Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-07
A BULL BUFFALO.
NATURALIST HORNsCaYS PEN PiCT-
URE OF A GIANT BISON.

Majestic Presence of q Magnificent Speci.
men-The Opportunity of Lifetime-A
Sketch from Life with . Vengeance.
The Last Moments.
As the bull saw us coming he staggered to
his feet, in spite of his broken leg, and gal
loped of over the hill But the moment he
started, my brown horse-who had more
sense than some men l have seen-imme-
diately gave chase. After short run we
again overhauled our prize, on the side of q
hill, near the crest of which he was once
more halted and stood at bay. Thirty yards
away from him pulled up, and gazed upon
him with genuine establishment. Not until
that moment had | realized what q grand
prize had fallen to ne. He was a perfect
monster IN size, and just as superbly hand
some as he was big In his majestic pre-
sence the finest Of all our other buffalo bulls
were quite forgotten, and thought to my
self:
Until this moment have never had an
adequate CONGESTION Of the great American
bison'
he seemed to me then, aye, and he does
even now, the grandest quadruped 1 ever
beheld, lions, tigers and elephants not e1-
cepted His huge bulk doomed up like
colossus, and the height of his great shaggy
hump, and the steepness OF its slope down
to his ioins, seemed positively incredible.
Like Bartholdi's statue OF liberty he was
built On grand scale. His massive head was
crowned by chick mass of blackish brown
hair lying in tumble of great curly tufts,
sixteen inches long, piled up on each other,
crowdlnS back upon his horns, almost hiding
them, and quite onto his shoulders. Back Of
that, his hump and shoulders were covered
vita luIuriaut growth Of coarse, straw
colored hair that stood out in tufts six inches
long and opened in great dark burrows up
and down whenever the bull moved his head
from me. The upper half of each fore leg
was lost in huge bunch of long, coarse black
hair, in which scores of cookie burrs had
caught and hopelessly tangled. The body
itself and the loin quarters were covered with
a surprisingly thick coat of long, fine mouse
colored hair, without the slightest flaw or
bleElish From head to heel the animal
seemed 70 possess everything the finest buffalo
in the world should have, and although by
that time no stranger to his kind sat gazing
upon him so completely absorbed by wonder
and admiration that had he made a sudden
charge he might easily have bowled me over.
1t was an opportunity of a lifetime, such
as falls to the lot Of few men whose business
it is to reproduce animal forms. l studied
his lines with absorbing interest, and took
one mental photograph of him after another
as he stood there with lowered head and
angry eyes, watching mo intently. Several
times his head sank very low, and he vi
mir lu fha vx-at witt
wounded fore leg. But these intervals of
anger would pass away, his eyes would lose
some of their fire, and he would content him.
self with simply regarding me.
For q good many minutes, I cannot say
how many, I sat there studying my prize,
and as he did not seem seriously inclined to
charge me, I determined to make one or two
outline sketches Of him just as he stood
Accordingly slid off my faithful old COM
rade-horse should have said-got out .
field note book and pencil, and with my
Winchester lying in the hollow of my left
arm ready for use, proceeded to make my
sketch. 1t was a sketch from life with a
vengeance, at a distance of thirty PAGES. l
got what l wanted, after fashion, and
although the result was wholly inartistic it
has since served me we'll.
suppose spent quarter of an hour in
studying my prize, and then i felt 1t was
high time to end his troubles. 1t was cruel
TO keep him standing at all, but it was not
done for my personal qualification. When
the time came for the death shot, felt as
man feels when he is compelled to kill
favorite dog of noble breed. l had the great
beast completely in my power, and was
obliged to be his executioner. He seemed
TO me like the very last one of his race, that
he knew it as well as l. and he also was
doomed. People will say this is ell put on
for effect, but swear felt as if | was about
to commit murder. With the greatest reluc-
lance ever felt about taking the life OF an
animal, shot the noble beast through the
lungs, and he fell down and died.
could write out that death scene down to
the smallest details, if I wished; for wrote
it all down in my journal the next night
But it is not pleasant reading; and 1t makes
nv crime seem ell the greater. / believe |
am getting tender hearted in my old days.
1t seemed to me l never saw an animal die
harder, and his last breath led me to e1claim
fervently:
Thank heaveni it's over at lastl"
He was five feet eight inches in vertical
height at the shoulder, full two inches taller
than the largest of our other bulls, and the
length of his head and body, in straight
line from the end of the nose to the rear of
the thigh, was nine feet two inches. His
girth was eight feet four inches, and his
weight about 1000 pounds. Like all the
other buffaloes We secured, he was muscular
from excessive running, but not at all fat.
There was not pound of fat on him, but he
carried four old bullets that had been fired
into him without effect. He was what old
buffalo hunters call stub horn," and by
the nine rings on each horn we know that he
was either eleven or twelve years old
Perhaps by this time / have drawn so
heavily upon my readers stock Of patience
that he will feel inclined to take this buffalo
cum grano sails. Let me assure you, have
not exaggerated his size one bit he Is adj
nitted TO be ''one OF $780," and he who
doubts it is respectfully referred to the old
bull himself, as he now stands, mounted &C
cording to an elaborate series Of measure
rents, in the National museum. l could
safely challenge the world to produce his
equal; but modesty forbids my doing so.-
William 7. Hornaday il The Cosrsol olitan-