release himself, but remained
perfectly quiet, trembling in every joint.
Mr.. Laffon now began to feel censidera-
BILE alarm he was obliged to extend his
Doth legs out parallel with the body OF
the horse to keep them from sinking in
the bog. His mind instantly reverted to
all the tales of quagmires and quicksands
that he had ever read, and he began to
suspect he had struck something of the
| kind5himself. The situation was looking
gloomy; he must do something; so he
spoke to his horse again, to induce him
to make one more effort, but the poor
beast was beyond the power Of helping
himself. Already part OF his body was
in the black, jelly-like mass of mud,
which everywhere surrounded him. And
Mr.. Laffon discovered, to his horror, that
he was slowly, but surely, getting nearer
III level with the ground.
He felt certain now that unless help
came he must surely disappear with
his horse in this lonely bog and his fate
forever remain q mystery. Determined
not to give way TO despair, he glanced
once more anxiously around, and this
time noticed no more than two or three
yards distant the branches of tolerably
large tree, which, with roots still partially
In the firm ground beyond, had fallen
across the hog Its wide-spreading boughs
had prevented its sinking into the mire,
! and he now felt that to reach that tree was
the only hope OF salvation. He could not
reach it from the position, and he dared
not leap lest the added impetus should
only send him deeper into the bog, with
out enabling him to get hold of the
branches. An idea seized him. He
took the bride from tue horse aud a
hitching strap which he carried with him,
bound them tightly together with some
twine he found IN his pocket, and form
ing sort of moose, threw his impromptu
lasso toward stout dead branch which
projected from the fallen tree. His first
trial failed, also the second and third,
but the fourth succeeded, and he had only
to make the attempt to draw himself to
the tree. He was now standing
upon the back of his doomed
horse, which had sunk several inches
further, and with raised head was looking
with terror stricken eyes back toward his
master, every once in while uttering
pltiful cries. With a last few tender
pats Mr.. Lafron said farewell to his
horse, and leaped from his back as far
as possible. He sank several feet, but
keeping firm hold of the line, he began
to draw himself out hand over hand, and
after hard struggling finally succeeded in
reaching the tree, into which he quickly
drew himself, and carefully crept across
its trunk to terra tirma, thankful for his
miraculous escape from horrible death.
His first thought now was to go for help
and try to rescue his horse For this
purpose he started off on foot for the
nearest cabin. After walking several
miles he encountered couple Of farmers,
and quickly pIocurieg other aid, and
providing themselves with ropes, they