, 1888-05-24
~"CREASING' A MUSTANG.
SKILL DISPLAYED BY TEXAS MARKS
MEN IN CAPTURING WILD HORSES.

MEN IN CAPTURING WILD HORSES.
The Animals Formerly n Great Nuisance
to Cattle Misunderstanding an Unframed
Mustang with n Rifle BaII-Irreclaim-
ably Vicious Brutes.
J. T. Hill. who for many years has been
engaged in cattle raising in Texas and the
Indian territory, remarked to a reporter
the other day: I'm the early days of the
cattle business in Texas, from 1857 to
1850. tho ranges were overrun by bands
OF wild horses. These animals were q
great nuisance. as they would get mixed
with our loose horses and run them of
when any one approached. AS n rule they
were q rough, i'll shaped set of beasts. and
almost untamable, so that few attempts
wcro ever made to catch them. it being
considered best to shoot them on sight
and thus get rid of q disturbing influence
in our horse herds. Sometimes, however,
a really fine animal would be seen and the
ranchmen would try hard to secure it.
But the ordinary mode of capture, lasso-
ing. could seldom be used against wild
horses, and these beasts were very shy.
and even a poor horse, carrying no weight,
could outstrip q very fine animal with q
man on his back. l have chased wild
horses 100 times and nave become thor
oughly convinced of the truth of the
English racing saying that the weight of
n stable key will win or lose a race.
NOVEL METHoD OF CAPTURE.
In this extremity the Texans used to
resort to a means of capturing the horses
which Is, l believe, exclusively American
It was discovered, | do not know how,
that a blow upon a particular sinew In a
horses neck. located just above where the
spine joins the skull. would paralyze the
animal temporarily without doing it any
permanent injury. In those days the
Texans were nearly without exception
fine shots, and at short range could send
a rifle ball with phenomenal accuracy.
The horses could not be approached ex-
cept OH foot, and 1t was impossible to
catch them on horseback. But, not to be
overcome by any such difficulties. the
cowboys discovered a way to capture
them Taking his rifle, a hunter would
crawl through the thick chaparral until
within fifty or sixty yards of the horse he
desired to secure. Then, taking careful
hlll, no WOulu GllutdNbI ~ bGIu u ullc
through the top of the neck so as to strike
the sinew. When this was properly done
the horse would fall as if struck by light
ming and remain insensible for ten or fif-
teen minutes, recovering completely in an
hour or two, with no worse injury than a
slight wound in the back of the neck that
soon healed. OF course many bullets went
astray and hundreds of horses were killed,
but a good shot would secure about one
horse In three that he attempted to
crease as this mode of capture was
called.
1.-THE large calibre rifles commonly in
use were not adapted to this peculiar mode
of hunting, as If they touched the sinew
they were sure to break it, and the
wounds the A or % calibre balls inflicted
were too severe. The weapon universally
employed in creasing mustangs was the
old Hawkins rifle, which carried a bullet
not much larger than q pea, had a set
trigger and required but a small charge of
powder. These weapon were wonder
fully accurate up to 100 yards, but in
ficted a trifing wound, and the bullet
was likely to take a urse through soft
flesh around any hard object, instead of
tearing through 1t, as a larger ball pro
PEELED by a heavier charge of powder
would do. Hundreds of mustangs, al
ways the best animals in the herd, used
to be creased every year, n this prac-
tice was kept up until the herds had en-
tirely disappeared.
NOT OF MUCH USE.