St. Landry democrat., 1879-05-10
'lAME BUFFALOES.
CnrsoGs Habits of sfsp sVtId sEerGs of shs
Plains In Private Life.

| CnrioGs Habits of she syili EEerds of she
! Plains in Private Life.
C)l Ezra Miller, once state senator
from Rock county, Wis and also post
MASTER at Evansville, is the inventor and
proprietor OF the Miller platform and
buffer, in large use in railway cars, and
has acquired splendid fortune from
| this invention. He has farm in New
jersey, and has been experimenting il
raising bufAloes and tanning them. In a
recent interview he described them at
some length as follows: We have had no
trouble i'll raising them, and they nerd
with the other cattle On the best Of
terms. What surprised me is their
weakness. I supposed they were very
powerful, but they are not. ! have seen
yearling Aiierney bull push Bill, the
buffalo bull, when he was three years
old, right up hill. They are fast, but
they ale not strong. They are also very
cowardIy. very play, and very cum
ming.
| have studied their habits and have
been greatly amused. If one OF them
sees you shut gate, he'll go up and
open it Immediately after you; but he
won't go out OF the gate. had them in
that lot there, and noticed that a length
OF the fence that separated the pasture
from lid of rye was down. I sent
man to nail it up Bill stood just behind
him, and watched him closely. The man
had not got to the house before Bill
gravely walked up to the tence, put his
horLs under the lower board and ripped
the whole length down, and then quietly
turned and walked away. One day the
men were working on that aide hill with
barrows. At noon while they were eat
ing dinner under that shed they heard
rattle, and down came Bill, the handle
of the barrow on each horn, wheeling it.
He wheeled it to the foot of the hill
there, when it turned over. Then he
tried to get it back. l have seen him
roll a barrel half way up the hill and
then let it roll down, and every time The
barrel bounced over stone, Bill grunt>
ed and jerked up his ridiculous tail
Tney don't below like our cattle. They
grunt.
One day some girls who were visiting
here from New YORK city went on
the hill Tor black berries, carrying
small tin pail such as the men use in
carrying salt when they salt the cattle.
B II saw the pail, and, though afraid OF
the girls, slowly walked towards them.
They slowly edged away. Bill to'loNed
The girls walked faster; so did Bill
Bill broke into trot, and down the hill
they came, the girls still holding the
pail, and frightened out of their wits,
and Bill behind longing for salt. DANCED
if those girls did mt climb ,,nat high
fence there within three lengths OF an
open gate. They never sag it. Bill
It ,pr ed with a grunt and frEk of his
tail.
A curious thing is the II dance. call
it their war dance, and believe the In.
dians got the idea oi lie dance from them
as well as the grunt, Those three bufa-
loes would 60 up among those cedars
and Bill would rev up against one, put
his fore legs arouy d it, aud bend it down
to the ground. Then The Others would
join him, and they'd all stand over the
bent sap'ing. Suddenly, at given
gruns, they'd jump away, and, as the
saplng spy ang up with a switch, they'd
start in u circle around it, one be enino
the other, jumping stiff legged, coming
down ON all four ieet at time, and at
each jump all grunting.