Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-04-03
THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
A Shower of Buffalo Meat in Answer to
q Believing Petition.

Sam Davis, of the Carson appeal, who is
the son of clergyman, fathers the follow
ing:
1t is 4 common thing to see in papers of
the Bob lngersoll stripe facetious notices of
the efficacy of prayer. The Times Rerielg,
usually paper religiously inclined, only
last week published a paragraph to the
effect that man might pray two weeks for
meat, but it would not came until he put
in five minutes calling on butcher with
four bits.
If the SOOTHING Major had been with the
writer in Nebraska about sixteen years ago
he would never have written such SEN
tence. 1t was on the Big Platte, the home
of the buffalo before they were extefmi-
mated by the hide hunters
There were seven in the party, and one
was Methodist exhorter. We had been
several weeks out of meat, and one night
by the glowing camp fire, one of the party,
i'll q fit of pleasantly, asked the preacher if
he hadn't better lift up his voice in prayer
for some buffalo meat.
He replied in perfect seriousness that if
it was the wish of the party he would pray
for meat, and he believed if he prayed in
the right spirit the prayer would be an
swered sooner or later.
"Oh, yes" said the scoifer, some time
during the summer, | suppose. | want to
see meat tonight
1--WE will call upon the Lord, answered
the preacher, and he will vouchsafe TO
send it in his own tine"
With these words he fell upon his knees.
1t was truly a weird and impressive scene.
The preacher, upon falling on his knees,
lifted his long, thin hands aloft, and
around him, as motionless as the rocks, sat
the hunters with their bronzed faces lit up
with the rudy glow of the fire. which, as
soon as the prayer began, blazed up with
renew vigor.
About us were the gloomy pine trees,
and behind us rose perpendicular wall of
rock 800 feet high
There was a moment of stiffness, and
the solemn voice of the preacher broke the
silence. The words seemed specially adapt
ed to the occasion, and although a smile
fitted over the faces of the group, with the
first sentences of the eXhortation the tones
and earnestness of the preacher impressed
the most hardened, and all bowed their
heads.
When he finished peculiar sound was
heard on the bluff above u.s. 1t was a
strange believing and crashing of the
brush on the sides of the cliff, and as the
men looked in each others faces. while the
fire burned low, what should come thun-
dering into our midst but full-grown buff
falo. Ii hit the ground with thud but a
few yards from the group. We all started
to our feet. and the preacher, rising from
his knees, lifted his long arm as he pointed
to the quiyering carcass, and said in never
tO-be- forgotten tones:
"ScufIer, behold the answer"
For few seconds the group stood trans
| fixed, when there was Il whirring sound
| above, which filled all minds with terror.
and another buffalo dropped through the
| air alongside the first, and lay there in the
| horrible death agony peculiar to his kind.
| In the gloom occasioned by the slowly
| dying EN- bers, the faces of the men blanched
with terror as they stood rooted to the
ground
cried unto the Lord and he heard me-
| said the preacher i'll ringing tones.
Bilf came another buffalo, that struck
| squarely into the camp fire, scattering the
| embers and ashes, and then another, and
another until shower Of animals came
| through the air, while the hunters fed in
| terror.
Retreating about hundred yards, we
| looked up and saw at the edge of the cliff
above us a surging mass of black, as a herd
of buffalo rolled over the edge like water
fall and shot through the air to the ground
below.
over all the tumult OF the believing and
death eroans came the yells of Indians, and
then we knew that they had surrounded a
herd, and were driving ii over the cliff,
| one of their favorite modes of slaughter
Knowing the character of the tribe whose
shouts came waited through the night, we
hastily saddled our horses and made for
the eastern part of the State, where in few
days we were beyond the reach of danger.
Here the writer obtained his first situa-
ton on a newspaper called the Weekly
I Truth Teller started by DR.. Miller, since of
the Omaha Herald
We have hesitated about publishing the
above, but as none of the other members of
the party have deemed the circumstance of
sufficient importance to publish, we now
give it to the world, assuring the reader
that though years have passed since the
| event the minor details are still fresh in
memory, and none of the survivors will
ever gainsay word of it.