St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-01-05
Hunting Buffalo.

lessee OF Inc milwaukee, DElfIuS IdLhs
have seen a rather small man, but they
have seen man who is as full of BUSH
ness as any man in the world. He is
chain lightning in anything he under
takes, and enthusiastic to the last de-
gree. At the time the Buffalo Bill
party was here at the driving park, Mr..
Dunbar watched the proceedings with
much interest He was particularly.
struck with the Buffalo hunt on the
track, where the cowboys chased the
tame buffaloes around and snot blank
cartridges at them, after which the.
Houffaloes would go and lay down and
chew Mr. Dunbar's hay. He became
wild on the subject of hunting bnffa-
loes, and even had a sort of liking for
the business of robbing stage coaches,
though he considered the latter hardly
the correct thing. But hunting butta-
Ioes he gloried in, and, for a week or
two after the buffalo show went away,
MFR. Dunbar could be seen, early in the
morning, mounted on brood mare in
his pasture, chasing cows around the
Enclosure. The brood mare fell down
with Mr. Dunbar dozen times or SO.
and rolled over on him, but he would
get up with a wild WarWhoop, remount
the animal, and chase after a cow III a
manner that showed him to bea thor
Oughbred. For several days he wore an
arm in sling, and he had a doctor en-
ployed by the season, to plaster up feat
ures that became demoraized by his
frequent falls, but he persisted in his
fighting cows until he sighed for wilder
game His friends will remember that
he suddenly disappeared, and was not
seen in the city for several weeks. 1t
was rumored that he had been abduct-
ed, and was held for ransom, but his
temperance here last week put O. stop
to ali fears. He has not told where he
put in the time, but a paper from Da-
kota gives the whole story. It seems
that Mr. Dunbar's desire to kill wild
buffalo became so intense that he could
not be content to chase COWS, so he
armed himself with several different
kinds Of shooting utensils and went to
Dakota in search Of wild game. He
remained at Aberdeen several days.
watching for buffalo, Bat none came
into the city limits, so he took passage
on stage, and when between Swan
Lake and LIE Beau. a herd of seven buff
faios were seen grazing in the distance
The stage was stopped, and Mr.. Dun-
bar bribed the driver to allow him to.
take one of the stage. horses for a buff
tfalo hunt. The driver said that it was
against the rules, but q sum
of money sufficient to overcome
dis scruples was forthcoming,
and the lead horse was saddled and
with a regular Comanche yell, Dunbar
charged towards the buffaloes. The
animals heard the noise and started
Weston pretty fair trot and the horse
took the rider within shooting distance
in going mile. He rode along side of
2 buffalo COW, that was going pretty
good eight minute gait, and prepared
to shoot, when he found that in his hur-
ny he had forgotten to take his gun out
of the stage. and all the arms he had
with him were Ne ones nature had pro-
yided him with. For half a mile he
rode along beside the wild game, call
ing himself names for forgetting his
gun. He looked at the bufaloes, and
the buffaloes looked at him, and as
they cotton slight elevation, ranch
was seen short distance ahaad, and
man on horseback. The butfaloes trot-.
ted right along towards the ranch, and
suddenly it oceurrid to Dunbar that the
buffaloes were tame ones. The animals
Stacked up and walked, as they came
near the ranch, and one of them went
up to trough under d Windmill, and
began drinking. Dunbar is. man who
does not require q year Or eighteen
months to get anything through his.
head, so he rode up to the man
and said: 81 have brought. your
.briffaloes home" The man looked
at Dunbar curiously. and asked him
why he didn't walk them instead of rum
ming. them across the prairie, and Dun
bar said he vas in a hurry. He said
the fact was he was going along in
the stage, looking for tame buffaloes to
organize wild West show, and the
driver told him those butfaloes belonged
to q. man about three miles west, and
he thought they could be bought, so he
got the driver to stop the stage and lend
him horse to go to the ranch, and he
thought as he was coming right along
he would drive the bnffaloes. That
seemed satisfactory, and Mr.. Dunbar
soon bargained for the herd, at a certain
price, to be called for within ten days,
and he gave the man a dollar to bind
the bargain, and went back tothe stage,
where The driver and passengers were
laughing at him for chasing tame buff
faloes, but when he showed that he.
knew they were tame, and had gone to
the ranch to buy them, the laugh was
on the other side. Dunbar will never
take those tame buffaloes, but he will
always thank his stars that he did not
have his gun along, for if he had killed
one of them the, owner would have
sailed him about two hundred dollars.
We understand that Dunbar gives diff
ferent version of his buffalo experience,
claiming 70 have killed millions Mof