Omaha daily bee., 1885-05-18

eight or ten years ago, will be cut mp II
to small farms or fenced pasture
, Nearly every cowboy has a claim Of SON
sort. They begin to see that land wi
soon be worth more than cattle, and the
are right, too. Some of these wilC
daredevil fellows have acquired a ma,
velous dexterlty In their profession, an
CAP, With a good lariat, mounted, pursue
and pursued, going at full speed, drop
1000 pound steer at 30, 40, 90, an
even 60 feet as clean and as nice as
shot by a bullet. With the Musselshe'
roundup last season was
MODEL COWBOY
named William McGsigsn. He Is one o
..he best riders in the world, and can witt
ease, going at a dead run, lassosny nteeI
or bull with scarcely an effort, dropping
the larlat snugly over the animals neck
Then with a peculiar turn of the wrist
known only to himself, he aends q coil
which runs In o successive ring down tn,
line, raises the moose from the beast
neck, and when 1t 10 about to clip off
with a sudden jerk he tightens the line,
and lol you have the steer safely secured
| with a halter around his nose. McGaIgar
und erstsnds knitting, branding and wat.
Ting to perfection, and from horseback
can throw full grown cattle with as much
ease as calves. He dresses In true cow
boy style, and wears an unusually large
white sombrero with q half acre OF brim
and plenty of silver cord around its
crown. They tell of another cowboy q
little west of here who did a good thing
while driving q steer through Deer Lodge
last summer. This story Is not youched
for as being strictly truthful, as the
Leader correspondent only heard 1t at q
roundup camp fire last fall, told
by one cowboy to another over a
bit of roasting tenderloin. The COW
boy referred to was driving the steer
along all right, when the lsttergot scared
at something, and dashed through the
back door of a saloon on a dead run, fol-
lowed by the daring COW puncher on his
broncho. As the steer passed through he
jumped clear over a table, around which
were four csttlemen engaged In playing a
friendly game of draw poker. When the
men saw the pony following the steer
they lodged under the table which made
the animals passage easy in leaplng over
the table. Fortunately the doors were
wide enough In both rear and front and
the ceiling high enough to make a good
place of entrance and exit for the fright
ened steer, who did his part of the circus
to perfection.
H LARIATs, N HOW THEY ARE HAM
DIED.
/ noticed q variety of lariats with this
roundup party, nearly all of which were
made of the very best quality Of hemp,
twisted 30 extremely tight that 1t was
almost impossible to untwist the strsnds.
Others were made of sinew cords, and
were braided very neatly, the ends, or
lassoing parts, being creased so as to slip
easily. Their lassoes were about sixty
or sixty.fve feet long, one-third of
which forms the moose, and, when swing
ing 1t, 1t is grasped q little above the
loop, 30 IS 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 peculiar turn Of the wrist as
1t begins to return keeping the loop wide
open. When flying through the ale the
moose takes a slightly oval form, but re.
mains open, and settles quietly around
the object aimed at McGsigsn exhib.
Tied to me the modus operandi of
handling the rope, and some of his feats
performed In my pref n were not only
executed with marvellous precision,
but were also beautiful to look at. This
model cowboy is certainly ar expert In
his profession, perhaps the best rider and
~lassoist In the whole northwest. What
Slosson is to billiards Mecca Ia to his
profession. One afternoon while loafing
around the camp fire on the Mussleshell,
MEG algan and l got talking about the
skill he had acquired in throwing cattle,
and l had little difficulty In persuading
him to let me Into the secrets of his won
derful dexterity, and actually showing
me some of the finer points of the busi-
ness. Mounting u bronchos, we rode
off through the ssge brush and out onto
the open prairie " here numberleas cattle
were peacefully munching the luxuriant
buffalo grass. My friend had his best
lariat fastened to the pommel of the sad.
die, and first showed me many fancy
shots, throwing the lasso from or to any
point over ether shoulder, behind or In
front. He caught q 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 in the ground and checked Mr..
Bull In his mad career before the latter
got well started. The enrsged steer
went round and round in q circle at a
2:40 gait. the pony acting as a perfect
pivot and turniug slowly around with
him, but ii was no use; the bull was a
prisoner and would have remained 30 had
not Meg sigan taken pity on him and
passed the wonderful ring down the line,
upon which the rope lesped from around
the horns and fell to the ground.
McGaigau remarked that 1t was no credit
to catch a bull by the horns for he cannot
be thrown by them, ane is simply held as
a prisoner, but the
KILL IN THROWING A LAsso
is to pitch the moose just in front OF an
animal when he is going at full gallop,
SO that the next step he treads into 1t.
He tried it on another bull while both
of our ponies were jumping along on a
dead run. The cid fellow was going
abont as fast as we were, but the fatal
loop shot through the air at a tangent
and fell, wide open, In front of him on
the ground. The left fore foot plunged
SQUARE INTO THE CIRCLE,
squared the circle as 1t were, the rope
was frightened with q sudden jerk, and
the steer rolled over in the dust, as clev.
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