Huntsville gazette., 1885-08-22
TRAITS IN ANIMALS.
How an Editor Trained an Elk
tremely Vicious Horse.
A Little Girl Who Slept Unlarmed Among
Wild Beasts-How . Transport Ofi-
Ger Faced Two Feroci0us Dogs
and Escaped without
Scratch.

II can not believe that animals in
their fury as well as in their fears do
not distinguish between person and
person." began DR.. Russell, better
known as 'sBull Run" Russell.
He spoke at the dining table of he
Queens Hotel, Pietermaritzburg, Ma
tai, some time after the death of the
Prince Imperial had made that colony
and its neighbor, Zululand. more ia
nous than either of them had ever ex-
pected to be. Colonel Sparks Stabb,
then of the Thirty-second, Forbes, and
a whole host of correspondents and Of
ficers, all men of travel and nearly all
of them sportsmen, took up the con-
versation. which brought out three
very curious stories. The editor of the
Natal Witness told how, being up
country with a beautiful Arabian
named Ell Sirat and desiring to get an
other mount. he found but one animal
available-Moroc, peculiarly dark
bay of most vicious temper, four
years old. the property Of Geoffry
O'Connell, a granddaughter of the ia
nous Daniel. When he mentioned his
intention to buy this brute the hotel
the attempt to ride the animal, as Mo-
roc was spoiled horse. His owner,
O'Connell, having a vicious temper, had
utterly destroyed that of the horse,
which threw every one who mounted
him, and was only subdued for his own
use by O'Connell after furious contests,
which occurred each time of mounting.
and in which the whip, spurs and all
the aids to savage rough riding had
been brought into play, and often un-
successfully. The horse had been con-
queror nearly as often as the man.
hence his certain viciousness. The ed
itOr said he would take his chances,
and would, although he did not care to
bet on it. undertake to ride the much
dreaded Moroc without whip or spur
in the morning. In proof of his as
sertion he bought and paid for the
horse that day. At night he led into
Moroc's stable his own beautiful
tame Arabian and put him alongside
of the bay. The odd circumstance
about this performance was that
he left his saddle on Ell Straits
back and threw the bride into the
manger between the heads of the two
horses, and as neither of them possessed
stable vices they were found in good
order in the morning. Ell Sirat had
not laid down; he never did lie down
while under saddle. At six o'clock a
,hnv- Af 10
see the experiment, but the editor
warned them to keep out of sight, lest
Moroc should by their presence become
excited He then went into the stable,
stroked and petted both animals, call
ing them by their names. Then he put
his bride from the manger into Moroc's
mouth, took off the saddle from Ell
Sirat and put it also into the manger
between the horses heads, and went
out for few minutes. Returning he
petted the horses again, saddled MOroc
and by their halters led both horses
into the open air. Then came the
critical moment. Attention was
aroused to see the mounting. The ed
itor drew the two horses close together,
Moroc on the near or mounting side,
with halter tied up and reins thrown
over the neck. He then gathered up
the reins and mounted slowly but firm
ly. holding in his hand Ell Straits halter
Both horses moved off together with
out struggle. After walking about
one hundred yards, to give the beast
more confidence, he pushed into q
canter, and then, as Moroc offered no
resistance, into hard gallop. In a
quarter of mile he threw down Ell
Straits halter, and from thence rode
on alone, never slackening his speed
till he came to the next station, ten
miles away. From that hour Moroc
was as tame with the editor as possible,
needing no punishment and showing
no fear.
"Bravor exclaimed old DR.. Russell.
There's an incident proving that one
horse taught the other what to expect
from his master" A transport officer
next told how he was once in charge
OF train OF wagons at Klipskeir,
lonely part of the Orange Free State,
where the farms were miles apart
and the road ran mere trail
over the plains between them.
He found one night that he had
left valuable shawl on the ground six
miles to the rear at halting place.
and he walked back in search of it.
On the road he encountered two large
bloodhouhds of the Boer breed, which
he presumed belonged to the Boer
through whose vast farm or run the
road extended. The dogs did not
meddle with him. He got his shawl
and rejoined his train at daylight, and
few hours later was startled BY being
overtaken by country buggy driven
at high rate Of speed and containing
two farmers, who besought surgical as
sistance for couple of tramps that had
been torn almost to pieces by their