Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-24

lows to do it. Some tied the end of the
lasso to the pommel of the saddle and let
that take the sudden strain of misft
throw; but that, too, chad its disadvan-
tages.
One inventive individual conceived the
plan of cutting forked stick, which would
spread the lasso SO that it could be put over
the calf's head readily, and, when applied,
the slip moose that fastened it to the prongs
would drop out and the rider be left to
struggle with the calf. The inventor of the
guilotine died by his instrument, accord
ing to the uncertain records of history; the
constructor of ''the Maider," used in in
Quisltorial times, was crushed or pierced by
it, and the less known discoverer of the
forked stick was the first TO suffer from it.
1t should be said in rough way, however,
that this forked stick was a success, and
the men had no difficulty in picking up any
calf they selected within q hundred to two
hundred yards of where the herd was
Jumped"
The inventor had got a calf in run and
in trying to twist out the pole the prongs
caught in the ground, the butt OF the pole
took him below the belt, and in much less time
than it takes messenger boy to go block
the timber had lifted him out Of the saddle
and put him on the ground in a way not
provided for in the regulation dismounting,
while the horse and the calf were playing
the game of the Siamese twins across the
boundless prairies of the broad West, in
being united together by a lariat reaching
from the pommel of the saddle to the calf's
neck. Altogether fifty-six calves were
caught, and although the greatest possible
care was taken of them only two survived.
1t was hard to tell the direct cause of death
in every case. / have known large, robust
calf to be caught within fifty yards of the
place where 1t stood; when first surprised
it make no unusual effort to escape, and yet be
dead when the wagon arrived an hour and
half after. Fright seemed to be the only
conclusion that could be reached in such
case. One of the calves that lived was
chased about three miles by trooper, who
had lost his lasso, until the little beast was
so exhausted that the man could dismount
and catch it, when, recovering some of its
strength, he had such a Greco-Roman wres-
tie with it that he determined to tie its legs
with the small leather straps from the POM
mel Of his saddle, and look up the wagon to
get it home. He did not find the wagon until
it was too late to reach his calf that night,
but it was visited next day early, found all
right and brought in to begin life in civil
iZation that am not sure has yet finished.
l think if we could have had COWS to
suckle the youngsters at once more would
have been saved, not on account of the milk,
as ninety nine out of one hundred would sup
pose, but on account of their being the near
est substitutes to their mothers in the way
of company, etc. All Of our calves not actual
~ dying of fright on the field reached all
the milk they could use before they could
have been very hungry after such fright
and chase as was needed in order TO capture
them, while calf that had had its mother
killed by some soldiers on another trip and
that was allowed TO run among the horses