The Opelousas courier., 1885-08-22
COWBOYS WITH A LASSO.
Their Wonderful Skill in
Handling the Lariat.
Throwing the Rope With Marvellous Pre-
cision- Catching a Bull by the Horns

Throwing the Rope With Marvellous Pre-
cision-O Catching a Bull by the Horns
In a lettes describing life among the
cowboys, a Montana letter to the
Cleveland Leader says: l noticed a
variety of lariats with a round up
party, nearly all of which were made
of the very best quality of hemp,
twisted so extremely tight that it was
almost impossible to untwist the
strands. Others were made of sinew
cords, and were braided very neatly.
the ends or lassoing parts being creased
20 as to slip easily. These lassoes
were about sixty or seventy-ive feet
long, one-third of which forms the
moose, and when swinging it is grasped
a little above the loop, SO as to prevent
the same from slipping until launched
through the air. The lasso is swung
over the head and left shoulder and
back over the right shoulder, a pc
culiar turn of the wrist as it begins
to return, keeping the loop wide open
When flying through the air the moose
takes a slightly oval form, but remains
open and settles quietly around the
object aimed at. McGaigan exhibited
to me the modus operandi of handling
the rope, and some of his feats per
formed in my presence were not only
executed with marvellous precision,
but were also beautiful to look at.
This model cowboy is certainly an ex-
pert in his profession, perhaps the best
rider and lassoist in the whole North
west. What Slosson is to billiards,
McGaigan is to his profession.
One afternoon, while loafing around
the camp fire on the MusselshelI, Nc
Gaigan and l got talking about the
skill he had acquired in throwing cat
tie and l had little difficulty in per-
suading him to let me into the secrets
of his wonderful dexterity and actu-
ally showing me some of the finer
points of the business. Mounting our
bronchos we rode off through the sage
brush and out on the open prairie,
where numberless cattle were peace
fully munching the luxuriant buffalo
grass. My friend had his best lariat
fastened to the pommel of the saddle,
AMI first showed me many fancy shots,
throwing the lasso from or to any
point, over either shoulder, behind or
in front. He caught a tremendous
bull by the horns. who looked up in
surprise and started off like a steam
engine. but the pony bestrode by the
cowboy planted his f%orefeet firmly in
the ground and checked Mr.. Bull in
his mad career before the latter got
well started. The enraged steer went
round and round in a circle at a 2.40
gait, the pony acting rs aperfect pivot
and turning slowly around with him,
but it was no use the bull was a pris-
oner and would have remained so had
not McGaigan taken pity on him, and
passed the wonderful ring down the
line, upon which the rope leaped from
around the horns and fell to the
ground.
McGaigan remarked that it was no
credit to catch a bull by the horns, for
he cannot be thrown by them, and is
simply held as a prisoner, but the
skill in throwing a lasso is to pitch the
moose just in front of the animal when
he is going at full gallop, SO that at
the next step he treads into it. He
tried it on another bull while both of
u ponies were jumping along on a
dead run. The old fellow was going
about as fast as we were, but the IA
tai loop shot through the air at a tan
gent and fell, wide open, just in front
of him on the ground. The left fore
foot plunged square into the circle,
the rope was frightened with a sudden
jerk and the steer rolled yer in the
dust, as cleyerly caught as anything l
ever saw The broncho, too. under
stood his part of the business thor
oughly, for he bore at the right mo
ment in the opposite direction, else he
might have been thrown instead of
the bull, to which he was much infe-
Eior in weight. McGaigan also caught
great big steers galloping past at an
angle by any leg / named. Not once
was his judgment at fault. The moose
whizzing through the air in every di-
rection went rs true to the mark as a
bullet shot from a rifle.
/ was much taken with the free and
easy sort OF life experienced by this
roundup party and enjoyed. the trip
and camping out experience so hugely
that / was almost tempted to give up
profession of a scribe and become a
cowboy myself, but | thought better
it next day and, although [ had lots